Planning next year's marathon - first post updated Aug 30th (date, games, and location)

lxx4xNx6xxl

Edit history:

lxx4xNx6xxl: 2010-08-03 09:02:11 pm

2010-08-03 08:55:25 pm

My name is 4N6/Forensics.

Quote from Lord_VG:

Huh, another hotel clerk, huh? Hopefully the hotels around there have better internet then the one that MAGFest had. MikeFest had to be moved from there because the internet sucked, though it really wasn't the hotel's fault, but the service provider, if I recall correctly.

As for what type of break you get, it really depends on the hotel, the GM, and the group sales manager. Getting a larger number of rooms usually gets you better deals, but not always.

Hotel Clerk? What make you assume that? I'm actually security for the hotel. That's funny though your a funny guy. The internet in NY is very good actually but, apparently Mike wants to have the event in the DC area.

Quote from mikwuyma:

Guy with the most impossible username ever: Is your hotel a chain? I appreciate the offer, but I don't exactly feel like going up to New York, especially when I said the marathon would be in the DC area.

EDIT: Oh wait, I see that the General Manager is responsible for all areas.

Yes it is a chain. I work at a Holiday Inn. I'll see if there is a location in the DC area for you if you want.

BTW you still haven't figured my name out. Come on Mike!!! The L's and X's are just for presentation. The name is 4N6 as in Forensics Science. You can call me Mike if you find that easier. Though if other people call me Mike while your in the room it may get confusing.

[quote="Lord_VG"]

Huh, another hotel clerk, huh?  Hopefully the hotels around there have better internet then the one that MAGFest had.  MikeFest had to be moved from there because the internet sucked, though it really wasn't the hotel's fault, but the service provider, if I recall correctly.

As for what type of break you get, it really depends on the hotel, the GM, and the group sales manager.  Getting a larger number of rooms usually gets you better deals, but not always.
[/quote]

Hotel Clerk? What make you assume that? I'm actually security for the hotel. That's funny though your a funny guy. The internet in NY is very good actually but, apparently Mike wants to have the event in the DC area.

[quote="mikwuyma"]
Guy with the most impossible username ever: Is your hotel a chain? I appreciate the offer, but I don't exactly feel like going up to New York, especially when I said the marathon would be in the DC area.

EDIT: Oh wait, I see that the General Manager is responsible for all areas.
[/quote]

Yes it is a chain. I work at a Holiday Inn. I'll see if there is a location in the DC area for you if you want.

BTW you still haven't figured my name out. Come on Mike!!! The L's and X's are just for presentation. The name is 4N6 as in Forensics Science. You can call me Mike if you find that easier. Though if other people call me Mike while your in the room it may get confusing.

Sir VG

2010-08-03 10:18:28 pm

Fucking Weeaboo

Quote from lxx4xNx6xxl:

Quote from Lord_VG:

Huh, another hotel clerk, huh? Hopefully the hotels around there have better internet then the one that MAGFest had. MikeFest had to be moved from there because the internet sucked, though it really wasn't the hotel's fault, but the service provider, if I recall correctly.

As for what type of break you get, it really depends on the hotel, the GM, and the group sales manager. Getting a larger number of rooms usually gets you better deals, but not always.

Hotel Clerk? What make you assume that? I'm actually security for the hotel. That's funny though your a funny guy. The internet in NY is very good actually but, apparently Mike wants to have the event in the DC area.

Because I expected you to be one of the COOL people. Sad

lxx4xNx6xxl

2010-08-03 10:52:38 pm

My name is 4N6/Forensics.

Quote from Lord_VG:

Because I expected you to be one of the COOL people. Sad

LOL. What I'm not cool now?

Anyway I guess NY is not very convenient for Mike. I hope my money situation will be alright for my brother and I to make it to the Marathon. A Super Metroid 100% run is gonna be a bitch to run live but, I want to at least sub 55. I feel confident I'll be ready by then though. Also watch my brother and I will race should be interesting to say the least.

mikwuyma

2010-08-04 01:43:21 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Forensic Science: This is what has been in the first post since I created the topic.

Quote:

Just in case if you didn't know already, the marathon will again be in the Washington, DC area because that's where I live and it's close to MAGFest.

So yes, it would be very inconvenient to host the marathon in NY, especially for people who also want to go to MAGFest. I do appreciate you asking for a good hotel rate, but I want the marathon to be in the DC area. By the way, what's wrong with DC internet? Huh?

Trekhaak: So am I. Smiley

Heidman: You still think books for college are more important than the marathon? What's wrong with you? Wink

About the food situation: Yes, I'm not a big fan of the situation myself, especially after I looked at the food prices. I'm going to visit the place on Friday and take pictures, so I'll see if the place is suitable otherwise. However, if I can't come to some sort of compromise on the food situation then I probably won't bother.

Trekhaak

2010-08-04 01:53:41 pm

Everybody's favorite monster

How about we create the charity: Get SDA Trough The Marathon. And people can donate to us and with that money we can get the food Smiley

mikwuyma

2010-08-04 02:41:33 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Quote from Trekhaak:

How about we create the charity: Get SDA Trough The Marathon. And people can donate to us and with that money we can get the food Smiley

Genius!

lxx4xNx6xxl

2010-08-04 04:31:14 pm

My name is 4N6/Forensics.

Quote from mikwuyma:

Forensic Science: This is what has been in the first post since I created the topic.

Quote:

Just in case if you didn't know already, the marathon will again be in the Washington, DC area because that's where I live and it's close to MAGFest.

So yes, it would be very inconvenient to host the marathon in NY, especially for people who also want to go to MAGFest. I do appreciate you asking for a good hotel rate, but I want the marathon to be in the DC area. By the way, what's wrong with DC internet? Huh?

Yea I see what you mean.

Anyway I never said DC internet was bad. I just answered Lord VG's question is all. I'll see if there are any Hotels owned by our franchise in the DC area for you.

Sir VG

2010-08-04 08:27:16 pm

Fucking Weeaboo

Quote from lxx4xNx6xxl:

Quote from mikwuyma:

Forensic Science: This is what has been in the first post since I created the topic.

Quote:

Just in case if you didn't know already, the marathon will again be in the Washington, DC area because that's where I live and it's close to MAGFest.

So yes, it would be very inconvenient to host the marathon in NY, especially for people who also want to go to MAGFest. I do appreciate you asking for a good hotel rate, but I want the marathon to be in the DC area. By the way, what's wrong with DC internet? Huh?

Yea I see what you mean.

Anyway I never said DC internet was bad. I just answered Lord VG's question is all. I'll see if there are any Hotels owned by our franchise in the DC area for you.

Yes, there's 6 Holiday Inns within 5 miles of DC, plus 4 more other IC Hotels. And a zillion more if you do a 30 mile radius search.

mikwuyma

Edit history:

mikwuyma: 2010-08-08 04:42:47 pm

2010-08-07 08:44:58 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Okay, I took a tour of the National 4-H Youth Conference Center yesterday, and I have to say, it's a very nice place.

I'm sorry, I don't have pictures because I forgot to bring my camera. :-[ However, I think I can do a pretty good job of describing the place.

The Place itself: First off, the place is huge. There are about 20 meeting rooms IIRC, and the smaller ones are 850 square feet (79 square meters, which I'm pretty sure is twice as big as the tv room used for the marathon). The other rooms I saw were around 1200 square feet (111.5 square meters), so size isn't an issue. They even have dividers if we want to use a big room and divide it into multiple sub-rooms. Some of the rooms have big windows, but there are other rooms that have really tiny windows (plus they have blinds), so glare shouldn't be a concern.

Facilities: It's probably easier to list what they don't have, which is a pool, and animals. They have an office room where you can ask a staff member to print or scan something. There's an auditorium that can seat at least 500 people. There were at least a couple of pianos around the place (Kareshi!). The center has an IT guy and an engineer, the latter of which lives on-campus. They even have arcade machines! Sorry shmup fans, mostly racing games, but hey, they're still arcade games.

List of Arcade games:

Hydro Thunder, Arctic Thunder, Cruisin' USA, Sega GT Racing, and some Pump it up game (version 3?)

Sleeping Accomodations: They have three types of rooms, a quad (as in four people), triple, and single/double rooms. I only looked at one of the quad rooms. It basically looked like a dorm/hostel room with 2 bunk beds, a tv (which they said they're upgrading to flatscreen, which isn't too good for older consoles :(), and a bathroom. Boniene (the sales manager who gave me a tour around the place) told me there were also quads with two bathrooms. Each bathroom is supplied with soap, shampoo, and towels, so if you forgot your toiletries, you still won't be smelly. Wink

Oh, if we have more than 40-50 people, that's not a problem because the place can house up to 800 people, and January is one of their deadest months.

Internet: When I tried out their wireless internet, the connection was 12.5mb down and 7ish up. For reference, the marathon house had 8/1. Boniene said the connection would be upgraded to 50/10 by marathon time, and we would have a dedicated wired connection for the stream.

Food: Okay, now this is definitely the worst part. Like I said, the food is supposed to be provided by the center. The reason why is that the center is locked into a contract with a caterer (stupid contracts >:() However, Boniene said that if they don't see anything, then we're okay (don't ask don't tell :P), which basically translates to don't bring food into the meeting rooms and main halls, but we can sneak it into the dorms.

If you were wondering, the food you can buy at the place is REALLY expensive. If you're curious, you can look at the catering menu at this link: http://mikwuyma.quandra.org/4hcentermenu.pdf

Location: Honestly, this isn't the greatest either, but it's not bad. The place is right next to a metro bus stop, but it's about 2 miles from the nearest metro subway station (friendship heights). I think the bus comes once every 20-25 minutes. The nearest restaurants are about a 5-10 minute drive away. There's some diners, cafes, and a subway on the DC/Maryland border. There's a booeymonger, Mcdonalds, and some other restaurants in the Friendship heights area. Remember, we will have people with cars at the marathon.

Pricing: Link to the proposal I was given: http://mikwuyma.quandra.org/4hcenterproposal.pdf

Basically, the pricing is good if we ignore the food. Here's a list of prices per person without food, assuming there are 40 people to split the cost of the meeting rooms.

6 days - January 5-10th (this is the minimum if we want to have a lock-in/meetup before the marathon): $250.50
7 days - $292.25
8 days - January 5-12th (this is if we want to stay here for bonus streaming until MAGFest opens) $334

The average is $41.75 a day.

BTW, I'm not 100% sure we need two meeting rooms, since they're so big.

These prices are better than most hotels. About the meals, they only open the cafeteria at certain times, but it's all you can eat.

Breakfast: Let's face it, most of us won't be up at this time.
Lunch: 11:00-1:30
Dinner: 5:30-7:30

NOTE: We do not have to buy all of the meals. In fact, we don't have to buy any of the meals. Though buying one like lunch might be a good idea, just so we don't have to go out and sneak in food all of the time. No, I didn't get to try the food, so I have no idea how good it is.

BTW, I'm not sure why I kept the place a secret until now. I wasn't trying to hide anything. I guess I just wanted to see the place before posting about it.

P.S. lol at molotov for thinking he's the only one who would go out to get pizza.

P.P.S. If you were curious, Boniene's name is pronounced, "Boh-neen"

even more p's and s's: Yes, I know they wrote our name as "Speed Demos Archives". I didn't point it out because it's not a big deal.

Okay, I took a tour of the [url=http://www.4hcenter.org/]National 4-H Youth Conference Center[/url] yesterday, and I have to say, it's a very nice place.

I'm sorry, I don't have pictures because I forgot to bring my camera. :-[ However, I think I can do a pretty good job of describing the place.

[b]The Place itself[/b]: First off, the place is huge. There are about 20 meeting rooms IIRC, and the smaller ones are 850 square feet (79 square meters, which I'm pretty sure is twice as big as the tv room used for the marathon). The other rooms I saw were around 1200 square feet (111.5 square meters), so size isn't an issue. They even have dividers if we want to use a big room and divide it into multiple sub-rooms. Some of the rooms have big windows, but there are other rooms that have really tiny windows (plus they have blinds), so glare shouldn't be a concern.

[b]Facilities[/b]: It's probably easier to list what they don't have, which is a pool, and animals. They have an office room where you can ask a staff member to print or scan something. There's an auditorium that can seat at least 500 people. There were at least a couple of pianos around the place (Kareshi!). The center has an IT guy and an engineer, the latter of which lives on-campus. They even have arcade machines! Sorry shmup fans, mostly racing games, but hey, they're still arcade games.

List of Arcade games:

[spoiler]Hydro Thunder, Arctic Thunder, Cruisin' USA, Sega GT Racing, and some Pump it up game (version 3?)[/spoiler]

[b]Sleeping Accomodations[/b]: They have three types of rooms, a quad (as in four people), triple, and single/double rooms. I only looked at one of the quad rooms. It basically looked like a dorm/hostel room with 2 bunk beds, a tv (which they said they're upgrading to flatscreen, which isn't too good for older consoles :(), and a bathroom. Boniene (the sales manager who gave me a tour around the place) told me there were also quads with two bathrooms. Each bathroom is supplied with soap, shampoo, and towels, so if you forgot your toiletries, you still won't be smelly. ;)

Oh, if we have more than 40-50 people, that's not a problem because the place can house up to 800 people, and January is one of their deadest months.

[b]Internet[/b]: When I tried out their wireless internet, the connection was 12.5mb down and 7ish up. For reference, the marathon house had 8/1. Boniene said the connection would be upgraded to 50/10 by marathon time, and we would have a dedicated wired connection for the stream.

[b]Food[/b]: Okay, now this is definitely the worst part. Like I said, the food is supposed to be provided by the center. The reason why is that the center is locked into a contract with a caterer (stupid contracts >:() However, Boniene said that if they don't see anything, then we're okay (don't ask don't tell :P), which basically translates to don't bring food into the meeting rooms and main halls, but we can sneak it into the dorms.

If you were wondering, the food you can buy at the place is REALLY expensive. If you're curious, you can look at the catering menu at this link: http://mikwuyma.quandra.org/4hcentermenu.pdf

[b]Location[/b]: Honestly, this isn't the greatest either, but it's not bad. The place is right next to a metro bus stop, but it's about 2 miles from the nearest metro subway station (friendship heights). I think the bus comes once every 20-25 minutes. The nearest restaurants are about a 5-10 minute drive away. There's some diners, cafes, and a subway on the DC/Maryland border. There's a [url=http://www.booeymonger.com/]booeymonger[/url], Mcdonalds, and some other restaurants in the Friendship heights area. Remember, we will have people with cars at the marathon.

[b]Pricing[/b]: Link to the proposal I was given: http://mikwuyma.quandra.org/4hcenterproposal.pdf

Basically, the pricing is good if we ignore the food. Here's a list of prices per person without food, assuming there are 40 people to split the cost of the meeting rooms.

6 days - January 5-10th (this is the minimum if we want to have a lock-in/meetup before the marathon): $250.50 
7 days - $292.25
8 days - January 5-12th (this is if we want to stay here for bonus streaming until MAGFest opens) $334

The average is $41.75 a day.

BTW, I'm not 100% sure we need two meeting rooms, since they're so big.

These prices are better than most hotels. About the meals, they only open the cafeteria at certain times, but it's all you can eat.

Breakfast: Let's face it, most of us won't be up at this time.
Lunch: 11:00-1:30
Dinner: 5:30-7:30

NOTE: We do not have to buy all of the meals. In fact, we don't have to buy any of the meals. Though buying one like lunch might be a good idea, just so we don't have to go out and sneak in food all of the time. No, I didn't get to try the food, so I have no idea how good it is.

BTW, I'm not sure why I kept the place a secret until now. I wasn't trying to hide anything. I guess I just wanted to see the place before posting about it.

P.S. lol at molotov for thinking he's the only one who would go out to get pizza.

P.P.S. If you were curious, Boniene's name is pronounced, "Boh-neen"

even more p's and s's: Yes, I know they wrote our name as "Speed Demos Archives". I didn't point it out because it's not a big deal.

mikwuyma

Edit history:

mikwuyma: 2010-08-07 09:01:18 pm

2010-08-07 08:46:05 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

I'm going to list some pros and cons about the place.

Pros

-Space isn't an issue, they have a ton of it
-January is one of their deadest months so we won't be fighting for space with a bunch of youth/travel groups. It also means we might be able to bargain for some better deals if necessary.
-No need to worry if we have 40, 50, or even 100 people.
-The internet is fast
-Meeting rooms are big
-They have pretty much every service I can think of
-Arcade games!

Cons

-The food situation. I won't lie, this is a really big con.
-The location isn't the greatest.

My opinion: Honestly, I like this place a lot. It's spacious, the internet is good, they'll have an IT person helping us, and going over 40 people won't be a concern. I'm not going to lie, the food situation really sucks, but I'm sure we can sequence break it somehow ;).

BTW, if you have any questions about the place, ask them now so I can ask Boniene when she returns from vacation on August 16th. Also, if this is looking too expensive for a lot of people, I can try to negotiate with Boniene. She already reduced the meeting room rate. Cheesy

The current questions list is in the first post.

I'm going to list some pros and cons about the place.

[b]Pros[/b]

-Space isn't an issue, they have a ton of it
-January is one of their deadest months so we won't be fighting for space with a bunch of youth/travel groups. It also means we might be able to bargain for some better deals if necessary.
-No need to worry if we have 40, 50, or even 100 people.
-The internet is fast
-Meeting rooms are big
-They have pretty much every service I can think of
-Arcade games!

[b]Cons[/b]

-The food situation. I won't lie, this is a really big con.
-The location isn't the greatest.

My opinion: Honestly, I like this place a lot. It's spacious, the internet is good, they'll have an IT person helping us, and going over 40 people won't be a concern. I'm not going to lie, the food situation really sucks, but I'm sure we can sequence break it somehow ;).

[b]BTW, if you have any questions about the place, ask them now so I can ask Boniene when she returns from vacation on August 16th.[/b] Also, if this is looking too expensive for a lot of people, I can try to negotiate with Boniene. She already reduced the meeting room rate. :D

The current questions list is in the first post.

arkarian

2010-08-08 12:03:32 am

gamelogs.org

it does sound pretty good, but it also sounds like there's a good chance there are a bunch of other places like this around. i like to eat i guess. it's not that big of a deal though -- certainly if there's nothing else then this sounds great.

Trekhaak

2010-08-08 04:35:03 am

Everybody's favorite monster

Do they have a smoking area?

Sir VG

2010-08-08 04:53:03 am

Fucking Weeaboo

Quote from Trekhaak:

Do they have a smoking area?

Since Maryland has a Clean Indoor Act established, since it appears to be like Minnesota's version, you'd have to go smoke outside, unless some of the rooms are allowed to be designated as such, since hotel/motel rooms can be designated as smoking, but I'm not sure if that counts as such.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smoking_bans_in_the_United_States#.C2.A0Maryland

As for food, if people want to go out to get stuff at any point, and I'm not running, I'd be willing to drive around. I'll be bringing my GPS anyways (since I plan on getting a rental vehicle anyways), so I'm willing to do some runs. Just toss me a bit to cover gas and somebody keep an eye on the navigator and we're good to go. Smiley

Trekhaak

2010-08-08 05:28:48 am

Everybody's favorite monster

Quote from Lord_VG:

As for food, if people want to go out to get stuff at any point, and I'm not running, I'd be willing to drive around. I'll be bringing my GPS anyways (since I plan on getting a rental vehicle anyways), so I'm willing to do some runs. Just toss me a bit to cover gas and somebody keep an eye on the navigator and we're good to go. Smiley

So you can drive me to macdonalds Cheesy

Sir VG

2010-08-08 05:37:02 am

Fucking Weeaboo

Sure. I would be willing to work and say "hey, I'm going out to eat, let's decide where to go" and take as many people as I can out. I may just grab a larger rental vehicle so I can get 7 people in if I wanted.

mikwuyma

2010-08-08 09:40:06 am

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Trekhaak: You can smoke outside, and I remember Boniene mentioning there were designated smoking areas with ashtrays inside the place. I wouldn't try smoking in the non-designated areas because there are sprinklers everywhere.

Arkarian: I'm open to suggestions, but I'm starting to run out of places to try.

Emptyeye

2010-08-08 09:45:18 am

Talk to the Hand

When you said "No outside food", right away, from my Connecticon experiences, I figured you were looking at some kind of Convention Center. I wasn't totally off, I see.

The food thing is kind of a big deal, but on the other hand, that's some awesome Internet, and everything else about the place seems pretty great too. And I feel like the Internet speed should absolutely be concern A here since, unlike last year, we really don't have a Plan B on that front.

Question: She mentioned "upgrades" to the Internet by January. Can she promise that those upgrades will actually be completed and in place by the time we get there? Or more accurately, is there any chance of a service interruption due to these upgrades during our time there? Because, again, if we don't have internet this year, we're pretty much fucked.

mikwuyma

Edit history:

mikwuyma: 2010-08-08 10:32:08 am

2010-08-08 10:17:53 am

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Emptyeye: Actually, it's more like a big dorm. The two most common groups that stay are youth and travel groups (both in country and international).

And yes, the food thing is a big deal, especially since it's so expensive if we eat at the center, but everything else about the place is really nice.

Internet upgrade: I'm not 100% sure when the upgrade is taking place. I just said by January because I figured the internet would already be upgraded by then. I'll ask when Boniene returns from vacation.

BTW, I forgot to mention this, but I asked Cody Miller if he can do Portal (if he comes, which he said is pretty likely), and his response was, "yay, Portal". He said it would take about half an hour, and yes, it's on the game list already.

Heidrage

2010-08-08 11:19:44 am

Willing to teach you the impossible

Ok, so I was checking out the site for this place, and I found this virtual tour http://www.4hcenter.org/tour/index.html. I think this will answer quite a bit as for what we would/could be getting and using.

Trekhaak

2010-08-08 01:06:51 pm

Everybody's favorite monster

Quote from mikwuyma:

Trekhaak: You can smoke outside, and I remember Boniene mentioning there were designated smoking areas with ashtrays inside the place. I wouldn't try smoking in the non-designated areas because there are sprinklers everywhere.

I wouldn't dare Mike

puwexil

2010-08-08 01:09:54 pm

Professional Second Banana

I like SirVG's idea of carpooling and going out for some of the meals. Maybe a little DC-area sightseeing can be mixed in too for those interested?

mikwuyma

2010-08-08 04:59:11 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Okay, I made a mistake when calculate the per day prices (I simply put in a couple of wrong numbers). The price per day is $41.75. I changed the info post accordingly.

However, that's assuming we actually need 10 quads for 40 people, which simply isn't true, because we'll be sleeping at different times, so here's a list of prices if we get 7 or 8 quads:

# of days	6	7	8
7 quads	138.6	161.7	184.8
total without food:	191.1	222.95	254.8
per day:	31.85	31.85	31.85
8 quads	158.4	184.8	211.2
total without food:	210.9	246.05	281.2
per day:	35.15	35.15	35.15

The totals without food assume we are getting two conference rooms.

arkarian

2010-08-08 05:03:08 pm

gamelogs.org

sounds really, really good pricewise.

spineshark

2010-08-08 05:12:21 pm

新世紀進歩的羽扇子音楽

Quote from puwexil:

I like SirVG's idea of carpooling and going out for some of the meals. Maybe a little DC-area sightseeing can be mixed in too for those interested?

This has too much potential to go badly during the marathon, best to do it before or after. Last year I got stuck at the hotel for a night because I'm a dumbass, and I probably would've had to stay a hell of a lot longer except I luckily ran into nate when he was picking up someone else the next morning =/

nate

2010-08-08 05:46:56 pm

let's make a sheet that has everyone's number. i can print 4823983 copies and hand them out as people arrive. can also be in a thread on the forum if someone can get on the forum on their phone.