SDA Summer Marathon Topic (August 4-6)

2011-02-09 12:19:43 pm

The Speedrunning Teacher

If the summer marathon was to be held here in Utah, that greatly increases my chances of being able to participate (as there is a very, very good chance I'll still be here at that time).

UraniumAnchor

2011-02-09 12:45:52 pm

Not a walrus

Utah works better for me than LA, in that I could probably still drive out there, especially if I don't have to pay for a hotel room or something.

Darkwing Duck

2011-02-09 12:54:33 pm

Highly Evolved

Quote from Essentia:

Sorry to hear that, Aitamen, but real life stuff is important too. Thanks for being willing to give this a try, though. Smiley

I don't know how others would feel about this, but Denton and I would be willing to host a marathon at our house here in Utah. We were able to fit about 30 people comfortably for Thanksgiving, so I don't think space would be a problem. We've got 5 bedrooms plus a mother-in-law apartment, and if we needed more sleeping space we could set up some tents in our backyard or something (assuming this is in summer). Having it here would reduce the cost, because we wouldn't have to pay to rent a place or for hotels; we might just ask people to pitch in some money for food. We also live about 20 minutes away from the Salt Lake City international airport. I'd like to know what people think about this. If you don't like it or would rather do it somewhere else, I won't be offended. I just thought I'd make the offer, because I know we have a lot of space here, and I'd be willing to put this together.

Your house is that big? Wow, it really uses the space well. Didn't seem that large to me.

[quote="Essentia"]Sorry to hear that, Aitamen, but real life stuff is important too.  Thanks for being willing to give this a try, though. :)

I don't know how others would feel about this, but Denton and I would be willing to host a marathon at our house here in Utah.  We were able to fit about 30 people comfortably for Thanksgiving, so I don't think space would be a problem.  We've got 5 bedrooms plus a mother-in-law apartment, and if we needed more sleeping space we could set up some tents in our backyard or something (assuming this is in summer).  Having it here would reduce the cost, because we wouldn't have to pay to rent a place or for hotels; we might just ask people to pitch in some money for food.  We also live about 20 minutes away from the Salt Lake City international airport.  I'd like to know what people think about this.  If you don't like it or would rather do it somewhere else, I won't be offended.  I just thought I'd make the offer, because I know we have a lot of space here, and I'd be willing to put this together.[/quote]

Your house is that big?  Wow, it really uses the space well.  Didn't seem that large to me.

mikwuyma

2011-02-09 02:00:57 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Wow, that's very generous and kind of you Essentia, but the big issue is whether your internet can handle non-stop streaming. What kind of upload do you have? (you can check on speedtest.net).

Gombill

2011-02-09 03:15:59 pm

If this thing does end up happening and is in Salt Lake, you can safely put me under the "Definitely attending" category.

Tranquilite

2011-02-09 03:16:18 pm

^ This

puwexil

Edit history:

puwexil: 2011-02-09 04:01:06 pm

2011-02-09 03:32:34 pm

Professional Second Banana

I'd consider coming to a Utah marathon (especially if I could help make tasty home cuisine rather than go the all-Subway diet Smiley

), though I echo the above concerns about Internet bandwidth - Essentia's streams that I've watched have always looked fine, though adding on a webcam and a bunch of people with laptops watching the chat and doing other online stuff would be a different story.

ZenicReverie

2011-02-09 03:46:51 pm

Waiting hurts my soul...

Essentia: if you or Denton can discuss bandwidth options with your ISP, I'd be willing to cover any upgrade costs for the marathon. You'd probably want a minimum of 6 - 8 mbps up and 25 - 30 mbps down depending on how many people will be there with laptops. Somebody correct me if my numbers are off.

Utah is definitely a lot closer (6 hours less on the road), so I'll definitely be able to make it.

dballin

2011-02-09 05:00:26 pm

Balls jerky

So how many showers do you have? That's important too!

Essentia

2011-02-09 05:24:12 pm

Everything's better with Magitek

Wow, sounds like a lot of people would be interested in doing it here. Yeah, the internet is definitely something to consider if people will be on with their laptops. On speedtest.net, I had 13.33 mbps for download and 3.36 mbps for upload. Zenic, if you'd be willing to cover upgrades, that would be great. We can definitely look into that.

dballin: We've got three showers, and with our new on-demand water heater, we won't run out of hot water. Smiley

DW: To be fair, you didn't see the upstairs or the mother-in-law apartment. Tongue

ZenicReverie

2011-02-09 06:00:11 pm

Waiting hurts my soul...

Some things to ask the ISP:

How high can you increase the bandwidth? (There may be something beyond the standard packages, but the highest packages are usually at or beyond what I suggested.)
What terms can be arranged for the upgrade? Can it be upgraded and downgraded for just that week and pro-rated, or would it need to be for a set time (1 month, 2 months)?
Is a constant upload stream for more than 48 hours going to cause problems? (Make sure there's no hidden limits.)
Maybe there could be discussion for name dropping the ISP, or displaying a logo, to offset some of the cost/time involved in supporting the event. Just a thought depending on how they react to all the usage questions.

Now that we have a place, we should start getting a first draft of the schedule done. I'll see if I can write something up in the next couple of days based on what people have said already, but someone feel free to do so sooner if you feel up to it.

Logistics should also be discussed. Essentia, you're probably the best one to determine what beyond your normal furniture might be needed and fit in your house. Tables, chairs, TVs, microphones, headsets, etc. need to be accounted for. I'm sure there are places to rent things like that from in every major city in case we're lacking something.

Essentia: I'm guessing you're still thinking on the same weekend and time frame, but can you confirm that?

Once we get a little closer, and have a better idea of a schedule, we should list out the consoles and games needed to make sure we're not short. moooh did a good job of this for the last marathon, and everything seemed to go smoothly.

Since I haven't been to a marathon, I'm hoping others that have can suggest more insightful things that need to be kept in mind for this marathon.

Some things to ask the ISP:

How high can you increase the bandwidth? (There may be something beyond the standard packages, but the highest packages are usually at or beyond what I suggested.)
What terms can be arranged for the upgrade? Can it be upgraded and downgraded for just that week and pro-rated, or would it need to be for a set time (1 month, 2 months)?
Is a constant upload stream for more than 48 hours going to cause problems? (Make sure there's no hidden limits.)
Maybe there could be discussion for name dropping the ISP, or displaying a logo, to offset some of the cost/time involved in supporting the event. Just a thought depending on how they react to all the usage questions.

Now that we have a place, we should start getting a first draft of the schedule done. I'll see if I can write something up in the next couple of days based on what people have said already, but someone feel free to do so sooner if you feel up to it.

Logistics should also be discussed. Essentia, you're probably the best one to determine what beyond your normal furniture might be needed and fit in your house. Tables, chairs, TVs, microphones, headsets, etc. need to be accounted for. I'm sure there are places to rent things like that from in every major city in case we're lacking something.

Essentia: I'm guessing you're still thinking on the same weekend and time frame, but can you confirm that?

Once we get a little closer, and have a better idea of a schedule, we should list out the consoles and games needed to make sure we're not short. moooh did a good job of this for the last marathon, and everything seemed to go smoothly.

Since I haven't been to a marathon, I'm hoping others that have can suggest more insightful things that need to be kept in mind for this marathon.

Eisenefaust

2011-02-09 06:10:51 pm

SS Any% FF2 GBA

This sounds like it would be awesome. Although I'm a new member, I'd love to participate (help out, run a game) if the dates work out. This has a higher likelihood of working for me since Salt Lake City is drivable for me, specially if others from Seattle area would like to come and trade off driving.

InsipidMuckyWater

2011-02-09 06:21:25 pm

Visit my profile to see my runs!

We should probably give Essentia the first post ...

Nothing really changes for me, so I'm still in. Thanks for your offer Essentia!

Aitamen

Edit history:

Aitamen: 2011-02-09 06:50:11 pm

2011-02-09 06:42:58 pm

Bwahahaha... there WILL be domination!

Holy crap, this is awesome. Essentia, you're awesome. SDA, I love you guys.

Would I be able to attend?

vThanks, Uyama ^_^

mikwuyma

2011-02-09 06:48:53 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Essentia's upload sounds like it should be fine for the marathon in theory, but I don't know how consistent her internet connection is. To give a frame of reference, the 4-H center's upload went down to around 3.5-4 mbps during late night/early morning hours (I don't know why), and we were still streaming just fine. So an upgrade might not be necessary. Then again, if Essentia's upload gets cut in half during those hours, then an upgrade might be essential. :-/

Aitamen: It's easy for mods to give the first post to someone else. In fact, I'll do it right now.

Darkwing Duck

Edit history:

Darkwing Duck: 2011-02-09 07:06:57 pm

2011-02-09 07:01:26 pm

Highly Evolved

Yeah, something at Essentia's house means I'll be there and I don't need to be put down as an extra bed slot.

I'd probably be up for airport trips, too, if necessary. Plus there's a golf course near Essentia I've been to a couple of times. Good excuse for that, too.

EDIT: Not sure about the date either. I would have suggested coordinating somewhere around GEEX, but the site is now a teaser site that looks like it'll be in October this year. So can't do that.

dballin

2011-02-09 08:40:58 pm

Balls jerky

ps: I'm moving to Utah. It appears to be 7 times cheaper to live there than Connecticut

Heidrage

2011-02-09 08:42:18 pm

Willing to teach you the impossible

Wait what? really? How so?

dballin

2011-02-09 08:47:20 pm

Balls jerky

At least to buy a house. I was curious as to how someone only a couple years older than myself was able to afford a giant house then remembered that ct is just super expensive. Looked at utah houses with 5+ bedrooms and 3+ bathrooms. First result in Utah is $49,000. I put in a search for ct houses with similar sq footage on similar acreage. Cheapest one is $349,900. Of course, if you go Greenwich you can get 5 bed/5bath 3776 sq.ft. on 0.33 acres for $2,795,000.

Darkwing Duck

2011-02-09 08:47:30 pm

Highly Evolved

Quote from Heidman:

Wait what? really? How so?

Utah has had one of the lowest cost of living in the nation for some time. I've heard stories of people commuting to Los Angeles by plane and it's still cheaper to live here.

Darkwing Duck

2011-02-09 08:49:20 pm

Highly Evolved

Quote from dballin:

At least to buy a house. I was curious as to how someone only a couple years older than myself was able to afford a giant house then remembered that ct is just super expensive. Looked at utah houses with 5+ bedrooms and 3+ bathrooms. First result in Utah is $49,000. I put in a search for ct houses with similar sq footage on similar acreage. Cheapest one is $349,900. Of course, if you go Greenwich you can get 5 bed/5bath 3776 sq.ft. on 0.33 acres for $2,795,000.

3+ bedrooms for 49k? That seems low to me. 100k is more realistic. Not sure where you got the 49k for. Got a city?

dballin

Edit history:

dballin: 2011-02-09 08:52:36 pm

2011-02-09 08:51:45 pm

Balls jerky

apparently its a beater. http://www.utahrealestate.com/report/public.single.report/report/detailed/listno/1007691/scroll_to/1007691

I'd take that over this pitiful excuse for a house though. http://www.prudentialct.com/listingdetails.aspx?norecord=0&LK=2121113

I love greenwich

Darkwing Duck

2011-02-09 08:57:51 pm

Highly Evolved

Quote from dballin:

apparently its a beater. http://www.utahrealestate.com/report/public.single.report/report/detailed/listno/1007691/scroll_to/1007691

I'd take that over this pitiful excuse for a house though. http://www.prudentialct.com/listingdetails.aspx?norecord=0&LK=2121113

I love greenwich

Ah, the lettered avenues. Makes sense, I guess. I imagine that same area would have a true single family dwelling at around 60-70k. Not the best area though. Kind of a blighted area. Between the tracks and the freeway. Definitely a low income area.

dballin

Edit history:

dballin: 2011-02-09 09:07:40 pm

dballin: 2011-02-09 09:06:08 pm

2011-02-09 09:05:41 pm

Balls jerky

ok well the shitty parts of connecticut don't have 5 bedroom/3 bathroom single family houses and the cheapest house that met the requirements in this state was $350k (according to the search i used im really not sure if it covers the whole state since there's some serious back woods areas with nothing going on i imagine would be cheaper)

Now back to your regularly scheduled marathon discussion Cheesy

Darkwing Duck

Edit history:

Darkwing Duck: 2011-02-09 09:12:25 pm

2011-02-09 09:08:38 pm

Highly Evolved

Quote from dballin:

ok well the shitty parts of connecticut don't have 5 bedroom/3 bathroom single family houses and the cheapest house that met the requirements in this state was $350k :(:(:(

Now back to your regularly scheduled marathon discussion Cheesy

What you'd want for that in the suburbs here would be around 100k. :p

Dang, looking in my area, there are tons of homes for sale within about 5 blocks of me.