Friday January 3rd to Sunday, January 5th, in the suburbs Kansas City, Kansas. Yeah, January, the coldest possible choice of months, hooray. Arrival / departure flexibility is a day in either direction, so by all means get the cheapest airline tickets possible within that window. Also, there will be a big caravan from the ridiculously titled New Years meet in NYC all twenty-some hours to Kansas. For all of you adventurous souls out there, this presents an unprecedented opportunity for six days of unholy noder debauchery. The route looks like it will go through New York, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri -- if you live in one of those states and are interested in joining up or catching a ride, visit the caravan node.
My mom's house is to be the venue, and preparations are being made to it. There should be enough space available, with a living room, dining room, two bedrooms and two baths. One bedroom will be a dedicated place for people to smoke indoors, and both will be available for sleepy time should one decide to sleep. I am trying to acquire an 802.11b access point to attach to the local LAN, so heavy-duty nerding will be possible. Besides being roughly a mile from a neat old-fashioned motel (the White Haven Motor Lodge) and a few boring chain hotels, there should be floor room for twenty or so sleepers among the bedrooms. You're welcome to brave the 20° Fahrenheit weather in a tent in the yard, but that would be awfully silly. Other amenities include a nice kitchen and a fireplace.
Contact info:
(removed after meet)
Fortunately, the house is also wonderfully central to all of the important parts of the city, and is a 35 minute drive from the airport. Events planned are mostly Kansas City based too, possibly including the excellent Nelson Atkins art museum, enjoyment of some KC barbecue, and maybe some bowling or the return of Noders on Ice at a local rink. There is a chance, if the weather does all the right things, that an expedition might go SLEDDING (!!) in Lawrence, which is roughly an hour away -- the hills are big there, and a dead empty university campus is amenable to carloads of people showing up at random. Also, Lawrence holds the Ryan Gray Playground for All Children, a trip to which has wisely been requested by brassmule. All of this reminds me that you folks need to bring very very warm clothes, or you will be sorry.
On the Everything, Kansas front, grundoon has volunteered to host a discussion and review of concepts some time during the meet. Presumably other E2KS movers and shakers will be part of this as well. Everybody at the meet is invited, but attendance is not mandatory and the discussion will be in a room separate from the main space (see also: no koolaid for me, thanks). If you are new to the E2KS memespace, check out Igloowhite's writeup at Everything, Kansas: A Manifesto along with grundy's work at A call to action for Everything, Kansas.
Food is good. Friday's dinner (sometime after 8 pm, so snack earlier!) will be a massive batch of my own spaghetti and meatballs. Rest assured that a veggie sauce is also in the works, leading to the possibility of combining the two sauces to create the ultimate power. For the aforementioned KC Barbecue, on Saturday we will be descending upon one of the traditional local establishments, hopefully Arthur Bryant's nice and deep in the ghetto. I'm not sure how those averse to meat are going to handle this; while the BBQ joint probably has a vegetarian item or two, for selection's sake a different restaurant might be needed. Breakfast and lunch will be, um, less organized and more fend-for-yourself, though I can probably score a dozen free-ish pizzas for Friday or Sunday lunch via working at Papa John's. IF ANYBODY WANTS TO COOK OTHER STUFF, THAT WOULD BE HARDCORE! Also, we cannot forget the joys of wonderful wonderful booze. Bring or buy whatever you can, or plan to mooch off of the gathering's supply; I'm donating a two liter bottle of 100 proof Absolut, along with that much or more extremely potent homemade Kahlua.
Regarding airplanes: The Kansas City International airport has flights in from many points, leading to the possibility of relatively cheap airfare. By cheap airfare, I mean $80 - $125 for much of the midwest, $210 from JFK in New York, and $250 from LAX (these prices are from www.orbitz.com, a relatively good booking service). I encourage everybody to take advantage of the gift of flight, as driving cross-country in January may be dangerous, depending on the weather. We will have drivers go between the meet venue and the airport as necessary.
54 names, out of which 21 actually showed up -- a whopping 39% of the list ... Myself, psydereal, and erevapisces live around here, and can more-or-less be considered hosts.
*enth
*psydereal
*erevapisces
*NatchLucid
jmc
chancel
TheBooBooKitty
MacArthur Parker
karma debt
brassmule
grundoon
jessicapierce
RimRod
koreykruse
Metacognizant
*Kimonade
moxie
karmaflux
*Pseudo_Intellectual
fuzzy and blue
*CheeseDanish
*chinakow
qousqous
compulsiveearnibbler
LaggedyAnne + 1
*discofever
MrSmith
dataknife + 1
*Anark
*Phyllis Stein + 1
Rancid Pickle
*radlab0
*WonkoDSane
thefez
*Ulysses
*Roninspoon
*belgand + 1
Chris-O
LadySun
disgruntledwren
tandex
michael_alkav
Garryn + 1
*Orange Julius
Jurph
farquart
Cow Of Doom
*Wiccanpiper
PacificWall
Mermagnum
cbustapeck
*Strong_Bow79
*gwenllian + 2
*farquart
Yay, formatting!