Sadly getting to the states isn't the issue - its the fact that July is a crazy month for work and I won't be able to get a weekend off :-(

Agent K, are you referring to Bearnstien, the multiaccounter? : )

Tentative Roster:

1) Fortknox
2) abgemacht
3) Draugnar
4) gramilaj (Not 1st weekend)
5) Celticfox (Depending on weekend)
6) Thucy (Wild Card, as usual)
7) Geofram
8) Tom Bombadil
9) Agent K
10) Bearnstien
11) LanGaidin

If its the weekend of the first, I think I'm in.

I would very much like to attend, but not sure it is in the cards this time around, though mid-late July actually works better than most dates, so we'll see how things shake out (especially since I have plenty of airline miles not getting used).

Sadly I don't think I'll be able to attend. Much much easier to attend the World Diplomacy gathering in Chicago for me (I live in a suburb of Chicago). So I think the hubby and I will probably go to that instead.

Oh, come on, CF. Chicago to Cinci isn't that long of a drive at all.

@MM

It would be great if you come. It was great having you around.

@Abge It's more the money. I can commute to the Chicago Dip Expo from my apartment. Also not sure I can get the time off.

I can't make it to Cincinnati, but for encouragement: that weekend (or the one before) fits perfectly with the NADF calendar. No Grand-Prix event in July to conflict with it, and a great chance to get into the mood for the World Championships in Ausgust in Chicago!

@Wizard

Too bad, it was a pleasure playing with you, as well.

Tentative Roster:

1) Fortknox
2) abgemacht
3) Draugnar
4) gramilaj (Not 1st weekend)
5) MM
6) Thucy (Wild Card, as usual)
7) Geofram
8) Tom Bombadil
9) Agent K
10) Bearnstien
11) LanGaidin

@Frank

It's looking like it will be July 20-22. Does that still work for you?

Thinking about it, I think that's the weekend my best friend is coming here to Detroit from New Jersey. I'd highjack him and drive him down too, but he's here for a conference that he should attend.

Wasn't Bearnstien banned as a multi? Do we really want someone who hasn't repented of his cheating ways in our tournament?

What if he tries it at the FtF??? That would give him a decided advantage.
I'm already fearful of taking a complete ars-whooping in this tourney.

I'm obviously being silly about the first line, but Draug does have a point.

Ack, I would have loved to make it, but I'm only flying to the US in the first week of August.

Draug: I'll get a house at the first opportunity. Trust me, I really miss having a house, but I'm in a decent 2bdrm apartment that is in a bad part of anderson (the neighborhood nearby has 6-10 sexual offenders in it... I get postcards about them every month or two), which drives the cost down... and I'm still a bit in the red every month.

She was a stay at home and I have 3 kids. I walk away with ~1/3rd of my paycheck and have the kids about half the time. 3-5 years of alimony, and then a few years to recover from the debt disaster I've put myself into, then I can save for a couple years, THEN I'll get back into a house.

Yes, it is a depressingly long wait.

Well, you have friends. I'm surprised in Ohio that you got hit by so much alimony, even as a stay at home mom. Did *you* do something to justify *her* filing for divorce? Were you a bad boy? <wink wink>

And I mean all of us here who will prop you up are you friends. I'm sure you have others as well.

Feedback from a F2Fer:

"Would non-webdippers be welcome at the annual FtF con? If so, then I suggest that the organizers petition to get the event on the Grand Prix schedule for next year."

Also:

"Some of the tournaments on the circuit aren't that well organized. And webdip hosting a tourney is not that different from a community like the Weasels hosting one. As long as it's open, the webdip tournament should qualify. I'd be much more likely to attend if it counted toward the Grand Prix."

This begs the question, would an annual F2F webDip event be focused mostly on webDippers getting together, or mostly focused on webDippers playing F2F, or...

Any/all thoughts would be interesting, please comment!

@MM

While the primary focus of webDip F2F is to get people from the community to meet each other IRL, I think it's great to have "real" F2Fers there as well. It was great having Alex and some other Boston regulars come give advice about the tournament last year. It's also nice to see the different style of play. Finally, as webDip is, imho, the best online Diplomacy site, I think it would be good if we integrated with the F2F crowd more.

FK... I am very sorry to hear about the rough turn of events. I genuinely hope that things get better.

ab, I agree, it was nice to have a few F2Fers at the Boston event.

Sorry guys. I appreciate the kind words, but we've been separated for 2 years before the divorce. The emotion was gone long ago (I'm fine, no depression or anything like that), it was just tidying up the loose bits. I didn't want this to become a pity party or anything. Let's just talk about dip, k?

That's what I was going for... I felt like a bit of an ass, but that's what I was going for...

I know, marx, just didn't want to get sidetracked about it again.

Tentative Roster:

1) Fortknox
2) abgemacht
3) Draugnar
4) gramilaj (Not 1st weekend)
5) MM
6) Thucy (Wild Card, as usual)
7) Geofram
8) Tom Bombadil
9) Agent K
10) Bearnstien
11) LanGaidin

Is there some sort of tentative deadline to express interest? How many people minimum to make this happen? Any other details need to be figured out soon?

Just how much people are willing to pay for the venue and to collect advanced reservations so we can reserve it.

we had, what, 14, or 21 people before?

one good thing was people's ability to rustle up some warm bodies who werent necessarily webdippers but still fun to have around. we would probably need that again unless interest here explodes in the next bit