The Bar 2016 Edition

[Madgirl]

Morning bar! I finally cracked open my bins this weekend...they have not been touched since returning home last year. Thankfully I'm finally at the point where I don't have to do TOO much to get them organized. Clothing is still always the hardest, though, so of course I'll leave that for last.

The Amazon cart is accumulating items at an alarming rate, shopping lists are being made, and just for good measure I'm slammed at work too Off to be productive! (I hope.)

[lucky420]

The truth? You can't handle the truth.

All the serious stuff

Let's get goofy. I'm craving the goofy!

Tinkerbelle? is that you?

shhhhhhh

[Aurelia]

Good morning dear bar
Any good easy links for led lights ?
I found some silly solar butterfly led might be too silly
xoAurelia

[burner von braun]

I'll miss seein ya BVB!! we gotta make sure to have a nice visit next year then......

Will do! ..and thanks for the kind thoughts GW and Patsh. I'll build a bonfire here at some point during the week for good measure!

[bigbluedoggy]

Good morning bar peeps!
Realizing I leave LA in 20 days.... definitely nowhere near ready and I am tied up beyond full time with work thru the 11th. Big fun. But the truth is, it will all come together, we will have a great crew and an awesome time. Somehow it always does and we always do. Will it be perfect? Hell no. Will it be exactly as planned? Not a chance. Will I have the love of my friends around me to lift me up? You betcha. Will it be the best 3 weeks of my year, even with it's bumps and imperfections? Oh, yeah! Will it go by way too fast? It always does. Feeling particularly vulnerable this year for many reasons. But as always, excited to be hitting the dust. I wouldn't mind some dusty hugs from you all when I see you

[Jovankat]

Eep I leave for the playa (via an inconveniently scheduled staff retreat in San Diego) in 20 days too! I'm also going to New Orleans on a 5 day work trip on Friday.

Bigbluedoggy Are you working gate again this year? It was really nice to roll in in 2104, pull over to have placement radioed and realize I recognized someone.

[trilobyte]

Aww, I'm sorry to hear about scrubbing the plans this year, BvB... but good on you for covering the priorities and hooray for the early start on planning. My gf is taking this year off from the burn, and I think she's already several months into planning for art projects and whatnot. I think I started tossing around ideas for 2017 in May or June, but that's all still at the bar napkin stage at this point.

I couldn't agree more, bigbluedoggy - somehow we'll find a way to make it work and get 'er done. I'm also feeling a bit vulnerable too, aside from the girl taking the year off the year has been chock full of curve balls it seems. I couldn't be more nervous, or more excited.

Good luck with the work trips, jovankat. Try not to let thoughts of all the stuff you need to finish distract you too much, and hopefully you can get a chance to enjoy both of those places while you're there - they're both great towns (though when I lived in New Orleans, during this time of year it was always oppressively humid and muggy all the time).

[bigbluedoggy]

Bigbluedoggy Are you working gate again this year? It was really nice to roll in in 2104, pull over to have placement radioed and realize I recognized someone.

Alas, you happened to catch me on my one and only shift as a Lead Greeter ever (not Gate). Last year, in order to focus more on bringing our theme camp back to full life after some unlisted years, I opted out of volunteer shifts completely. This year I'm trying to find a balance and I took on three shifts as cashier in Center Camp Cafe, which is a blast, but no Greeters shifts. I may pop in spontaneously once or twice.

And last year, I ended up doing a Cafe shift on the last Monday morning where it was me as a cashier and all of the cafe leads playing the other parts due to a shortage of volunteers. It was super fun!!

[Jovankat]

Yes, greeter not gate, of course! What a rookie mistake to make! I'm actually hoping to step back a little from theme camp running this year and do more volunteering outside of camp and if it goes well do even more next year. I don't think I'll ever stop theme camp organizing completely though, I well and truly have that sickness.

Thanks Trilo! I won't see much of anything in San Diego except *maybe* and Aussie friend who now lives there. I have two and a half days to myself in New Orleans though. It will be interesting to see how I deal with the humidity. Where I grew up had a very similar climate to Miami so I'm no stranger to humidity. I'm not going to say I prefer it because it's gross but it somehow makes more sense to me than the dry heat of BRC. Since you lived there do you have any tips for places I should visit?

[trilobyte]

I'd just say head into the quarter. Of course cafe du monde if you're a coffee drinker - they not only do a nice coffee, but gives you a great perspective on BRC French Quarter's take on it. Get a beignet while you're there too, when I lived there we mostly just made our own at home but I think that place also did 'em up nice. The quarter has a nice debaucherous feel that may seem tame compared to the playa, but it's a very nearly 400 year old town that just has an interesting vibe to it. I've not been back in decades, so I couldn't really give you good local tips, but if you like divey and seedy spots you should find no end to the awesomeness.

I wouldn't call it a rookie mistake, though - both are pretty awesome groups you pass through on the way in, and when combined with the sensory overload of hitting the playa and starting to see all the things, it's easy for wires to get crossed.

[mojo]

Bigbluedoggy Are you working gate again this year? It was really nice to roll in in 2104, pull over to have placement radioed and realize I recognized someone.

Alas, you happened to catch me on my one and only shift as a Lead Greeter ever (not Gate). Last year, in order to focus more on bringing our theme camp back to full life after some unlisted years, I opted out of volunteer shifts completely. This year I'm trying to find a balance and I took on three shifts as cashier in Center Camp Cafe, which is a blast, but no Greeters shifts. I may pop in spontaneously once or twice.

And last year, I ended up doing a Cafe shift on the last Monday morning where it was me as a cashier and all of the cafe leads playing the other parts due to a shortage of volunteers. It was super fun!!

Oh BBD, we will miss you at Greeters! You are always family. Come play with us opening night.

[mojo]

Yo kids, apparently big fire at Nixon. See the videos. Scary.

[lucky420]

I beleuve that's the Virginia mountains complex fire which is burning on the other side of the lake at Sutcliffe unless Nixon caught fire last night. There was a mandatory evac of Sutcliffe residents over the weekend but people are back home now. Nixon community center was used as an evac shelter.

[Madgirl]

I beleuve that's the Virginia mountains complex fire which is burning on the other side of the lake at Sutcliffe unless Nixon caught fire last night. There was a mandatory evac of Sutcliffe residents over the weekend but people are back home now. Nixon community center was used as an evac shelter.

Here's the Inciweb report: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4902/....super scary.

[mojo]

I beleuve that's the Virginia mountains complex fire which is burning on the other side of the lake at Sutcliffe unless Nixon caught fire last night. There was a mandatory evac of Sutcliffe residents over the weekend but people are back home now. Nixon community center was used as an evac shelter.

Here's the Inciweb report: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4902/....super scary.

Wow, thanx for the info.

[trilobyte]

Wowzers, been a crazy day... more like 3 days packed into one, now that we're officially into the HOME STRETCH!!!!!!!

I got nowhere on a report I'm trying to finish up, but I managed to get huge amounts done on an art poster design I've been working on. A zillion and one details have been knocked out, and today I finally turned a corner so I can fire up the render engines and start the machines working on the high resolution image. Even with 50 processor cores on the job, that will likely take several days to complete... here's hoping it goes well. Now it's off to get cleaned up and head on over to the theater for a screening of suicide squad. That was one of the last comics I was ever really into back in the late 80's/early 90's, I'm excited to see it finally on the big screen. Have a great night!

[ygmir]

Trilo, I just don't know how you do it all...........

on another note, and hoping for input:
I'm considering selling Frankencamper, so I can build a new rig, maybe a bus, maybe and Alvis-Stalwart camper.......any thoughts? I just can't decide.

[trilobyte]

Blargh... 10 minutes before showtime, and just after we got our food and drink order in, the power cut out in the theater. After a minute or two they said the block was without juice, but if it didn't come back on they'd fire up their own generators and carry on with the show. A few minutes later, and they made a different announcement... power was out in the whole chunk of town, and would be until at least 8:30. Rain checks were issued, and they said the food orders placed would be on the house (though in the end they just didn't bring any more food out). Damn.... and of course their servers are in the building, so no trying to book another show at the same venue tonight. I locked us in for another place in town tomorrow afternoon (luckily the girlie has a half a day tomorrow), and as we were exiting a guy announced that there were fire trucks responding to a call next door, and out of an abundance of caution they needed everybody to exit quickly.... d'oh!

When we got in, we found that the power had gone out at our place for a bit. Ohnoes, my giganto-render!!!! I've just restarted and tested all the machines, and then restarted the task - hopefully no whammies!

[burner von braun]

Ouch Trilo! Glad you're safe. Sorry about the change in all the plans. And well, look at it this way, at least it happened this evening instead of your having lost two or three days of render time. Do you use a UPS power supply setup?

..and ygmir, that's a tough call. I never knew what those Alvis Stalwart vehicles were called until now, but they certainly are impressive. I wouldn't personally know where to even begin in dealing with something like that, but I know you do, given your experience with deuce and a half's and all. Of course, a bus has a lot of merit too, just ask Elliot. Still, the Frankencamper is off the meter when it comes to unique. I was under the impression that it sort of pulled double duty for you, providing some measure of wildfire protection for your compound during the other 51 weeks a year. Whatever you chose to do, something tells me it is going to be very cool!

[ygmir]

thanks BVB.......yeah tough choices....but "first world problems", so, all in perspective.

[mgb327]

Methinks FrankenCamper may be a bit too new....you need a 1952 Maxim firetruck....or TWO!

[lucky420]

Good morning bar

3 day weekend for meeeeeeeee

Hope everyone's day is luscious and full of good things

Ciao

[ygmir]

hah yeah MGB!! I'd expect that response!! and not a bad idea.
But the Alvis-Stalwart.......*swoon*........


3 day weekend!! Lucky, Lucky!! have some fun!!

[lucky420]

Fun as in puttering and prepping. But I love my dog and my abode so staying home is tits

[ZigZag]

Morning Bar
This week was a total train wreck and I lost so much momentum. Hoping for a mental and physical re-start this weekend. My countdown is now at 2 weeks before departure so its game-on now! I need to rehearse putting up my Monkey Hut one more time before packing it up for travel and get more food prepped.

The weather here is going to be awesome, classic North Woods weather instead of this steamy jungle atmosphere we've had. Dry air is what I am craving. The weather out on the playa looks to be amazing this coming week (See below)

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

ZZ

[Just_Joe]

Burning Man prep? Hell, I'm getting ready for a four night Perseids Meteor Shower camout on the playa next week.
Once I return and get everything rinsed off, I'll have 9 whole days to get ready for T(other)TITD....

[lucky420]

Burning Man prep? Hell, I'm getting ready for a four night Perseids Meteor Shower camout on the playa next week.
Once I return and get everything rinsed off, I'll have 9 whole days to get ready for T(other)TITD....

Ohhhhh man...jealous

[ZigZag]

Burning Man prep? Hell, I'm getting ready for a four night Perseids Meteor Shower camout on the playa next week.
Once I return and get everything rinsed off, I'll have 9 whole days to get ready for T(other)TITD....

Ohhhhh man...jealous

Me too. Totally jealous!!

[lucky420]

Day drinking for the win

Prepping

[Just_Joe]

Day drinking for the win

Prepping

Getting ready with a cup of water. And maybe a bucket
Prepping.

Hey, I just noticed there's no Faces with Names thread for this year. How is everyone going to know how handsome I am??