Msg. 043 of 050 Date: 03/06/89 Time: 22:38 Topic: TNO II -- SysOp's Summary To: ALL From: DOUG CUFF/MAIN SYSOP [0000] Hans-Paul Rollmann may never ask me for another ride to a TABBS event! When he arrived at my house at about 3:30, I had so many jobs left undone that I immediately put him to work. I was busy doing up TNO II buttons for everyone attending (which I was careful not to show him), so I got him to type a list of attendees, and then I had him write the name of each attendee on blank envelopes destined to hold the TNO buttons. Finally, I turned the envelopes face down so that neither he nor I could see the names written on them, shuffled them, and had Hans-Paul pick one. Into that envelope I slipped a coupon worth one free month on TABBS. Then I filled all the envelopes with TNO II buttons (once again, of course, they were designed and rendered by Sean Huxter). I shoved almost 30 labelled envelopes and as many placemats into my briefcase, and we went down to pick up Sean and Carol. Sean brought a few assorted goodies with him as well. The Kenmount Banquet Hall proved to be outstandingly large, and it proved to have one relatively short flight of concrete steps leading up to it. (If Joseph had managed to make it, I imagine that he would have been irritated by this.) Apart from having a ceiling that reminded me of a contemporary gymnasium and having far too many Rostotski pictures on the walls, it was a nice enough place for slobs like us. What with one thing and another, we didn't actually sit down to order until pretty close to 5:30. (What with a few other things -- mainly Swiss Chalet being really busy -- there was a considerable delay before they actually served us.) Those who graced the event with their presence were as follows: Jim Bragg, Stephen Christian, Doug Cuff, Les Cuff, Russ Gladden, Danny Greenland, Carol Hobbes, Sean Huxter, Vickram Jain, Joseph LeClair, Stephen Legge, Chris Mitchell, John Palfrey, Marc Wossname and his lady-friend Rhonda Wossname (no relation), Ed Reddy, Hans-Paul Rollmann, Craig Stacey, Kirsten Starcher, Stephen Sutton, Gerald Vey, and Tara Whalen (22 in all). Sean handed 'round the official placemats, which was a double-sided version of a couple of poster/flyers I had made up. On one side was a poster I made up specifically for schools in the Avalon area, and which I sent out about a month ago. The other side was a poster I made up specifically for MUN, and which will be posted ... er ... as soon as I can find people hungry enough for download credits to take the job on. One placemat had the school poster on both sides, and was worth a free month on TABBS -- the lucky recipient of this one was Joe LeClair. All other placemats had an unintentional typographical error on them, and I offered another free month to the first person to find the error. Tara Whalen, who isn't even a TABBS user, pointed out that the abbreviation for System Operator had been spelled "SySop", and won herself a free month in consequence. Kirsten Starcher had done up a few copies of an alternate placemat -- a variation on last years, which Sean and I divided up as follows ... first, Sean and Stace and I all got one. Secondly, anyone wearing their TNO pin from last year won one. The rest I handed out indiscriminately at the end of the evening. I also handed out the marvellous TNO II pins (bow, Sean!) -- and wouldn't you know it, Tara got the envelope with the free month in it, entitling her to a *second* free month! (Well, it's a good way to attract new users, I guess.) The meal itself was relatively uneventful, once you overlook the fact that Sean, Stace and I nearly choked. We had been bugging Baz about the fact that his Serial installment wasn't done (and still isn't finished as of this writing). I ragged him with the remark, Baz is almost a week late!" and he grinned that evil grin of his and replied, "Yeah, and my boyfriend is really worried." I laughed so hard I had to leave the table, and when I returned, I noticed that Sean and Stace were just beginning to regain control. It probably doesn't sound funny now ... you really had to be there! Ed Reddy made two major contributions to the evening: first, and most puzzling, he presented Sean with the Reedy Penny for Your Thoughts award, and second, he told us all that he was a bit late because he had managed to glue himself to his bed. I am glad to report that there was no prize for guessing the total bill, since the staff were glad to write 22 separate cheques. I would hazard a guess, though, that it came to a lot more than last year's total. When we had all paid, there was still more than an hour before the bowling special started at Holiday Lanes, and Sean's lady-friend, Carol, very graciously offered us the use of her domicile for the duration. I'd like to report that everything went without a hitch from then on in, but frankly, it didn't. For starts, Tara got sorta stranded at the Swiss Chalet -- or she would have done, if Marc and Rhonda hadn't dropped her at Holiday Lanes, where she presumably sat for an hour, wondering what had happened to the rest of us. (Joe LeClair very kindly offered to take Kirsten off looking for Tara.) Also, Stephen Legge and Chris Mitchell, who were 'tailing' us to Carol's got lost somehow. I rather think they didn't see my right turn onto Golf Avenue. Once we were inside, we were introduced to Comfort, the Killer Cat from Hell, who lived up its name by knocking Baz's glasses off his face, and by giving Sean two nasty scratches across the forehead, which bled all the way down to Holiday Lanes. (Until you've seen Sean Huxter clip a cat's claws, you haven't really lived.) Down at Holiday Lanes, we all donned bowling shoes and had a few practice throws before dividing ourselves up into 'teams'. (I haven't gone bowling in something like 20 years, and my one practice throw was a strike. Too bad *that* didn't last.) I have all the score-sheets in front of me now, so I *could* give you pretty much a blow-by-blow description of the whole evening, but suffice it to say that it was a lot of fun. A friend of John Palfrey's (I think) named Danny Williams joined us, and we divided up the lanes pretty much as follows (I may have gotten the lane 1 and 2 players switched), with each player's highest score appearing in square brackets. I suppose I could have reported the average scores, but that seemed too much like work. LANE ONE: Danny Greenland [151], Vickram Jain [159], John Palfrey [143], Tara Whalen [133] LANE TWO: Jim Bragg [175], Hans-Paul Rollmann [111], Gerald Vey [164], Danny W. [118] LANE THREE: Les Cuff [216], Carol Hobbes [120], Sean Huxter [135], Craig Stacey [175] LANE FOUR: Stephen Christian [162], Doug Cuff [166], Joe LeClair [193] LANE FIVE: Russ Gladden [154], Kirsten Starcher [117], Stephen Sutton [126] When the bowling ended at 10:30, Sean handed out prizes he had acquired: The bowler with the highest score for the evening was Les Cuff [216], who won a wonderful plastic toy bowling set which would be overpriced at $3.00. The bowler with the lowest score for the evening was Hans-Paul Rollmann [67], who won a small bowling trophy with the name "CHARLES BRAUN" engraved on it. (Anyone who doesn't get the significance is invited to ask me all about it.) Two other prizes were awarded. Sean and/or I picked a number out of thin air -- 89 -- and decided that the person who bowled closest to that score would be awarded a pin with "WORLD'S GREATEST BOWLER" written on it. (After all, you've gotta be good if you can come close to a score without even realizing it.) The lucky recipient was Stephen Sutton. Finally, in an effort to get rid of the other toy bowling set he had bought, Sean decided to give a prize for the most consistent bowler, who turned out to be Danny Williams. After the bowling, some of us adjourned to the Duke of Duckworth -- which proved to be closed to the general public, as it was housing a private party. We settled instead for the Ship Inn, where we made nuisances of ourselves until closing. You think I'd have learned my lesson after last year, but no. I really didn't think I was going to have a good time going bowling, but I had a great time. I was greatly soothed by the knowledge that just about everyone on TABBS is pretty much equally hopeless, and was surprised by how much it all was. I was also heartened to see a few new faces there, like Gerry Vey's, etc. I think enormous pats on the back are due Stace, who organized just about every facet of the event, including looking after reservations, and cooling down the rowdies who wanted to hold the event early in February, and Sean, who designed the button, bought prizes, made speeches, andsoforth. Thanks are also due Carol Hobbes, Joe LeClair (thanks for keeping count, Joe!), Hans-Paul Rollmann, Kirsten Starcher, Marc Wossname, and other who names and deeds have temporarily slipped my mind. A few miscellaneous notes: Tara has got to claim her two free months before 4 March 1990, or she forfeits them. (This is because Pam Stockley won a free month last year -- and I haven't seen her for at least six months now!) The next person who refers to my Bronco as "the TABBSmobile" dies. Baz brought along our video camera, but there didn't seem to be a good opportunity to use it. Everyone was having such a good time that we didn't want to ruin it by capturing the moment in pictures. Besides, Baz getting four strikes in a row is something I'd rather forget. --> Doug <--