Chicago Open 2008: The End Comes...Beyond the Omega Point

[fizzball]

As I'm arriving that Saturday "around lunchtime", I can pick up a food order from some place (singular) if that makes things easier/more reliable.

[Susan]

Hey, Greg,

Are your "arriving on Saturday 'around lunchtime'" plans predicated on the movie tournament happening at lunch on Saturday? I'm not sure if you've been following the whole thread, but it seems like that might be a little up in the air now.

[fizzball]

It was, I saw; but no matter. If I'm in someone's afternoon staffing calculations I should be there anyway.

And it looks like a movie tournament could break out at any time, without warning. Vigilance is the watchword.

[DumbJaques]

I'm under the impression Ryan was told, but just in case I'm wrong (since it's still in the posted field), I believe the Saxton/Sekerak/etc. team has dropped from the tournament. Not sure how this will impact our quest for the Bataan death march of quizbowl.

[No Rules Westbrook]

Chris,

At least one person from the Saxton team (Jacob Durst) is still coming and playing. Would anyone out there like to join on? Come on, no charge. Endless weekend of quizbowl!

And, yeah, what will happen (I think anyway) with food is: at registration, people can pay whoever is in charge of arranging and ordering the pizza (Susan, probably) about 5 bucks or so.

[Susan]

And, yeah, what will happen (I think anyway) with food is: at registration, people can pay whoever is in charge of arranging and ordering the pizza (Susan, probably) about 5 bucks or so.

To put a few more specifics on this, the pizza will be Domino's. $5 will probably cover enough for everyone to have two slices (plus plates, napkins, and drinks). If that's not going to be enough food for people, let me know and we can plan on having everyone pay more for more food.

If you're going to be a princess about eating Domino's, bring your own food or convince everyone else to pay me more money and I'll get something better (probably Lou Malnati's).

Greg, can I take you up on your food-picking-up offer and change it to a soda-picking-up offer?

[DumbJaques]

Chris,

At least one person from the Saxton team (Jacob Durst) is still coming and playing. Would anyone out there like to join on? Come on, no charge. Endless weekend of quizbowl

Ok, I figured you were notified, but I just didn't want to take the chance it would catch you off guard next week or something.

On the note of finding a team for Jacob, isn't the Rom and friends team at three? Perhaps I am similarly misinformed and should just be ignored.

[Mechanical Beasts]

On the note of finding a team for Jacob, isn't the Rom and friends team at three? Perhaps I am similarly misinformed and should just be ignored.

Well, this would have the same effect as your initial scenario under which his team didn't exist: CHAOS. So my guess is that Ryan's looking for other players to join him, not a merger. Unless you're suggesting he cherrypick one of Rom's friends.

[No Rules Westbrook]

Hey, in addition to bringing buzzers, people should bring their laptops to this thing (you know, if you have one and stuff)....since the questions will be read off said laptops.

[Susan]

And, yeah, what will happen (I think anyway) with food is: at registration, people can pay whoever is in charge of arranging and ordering the pizza (Susan, probably) about 5 bucks or so.

To put a few more specifics on this, the pizza will be Domino's. $5 will probably cover enough for everyone to have two slices (plus plates, napkins, and drinks). If that's not going to be enough food for people, let me know and we can plan on having everyone pay more for more food.

If you're going to be a princess about eating Domino's, bring your own food or convince everyone else to pay me more money and I'll get something better (probably Lou Malnati's).

The princesses have spoken, and we are now looking at $10 PER PERSON (to be collected at registration) for soda plus Lou Malnati's deep-dish pizza. (This will be superior to Domino's, and you will get more of it.) Please let your teammates who don't read this board know, because I want to make sure I get paid (I'm happy to organize this, if it means that the tournament will run more smoothly, but I am in no financial position to take you all out to lunch).

[DumbJaques]

The princesses have spoken, and we are now looking at $10 PER PERSON (to be collected at registration) for soda plus Lou Malnati's deep-dish pizza. (This will be superior to Domino's, and you will get more of it.) Please let your teammates who don't read this board know, because I want to make sure I get paid (I'm happy to organize this, if it means that the tournament will run more smoothly, but I am in no financial position to take you all out to lunch).

Hey,

You rule.

[Birdofredum Sawin]

There is some sort of "opt out" procedure, right? (The last thing I want for lunch during this kind of epic day of quizbowl is deep-dish pizza, esp. Lou Malnati's.) Which leads me also to hope that we won't be rolling right through lunch without any sort of break, but will have time to drive over to Potbelly's.

Andrew

[Skepticism and Animal Feed]

I would be willing to join a group that orders something other than Lou Malnati's, which I find too bready. Would anyone be willing to order food for this group?

[Susan]

Okay.

I am willing to place an order for pizza or whatever if money will be made available to me to pay for it.

But I really don't have time to track people down, find out whether they want food ordered for them, and make sure we can all agree on one thing as our Platonic ideal of lunch, and I'm not okay with a plan that leaves me owing a lot of money for the food.

I'd suggest one of two things. One possibility would be for Ryan to add $10/person to everyone's bill, set a deadline by which people need to tell him if they're opting out of the lunch order, and then give me the total number of people who'll be ordering in food. Another would be to forego a food order and to have the people in the lit tournament order in dinner. If people favor the former, I'm willing to place the order, but I don't have time to figure out what everyone wants and who wants to opt in or opt out.

Thoughts?

[Skepticism and Animal Feed]

Susan,

Ryan or somebody could send out a checklist saying "please select your lunch" with a list of different restaurants that can be ordered from and the price for each; maybe 3-5. A pizza place, something light, and then maybe ribs or Harold's or something. A final option can be "opt out". If you don't fill this out, you get the default meal (let's say Lou's). There would be some deadline by which they would have to have this in.

[Susan]

Ryan or somebody could send out a checklist saying "please select your lunch" with a list of different restaurants that can be ordered from and the price for each; maybe 3-5. A pizza place, something light, and then maybe ribs or Harold's or something. A final option can be "opt out". If you don't fill this out, you get the default meal (let's say Lou's). There would be some deadline by which they would have to have this in.

Sorry, I don't think this is a workable option; for one thing, I'm not interested in arranging 3-5 food orders, and for another, I think the chances of getting multiple deliveries to arrive at roughly the same time are virtually nil, which would obviate the idea of ordering in to save time.

[Birdofredum Sawin]

I agree that any plan which requires Susan to juggle a bunch of different orders, or to be left holding the bag for hundreds of dollars in possibly unwanted food, is a bad one. But I also don't want to be told that I have to pay $10 extra for some heavy pizza I don't want to eat.

Why don't people who want pizza for lunch contact Susan and ask her to order for them? Then people who don't want pizza can be free to set up their own lunch plans. Even if the tournament doesn't want to set aside the traditional "hour for lunch which becomes 90 minutes when people decide to go to unfortunate restaurants," we can surely set aside 30 minutes for people to drive off to a sandwich place and bring food back while the pizza lovers stuff themselves on Lou Malnati's.

Andrew

[Susan]

Okay, I probably should have foreseen that this whole food business would turn out to be more work than I thought it would be initially.

Here's how it's going to work. Email me at [email protected] by 10PM on Sunday, July 13 if you would like to get in on the food order (to repeat what I've said above, it will be deep-dish pizza and soda and will cost $10 per person). If you don't want me to order pizza for you, do nothing. If you want to email me on behalf of your team, that's fine, but make sure everyone is prepared to pay me. I'm not going to go tracking people down to find out whether they want in or not, so if you forget to contact me, you'll have to make other plans.

If you are staffing the tournament, you don't need to pay.

For those of you who choose not to eat pizza, we're looking at a half-hour lunch break, which would accommodate, say, Andrew's plan of driving somewhere close to get food and bringing it back, but is not going to give you enough time to eat in anywhere.

Edited to add: the list of people who have signed up may be found here. If you've emailed me and don't see your name up there, let me know.

[No Rules Westbrook]

Hey,

I'm confused as to whether we can get into Cobb Hall prior to 8 in the morning - Seth seemed to indicate that we likely could not. So, I'm going to suggest that everyone show up around 7:45 for registration (that's when I'll shoot to show up, if not a little earlier)...if we have to meet outside Cobb Hall before 8, that's fine. But, I would like everyone there AT SOME TIME BEFORE 8:00 AM, so we can get things going as quickly as possible. Let me know, Chicago people, if there really is a way to get in before 8 - in which case, this message does not apply.


Also, might I suggest that we use the history tourney on Friday as a test run to see how likely it is that we get thrown out of the building at 11? I don't know how late history will go, but I'm sure it won't terminate too far from 11:00 - it might be helpful to know what will happen at that fateful hour. If there's no realistic threat of getting thrown out or if we could convince security or whoever that it's okay to let us stay, a lot of these concerns about time would go away, which is the optimal solution.

[Skepticism and Animal Feed]

I hope we can end by 11 on Friday night; if best comes to best and we finish early, we can always drag out the awards ceremony, or maybe 2-3 people can just camp out in Cobb. I can bring a tent.

[shlack]

Chris,

At least one person from the Saxton team (Jacob Durst) is still coming and playing. Would anyone out there like to join on? Come on, no charge. Endless weekend of quizbowl!

And, yeah, what will happen (I think anyway) with food is: at registration, people can pay whoever is in charge of arranging and ordering the pizza (Susan, probably) about 5 bucks or so.

I'll be coming to Chicago for the weekend and, as I just heard on the quizbowl podcast, will be able to moderate or play on one of the teams. I'm not very good anymore, though, and can't say I'm too enthused about being a punching bag for the rest of the teams. It would be great if we could get a few more bodies for that 17th team.

Also, I'd like to put in my order for pizza. Thanks.

[Susan]

It's $10 now; email me at [email protected] if you actually want it (i.e. don't just post it in the thread).

[No Rules Westbrook]

Ted,

I believe Lorin Burte is now playing on that team as well. Anyone is welcome to join on, providing it's okay with those already on the team.

[fleurdelivre]

Just putting in a repeat housing request - I'm still seeking floor space if anyone's got room for me to lay out a sleeping bag. I'll offer money, food and something resembling eternal gratitude, seeing as the alternative is a weekend with my not-in-laws (as Magin aptly rated a 9.7/10 on the awkwardness scale). It beats homelessness, but is still best avoided.