FA United 5 and Third Tuesday
I was at the Hanover Marriott in Northern New Jersey from Friday to Monday for FA United 5. Shared a hotel room with jbadger again, just like last year. Now because I've heard a few complaints about this con, I have to say that we ought to set our expectations a bit lower since it's a smaller con than Anthrocon and Furfright and it has less programming. Given that, I thought I had a pretty good time overall. Not every con needs to be a rush of activity and I liked having the time to do what I wanted to do, to talk to people, and to let spontaneous things happen. It was slow at times but never actually dull.
The new hotel had more than enough space for our group. The common areas never seemed packed or congested at any time during the con, so it could probably accommodate a con two or three times the size. The only space that seemed a bit small was the con suite (especially at dinner time, when the line spilled out into the hallway) but the room is the size it is, so I don't think we can do much about that. Housekeeping was probably a bit understaffed that weekend; I noticed they weren't done with the rooms until the evening on Saturday.
As I mentioned earlier, there wasn't a lot of programming but I enjoyed the events that I did attend. The Sock Hop (oldies music dance) on Friday evening was fun and actually quite danceable in fursuit. The Miracle Fruit Tasting Party was the most unusual panel I've ever been to. Miracle fruit is a berry containing a chemical that makes sour foods taste sweet. So in this panel, we ate miracle fruit in pill form and then tried various kinds of food and juices. That was certainly a different experience! On Saturday night, we made our own spontaneous event, tearing around the lobby doing various funny stuff in fursuit. (Hope we didn't annoy the hotel folks too much!)
The day after the con, I returned to Bridgewater for the Triple Tuesday Pints & Patties - 2012 geocaching event. This monthly Central Jersey geocaching event has been going on for quite a number of years. It's the third Tuesday of every month. It used to be in New Brunswick but switched around to a few other places and then moved to Fuddruckers in Bridgewater after the New Brunswick Fuddruckers went out of business. I can't attend as often as I used to because I'm now further away but I figured I might as well extend my vacation by one day and do it this month. It was a comparatively small gathering this time, but I got to meet up with some of the regulars plus a few folks I haven't seen before. I noticed that the next Third Tuesday falls on my birthday, which makes attending this event again a tempting proposition if I take that day off from work.
Friday:
ESCAPE!!!!!!! (New Jersey)
Bug Inn - Bug Out (New Jersey)
"Always Be Prepared" (New Jersey)
"Little" airfield (New Jersey)
I'm thankful for... (New Jersey)
Coffee #2 (New Jersey)
I am Cotton Malone (R 796.54 BER) (New Jersey)
Hang Up and Drive Travel Bug Hotel (New Jersey)
Drive Friendly (New Jersey)
Target Practice (New Jersey)
Saturday:
"0398" (New Jersey)
Beijing Booty (New Jersey)
Downtown / Main Street USA: Morris Plains, NJ (New Jersey)
The -Chicken- Penthouse (New Jersey)
Slap Shot (New Jersey)
Tres Charmant (New Jersey)
We Will Never Forget - Morris Plains (New Jersey)
Tiny Often Empty Park: Morris Plains, NJ (New Jersey)
A Classic Cache (New Jersey)
A Kool Cache (New Jersey)
Bridget (New Jersey)
Biners, Bisons & Backpacks (New Jersey)
Sunday:
Where's the Water? (New Jersey)
Marsha's Mad Moments (New Jersey)
Drive-thru Cache (New Jersey)
It's Hard to Stop A Trane - Parsippany (New Jersey)
Cellulose Tunnel (New Jersey)
Monday:
Forgotten Rock Wall - Sylvan Way (New Jersey)
A Real Shocking Cache! (New Jersey)
Parks Park (New Jersey)
Morris County Traction Company #3 (New Jersey)
Beacon Hill Boulders II (New Jersey)
Biga800 ~ 6000th Cache (New Jersey)
Top of the Mountain (New Jersey)
Limpidity-4: George Washington's StairMaster (New Jersey)
Stayfloopy's 3000th Cache (Redux) (New Jersey)
mblatch's 10,000 cache tribute (New Jersey)
Dog And Bear's 5,000 cache tribute (New Jersey)
The "Its" Cache (New Jersey)
Split rock (New Jersey)
The little glacial erratic (New Jersey)
The Rocky Slope (New Jersey)
IMSpider 10,000 cache tribute (New Jersey)
The Great Stop Sign Challenge: Spencer Stop Sign (New Jersey)
The Great Stop Sign Challenge: Cedar Stop Sign (New Jersey)
Park Place Cache (New Jersey)
The Great Stop Sign Challenge: Stirling Stop Sign (New Jersey)
Ray's 50th Birthday (New Jersey)
Gold Finger #1 (New Jersey)
Thumbs Up Thumbs Off #1 (New Jersey)
Marian's Scrapbooking Cache (New Jersey)
EBBL A-Field (New Jersey)
Bloody Mary (New Jersey)
Swales Park (New Jersey)
Crestwood Park (New Jersey)
Which Way In??? (New Jersey)
Tuesday:
I YAM WHAT I YAM! (New Jersey)
Let's Go to Prison (New Jersey)
Oh Thank Heaven...#1 (New Jersey)
The Place where I was Born (New Jersey)
Hey, We're Over Here! (New Jersey)
Welcome to Mount Holly (New Jersey)
Hard-Where Cache (New Jersey)
Modzelewski family - 2 (New Jersey)
New Jersey Borders Memorial #9: East Brunswick (New Jersey)
CNJC Cache to Eagle Series: Trustworthy (New Jersey)
CNJC Cache to Eagle Series: Reverent (New Jersey)
New Talmage Bridge Cache (New Jersey)
Smooth Criminal (New Jersey)
Weight, Weight, Don't Tell Me (New Jersey)
The Fresh Prince (New Jersey)
Manville C&D (New Jersey)
Thousand Dollar Guardrail (New Jersey)
Easy Strike (New Jersey)
Cash Cache (New Jersey)
New Jersey Borders Memorial #1: Bridgewater (New Jersey)
A Commons Microcache (New Jersey)
Triple Tuesday Pints & Patties - 2012 (New Jersey)
The new hotel had more than enough space for our group. The common areas never seemed packed or congested at any time during the con, so it could probably accommodate a con two or three times the size. The only space that seemed a bit small was the con suite (especially at dinner time, when the line spilled out into the hallway) but the room is the size it is, so I don't think we can do much about that. Housekeeping was probably a bit understaffed that weekend; I noticed they weren't done with the rooms until the evening on Saturday.
As I mentioned earlier, there wasn't a lot of programming but I enjoyed the events that I did attend. The Sock Hop (oldies music dance) on Friday evening was fun and actually quite danceable in fursuit. The Miracle Fruit Tasting Party was the most unusual panel I've ever been to. Miracle fruit is a berry containing a chemical that makes sour foods taste sweet. So in this panel, we ate miracle fruit in pill form and then tried various kinds of food and juices. That was certainly a different experience! On Saturday night, we made our own spontaneous event, tearing around the lobby doing various funny stuff in fursuit. (Hope we didn't annoy the hotel folks too much!)
The day after the con, I returned to Bridgewater for the Triple Tuesday Pints & Patties - 2012 geocaching event. This monthly Central Jersey geocaching event has been going on for quite a number of years. It's the third Tuesday of every month. It used to be in New Brunswick but switched around to a few other places and then moved to Fuddruckers in Bridgewater after the New Brunswick Fuddruckers went out of business. I can't attend as often as I used to because I'm now further away but I figured I might as well extend my vacation by one day and do it this month. It was a comparatively small gathering this time, but I got to meet up with some of the regulars plus a few folks I haven't seen before. I noticed that the next Third Tuesday falls on my birthday, which makes attending this event again a tempting proposition if I take that day off from work.
Friday:
ESCAPE!!!!!!! (New Jersey)
Bug Inn - Bug Out (New Jersey)
"Always Be Prepared" (New Jersey)
"Little" airfield (New Jersey)
I'm thankful for... (New Jersey)
Coffee #2 (New Jersey)
I am Cotton Malone (R 796.54 BER) (New Jersey)
Hang Up and Drive Travel Bug Hotel (New Jersey)
Drive Friendly (New Jersey)
Target Practice (New Jersey)
Saturday:
"0398" (New Jersey)
Beijing Booty (New Jersey)
Downtown / Main Street USA: Morris Plains, NJ (New Jersey)
The -Chicken- Penthouse (New Jersey)
Slap Shot (New Jersey)
Tres Charmant (New Jersey)
We Will Never Forget - Morris Plains (New Jersey)
Tiny Often Empty Park: Morris Plains, NJ (New Jersey)
A Classic Cache (New Jersey)
A Kool Cache (New Jersey)
Bridget (New Jersey)
Biners, Bisons & Backpacks (New Jersey)
Sunday:
Where's the Water? (New Jersey)
Marsha's Mad Moments (New Jersey)
Drive-thru Cache (New Jersey)
It's Hard to Stop A Trane - Parsippany (New Jersey)
Cellulose Tunnel (New Jersey)
Monday:
Forgotten Rock Wall - Sylvan Way (New Jersey)
A Real Shocking Cache! (New Jersey)
Parks Park (New Jersey)
Morris County Traction Company #3 (New Jersey)
Beacon Hill Boulders II (New Jersey)
Biga800 ~ 6000th Cache (New Jersey)
Top of the Mountain (New Jersey)
Limpidity-4: George Washington's StairMaster (New Jersey)
Stayfloopy's 3000th Cache (Redux) (New Jersey)
mblatch's 10,000 cache tribute (New Jersey)
Dog And Bear's 5,000 cache tribute (New Jersey)
The "Its" Cache (New Jersey)
Split rock (New Jersey)
The little glacial erratic (New Jersey)
The Rocky Slope (New Jersey)
IMSpider 10,000 cache tribute (New Jersey)
The Great Stop Sign Challenge: Spencer Stop Sign (New Jersey)
The Great Stop Sign Challenge: Cedar Stop Sign (New Jersey)
Park Place Cache (New Jersey)
The Great Stop Sign Challenge: Stirling Stop Sign (New Jersey)
Ray's 50th Birthday (New Jersey)
Gold Finger #1 (New Jersey)
Thumbs Up Thumbs Off #1 (New Jersey)
Marian's Scrapbooking Cache (New Jersey)
EBBL A-Field (New Jersey)
Bloody Mary (New Jersey)
Swales Park (New Jersey)
Crestwood Park (New Jersey)
Which Way In??? (New Jersey)
Tuesday:
I YAM WHAT I YAM! (New Jersey)
Let's Go to Prison (New Jersey)
Oh Thank Heaven...#1 (New Jersey)
The Place where I was Born (New Jersey)
Hey, We're Over Here! (New Jersey)
Welcome to Mount Holly (New Jersey)
Hard-Where Cache (New Jersey)
Modzelewski family - 2 (New Jersey)
New Jersey Borders Memorial #9: East Brunswick (New Jersey)
CNJC Cache to Eagle Series: Trustworthy (New Jersey)
CNJC Cache to Eagle Series: Reverent (New Jersey)
New Talmage Bridge Cache (New Jersey)
Smooth Criminal (New Jersey)
Weight, Weight, Don't Tell Me (New Jersey)
The Fresh Prince (New Jersey)
Manville C&D (New Jersey)
Thousand Dollar Guardrail (New Jersey)
Easy Strike (New Jersey)
Cash Cache (New Jersey)
New Jersey Borders Memorial #1: Bridgewater (New Jersey)
A Commons Microcache (New Jersey)
Triple Tuesday Pints & Patties - 2012 (New Jersey)