FA United 2014 and Triple Tuesday Pints & Patties
So this weekend, I went to the Hanover Marriott in Northern NJ for FA United. I stayed in New Jersey until Tuesday to combine this trip with the "Triple Tuesday Pints & Patties - 2014" geocaching event. These two events seem to always come one right after the other, so I thought I'd inquire as to whether the Marriott could extend the con group rate until Monday night. Alas, they never got back to me so I just booked a hotel room in the South Brunswick area. (As an aside, it's very hard to find an inexpensive hotel without bad customer reviews and without bed bug reports. I run into this issue every time I try to plan a trip on my own. The Red Carpet Inn is relatively new, so it could be that they just haven't run into problems or nitpickers yet.)
Anyway, just like in previous years, FAU didn't have much programming this year, or at least not too much of interest to me. So it was a chance to relax and meet up with friends, both old and new. And oh yeah, we crashed a wedding or perhaps a wedding crashed us. This weekend, there was a wedding party at the hotel and Miss New Jersey was one of the bridesmaids! They were actually pretty cool with the furries. On Saturday, they did a wedding photoshoot in the lobby. We were trying to stay out of their way but they called us over to join in! That was pretty awesome.
In the fursuit games, I was on the yellow team. What's amazing is we won every single game! (and therefore got first place) I wasn't even sure how that happened. Maybe we just had the right combination of skills or a lot of luck. The games were the scooter race, balloon popping, clothes pegs, and musical chairs. My roomie, Argon Darksteel, was the balloon expert, so that probably helped in the second game. For the clothes pegs game, I knew from experience to just sit next to the bucket and focus on clipping all the pegs on our poor captain's lower parts. >.> And finally, I was the one who won musical chairs for the team. I was worried initially because the team was too close together (in musical chairs, the team should try to spread out a bit initially to try to eliminate others instead of ourselves) but we moved as a block and I was lucky to not be eliminated during the early rounds. Then finally, it was just me and one other player going around a single chair. I was getting a bit dizzy by that time, both from exertion and from circling that chair, but I flopped onto the chair at just the right time and that was that!
On Sunday, since there wasn't much going on in the afternoon, I went to a sewing panel and sewed a cupcake. I already knew a bit about sewing but working with patterns and fleece material was interesting, and I learnt a few little tricks too. Definitely will have to see if upcoming cons have sewing/craft panels too.
Triple Tuesday is a continuation of a long-running monthly Central Jersey geocaching event, which used to be held at Fuddruckers in New Brunswick until that restaurant shut down, then at Fuddruckers in Bridgewater until that too shut down. This month, it was at Red Tower III, another burger and sandwich place, in Somerville. Because I now live farther away from Central Jersey, I only get to attend this event once or twice a year. But it was good to get back together with the Central Jersey group for a few hours.
Thursday 2014-08-14:
Tennis Anyone? (New Jersey)
Bridge Over Untroubled Waters VII (New Jersey)
Sewercide XI (New Jersey)
I Don't Carry Change, But Here's a Little Cache (New Jersey)
Preserve This Cache (New Jersey)
Old Railroad Bed (New Jersey)
Sewercide XVI (New Jersey)
Stop II (New Jersey)
Dilapidated Office Park (New Jersey)
Another Veterans Park Cache (New Jersey)
Another Bison in a Pine for New Jersey (New Jersey)
Mr. Burns (New Jersey)
Skinner's Hide (New Jersey)
My #40 in NJ (New Jersey)
Sabella Park Annex (New Jersey)
Franklin Memorial Park (New Jersey)
MLK JR Park (New Jersey)
CROSSINGS #5 (New Jersey)
DR bonnie and mr CLYDE (New Jersey)
Three Dog Night: Brie (New Jersey)
Exit Stage Left (New Jersey)
Paved Paradise (Just a parking Lot) (New Jersey)
Mason's Birthday cache (New Jersey)
Little G #1 (New Jersey)
Two for One (New Jersey)
Three for One (New Jersey)
Docherty 2 (New Jersey)
Flying Saucer (New Jersey)
Peters Brook Greenway Trail Head (New Jersey)
First, Second, and Third (New Jersey)
Dead Presidents of Somerville (New Jersey)
Little G #2 (New Jersey)
CROSSINGS #8 (New Jersey)
CROSSINGS #12 (New Jersey)
Dead Presidents of Bridgewater (New Jersey)
Double Your Pleasure (New Jersey)
Monster Cache (New Jersey)
Dead Presidents of Fairfield (New Jersey)
Fun 'N' Games (New Jersey)
High Heels No Defence - Redux (New Jersey)
Live Beginning (New Jersey)
CROSSINGS #1 (New Jersey)
Friday 2014-08-15:
Long-Lost Station (New Jersey)
McNab N' Grab (New Jersey)
The 11-in-1 Survivor Tree (New Jersey)
James Grover (New Jersey)
Thank a Vet (New Jersey)
1K for BigA! (New Jersey)
Tiny Often Empty Park: Whippany, NJ (New Jersey)
Cache for Burgers #2 (New Jersey)
Cache for Burgers #3 (New Jersey)
Sunday 2014-08-17:
Countrywood Cache (New Jersey)
Tour De Morris Plains - M.P. Museum (New Jersey)
Tour De Morris Plains - Walking Trail (New Jersey)
Tour De Morris Plains - Watnong Gardens (New Jersey)
Mogasman's Home Away from Home......for real! (New Jersey)
Pre Ten's (New Jersey)
2014 #01 - Rehab (New Jersey)
2014 #3 - Step (New Jersey)
2014 #2 - Flix (New Jersey)
Monday 2014-08-18:
Anthony's First Cache (New Jersey)
'The Elusive Rainbow Couger' (New Jersey)
A Little Bird Told Me (New Jersey)
Roxxy (New Jersey)
Paguroidea (New Jersey)
Wait for a Snowy Day #6 (New Jersey)
Wait for a Snowy Day #7 (New Jersey)
Wait for a Snowy Day #8 (New Jersey)
Decorate a Tree (New Jersey)
Wait for a Snowy Day #1 (New Jersey)
Wait for a Snowy Day #2 (New Jersey)
Wait for a Snowy Day #5 (New Jersey)
Glory (BBB #5) (New Jersey)
Wait for a Snowy Day #4 (New Jersey)
Wait for a Snowy Day #3 (New Jersey)
W. C. #14 - Skye (New Jersey)
W. C. #20 - Ziggy (New Jersey)
Watermelon (New Jersey)
Lucifer (New Jersey)
#23 - Not sure of a good name for this one (New Jersey)
Beach Cache (New Jersey)
Twin Trees (New Jersey)
OOL (New Jersey)
Droid 4 (New Jersey)
Competition Cache (New Jersey)
I scream. You scream. (New Jersey)
3 Strikes You're Out (New Jersey)
Tree Stump (New Jersey)
A Slippery Time (New Jersey)
We started here.. (New Jersey)
RIG1 (New Jersey)
W.E.T. 6 (New Jersey)
W.E.T. 5 (New Jersey)
W.E.T. 4 (New Jersey)
W.E.T. 3 (New Jersey)
W.E.T. 2 (New Jersey)
W.E.T. 1 (New Jersey)
Recycling > Garbage (New Jersey)
VHSFootball (New Jersey)
Rosie (New Jersey)
Zero Caches Here No More! (New Jersey)
Einstein (New Jersey)
A few of my favorite things (New Jersey)
Tuesday 2014-08-19:
LIsa's Hide (New Jersey)
Flanders Hide (New Jersey)
Rachel's Treasure Chest (New Jersey)
Benched Again, I Think Not (New Jersey)
The 'Fast Line' Trolley (New Jersey)
Squirrel's Hideout (New Jersey)
The Foot Bridge (New Jersey)
River Walk (New Jersey)
S&K Depot Cache (New Jersey)
... If You Live In A Glass House (New Jersey)
18 South Drive-Thru (New Jersey)
Soup, Salad and Breadsticks (New Jersey)
Do Not Enter (New Jersey)
Don't Throw Stones ... (New Jersey)
Toxic (New Jersey)
Loser! (New Jersey)
Employee Parking & Grab (New Jersey)
Port Reading Railroad (New Jersey)
Tiny Often Empty Park: Sewaren NJ (New Jersey)
Break Down Zone (New Jersey)
Alvin's Peninsula ~ Revisited (New Jersey)
Go Read A Book! (New Jersey)
Stone and Steel (New Jersey)
3rd Time's a Charm (New Jersey)
Downtown / Main Street USA: Woodbridge, NJ (New Jersey)
A Day Of Shopping pt2 (New Jersey)
A Day Of Shopping pt1 (New Jersey)
A Day of Shopping pt3 (New Jersey)
One For The Road (New Jersey)
EAT (New Jersey)
Triple Tuesday Pints & Patties - 2014 (New Jersey)
Anyway, just like in previous years, FAU didn't have much programming this year, or at least not too much of interest to me. So it was a chance to relax and meet up with friends, both old and new. And oh yeah, we crashed a wedding or perhaps a wedding crashed us. This weekend, there was a wedding party at the hotel and Miss New Jersey was one of the bridesmaids! They were actually pretty cool with the furries. On Saturday, they did a wedding photoshoot in the lobby. We were trying to stay out of their way but they called us over to join in! That was pretty awesome.
In the fursuit games, I was on the yellow team. What's amazing is we won every single game! (and therefore got first place) I wasn't even sure how that happened. Maybe we just had the right combination of skills or a lot of luck. The games were the scooter race, balloon popping, clothes pegs, and musical chairs. My roomie, Argon Darksteel, was the balloon expert, so that probably helped in the second game. For the clothes pegs game, I knew from experience to just sit next to the bucket and focus on clipping all the pegs on our poor captain's lower parts. >.> And finally, I was the one who won musical chairs for the team. I was worried initially because the team was too close together (in musical chairs, the team should try to spread out a bit initially to try to eliminate others instead of ourselves) but we moved as a block and I was lucky to not be eliminated during the early rounds. Then finally, it was just me and one other player going around a single chair. I was getting a bit dizzy by that time, both from exertion and from circling that chair, but I flopped onto the chair at just the right time and that was that!
On Sunday, since there wasn't much going on in the afternoon, I went to a sewing panel and sewed a cupcake. I already knew a bit about sewing but working with patterns and fleece material was interesting, and I learnt a few little tricks too. Definitely will have to see if upcoming cons have sewing/craft panels too.
Triple Tuesday is a continuation of a long-running monthly Central Jersey geocaching event, which used to be held at Fuddruckers in New Brunswick until that restaurant shut down, then at Fuddruckers in Bridgewater until that too shut down. This month, it was at Red Tower III, another burger and sandwich place, in Somerville. Because I now live farther away from Central Jersey, I only get to attend this event once or twice a year. But it was good to get back together with the Central Jersey group for a few hours.
Thursday 2014-08-14:
Tennis Anyone? (New Jersey)
Bridge Over Untroubled Waters VII (New Jersey)
Sewercide XI (New Jersey)
I Don't Carry Change, But Here's a Little Cache (New Jersey)
Preserve This Cache (New Jersey)
Old Railroad Bed (New Jersey)
Sewercide XVI (New Jersey)
Stop II (New Jersey)
Dilapidated Office Park (New Jersey)
Another Veterans Park Cache (New Jersey)
Another Bison in a Pine for New Jersey (New Jersey)
Mr. Burns (New Jersey)
Skinner's Hide (New Jersey)
My #40 in NJ (New Jersey)
Sabella Park Annex (New Jersey)
Franklin Memorial Park (New Jersey)
MLK JR Park (New Jersey)
CROSSINGS #5 (New Jersey)
DR bonnie and mr CLYDE (New Jersey)
Three Dog Night: Brie (New Jersey)
Exit Stage Left (New Jersey)
Paved Paradise (Just a parking Lot) (New Jersey)
Mason's Birthday cache (New Jersey)
Little G #1 (New Jersey)
Two for One (New Jersey)
Three for One (New Jersey)
Docherty 2 (New Jersey)
Flying Saucer (New Jersey)
Peters Brook Greenway Trail Head (New Jersey)
First, Second, and Third (New Jersey)
Dead Presidents of Somerville (New Jersey)
Little G #2 (New Jersey)
CROSSINGS #8 (New Jersey)
CROSSINGS #12 (New Jersey)
Dead Presidents of Bridgewater (New Jersey)
Double Your Pleasure (New Jersey)
Monster Cache (New Jersey)
Dead Presidents of Fairfield (New Jersey)
Fun 'N' Games (New Jersey)
High Heels No Defence - Redux (New Jersey)
Live Beginning (New Jersey)
CROSSINGS #1 (New Jersey)
Friday 2014-08-15:
Long-Lost Station (New Jersey)
McNab N' Grab (New Jersey)
The 11-in-1 Survivor Tree (New Jersey)
James Grover (New Jersey)
Thank a Vet (New Jersey)
1K for BigA! (New Jersey)
Tiny Often Empty Park: Whippany, NJ (New Jersey)
Cache for Burgers #2 (New Jersey)
Cache for Burgers #3 (New Jersey)
Sunday 2014-08-17:
Countrywood Cache (New Jersey)
Tour De Morris Plains - M.P. Museum (New Jersey)
Tour De Morris Plains - Walking Trail (New Jersey)
Tour De Morris Plains - Watnong Gardens (New Jersey)
Mogasman's Home Away from Home......for real! (New Jersey)
Pre Ten's (New Jersey)
2014 #01 - Rehab (New Jersey)
2014 #3 - Step (New Jersey)
2014 #2 - Flix (New Jersey)
Monday 2014-08-18:
Anthony's First Cache (New Jersey)
'The Elusive Rainbow Couger' (New Jersey)
A Little Bird Told Me (New Jersey)
Roxxy (New Jersey)
Paguroidea (New Jersey)
Wait for a Snowy Day #6 (New Jersey)
Wait for a Snowy Day #7 (New Jersey)
Wait for a Snowy Day #8 (New Jersey)
Decorate a Tree (New Jersey)
Wait for a Snowy Day #1 (New Jersey)
Wait for a Snowy Day #2 (New Jersey)
Wait for a Snowy Day #5 (New Jersey)
Glory (BBB #5) (New Jersey)
Wait for a Snowy Day #4 (New Jersey)
Wait for a Snowy Day #3 (New Jersey)
W. C. #14 - Skye (New Jersey)
W. C. #20 - Ziggy (New Jersey)
Watermelon (New Jersey)
Lucifer (New Jersey)
#23 - Not sure of a good name for this one (New Jersey)
Beach Cache (New Jersey)
Twin Trees (New Jersey)
OOL (New Jersey)
Droid 4 (New Jersey)
Competition Cache (New Jersey)
I scream. You scream. (New Jersey)
3 Strikes You're Out (New Jersey)
Tree Stump (New Jersey)
A Slippery Time (New Jersey)
We started here.. (New Jersey)
RIG1 (New Jersey)
W.E.T. 6 (New Jersey)
W.E.T. 5 (New Jersey)
W.E.T. 4 (New Jersey)
W.E.T. 3 (New Jersey)
W.E.T. 2 (New Jersey)
W.E.T. 1 (New Jersey)
Recycling > Garbage (New Jersey)
VHSFootball (New Jersey)
Rosie (New Jersey)
Zero Caches Here No More! (New Jersey)
Einstein (New Jersey)
A few of my favorite things (New Jersey)
Tuesday 2014-08-19:
LIsa's Hide (New Jersey)
Flanders Hide (New Jersey)
Rachel's Treasure Chest (New Jersey)
Benched Again, I Think Not (New Jersey)
The 'Fast Line' Trolley (New Jersey)
Squirrel's Hideout (New Jersey)
The Foot Bridge (New Jersey)
River Walk (New Jersey)
S&K Depot Cache (New Jersey)
... If You Live In A Glass House (New Jersey)
18 South Drive-Thru (New Jersey)
Soup, Salad and Breadsticks (New Jersey)
Do Not Enter (New Jersey)
Don't Throw Stones ... (New Jersey)
Toxic (New Jersey)
Loser! (New Jersey)
Employee Parking & Grab (New Jersey)
Port Reading Railroad (New Jersey)
Tiny Often Empty Park: Sewaren NJ (New Jersey)
Break Down Zone (New Jersey)
Alvin's Peninsula ~ Revisited (New Jersey)
Go Read A Book! (New Jersey)
Stone and Steel (New Jersey)
3rd Time's a Charm (New Jersey)
Downtown / Main Street USA: Woodbridge, NJ (New Jersey)
A Day Of Shopping pt2 (New Jersey)
A Day Of Shopping pt1 (New Jersey)
A Day of Shopping pt3 (New Jersey)
One For The Road (New Jersey)
EAT (New Jersey)
Triple Tuesday Pints & Patties - 2014 (New Jersey)