Derby recap
Thursday:
-parking ticket
+fraterrisus offering to split it
6:30 Dinner
+black & white milkshake
+waffle fries with gravy
+people!
8:45 pm Officials Meeting
+ surprise honoraria
+ punchy tired Tournament Head Refs quite entertaining, and brief
-crew meetings after that; head NSO’s less brief
Friday:
3am +2 to hotel room
+cheaper lodging
+extra people to feed
+extra not-morning-people to tease
7:30am breakfast
-crappy pan with egregious hot spots (I *knew* I should have brought my own)
+I am pretty good at cooking bacon in the dark
-parking ticket. (This one, totally on me, and the city of White Plains which does not post that there is no overnight parking except at the town limits.)
8am Officials meeting @ venue
+walking distance from hotel
+awesome space
-ref room up three flights of stairs
10am Providence v. Dutchland (inside white board)
+very close to the platonic ideal of ref crew communication and positioning!
2pm Charm City v. Steel City (outside white board)
-bumblebees vs. wasps: gold and black v. black and gold. Are they TRYING to make us insane?
6pm: Gotham v. Providence (lineups)
-awful bout to learn lineups on
+no one was ever going to look at the paperwork for this one, so okay to practice on
8pm bath & bed
Saturday:
7:30am breakfast
+French toast made with homemade bread
8am: Officials meeting
-Tournament Head Refs not there, and they were the ones who insisted upon 8am.
+ Crew Head Refs ran meeting without them
9am: Whole Foods run
+discovering what various zebras and black hats eat
+running into Boston players
+back in time to skim entire qual methods book
Noon: Dutchland v. Montreal (inside white board)
4pm: Philly v. Boston (outside white board)
-rough first half: I didn’t signal anything in, but did get run over twice by the outside pack refs
6pm: 20 minute foot and leg massage from the lovely massage co-op folks
8pm: Montreal v. Carolina (inside white board)
+awesomely close game
+want to watch the replay on DNN, since I was kinda busy during it J
Sunday:
7:30am breakfast
+waffles!
+effusive praise (gotta love it when I feed new people)
8:30am Officials meeting
+later call
-still a long time before I get to work
Noon Providence v. Montreal (inside white board)
-ugh. Like, the skating refs had never worked together, or with us, before.
+ really impressed with how the Head Ref handled it
4pm Boston v. Charm City (inside white board)
-one very stupid error, caught by Boston’s manager almost immediately, but totally my mistake.
+much smoother working together this time
6pm Philly v. Gotham
+off-duty zebra herd, sitting in balcony, standing up simultaneously to make a low block call
+Johnny Zebra knows who I am!
8pm Dinner
+huge portions
-too much sage in fried chicken
10pm Afterparty
+met/reconnected with cool people
-smoke
-high volume
Midnight Afterafterparty
+great stories
-3am is kinda late
And, also, fraterrisus, plus a zillion other awesome people. Yay, awesome people!