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[mailman]

It's almost here!  Less than two weeks, now, before the annual gathering of top spinners in Miamisburg.  Last year was the first visit for my friend David and I, and we're both excited to be going again this year.

We've made our hotel reservations, and are looking forward to seeing everyone and re-visiting John Marcus at the university.  We can't wait!

Who else is planning to attend?

[ta0]

I am not coming but Val and Dale will be there with Ko! It should be a pretty good fest!
I don't know if I should post photos and video I just took of the Hall of Fame: you may prefer more surprises.

Ko is arriving today to my house and staying a few days. Thursday is his birthday and we will throw him a little party.
By the way, tomorrow Dale has an angioplasty procedure. Hopefully he will have a quick recovery.

[SpinLynn]

I hope to make the trip to Miamisburg. What is the schedule for Friday and Saturday? Are people going to Cincinnati on Friday? I know I missed much of the activity last year.

[mailman]

I hope to make the trip to Miamisburg. What is the schedule for Friday and Saturday? Are people going to Cincinnati on Friday? I know I missed much of the activity last year.

I hope so!  David and I are very much looking forward to a visit with John Marcus (in his natural habitat!  ) on Friday evening, like last year.

We are leaving here early Friday morning, and will be there in time, if John is willing to have us....

[mailman]

I am not coming but Val and Dale will be there with Ko! It should be a pretty good fest!
I don't know if I should post photos and video I just took of the Hall of Fame: you may prefer more surprises.

Ko is arriving today to my house and staying a few days. Thursday is his birthday and we will throw him a little party.
By the way, tomorrow Dale has an angioplasty procedure. Hopefully he will have a quick recovery.

This sounds great!  I have not yet met Dale or Val, and I don't know who Ko is.  But, the more top spinners, the better!

[the Earl of Whirl]

If Dale and Val are coming, that will be amazing.  It will be the first person to person encounter between them and johnm.  That, alone, will be exciting enough.  But then with Ko there we will have some terrific Japanese influence.  He speaks English pretty well and is very interested in meeting and sharing with others.  His presence will be very special for this festival.  His Koma work is fantastic.

The city is all in for this festival, too.  $300,000 dollars has been poured into our park area (nothing like the 6 million spent to improve the park outside the Renaissance Hotel in Cleveland) and we have an improved gateway entrance plus a nice bathroom building!!!  I will keep everyone in touch with updates on our fest.

[johnm]

Friday should be fine for visitors to the physics department at UC.  Note that in most recent years school had not yet started by fest weekend, however this year school will have been in session for a week.  Typically there are school sponsored events so there may be more distracted students roaming around not paying attention to traffic (I think they wait until the junior year now to teach students that people are squishy and cars are not) so be wary and cautious when driving near and on campus.

There has never really been a schedule for the Friday meeting at UC because folks are traveling from various places with a range of arrival times.  There are no formal spinning events to be missed, just some ad hoc tours and descriptions of various top making parafenaila.  It can be confusing to find me/us in the physics building so if you think you might visit UC, post a comment stating such with a guess as to an arrival time so we can be on the look out.

Last year, the Saturday activities started the earliest I've seen with Don and David already spinning on the church yard by 8:30 am.  Again, no set schedule with people arriving throughout the day until 5:00pm when everything moved over to the park.  Mike will have to say if we are meeting earlier in the day at his church or if we are meeting in the newly upgraded park.

[JNeff]

I plan on Miamisburg also and visiting John on Friday. I hope to arrive around 3:30 or so.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Thanks for your input, johnm.  With school in session at University of Cincinnati, parking becomes a major issue.  Good luck with all of that.  Sometimes I have had to park quite a ways away.

I am thinking it will be much easier to meet at the church through the day and have access to air conditioning (if needed), a roof (if needed), and water (if needed).  Our bathrooms will also be a little closer than the one at the park.  Maybe we can head over to that area around 3 or 4?

[SpinLynn]

Jim, are you thinking about arriving in Miamisburg or Cinci at 3:30? I may try to visit Cinci in the same general time frame as you. Plus or minus.  I tend to run behind.

John, are there times that are best for you? I'm looking forward to seeing your top making setup.

[johnm]

Anytime is fine for me.  It just helps to have an estimate of arrival times because there are multiple places we might be when someone arrives and for the unaware, many of those places are difficult to find.  Thus it can be easier for us to wait in an easily accessible place (like the loading dock of the building next to the parking garage).

[JNeff]

Yes. I plan on arriving at Cinci at 3:30 or so.

[Kirk]

Come to Miamisburg and try the lighted top!
http://www.ta0.com/forum/index.php/topic,4527.0.html
We will be staying at the best B&B in Miamisburg. (there is only one) It is easy walking distance from the church.

[the Earl of Whirl]

Lots of good positive things have happened in the last few days with our fest.  First of all, I have met with the city officials who are working with our event.  They are all with us and pushing for things to go well.  "What do you need?  What can we get for you?"  I am not used to such questions!  For sure, they will block off parking spots behind the pavilion for us to use.  That is nice and something new.

I have given away a number of wooden Toycrafter tops in these last few days.  People seem excited to get them.  We will see if they show up to the event.  At least everything feels exciting, especially since the ta0/Cuper promotional tour that occurred a few days ago.  They did a good job of walking around the town and sharing our sport with a number of people at places like the donut shop and our day care.  Good work whipping up the excitement, guys!!!

The weather forecast looks good.  The day is supposed to be dry with a high in the low 80's.  That is GR8 news!

The bad news is the mayor cannot be here for the first time in 17 years.  Maybe we can get an honorary throw ahead of time from him?  He has been a faithful spinner for us.

Other bad news is they finally are taking out the stump in front of the church.  The positive news about that is I talked them into waiting until after the fest.  Hmmmm.....wonder what destructive thing we can do to that item in its last hours?

[the Earl of Whirl]

Tonight is open mike night.  I have gone to several of these (5 or 6) and have sung three songs with guitar at three of them.  I am ready for tonight which will be a move in a different direction.  I will try to sing a couple songs to promote our top fest......and try to do these songs with a top in my hand!  I will report back in a few hours how it all turns out.