Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Tuttlefest 2008

After some earlier hints about a West coast gathering of the Axiom faithful, I figured it's time to start an exploratory thread to see if/when we could do this thang.

Our mission, if we choose to accept it: gather Axiomphiles from 'round the land to convene in a mutually-agreed upon location - here-to-fore assumed to be in/near Tom's house, but I guess anything's up for discussion - sometime this summer.

Tuttlefest is born of the spirit of tomtuttle, one of the Axiomites I have had the pleasure to meet. Tom (his real first name!) is a great salt-of-the-earth guy who appreciates wine beer, women, and song. Plus he is really funny, even in person, and he has a kick-ass family.

I enjoyed my time with Tom so much that I hinted at widening the next get-together into a "fest", where many of us could congregate. Hence, "Tuttlefest 2008".

As summer approaches, I though it best to throw this out now so we could all stake out the required time off from work/school/therapy/servitude.

I know this is wide open, but any thoughts?

First thought is "I hope you asked Tom first!"

He would just volunteer anyway...

Watch out, though, because he gives directions to his house by using landmarks.

Left at the big totem pole, straight toward Mt. Rainier, then right at the third beer store.

We're taking a trip down the west coast this summer. Maybe we'll see some of you. What do you all look like ?

My vote is for Disney Calif. in August. I'll be there in case anyone wants to stop by.

Yes, Peter, but the directions were effective, were they not?

It is true that Clans Tuttle and Medic8r had a great time last summer in Oregon. And I have been truly blessed to meet and become friends with many other board (bored?) regulars.

I think AT Casa de Tuttle might be a stretch. That probably wouldn't feel like much of a vacation to the lovely Mrs. Tuttle and the Tuttle-ettes.

However, I am open to suggestions, with the understanding that veto power remains firmly vested with our CFO. The Tacoma/Seattle area is worthy of your time in the summer, and I am an enthusiastic tour guide. But my ability to provide accommodations is finite.

btw, I did appoint JP as the chair of the planning committee. This free-for-all is his idea of "planning".

I rather like the idea of again heading south to The Beaver State, as it might conceivably allow some of our California brethren to more easily join in. Or perhaps Northern California. Or Ken's house!

I'm fairly concerned that we'd need a significant amount of lodging in a concentrated area; this sounds like meeting or convention planning to me, and I really can't spare the time from my real job for this type of project at the moment. But perhaps if we all pitch in creatively and constructively, we can get there.

Dates that look promising to me are:

August 8-13 (Friday - Wednesday)
August 23-31 (Saturday through the following Sunday)

I'd love it if we could work something out. While auditioning equipment and deriving joy from music is obviously dear to all of us, my experience is that sharing the thrill of new and renewed friendship is even more rewarding. In other words, I am personally more interested in seeing YOU than I am in hauling M60's across country or you doing same. Peter will undoubtedly attest that my willingness to allow him to simply sit and listen was sorely tested when confronted by his rapier wit. I know that our interests will be wonderfully diverse.

It would be great if we got such critical mass that Ian and Amie could not help but join us

Anything on the West Coast sounds good to me. August 8-13, or 23-31 works fine for me.

Hopefully we can agree on a time and place that works for everyone. I'm looking forward to meeting the forum members here.

I have a family wedding to attend in late August, which means my travel funds are eaten up. Why can't Medic8r host? He's always bragging about his 1800 square-foot guest house.

Seattle area/Portland are the two I could end up in quite easily.

Everything Tom said is true. What Peter said (guest house) is not!

So day two of the planning committee is underway. Looks like day one went about as well as could be expected. Like Tom, I remain busy and did not want to do all of the planning. Another reason is that I didn't want to presume anything/take total control/be a raging narcissist about it. After all, that's what the Shout Box is for.

I figured Tuttle Home Base would not really fly but put it in there for, I don't know, kicks and giggles, and to get a rise out of Mrs. Tuttle. Personally, I'm up for anywhere because it's gonna be a plane ride for me no matter which West coast locale we pick. Perhaps this is a matter for another thread, but an East coast or Midwest gathering could also happen, of course. Not having run this by the boss (gulp), I can offer two guest bedrooms for a minifest sometime.

Back on topic, I really enjoyed my time in Portland last year and would go back any time. Likewise, my time in San Francisco a few years ago, with a drive up the PCH into redwood country, was awesome, so that would actually be my first choice. I have a friend (college roommate) in Oak Harbor, WA, so the Seattle area would be a nice one for me to explore also. I've never been to Disneyland, so HomeDad's proposal has merit, too.

Any time is fine. The August dates work for me.

I guess my preference would be

1. SFO
2. PDX
3. SEA
4. LAX

I am really looking forward to meeting as many of you as possible. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this works out.

If it ended up in either SFO or PDX, I would, circumstances permitting, endeavor, with all possible gusto, to be present.

Geez, Jack, how much potential gusto do you really have?

JP's airport code fixation notwithstanding, I more or less agree with his list. I'd probably lobby to amend the SFO thing to "Northern California Coast" or something. If it was California, I'd probably need it to be that last week of August instead of the earlier dates.

Or we could just crash Peter's sister's wedding.

If the Tuttlefest does come to Calif. I'll do my best to make it. I am locked into the Disneyland Hotel area from around Aug. 7-12 (wifes CME) but can still meet in the So. part of the state during that time.
Later in Aug. would be okay for a possible N. Calif. meet.

I would love to attend something, but given the fact that I have a 1 year old who doesn't do well without his naps, I'm a little leery.

My house would be right out, but there are some lovely parks in the area, along with quite a lot of lodging!

Of course, that would leave me up to planning, which I don't think anyone wants (especially not me!)

My plan not to plan is going according to plan! Mwah-ha-ha.

Elliot is one already?! And I thought my kid was growing fast.

I'm thinking at least some of us will be able to meet up in some form. Spending the better part of a week with the Tuttle clan was a lot of fun last year, as Tom is an excellent tour guide and resource. Doing that again would be cool, or just bumping into him/you guys for a few dinners or events would be fun, too. It'll be whatever we want to make of it, whether it's the joined-at-the-hip option that prototype3a and I have selected, or the "Don't I know you" passing glance that -------- and I have selected for my trip to ----.

Yup, he's 1. I think (because of that, and certain other reasons) Dizzkneeland would be right out for us. SF Bay Area or somewhere in Oregon would be ideal.

Who do we have in Oregon?

Mouse phobia?

Antipathy towards the ubercapitalist corporation?

Sex offender registry issues?

Personally, I have some friends just south of Eugene. We took Nolan's name from their last name. Ben just got a kidney transplant, so we would love to see him and his wife again. We can all crash at their house, hah.

Hmmm, I wonder if my sister would mind a weekend visit, as she is in the SF area. Now if I could only come up with the cash for the plane tickets (return sub-covered), get my passport by Aug. (LOL)and have my wife agree to it all, never going to happen for me.

Pity! You are a top 25 poster!

swing that meeting to Calgary and I am there...err here!

My wife and I have been discussing heading down to see my sister next year, so maybe then or at least a visit to meet some of those in the Bay area.

Ah, Tuttlefest 2009!

Guys, we also need to start a tshirt committee, or at least get somebody into graphic design/Photoshop (Peter!) on the job.

I really want to be part of an adult group that goes places with matching tshirts. Come to think of it, we should make this a super-high priority.

I did the counting and found that you are not just a generic top 25 or top 20 poster, you are #16 on the post count board. Salute!

Thanks. I am just trying to keep up to Mojo

With summer coming and I am in the middle of a bit of a kitchen reno, so I am sure my post count will be dropping off substantially.

Enjoy watching your money fly out of your wallet!

Seriously, we will probably be there ourselves in a few years. Just had the bathroom redone, and it's spiffy. Who'da thunk I'd get so much domestic bliss?!

We now return this thread to Tuttlefest 2008!

This is the best idea EVER. Seriously. Crested Butte, Colorado in late August is awesome.

Hmm, interesting. Never been to Colorado. If it's in the southern part, then I could sneak down to New Mexico for family. If it's north or west, I could mosey over to a state I've not been to before. I'm keeping track. Up to 30.

My aforementioned college roommate in Oak Harbor, WA is up to 47. Guess being in the Navy and then being an airline pilot helps.

I'm at 27 states. With the exception of New Mexico and the Dakotas, I've got the entire western half of the country covered. Here's a map -- blue is where I've visited, red where I've lived:

Wow, we should start a new thread where we all do a map like this. A map-o-gram of a person's life.

I'll do one soon (suuure) and may get fancy:

red = lived there
pink = lived there while in a school or work program
blue = visited
turquoise = drove through or had flight layover in (barely counts)

I have lived in more states than you: SC, RI, GA, IN (college), OH (summer internship), NC, SC, VA.

Visited: FL, MD, PA, NY, MA, KY, TN, MS, LA, IL, WI, MI, TX, NM, CA, OR

Driven through: AL, NJ, WV, DE, MN

Flight layover: UT

Nada: CT, ME, NH, VT, IA, MO, AR, KS, OK, ND, SD, NE, MT, CO, ID, WA, HI, AK, AZ, NV

I can't believe you've never been to Florida.

And you are seriously lacking Southern exposure. Road trip!

Airport layovers don't count.

Driving through counts if you stopped to pee.

What if you peed while in the car. My dad never stopped for anything, just handed me a cup.

IIRC, I peed in Utah, too.

I'm staying out of this one before someone pokes fun at my lack of wanderlust.

Bren R.

Oops - I put SC as a lived-in-state twice, and skipped WY as a nada. I'm down to 29. - edit: but I did drive into Washington state once; I'm counting it! Back to 30!!!

Starting a new thread today on this - back to Tuttlefest!

SCHEDULE REVISION

Another one of the lost pertinent facts conveyed to me by my lovely wife is the notion that my daughter will be swimming with the High School team for the first time (as a freshman), and that those practices will likely commence around the 20th of August. The actual date is not yet available.

So, I'm going to refocus my schedule priorities on the weeks of August 11 and August 18. Of course, if we gather proximal to Seattle, the swim thing doesn't affect Tuttlefest.

In addition to Volunteers, I hereby decree that a screening of The Big Lebowski shall be required.

The dude abides.

Aw, this sounds like fun. I'm near Tom and think it'd be a blast to meet you all, I even have a couple extra rooms I could use to house some people...but August is bad for me. I'll be halfway up Mt. Kilimajaro in Tanzania on the 18th

Whoo Hoo! I so enjoy crazy people!

Alaska is on the West Coast. I have room for a few if you don't mind sleeping on couches or the floor.

Otherwise, I plan to be in Napa the second week of Oct. Sept is no good....hunting season.

OK, for this week's planning committee meeting, I propose we hammer down the timing a little. For Tom, the weeks of 8/11 (Monday) and 8/18 are best. Either would work for me, but I would slightly prefer the 11th because schools start early around here, and I'll have a lot of ADHD teens calling the office in the end of August.

The only conflict I saw was HomeDad's Anaheim trip 8/7-8/12. Maybe he can take his private plane up to wherever we are and catch us on the tail end. Can we agree on the week of the August 11th?

Then we'll tackle the bigger thing, which is where!

It's Lobster season on PEI !!!!!

No? Oh well.

Who said "no"?

Early in the week of the 18th is looking better. My supervisor (a truly fine man) is retiring, and there are celebration and transition issues the week of the 11th.

The Southern Oregon or Northern California coast?

I know, let's have it in Weed!

LOL, on my last trip through Oregon and California, a stop at a gas station in Weed made for some fun photos.

I'm up for that location, i.e. southern Oregon, Northern California. I would fly into SFO, rent a car, and travel up the PCH.

It would be great to see Redwood country again.

Crater Lake? Eureka? Klamath Falls?

Wonder what the vacancy status is at Crater Lake? That would also be something I wouldn't mind repeating!

I believe it's currently filled with water.

Where's Jack with a raspberry smiley when you need him?!

Be very careful what you wish for.

(I really can't believe I posted that pic a second time )

Auggh! I said SMILEY!!! Emoticon! Not larger than life image of Ajax!

As Peter would say auf Deutsch, "Meine augen!!!"

Seriously, good to see you around the boards, Jack. How are things working out for you lately?

Remember to phrase your answer in the form of something that hijacks this thread back to Tuttlefest!

Good to be seen, J.P. Things are going well, thank you for asking. I don't have a lot of time to post, but I check in here, every now and then. I miss all you guys, which hopefully can be rectified IF I'm able to make it to Tuttlefest, which I shall try my best to do.

Aug 18-22nd, I've got a class in SF.

Crater Lake might work for me; my in laws have a little (as in you can't all stay there) house just over the border in Oregon.

Sweet, Jack!!!

Ken, we're coming anyway!

Heh... I'm sure my father in law will be thrilled.

Just realized my wife has about 90,000 Delta Skymiles and they're itchin' to be used.

Where's we meetin' at?

I'd like to know, too. If we can finalize something as early as possible we can get plane tickets and all that jazz. Aren't they usually cheaper if you get them well ahead of time?

Too bad Delta takes 2 years off your life every time you fly with them.

With the way the airline rates fluctuate, you can be better or worse off booking early.

Since it's starting to look like I'll have to miss this years event Perhaps we should start planning for 2009 early and give everyone lots of time to lock in arrangments. With enough advance planning I'm open to all suggestions.

Lunarfest '09! If we call early enough, NASA may be able to squeeze us in.

Have you ever used Farecast.com? It searches historical data and then tells you whether prices are likely to go up or down from the point they're at now.

No, I haven't used Farecast. Truthfully, I've only flown a couple times. I'm a rookie when it comes to air travel.

Do prices fluctuate that much? I don't really know.



Edit: Farecast says to buy now. Hmm, I still think I'll wait a bit.

Oh yes! I've seen swings of $800 on flights to Europe. Brutal! But domestically might be different. I don't usually fly around the US without crossing a border, so maybe it's a Canadian>International thing.

I can't foresee it being too bad for me--it's just a flight up the coast. I'd imagine longer flights, or international flights would be affected more.

Thinking out loud--maybe I should just drive up there. It'd be a great opportunity to enjoy the other parts of California and Oregon. Of course, gas could be $7 a gallon by then. . .

Yeah, road trips are looking less and less attractive unless you own one of them new-fangled hybrids or biodiesel conversions.

Yeah, we never actually fly them anymore. They never win the Expedia price wars. The miles came from an American Express card that we used heavily at Costco.

So, fellas, any Tuttlefest updates?

I have blocked off my schedule for the week of Monday, August 11. I'll be doing something fun that week, but the agenda is wide open. I would still love to hang out with you guys for at least some part of it.

I checked airfare today, not pretty. Nonstops to the west coast are $600, one-stops are $450-500. Cheapest seems to be Baltimore to San Jose. I'd be shuddering in fear on both ends of that flight, I bet. Still, I'd like to lock something in before the 30-day window prior to flying closes and the prices go up. Or is that 21? Or both?

Anybody going to be able to play along? And where is tomtuttle hiding these days anyway?!