NW FEST Constructive Criticism thread

SO, let's give the BOD some feedback on how things went so we can make the next one even better. Here's a couple of points I would like to discuss:

It was lacking in leadership and organization. I kinda waited around for some sort of drivers meeting, a welcome, or SOMETHING from the BOD Saturday morning. I knew the trail runs weren't going to be "organized" but I figured at least everyone would get together and decide who was going where. When that didn't happen, I told a couple of people what I was going to run and took off..... with like 20 people following me.

My next subject is dinner. I think things went fairly well, everybody seemed to enjoy the food, etc. My only recommendation would be this: If you're going to RSVP, SHOW UP. I'm not gonna complain TOO much, but I spend $300ish on food, etc. for dinner and took WAY too much home. We had said dinner would be between 6 and 7 and I thought everyone understood that. We actually waited until 7 or so to start cooking and had dinner around 8pm to give the rest of the group a chance to show up.

I'm not trying to start anything here or piss people off, just some help to make the next event even better.

John

My only real gripe was the communications breakdown. There were too many people on the trails with poorly working CB's or none at all. I realize not everyone wants to run out and spend money on a CB setup that they will most likely only use on the trail; but when someone has to stop and everyone ahead of them keeps going, the cohesion of the whole trail run goes away.

Just another thing to keep in mind for next year.

I to feel the leader ship of the BOD was not realy there. IXNAYXJ(Matt),2ETREME(Michael),Los Lobos(Carl) seemed to have more to say about what was happening more than others.IMO.

Dinner:Well I must admit That I skiped out about 5:30ish.I needed to get home so my wife could go to work the grave yard shift.We found out on the way to the liquor store about it(why you don't turn on your phone).My apoligies (sp?) to you.


JACK

P.S.John my son Chase says HI!!to Conner.lol

I have to say that this was the first large group wheeling event that I have been to. I had a blast and enjoyed the weekend. That being said, there where a few things that did suck.

I agree about the lack of radio communication. It was nice that Mason's samurai had a really strong CB system. Nice to be able to get in touch with the group that came in late on Saturday.

I was present for the raffle but there were many that were not and wished to attend. There was a good amount of raffle money that was missed out of from the club. It was not the groups fault for being absent... More of a series of circumstances that set everyone back.

As for the food issue.... Some one should have told the fat kid (me) that there was more food left.... I'd have fixed that issue!!!!

Per the bylaws that the club was supposed to abide by, there was no once over of rigs. I assumed that there would have been a cursory inspection to assure that rigs where trail safe and a drivers meeting at some point.

Still, I had an outstanding time. These were not big issues but just feed back thoughts.



Tim

Spinnaker said:

I was present for the raffle but there were many that were not and wished to attend. There was a good amount of raffle money that was missed out of from the club. It was not the groups fault for being absent... More of a series of circumstances that set everyone back.

Click to expand...

I will disagree /w you on this part being an issue. It was announced (both here in a thread and there at the event) that dinner would be around 6ish with the raffle immediately following. We actually held off /w dinner until almost 8pm waiting for some of the other groups to return and then did the raffle afterwards, probably around 9pm. If the other groups chose to go run more/longer trails all day instead of returning for the dinner and raffle, that's their own choice.

John

my only complaint, i think someone should of picked me up on the way up.

there FIX THAT next year:rof:

I agree with everyone. I have talked to both Ryan and Eli and made my opinions known.

One can criticize, but it is useless without good feedback. I submit to everyone that attended to come up with a fix. Lets face it, one or two guys just cannot make this thing go off without a hitch. Here are my suggestions:


Welcome Party:
Dedicate a person and area to welcome attendees and take care of administrative duties. At this location waivers could be signed, raffle tickets sold, and membership "specials" offered. Have one of our officers or well known members there during peak hours. IMO there should have been a small fee to help offset the costs incurred (NWC raffle?) as well as fattening the treasury for more stuff in the future.

Trail runs: Post them in advance with difficulty levels and a general timeline to allow all to participate. Have a dedicated trail leader that is familiar with the trails that is responsible for tech inspection of his group. Print trail maps in advance that highlight the trails that will be run. Trail leader will also be responsible for the drivers meeting which should include trail etiquette, frequencies, emergencies, etc.

Raffle
John and Crawl did a great job, but IMO did not get their due. I think that the chapter should have done a better job at trying to score a few prizes, or if money was available, bought a few small items to be given away. Unfortunately, this involves work. I suggest that in the future we designate a few well connected folks to try to obtain stuff. In all honesty, maybe ask the guys that are successful at doing it (PNW guys come to mind) for tips and tricks.

Dinner
John was very generous, but can we really expect him to do this everytime? A potluck worked well in the past with some help from the slush fund. In the future we should try to do something like that.



I truly feel that we are a great bunch of people that just didn't click this time. I have no clue what was done behind the scenes nor do I care. The results spoke for themselves.

So now I ask everyone to look back and think what they have done to make Northwest Fest a success or failure. Could you have volunteered some of your time/experience/connections/etc? Would you have stepped up to the plate if asked? If so, how?

Please realize that this is in no way meant to be a witch hunt to our leadership. I've been a leader for a loooooong time and figured out how to delegate many moons ago. If you think that you can do a better job, please volunteer to help organize the next run, and if successful, run for office next time. If you think that you can help, please do, and do it often.


John

TRSCobra said:

My only real gripe was the communications breakdown. There were too many people on the trails with poorly working CB's or none at all. I realize not everyone wants to run out and spend money on a CB setup that they will most likely only use on the trail; but when someone has to stop and everyone ahead of them keeps going, the cohesion of the whole trail run goes away.

Just another thing to keep in mind for next year.

Click to expand...

I wasn't at NW Fest but I am going to say that the communication thing is WAY more of a problem out there than is usually mentioned. I had always thought that it was standard protocol to use your mirrors to ensure that the guy behind you was still there and to wait up if they aren't. Maybe it's not really understood or maybe some people are incapable of paying that much attention. But here it is: Please keep in touch either visually or by CB with those in your group.

P.S. 1. a handheld, battery powered CB is readily available at Radioshack and is easy to transport and even to lend to friends ( or Rick....) 2. I plan to make sure Alex is at the back of any line because he is specifically very hard pressed to use his rear view mirror :banghead: .

o.k. i really really don't want to stir anything up.....but......since opinions are being asked for, here are my thoughts.

1st i agree with what GI John said as far as preping the trail runs in advance. groups, leaders, times, trails etc...

2nd i thought the dinner and raffle were great! but defenitly think they could have been bigger and better with a lil chapter participation on wrangling in some more prizes etc...(dinner was plenty, but i think the responsibility could have been shared by everyone ieotluck)

3rd and last i guess i would like to discuss rules and so-called bylaws.
It was my understanding that there were certain requirements to attend, go on trail runs etc... although i do not think that much of the carnage this year could have been avoided, it may have been caught ahead of time with at least a once over of the rigs.

last i guess i have to say i was pretty dissapointed in the late night "call it what you will" around the camp fire. I was under the impression this was a family friendly event. don't get me wrong, i like to have a few drinks or 20 when i'm out camping, even with my kids, but i try and conduct myself in a manner that suites everyone. some of us had a long drive ahead of us Sunday and intended to get up earlyish. when it came time for bed i think around 130am, well, sleeping was nearly impossible. when the birds started chirping and music was still blasting it was a lil frustrating to say the least. again don't get me wrong, i have stayed up till the sun broke many a time drinkin round the fire. guess i just think we could have done with out the loud music and hootin and whistlin. if i wanted to pass out at a strip club, well, you get the idea.......

anyway off my soap box, all in all i had an awesome time, just think the whole thing could have been a lil better organized, and a lil more maturity / respect / common curticy. alot for 2 guys to handle i agree 100%

p.s. it was great meeting and seeing everyone!!!! look forward to a bigger and better next year !!!!

Metal Thrasher said:

I plan to make sure Alex is at the back of any line because he is specifically very hard pressed to use his rear view mirror :banghead: .

Click to expand...

Mmmhhmm well I used them now don't worry, well not the drivers side one, its out of service for the moment.

Since this was my first NWF I dont really have anything to compare it too, but I was told that this one was alot bigger then the previous ones. I dont know what went down at the raffle or dinner, John I am sorry that we missed it but because of myself there were some issues with our group that held us up.:banghead:

-Alex

I am very disappointed I didn't make it. I would like to ask in the future, if we could avoid scheduling a large evet at the end of a fiscal quarter. June is alway rough with the end of school, and Infocomm happens that month. My plans just fell to crap. Just for clarification, I mean the last week in March, June, September and of course December. Maybe its only tough for me, but when its down to the wire trying to get into the black, its hard to get time off at the end off quarter before they close the books.

After a bunch of you guys treked down to Wilsonvile in January, I was bummed I couldn't get up there.


If it would help int he future, I would volunteer to help find sponsers for the event.
I could get a hold of some prizes for a raffle, definately a projector, possibly a cash prize from my work.

I agree with most that was said...and I'll add a few. Before I do that I just want to say I had a blast, I learned a lot about the rigs (still A LOT more to learn though), and I learned more about 4 wheeling than the Internet ever could have taught me. Not to mention there were a lot of cool guys, and everyone's willingness to help out when people were in trouble was really impressive.

1. With this being not only my first 4wheeling event, but it was my first event. And I'll tell you right now, I did NOT feel welcomed when I first got there, or for most of Friday for that matter. Even after meeting some people, it just seemed like I was a complete outsider (which I was, really) but it just sucked to feel that way. It wasn't until some guys (I believe it was Matt and John) came over to my camp and told us to pull up a chair and join everyone that I began to feel like PART of the group.

2. I agree about the whole late night party/drinking thing. Sure, that's probably pretty normal, but I don't think it needed to be so loud for so long. I typically see 12-1AM as the noise level cut off point.

3. There needs to be a better idea of what will be happening put out first thing for anyone who comes to this event next year for the first time. Thing that come to mind are better directions (lets face it, if you've never been there before, the ones we had sucked), a better idea of what to bring (a list of various things that are recommended like chairs, firewood, maps, extra parts, ect.) because without some things people may not think to bring, they could be left out.

4. A schedule that everyone can base thing off (drivers meetings, trail runs, food times, gas times, ect.) so we can all get an idea of when we can/should do our own thing. This way people can also get a chance to meet everyone, and I know it's lame...but those "hello my names..." stickers would have sure helped me a lot! :banghead:

5. I think it would be cool if we had a 4 wheel video or a video from the previous event to play the first official night to start off the camp fire...maybe even a slide show of past events and an explanation of what's going on from someone.

I can't think of much to add. And for the record, I personally didn't eat more food because I wasn't really sure who had eaten, and how much was really left...so I took what I thought was appropriate, sorry you had so much extra:dunno: .

~Scott

X2 on the pre-planned trail leaders and departure times. It seemed like in the morning we wasted a lot of time trying to figure out what was going on.

I would still call this years event a total success though. I had a great time wheeling for three days, was blown away by the scenery of the area, and enjoyed meeting and catching up with the NWC members.

Thank you to the BOD for making this event happen.
Thank you to ACRO and CRAWL for their contributions.

Just remember when it comes time for NWF 09, don't be afraid to ask for help!

-Dustin

Spinnaker said:

As for the food issue.... Some one should have told the fat kid (me) that there was more food left.... I'd have fixed that issue!!!!

Click to expand...

Muddy Beast said:

And for the record, I personally didn't eat more food because I wasn't really sure who had eaten, and how much was really left...so I took what I thought was appropriate, sorry you had so much extra:dunno: .

Click to expand...

My sentiments exactly. Had I known there was a surplus of food, I'd have gone back for seconds, thirds, etc.

Anyway, a big thank's to John Matthews for providing the grub, and John Abronski for providing the brew. :cheers:

I yelled out as often as I could to not be shy /w the food. It's ok, we've had a good lunch of bbq chicken and potato salad at the shop the last couple of days :laugh:

John

I have been to every NW Fest. And this one was VERY different than any of the others that I remember. I think that the biggest reason is the shear number of people. When I pulled in to camp (early Friday morning). I was shocked at the number of people who I didn't know (and there are VERY few people that I do not know by name or face on our board and I have wheeled with the vast majority of them). Here are my thoughts, concerns, recommendations.

1. Organization before hand. I have always said that this should not be put on the BOD (they have enough other issues to deal with). I think we should put a few people together to help with Food, Raffle, Trail Runs (organized before hand), Other.

2. Camp. I have always believed that it should be held at a location that is family friendly (toilets, running water at the minimum!). I believe we need to look and reserve NOW for next year a location that will be big enough for all of us to be centrally located (with campers, trailers, tents, motor homes, etc) and with a "shelter" or campfire centrally located for the festivities, eating, raffle, etc. so that we can all (as 1 group, not 3) participate together as best as possible.

3. Tech inspection, Sign in. I agree that we need this for several reasons and we need to have it at a specified time set before hand (in this case we could have done it Friday evening or Sat morning). We should have a record of the vehicles that were pressent and the condition they were in. This also helps introduce people to each other (particularly those who are relatively new to the group).

4. Dinner. I think that a Pot Luck is asking for a disaster with a group this large. I think it needs to be a formal dinner (John did a wonderful job and always has but it should not be on his shoulders to provide this). Someone other than the BOD could organize this or we could have someone like Costco put everthing together for us for a small fee. John, I take full responsibility for my group coming back WAY too late off the trail, we did expect to be back in time for dinner but obviously in retrospect with the length of trails and size of the group we had it took much longer than I anticipated and we missed out on a wonderful meal, the commoradity of the group, and the raffle. Again, I appologize and it was not the intention at all but I agree with you, this was not appropriate and should have been avoided.

5. Raffle. Again, should be done before hand, with assistance from others not on the BOD and it should be a great way for the chapter to raise money. This is not easy for people who have not done this in the past or don't have connections. This group has a pretty long list of connections and we should "learn" how to do this so that it is not such a burden for any of us.

6. Invitation. It has always been in the past that you had to be a MEMBER or invited by a Member to attend (a member could invite 1 friend). This year seemed to be "out of hand" with the number of non members in attendance. And I belive this had a LOT to do with the disfunction of the entire group. I am not picking on particular people (I wheeled with a bunch of non members and enjoyed all of them) but as a whole I think that it created a lot more disfunction of the group.

7. Trail Runs. I agree that these should be planned in advance with trail leaders and a max number of people in each group. I was very disapointed in the time it took to get on the trail each morning. Or at least a drivers Meeting each morning at a set time to organize the people.

8. On the trail. CB's are helpful (way too many issues with them this year) and I agree with it being said above, I tried to make it clear to each of my groups that you always keep the person in front and behind in your rear view mirror. We didn't have much of an issue with this in any of my groups but it doesn't seem to be as common knowledge than I thought. I think we might need a REAL noobfest to go through some more of this stuff.

9. Drinking. I love a beer (I know some of you don't believe me) but I am absolutely SICK of seeing people drinking on the trails!!!!!!! I can't say this enough, I am DONE with it and I believe that as a group we need to decide up front how we are going to deal with this. This is not a single person issue, this is a list of people and I think it needs to be delt with NOW.

10. Late night festivities. I am with Rod. I was kept up from 1:30 till after 4:00am listening to the crap, swearing, WAY TOO loud music blaring inapropriate music, hooting, and who knows what else. Luckily for me, my son slept through it, but this is supposed to be a family event and this was far from that! In the past we have had late night (2:00am) drinking and I don't have an issue with that, it is part of the fun of it (even I enjoy it, believe it or not). But I believe there needs to be some sort of understanding in advance. Personaly I was seriously concerned about the safetly of people in attendance (rape, alcohol poisening, etc) maybe I am way out of line (I didn't see anything first hand), but it didn't sound like it from the distance I was hearing it from. This is NOT the kind of activities I think we want to condone in the future. It doesn not represent or anyone else well.

I did enjoy the weekend. I really enjoyed the time I spent with my son, a handful of others I wheeled with and talked with at camp. However, I really feel like I missed out on what I have grown to love about NW Fest in the past. If there is anything that I can do in the future I would be more than happy to support.

Michael

I had a great time and will definately pitch my tent farther from the campfire next time. Matt came over and introduced himself to start things off for us. After we arrived we were chomping at the bit to run trails and did soon after arrival. I know the Oregon group was tired from the long mofo of a drive so most of us went to bed early. Most of us have run together, some frequently, so we kind of knew what to expect from our rigs. Sickhick, Andy and Bean joined us on a run and it was a pleasure running with them. Did I mention putting my tent farther from the campfire.

Now the not so positive.
I saw a few guys drinking before and during runs. This is not the place for it during a sanctioned event, for that matter any event. By-laws don't look favorably on it.

Andy that drove down from BC to come to NW Fest was a pretty cool guy. When he broke his rig he was chastised to no end by the beer drinking folks I refered to before. Not everyone has the money/resources some of us spend on our rigs so maybe their parts aren't the best or well planned out. Then when the time came to fix it, which I realize was after dinner and during raffle and party time most everyone could give a shit about the kid from BC. (He's actually from Wyoming which is where he flew to on Sunday morning at 0600 to see his family since he hadn't been home in awhile) This is where I really got a sour taste.

Karl

All good and valid points. Great discussion. Keep it up folks
:thumbup:
-Ryan

2xtreme said:

I have been to every NW Fest. And this one was VERY different than any of the others that I remember. I think that the biggest reason is the shear number of people. When I pulled in to camp (early Friday morning). I was shocked at the number of people who I didn't know (and there are VERY few people that I do not know by name or face on our board and I have wheeled with the vast majority of them). Here are my thoughts, concerns, recommendations.

1. Organization before hand. I have always said that this should not be put on the BOD (they have enough other issues to deal with). I think we should put a few people together to help with Food, Raffle, Trail Runs (organized before hand), Other.

2. Camp. I have always believed that it should be held at a location that is family friendly (toilets, running water at the minimum!). I believe we need to look and reserve NOW for next year a location that will be big enough for all of us to be centrally located (with campers, trailers, tents, motor homes, etc) and with a "shelter" or campfire centrally located for the festivities, eating, raffle, etc. so that we can all (as 1 group, not 3) participate together as best as possible.

3. Tech inspection, Sign in. I agree that we need this for several reasons and we need to have it at a specified time set before hand (in this case we could have done it Friday evening or Sat morning). We should have a record of the vehicles that were pressent and the condition they were in. This also helps introduce people to each other (particularly those who are relatively new to the group).

4. Dinner. I think that a Pot Luck is asking for a disaster with a group this large. I think it needs to be a formal dinner (John did a wonderful job and always has but it should not be on his shoulders to provide this). Someone other than the BOD could organize this or we could have someone like Costco put everthing together for us for a small fee. John, I take full responsibility for my group coming back WAY too late off the trail, we did expect to be back in time for dinner but obviously in retrospect with the length of trails and size of the group we had it took much longer than I anticipated and we missed out on a wonderful meal, the commoradity of the group, and the raffle. Again, I appologize and it was not the intention at all but I agree with you, this was not appropriate and should have been avoided.

5. Raffle. Again, should be done before hand, with assistance from others not on the BOD and it should be a great way for the chapter to raise money. This is not easy for people who have not done this in the past or don't have connections. This group has a pretty long list of connections and we should "learn" how to do this so that it is not such a burden for any of us.

6. Invitation. It has always been in the past that you had to be a MEMBER or invited by a Member to attend (a member could invite 1 friend). This year seemed to be "out of hand" with the number of non members in attendance. And I belive this had a LOT to do with the disfunction of the entire group. I am not picking on particular people (I wheeled with a bunch of non members and enjoyed all of them) but as a whole I think that it created a lot more disfunction of the group.

7. Trail Runs. I agree that these should be planned in advance with trail leaders and a max number of people in each group. I was very disapointed in the time it took to get on the trail each morning. Or at least a drivers Meeting each morning at a set time to organize the people.

8. On the trail. CB's are helpful (way too many issues with them this year) and I agree with it being said above, I tried to make it clear to each of my groups that you always keep the person in front and behind in your rear view mirror. We didn't have much of an issue with this in any of my groups but it doesn't seem to be as common knowledge than I thought. I think we might need a REAL noobfest to go through some more of this stuff.

9. Drinking. I love a beer (I know some of you don't believe me) but I am absolutely SICK of seeing people drinking on the trails!!!!!!! I can't say this enough, I am DONE with it and I believe that as a group we need to decide up front how we are going to deal with this. This is not a single person issue, this is a list of people and I think it needs to be delt with NOW.

10. Late night festivities. I am with Rod. I was kept up from 1:30 till after 4:00am listening to the crap, swearing, WAY TOO loud music blaring inapropriate music, hooting, and who knows what else. Luckily for me, my son slept through it, but this is supposed to be a family event and this was far from that! In the past we have had late night (2:00am) drinking and I don't have an issue with that, it is part of the fun of it (even I enjoy it, believe it or not). But I believe there needs to be some sort of understanding in advance. Personaly I was seriously concerned about the safetly of people in attendance (rape, alcohol poisening, etc) maybe I am way out of line (I didn't see anything first hand), but it didn't sound like it from the distance I was hearing it from. This is NOT the kind of activities I think we want to condone in the future. It doesn not represent or anyone else well.

I did enjoy the weekend. I really enjoyed the time I spent with my son, a handful of others I wheeled with and talked with at camp. However, I really feel like I missed out on what I have grown to love about NW Fest in the past. If there is anything that I can do in the future I would be more than happy to support.

Michael

Click to expand...

I pretty much agree with Michael.

Well I had better give my view on this years event. As with Michael I have been to all 5 NWfests, as well as helped put on two NWfests. Though the two I helped put on had a total of 26 jeeps, not like the 40+ rigs that were there this year. This year was a totally different animal.

1. I agree with Muddybeast and others in saying. It was a totally alien environment when I rolled into camp on Friday evening. So many new faces and only a few I recognized. I am glad I knew a couple people, having not known any one, it would have been VERY intimidating. I felt bad for all the new people. Camp came off as a hostile environment.

Having a greeter and a driver packet would help alleviate the uneasiness of the new people.

2. Drinking on the trails. WHY? Is wheeling not hard enough for you? Last thing I need is something that will inhibit my driving skills at all. Or do you need liquid courage? Off-camber can be very unnerving, but that is the whole thrill, I don't want to deaden my self to the rush. I was very surprised at how many people partook, many of who shocked me. This is definitely the highest percent to date at NWfest.

Drinking on the trail is strictly prohibited at ANY sanctioned event , BEFORE or DURING a trail run.

3. I like the way dinner has been done the last two years. THANKS JOHN. I am very sorry we didn't make it. Michael would like to take full responsibility, but I was the little devil on his shoulder going. "Lets just hit these couple of trails before dinner, we have a good group" Unfortunately repeated mechanical failure got the best of us.

In the past Potlucks have been great, But with a group this size, it would be a nightmare. Plus keeping foods cold in that kinda weather can be very difficult for everyone. No one wants food poisoning from a warmed over macaroni salad.

4. We need a separate committee to do NWFest. The BOD already has enough to do. A committee should consist of,
Event coordinator. (oversees the whole event, delegates and does the overall schedule)
Trail coordinator. (finds trail leaders, schedule trails, and different difficulty levels)
Raffle Coordinator. (hunts down donations, buys tickets, sells tickets and runs the raffle)
Dinner Coordinator (enough said)

5. Liability waivers. We have used them in the past and are required by national BOD. We left ourselves wide open to lawsuits. Thank god nobody got hurt on the trail or killed back at camp.

6. Vehicle inspections. Needs to be done so that everyone can have a great time, and not stuck on the trail because someone thought they only needed 2 lug nuts per wheel. Now that being said I don't think a tech inspection would have stopped a majority of this year's carnage.

Though a little preventive maintenance would have helped out everyone, whether it was your jeep that broke or someone in your group. I know everyone wants to have a blingiest suspension or what not, but it doesn't do you a dam* bit of good if you overheat after every hill climb. It's not like XJ's aren't known to overheat.

7. Late night rowdiness. One thing I have learned from past NWfests is set up your tent as far from the campfire as possible. It has always been loud at night around the campfire, but it got very loud and carried on much later then usual(4:00am?) this year. It was definitely fueled by alcohol and testosterone. I really don't have much to say but we need to remember to be courteous to the others in camp. Thanks to those who tried to keep the party under control. (Ian and Matt)

8. I know no one wants to talk about it but UNDERAGE DRINKING. We seemed to have let it slide the last couple of years for the 19-20 year olds. It became a HUGE problem this year, with a very young man who got extremely drunk. I know a lot of people including myself have no real problem with a 18-20 having a drink or two. (God knows I did when I was that age.) They are old enough to die for this country. BUT NO MORE. This young man, who turned out much younger then we thought, could have easily gotten alcohol poisoning (he may have) or worse, died. We need a strict policy of "no minors with/consuming alcohol"

9. Communication. I thought this year was better then in the past regarding CBs. There were many more then usual. That should be a priority for everyone after vehicle maintenance. They are so helpful for trail communication.

I think I have rattled on long enough, Hopefully you read through what I wrote.

I still had a great time this year, and will be waiting for an announcement for next year.

Hans