Duchess

No no. We were much more "honor among thieves" and exemplary teamwork. Now, my students on the other... A few years ago I ran into one of my students working at a Renaissance Festival. He was a week or so late on several assignments, so I opted to take him to task for it in renaissance festival style by setting the kings guard on him. He had no idea what was happening and apparently didn't recognize me in my costume. It wasn't until the charges were read out and physics was mentioned that he put it all together.

A natural extension of sewing, wearing funny clothes and doing other things.

My condolences.

Holy schnikes and I thought I'd been around here a long time... Well Happy Beerthday Pub!

I didn't even recognize the googles!

William, I love this Welcome Aboard! Topic! Wonderful idea. :)

Thanks Gertie, I look forward to it, though I am not worried! Also I ended up exchanging gifts with couple of you. We had a few late sign ups, a few shenanigans, little finagling and some blatant mismanagement on my part. In order to not disrupt too many people, I just doubled myself up. I hope nobody minds!

Well, I think we're down to the last couple of unreceived gifts and wrapping up (ha!) this round of the Secret Gift Exchange! I will continue to follow up with those folks until we get everything straightened out and everyone has a present. Now would be a perfect time to reveal yourself, if you haven't already, and do make sure to thank your gifter! A couple of other things: 1. It would be good to delete any messages with addresses in them, so that we don't have that information hanging out in limbo land. I'll do the same when everything comes to a close. 2. I'd also like to hear what you thought of the early start date and how things went this year. Feedback is always welcome!

Well, let's start the round up. If you haven't received your gift yet, please let me know!

Hi Everyone, Just a friendly reminder to get your gifts in the mail!

Happy Birthday! Does this mean it is Stynky's turn to demand something of you?

If you were closer, there'd be warm beer for sure.

Is the "special group" like a "special hell"?

Happy Birthday Stynky! I'm still working on which impossible task I'm going to assign for you as a birthday present. Perhaps I can get Mission to give me some ideas.

I think yours had the farthest to travel, so I'm glad it made it safely!

Hi Everyone, Congratulations on making it through the signup phase! At this time all names have been assigned and you should have a PM in your box with the name of an excited Designated Recipient. Please take some time over the next several weeks to acknowledge your giftee. Typically gifts are timed to arrive sometime around the traditional (in the US anyway) holiday time at the end of December and no later than the end of this year (2011). Be aware that some of you have an address outside your country, so account for the extra time required by customs and long distance shipping when you plan your timeline! When you've put your gift in the mail, please send me a PM so that I know everything is running smoothly. On the other hand is something comes up and you find yourself unable to send anything (for any reason), please let me know ASAP so that I can make alternate arrangements for your giftee. Thank you Everyone and have fun! Duchess

One more reminder: The sign up dead line is tomorrow!

Adam- I don't have a pm from you. So double check where you sent it and send it again. The list is current as of this morning (October 29th), so if you're not on there, but want on there, send me the requisite information!

Just a reminder that the sign up deadline is approaching...

It's all in the intro post.

Alrighty, there's enough unofficial interest, to make this worthwhile once again! See Secret Gift Exchange 2011 for information and official enrollment guidelines.

Check here for the currently (as of Oct.31) signed up list: Duchess Capt. Bo of the WTF co. michaelsbagley landlubbersanonymous jollyjacktar Stynky Tudor Elena PoD wes1761 Capt. Trueblood Quartermaster James Commodore Swab Seb. Nodding adam cyphers Gunpowder Gertie

It's time for the Secret Gift Exchange. Those of you who've been around know we've done this for the last several years with a reasonable amount of success and a few of us/you were looking forward to it again this year. At least according to the informal poll I posted last week… So here's how it’s going to work: Who is eligible: Any current member of the Pub is eligible. If you’ve only been around a few months, I’ll pair you with someone else in equal standing. The understanding being that this would put those newer members on equal footing, as both parties would be taking a risk with unknowns. Regardless of membership status, by signing up you solemnly agree that you will provide some sort of pleasant contact with your designated recipient. If you don't I'll be distinctly displeased with you. What you'll do: After the sign-up cut-off I will PM you the name and address of your Designated Recipient. Sometime in the near future you will put something in the mail, timed so as to arrive before December 25, for your Designated Recipient. What you will send: Often these sorts of arrangements come with a dollar amount limit. I’m not convinced that is appropriate for some place like the Pub, and things have been pretty successful for the last several years without one. Please don't let this lack of specification make you uncomfortable. Also know that you're not buying our friendship, respect or any other sort of attention, so don't bother showing off. We'll just mock you. Things that people have done in the past: Holiday Cards, CD's, dice, a deck of cards, belt pouches, glass pens, etc.... Basically anything goes as long as it is kind and reasonably well intentioned. If this section is really stressing you out PM me, and we'll come up with something or I'll give you quantitative limits to make you feel better. How to sign up: Send me a PM with your name (or something the post office will recognize as a name capable of receiving items) and address. Also if you would like to include a SHORT list of things you are interested in to help your Designated Giver, please feel. Note that I said things you are interested in, not a shopping list. Please don’t sign up if you simply expect to check one more thing off your “I want” list. This list is by no means a requirement; in fact I think part of the fun in this is the mystery. Each interested party must contact me themselves, from their own account. I won't sign anyone up on someone else's say so. Simply expressing interest here or in the poll thread is also not enough to get officially signed up. You must send me a PM with your name and address. I MUST RECEIVE YOUR PM BY NOON CT ON NOVEMBER 1st FOR YOU TO PARTICIPATE! I will then mix up all the entries and pair up everyone. I'll then send you a PM by November 6th containing the name of your Designated Recipient. You will then find, craft, beg, or barter something for them and post it off to the supplied address. Please let me know when your package has shipped. After the Gift exchange is complete everyone should purge their PM's of sensitive identifying information (like names and addresses) and I will do the same. You're free to open your Gift whenever you get it (or to wait for some special day) and post here in great detail about it. But let’s have the exchange complete before we start identifying ourselves as "giver of ...." If you've any questions please post here or send me a PM. Thanks, Duchess.

Oooo I'm in please.

I only see the log in via facebook option in the top right corner. I don't get the regular log in option until I try to do something forbidden to the unregistered user, like view a profile. Then I get escorted to a log in screen that will accept my usual user name and password.