Duchess

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 1^st 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 6^th 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.

No idea! It sure seems both a long time ago and just last year.

In the past we've waited until November to get the gift exchange rolling. In the past this time frame has often been too short to properly keep overseas folks in the time frame of the Holiday Season.

So, I'm doing a little survey to gauge the Pub's interest in participating in a Gift Exchange again this year. If there is enough interest, I'll start putting together the information and we'll get things rolling a bit earlier this year.

I do block pop-ups, because most of time they're advertisements. So no plans to unblock them. There used to be a little sign in button right up at the top. Now all that's there is sign in via facebook button.

I can certainly continue to apply this work Do Something Forbidden work-around. It just seems cumbersome.

The only log in option I can find is to use facebook. To get an option that allows me to use my regular login information I need to try to do something forbidden to nonmembers, like view a profile. Is this an intentional upgrade to push folks toward using facebook?

The Queen is dead, god save the Queen?

No one is punk. We are all punk.

Oh my! Now I know why no one talked to me at that Ramones show. I had authentic holes in my pants. Lifes mysteries: Solved by Stynky.

I'm fairly certain it did play hell with the drum, they were around 1/2" in size. Thankfully (?!) it was just my daily clothes!

I just inadvertently discovered that washing a load of laundry with a half dozen larger sized drill bits goes a far stretch toward "breaking in" your clothes...

Thanks... I think...

That was the attempt anyway...

There are still a few things that I'd like to add on or properly complete:

• Line the sleeves. There should be a draped lining from the sleeves, but I didn't have time (in four years. Ha.) or a suitable material.
  
• Add a trim of some variety to the edges of the entari. I'm not sure which direction to go on this one.
  
• As an astute viewer at the fair, a self proclaimed scholar of the Ottoman Empire, pointed out I should probably have some feathers from the turban. But I think I'll leave this out. As it is the thing tops 6'4" which was nearly unmanageable in some of the booths and areas.
  
• Replace the veil with something in silk, perhaps to match the sleeve drapes.
  

Good news! This weekend I finally made a big push to finish my ottoman empire costume. The local renaissance festival was having a Silk Road themed weekend and dadgum I wanted to be thematic. So I did. Sadly there aren't any great pictures but I'll see what I can do.

And yes it has been nearly four years to the day from when I started this project.

I like this.

I second the recommendation of How to Brew. It contains a lot of information, ranging from very basic to much more advanced, so it will "grow" with you as you become more experienced. I'm also a fan of Northern Brewers. Their extract kits come with some nice basic directions and produce very solid beers. Do look around and see if you have a local shop to support as the staff will most likely be a good resource for your questions. I know I hound the poor folks at Northern Brewer every time I'm in the shop. :)

I'm still quite giddy about being here. I'm sure Stynky will corroborate that I was an unseemly level of excited when he asked me to join the moderating team.

A pyrates life me. Yo ho!

Unfortunately the lot of you are much better at this than me.