The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Journey to the Cross-roads
The Two Towers Edition

Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)

Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.

[Corin Stormhands]

You mean I got back here with the info before you?

Most favorite choice on the poll was the weekend of January 9th.

[SuziQ]

oh, did I just post that?

Bad, ksen, Bad Bad!

[Dawntreader]

Thought you might be all interested in this. It's a documentary/case my uncle (on the front page there, Zack Shelton) has been working on for quite some years now. It is really amazing what they came up with.

Take a look here:
JFK Murder Solved

Then follow the link on the right to get into the site.

[HairOfTheDog]

Regarding entmoot: Maybe it would be good to call on everyone to check in and re-vote on their availability.... The poll will be at the Yahoo Hobbit Hole.

The winner was Weekend of Friday Jan 9 , but it would help to get a new headcount of those that are actually committing to GO!

Weekend of Friday Jan 9

18

56.25%

I am going to save the results of who was listed on the old one and edit the poll.... This will wipe out the results. Then vote again based on the new choices of "going on this date" "Cant go on this date but really want to go" or "I am not able to go at all"....

[Wneighbor]

or is there a more loose idea like a big ole beach house with all kinds of bunks and a TV that we could rent? If there was such a place, I like that idea alot because there would be more opportunity for 'hanging out around the table or piling around the TV kinds of chit/chat time. In a hotel, we would always be meeting in a restaurant or something.

I like your pattern of thought.

[Dawntreader]

And those of us that snore?

[HairOfTheDog]

OK - The new poll is up:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FR_Hobbit_Hole/polls

[HairOfTheDog]

I don't mind snoring. It will remind me of my dearly departed Labrador.

[Corin Stormhands]

Ha! Did you guys see this? It's over on the Hillary/Amazon book recommendations thread.

[HairOfTheDog]

I like your pattern of thought.

I like the idea too.... and if it were a beach house we could *gasp* go outside too, and not spend the whole weekend watching movies! HA!

[Scott from the Left Coast]

Wow! If that's what you get for your birthday...I should mention that my birthday is a week from Saturday (the 10th)!!!

[HairOfTheDog]

Heh....

[HairOfTheDog]

Every time I ask people to make a committment, I kill the relationship.

[Wneighbor]

I did the poll. Now all you praying people need to pray for us to all have finances. With the new developments with my daughter in Germany, it looks like I'm making a month long trip to Germany for the birth just weeks before entmoot. I'll need God's help with this. But, I am determined NOT to miss Entmoot! I just can't - even if it's all on Visa!!!

[ksen]

Ok, the Entmoot, according to the poll, is to be the week of 1/9/04.

The 9th is a Friday, so how about we tentatively make the Moot start on Wednesday 1/7/04 for those who want to come in early and spend a couple days doing touristy type things. I'll be working those days, but I'll leave work early in order to spend time with everyone.

Then we can schedule the big day Saturday, 1/10/04. On that day we can have the double-extended-feature and then go on to the movie theatre (which we'll rent out if everyone still wants to) for our own private viewing of RoTK.

Alright, I just did some searching at Southwest Airlines website. Right now tickets are being sold through 9/8/03 so it will be about 4 more months until tickets are being sold for the Entmoot date range.

I priced roundtrip tickets from Seattle, Tulsa, and Manchester. These price ranges are for a single roundtrip ticket that arrives on a Wednesday and leaves on a Monday.

Seattle: $598.50 - $189.50
Tulsa: $412.00 - $262.00
Manchester: $306 - $185.00

I would encourage all of you planning on attending to follow the link above and sign up for Southwest Air's email notification. Every Tuesday they send out an emai that detail the specials they are having so there should be no reason that people can't get tickets at the bottom of the price range.

As far as hotels go, Ruthy and I can do some research (which I think Ruthy started earlier this year) and post the prices as we find them along with a link to the hotel website.

My house will be open and my garage will be done by then so I have planned on renting a large screen tv with a surround sound system for our viewing pleasure. But if you can find a big ole house to rent for the week and want to hold most of the festivities there, then that is fine with me. I'm sure those plans will solidify the closer we get to next January.

[Samwise]

Where are you guys holding the Entmoot?

[HairOfTheDog]

Yes, we all need to start our Entmoot Savings so there is money to go! - I was worried because I hadn't been able to set up an account to stick money into yet, and I was starting to do the math....

But my tax return coming was a gift. I had to pay last year, and upped my withholding, but I wondered if I did it too late and I would have to pay more. Luckily, I withheld plenty, and am getting quite a bit back. It will all be going towards entmoot!

[HairOfTheDog]

ksen's town - near Orlando Florida!

[HairOfTheDog]

I think we should check out the big ole house idea, I like it because we could just hang out, go to bed when we're ready, get up when we please....

I am picturing places like the ski-cabins we have here for rent that sleep 10-20 people, whole bunch of bedrooms, some more private than others for married folks, some just bunks for those of us who want to pretend we are at camp.

If that doesn't work out, it would certainly be easy to find a mid-range hotel with a bar that we can hang out at.

[Corin Stormhands]

Jr. and I will be driving down. Probably leaving Thursday night and stopping along the way. Then we'll head home on Sunday. I can't justify more than one day out of school.

Of course, if we'd picked the NEXT weekend, I would have a four-day weekend. But let's not open up that wound again...

I like the house idea, even if we have to camp out on floors and stuff. But if they are enough of us we could consider a hotel suite/parlor type room that we would all have access to.