The Huge Outdoorsy Taos Talk.Bizarre Outrageous Blowout

Frequently Asked Questions

and stuff

This is the current incarnation of the HOTT.BOB FAQ; it will be undergoing almost constant revision between now and the actual event. If you are going to participate, you may wish to check this document occasionally, to supplement information you may be receiving from the mailing list, the 'froup, random mail from other people, X Industries interdeparmental memos, the voices in your head, the mind control satellites, or that random-dot 3-D stereogram your grandparents gave you for your birthday-- you know, the one you've been staring at so much lately.

Final update: 5 August 1995

 

Progress report to date

Quick List of Associated Stuff

 

Anvil Graphics is taking orders for the t-shirts now!

So bounce to http://www.armory.com/~anvil/hbshirt.html or mail anvil@armory.com immediately, before supplies run out!

 

It's time to send in site money, as well!

We've begun accepting the $30 site fee thingy so that we can start purchasing the food and tents and such, and put deposits on the things to be rented. We're down to the last six weeks (or less, depending on when you read this), so time is critical.

If you are attending HOTT.BOB please send a check, made out to the order of HOTT.BOB, for $30 for each person in your group (including spouses, SO's, etc.) to:

HOTT.BOB
c/o Andrew "King of the Hill" Solberg
2205 Hazard
Houston, Texas, 77019, USA

Please get your money in as soon as possible; we need to start accquiring everything important.

The What

HOTT.BOB is:

The When

HOTT.BOB will begin on Friday, the 11th of August, 1995, as the guests gather from around the globe. On Saturday, the en masse trek to the lovely resort town of Taos will take place. That night, there will be a wedding. Throughout Sunday, many strange and wonderful things will happen. And on Monday, the 14th of August, 1995, the guests will begin to return to their normal lives.

The Where

About a hundred years before what's-his-name, that gangster guy, Bugsy, yeah, that was it-- about a hundred years before that Bugsy character that Warren Beatty played got the idea to make a town called Las Vegas in the Nevada desert, some other folks established their own Las Vegas, in the New Mexico desert. This particular Las Vegas lives on to this very day, and it is in the rural outskirts of this fine little 'burg that our event will take place.

The site belongs to the parents of The Elder Dan, one of the BOB's two hosts. The site is flat, roomy, and undergoing construction which should make it downright homey. Noise complaints will not be an issue. The HOTT.BOB agenda also includes a full day basking the glow of Taos, a great little resort town in the mountains of northeastern New Mexico. More specific directions to the party site are being withheld from public distribution. If you are definitely going, you will receive complete instructions.

If you want to get your first glimpse of Las Vegas, New Mexico in advance, rent the film Red Dawn, which was primarily filmed in and around LV.

There is an excellent New Mexico homepage at http://www.viva.com/nm/nmhome.html. One of the pages accessible from this is a Taos home page, which appears to be on a very slow machine. The NM homepage has info on other things you might want to see and do while down in the area. Thanks to John Vail for directing me to this.

I have a scanned map of New Mexico now, courtesy of Derek V. It needs a bit of editing because it doesn't show Taos and I need to make Albuquerque and Las Vegas more prominent as well, but it's a start.

Rocco Caputo has scanned in two better maps, with more detail. They are 1991 maps but the information should still be pretty relevant. [NOTE: These links appear to be broken. Rocco, what's up with the map pages?]

I have some pictures of the site, but they have not been scanned in yet and they are somewhat misleading anyway, as they depict the site covered in some eighteen inches of snow.

 

The Who

Almost everyone. The July 7th headcount is 94 talk.bizarre entities (including spouses, SOs, friends, guests, and children) confirmed, about a third of whom have gotten their site fees in, a small number of people not yet heard back from, and about a dozen wedding-related guests.

As of early July, the mailing list has 108 people on it. International guests will be coming from such places as Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, and Finland.

Your hosts are Daniel "Crisper Than Thou" Johnson (crisper@armory.com) and Andrew "HWRNMNBSOL" Solberg (andsol@cml.rice.edu). These two fine gentlemen (who were recently in the same place at the same time and, in a rare moment of idiocy, forgot to get a picture taken for inclusion here) will do their damndest to answer any questions you have that this FAQ fails to answer. If you have any concerns which you should like to have addressed, but would rather not bring up on the mailing list or in the 'froup itself, please let Dan or Andrew know.

The Why

If you aren't sure you'd enjoy attending HOTT.BOB, there is probably nothing in these pages that will change your mind for sure. The denizens of talk.bizarre are much friendlier and more sociable in person than one might guess from their online personae, however. Fear is not a reason to stay away. The best reason to attend is the same as it has been with all BOBs: The opportunity to meet people you know only by name, and the chance to hang out with friends you haven't seen in a long time.

QUESTIONS

  1. Why plan it so far in advance?
    • It was originally going to take place in 1994, but so many other talk.bizarre parties ended up happening in '94 that we decided to push it back a year.
    • The scale of all this is beginning to become apparent. The current guest list is looking to number about 120 people. I'm starting to have weird, angstful dreams about the BOB.
  2. How much is it going to cost?
    • Based on the preliminary budget (which Dan and Andrew worked out at the site on 21 April), the fee is being set at $30 (looks like we're better guessers than we might have imagined). The event t-shirt (being produced by John Vail and Anvil Graphics) is not included in that budget; it will probably be another $8-$10 more. Johnathan will mail the list with info about ordering the shirt.
    • We're taking money now. See the information at the top of this file. If you're attending HOTT.BOB, please get your site fee to Andrew as soon as possible (like, by mid-July). Please.
  3. What will I get for my money?
    • The vast majority of the budget is covering the food that is being made (about 1/3 of the money) and general site support (portable toilets, huge supplies of beverages, grills, and the like). Tenting has actually turned out to be a much smaller portion of the budget than expected (about 20%).
    • The wedding is NOT part of the budget; it's going to be low-overhead to begin with, and its cost will be shouldered by the bride and groom and their families. The money is for the party; the wedding is set as part of it because, when we (Jade and I) thought about summer-of-'95 dates, it occured to us that this was just too cool not to do. Your only obligation as a guest at the wedding is to cheer when we kiss and cry all the rest of the time. We're not even going to make you kill anyone or have sex with an animal or anything.
  4. Will I be able to login from HOTT.BOB?
    • It is looking like there may well be a point of access at the site, but it's going to be inside the house and we don't want a hundred people tromping around inside to login three times a day each. So if there's something important, you can probably get away with logging in at some point over the weekend, but you're doing this to get away from it all, remember?
    • There is cellular access in the valley where the party site is.
    • July 7th: Bandwidth to the site may be a problem after all. We're working on it.
  5. What will it be like at HOTT.BOB?
    • The daytime temperature will probably be in the 90's. We're going to put shade over a substantial portion of the site, with tarps and such, however. There will likely be light afternoon showers, which will also help keep things cool. We're on a plateau, much higher than the real New Mexico desert. At night, it will probably be in the 70's (not sure about that)-- warm enough to sleep out under the sky but not too hot to be in tents, hopefully.
    • My two trips out there were virtually critter-free, but they were both during winterish weather. However, we should be relatively free of things like spiders, scorpions, snakes, etc. It is the out of doors, however; non-human organisms live there. If you really cannot deal with the possibility of wildlife in all its untamed glory, you should probably consider joining the contingent of people staying in town at the motels.
    • There are at least two cats and many, many dogs at the property, but they can be kept away from people who don't like such animals.
    • There will be power outlets and some outdoor lighting, with additional camp lighting. There will also be one central firepit, probably. Fire safety will be a priority, of course.
    • There will be a number of rented chemical toilets. There will probably not be showers, per se. However, those who have hotel rooms may be kind enough to allow others to use their room showers at some point, and the site has running water and hoses (again, helpful in keeping cool). Like the critter factor, if you really cannot deal with the thought of going as much as three days without a hot shower, consider the hotel route.
  6. How can I keep abreast of important HOTT.BOB developments and news?
    • Mail hottbob-request@armory.com with the word HOTT.BOB somewhere in the subject line, and you will be added to the mailing list. Also, you may wish to check this FAQ frequently.
  7. How should I travel to HOTT.BOB?
    • You have several options to choose from. The nearest commercial airport is Albuquerque. There is train service into Las Vegas from Albq but I don't recommend it-- the train only goes once per day, and the only access from the airport to the train station in Albq is via a $8-$10 cab ride. We're going to try to coordinate the arrivals of those who are driving with those who are flying in and those who are renting cars, so that those without vehicles can find space in the cars of people who can detour through Albq on their way in. A number of people are making roadtrips. The details of who is getting there how will be hashed out on the mailing list in the near future. AjD is setting up/coordinating group driving in the north/northeast (Great Lakes) area. Contact him with mail that has "HOTT.BOB" in the subject line, to be added to his mailing list, if you're in that area and want to roadtrip. He sent me some notes regarding his findings re: rentals and such. I imagine his mailing list has gone into more detail.
    • If you intend to rent a car as part of HOTT.BOB, please try to rent something that can hold a number of people (4+) so that we can account for those who will not have cars with them when we head up to Taos.
    • If you are flying into Albq from the west coast, Southwest airlines seems to be generally the best bet, especially if you are travelling with someone else (they do a 2-for-1 deal). Just as an example, Jade and I recently flew San Jose to Albq for $340 round trip total, and this was with less than a week's planning. If you start making reservations now, you should be able to get a pretty good deal.
    • A request: If you are flying in and are going to need transport between the airport and Las Vegas (i.e. you are not renting a car when you arrive), please try to fly in on Friday during the day, and out on Monday (again, during the day/evening) so that those who are handling carpools aren't forced to make numerous trips back and forth to pick up the one person who arrives at 2 in the morning or something.
    • Persons who have set their travel plans should (please) contact me (Dan, crisper@armory.com) and Derrick Williams (adw3345@ultb.isc.rit.edu) with that information. Derrick is assembling the list of arrivals, people who can give rides, and people who need rides. Stevi Deter has Derrick's list on a web site; the rides list is at http://www.clark.net/pub/stevi/ridez.html.
  8. WHAT SHOULD I BE DOING RIGHT NOW?
    • You should be sending your money in to Andrew (see the top of this file).
    • If you are going, commit now by mailing andsol@cml.rice.edu and saying "Yeah, Andrew, I'll see you there!" Then write out a check for $30 for each person in your group, made payable to HOTT.BOB, and mail it to Andrew Solberg, 2205 Hazard, Houston TX 77019, USA. If you cannot commit to HOTT.BOB, but are on the list, tell Andrew that instead, so we can remove you and talk about you behind your back and stuff. If you really aren't decided yet, make a decision soon. By the end of June, we really need to know who's going to be there and how much money we'll have to spend.
    • Figure out how you will get there-- by train (Amtrak does have service into Las Vegas), by plane (you will be flying into Albuquerque), or by automobile (remember that most of the road routes into that corner of NM come over some long, hot, empty roads-- overheating is an ever-present specter). Mail crisper@armory.com and adw3345@ultb.isc.rit.edu (that's Derrick Williams) to let us know how and when you will be arriving-- we need to arrange maximum vehicle efficiency.
    • Please don't plan on arriving before Thursday afternoon, or staying after Tuesday morning, without making special arrangements with Dan.
    • KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES!
    • Also, please make sure Andrew knows what sort of shelter you need for HOTT.BOB: Do you want to stay in a motel? (We're making arrangements for special price deals at two or three places in town.) Do you plan to camp on the site in a tent you will be bringing? If so, will that tent have extra space in it that you would be willing to share? Or do you want to camp but need tent space provided for you? If you are camping, can you bring sleeping bags for yourselves, or will you need bedding?
    • There still is not any sort of good count of how many guests are vegetarian or vegan; if you have special dietary considerations such as this, please mail crisper about it. Right now, we're just kinda guessing at a liberal 1-in-4 ratio.
    • John Vail and Anvil Graphics have designed the requisite t-shirt and design, and are ready for orders. So take a look at the design and shirt information or mail anvil@armory.com directly.

Other Stuff

The basic routine for HOTT.BOB calls for very little in the way of formal activities. Saturday (the 12th) will be the trip into Taos; the wedding will probably be very late that night (when the Perseids begin to peak). Other than that, activities will be scheduled haphazardly, by party-goers, for party-goers. Partly, this means that you should think of things to plan or bring that you enjoy, which you think others might also find entertaining.

However, to give you some idea of what's already being discussed:

 

HOTT.BOB FAQ: May 1995 - maintained by Dan Johnson (crisper@armory.com)
crisper@armory.com | talk.bizarre