From: crossgl@infonode.ingr.com (Gordon Cross)
Subject: RGs: good vs. bad (was Re: A Truly International Gathering)
Organization: Intergraph Corporation, Huntsville, AL.
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 20:50:52 GMT

In article <2264.29EBD6B2@kennel.FIDONET.ORG> Mike.Steiner@p1.f207.n143.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Mike Steiner) writes:

>My all-time favorite RG is Phoenix Phiesta in Phoenix, AZ.  I've been to every
>one that they have held since their 83 AG.

I was there last year ('91) when they did the "Phantom of the Phiesta" thing.
That was in all honesty the most incredible thing I've seen come from Mensa
talent.  However, I was quite disappointed with the rest of the RG - perhaps
because of the way it was hyped up to me beforehand; perhaps because it rained
all day on Saturday; perhaps because the attendence was low.  But the one thing
that struck me as strange about it was walking into hospitality Saturday night
at 1:30 and finding only 3 people - everyone else already in bed??!?!?
Oh; the hotel *locked up* the hot tub at 10:00 PM!!!!!!!!!  Forget that!

Flame thrower on...    :-) :-) :-)

>Going back in memory to 1978, I'd say that San Antonio runs a great RG
>(although I haven't been to any of theirs since 85)

Well, they don't anymore.  I was there in '91 and it tops my list of the
*worst* RGs I've ever been to!!  It was so boring that I left the RG all day
Saturday with some friends to go horseback riding and tour the San Antonio
Zoo!!  It seems they felt an RG should consist *solely* of AMC meetings and
do-it-yourself tours!  In fact they didn't even have a dance - instead you
were supposed to "go out on the town"!!  Jeez, give me a break ...

>and Houston's SynRG (Memorial Day weekend) was great (although I went
>only to their first one, in 82--I moved out of the area after that).

I'd rather not go into details about this one except to say avoid it at all
costs!  Imagine getting *arrested* at an RG *inside* the hotel for
*public intoxication* and not even being drunk to boot!!  Apparantly *wine*
becomes an illegal drug in Houston past 2:00am!!

STAY AWAY!!   Enough said...

Flame thrower off...

>Orange County throws a pretty good one, but not as good as the others I've
>mentioned.

Is this the one held at Highland Springs??  If so it was pretty good - but
expensive.  If not, which one is Orange County?

>Vegas last December had a good RG also; it was their first in a few years,
>and they were a bit rusty--the next one promises to be much better.

I wanted to go!  But *why oh why* did they pick a date so damn *close* to
Christmas (egads Dec 21?? Oh boy!)?

>Actually, I've never been to a bad RG, but those that I mentioned stand out
>in my memory--as do the ones the El Paso in 79 and 84, but they don't run RGs
>regularly there.

I guess they've slipped lately.  I went to Houston in '90 because of all the
hype it got; but there attendence was around half of past ones and hospitality
was *catered by the hotel* and consisted solely of goldfish crackers, potato
chips, and pretzels ...
-- 

Gordon Cross          UUCP:     uunet!ingr!infonode!crossgl   "all opinions are
111 Westminister Way  INTERNET: crossgl@infonode.ingr.com    mine and not those
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