United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

[STICKY] Thank God It's Over Party Info and RSVP!

pipermaru — Mon, 1 Dec 2008 06:50:38 -0800

Well, we all survived the month, and now it is time to party! Everyone is welcome whether you wrote 50K words or you didn't write any words. I hope that we'll have a great turn out to blow off steam and recount the stories of the month. And if you would like to bring a selection of your novel to share with others, please feel free! There will be prizes and lots of merriment, so please do consider coming out.

The TGIO Party will be held on Saturday, December 6 from 1 to 4 pm.

It will be held at:

Monitor Lanes
1700 S Euclid Ave.
Bay City, MI 48706
(989) 684-4381
http://www.monitorlanes.com

So far Megan (Allen), Megan (twi_ction), and Josh have promised to be there. Everyone else, please RSVP in this thread so I have an idea of how much stuff to bring.

Thanks, and see you there!
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

[STICKY] Regional Calendar Link, Write-In Schedule, and TGIO Info

pipermaru — Wed, 5 Nov 2008 05:27:07 -0800

Regional Calendar: http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=tri_cities_mi%40nanowrimo.org

Write-In Schedule

Midland
Sundays (starting 11/9), 10 am–1 pm
Coffee Chaos, 6201 Jefferson Ave., Midland
Separate building near strip plaza with Blockbuster and Honeybaked Ham Café.
(989) 835-6401

Bay City
Wednesdays, 5:30– 8 pm
Saturdays, 10 am–???
Harvest Coffee House, 810 Saginaw St., Bay City
On the right just past Center Ave.
(989) 893-0872

Saginaw
Thursdays (except 11/27), 7–10 pm
Magic Bean Café, 5789 State St., Suite 3, Saginaw
By Menards and Walmart in the little strip plaza.
(989) 790-9495

TGIO Party

Saturday, December 6, 1–4 pm
Monitor Lanes, 1700 S Euclid Ave., Bay City
(989) 684-4381
http://www.monitorlanes.com
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Congrats to a TON of winners!!!!

pipermaru — Mon, 1 Dec 2008 09:50:17 -0800

I was going to start a new thread for every winner, like I had started, but we had so many this year that I decided to do the latest in one thread. I hope that's okay with you guys. You all did awesome, and I am so thrilled that so many Tridgelings crossed the finish line this year! Hopefully, I didn't miss anyone. There are no cool widgets that lists all regional winners, so I had to manually go through and find you all.

Congrats to wordymike who crossed the 50K mark on the 24th!

Congrats to Melanie_Penzien who crossed the 50K mark on the 27th!

Congrats to those who crossed the 50K mark on the 28th!

Misgnomer (Bethany)
ZXORA

Congrats to twi_ction (Megan) who crossed the 50K mark on the 29th!

Congrats to those who crossed the 50K mark on the 30th!

jschu3 (Josh)
florinda (Elizabeth)
PKizzle (Paul)
swenson (Allison)
XAngelXCollinsX (Amy)
lifeofpraise
Paper Flowers
randomproxy
Sklein
VeronaPC

If you won but had trouble validating, you can use the general contact form at http://www.nanowrimo.org/generalcontact to have the OLL staff help validate you.
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Thank God It's Over Party!

pipermaru — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:31:19 -0800

I was hoping to be able to get a room in a library and/or community center for the TGIO Party and then ordering pizza instead of having it at a restaurant. The awesome Megan Allen checked into a few places that were either booked or we did not qualify for. I checked into a few places that were booked, too expensive to rent, or told us we had to be holding a "meeting" and since this was technically a "social event" that we couldn't rent the room.

So, I was thinking of having the TGIO Party at a bowling alley! I think that is more conducive to coming and going than a restaurant is, and I thought it would be a fun way to relax and blow off steam. We can pretend the pins are our internal editor that got in the way as we were writing (I know mine would not shut up this month!), or our plot that never materialized (I am still looking for that plot!), or anything else that frustrated us during the month!

I was thinking that having it in Bay City would be more central, but I am not familiar with the bowling alleys in the area. If anyone has experience with any of these or an opinion or an idea for a different bowling alley elsewhere, please let me know. I just found these in the yellow pages, so I have no idea what they are like:

Monitor Lanes, 1700 S Euclid Ave, Bay City, http://www.monitorlanes.com

Bay Lanes, 4243 N Euclid Ave, Bay City

Washington Lanes, 1205 Washington Avenue, Bay City

Eastland Bowling Center, 884 N Pine Rd, Essexville

Alert Lanes, 915 Pine Street, Essexville

The party will be held in the afternoon of Saturday, December 6. Everyone is invited, whether they officially won NaNo or not. Anyone who wrote anything is a winner in my eyes!!!!
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Congrats to Devil Ledbetter!

pipermaru — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:04:34 -0800

Grace sailed across the finish line yesterday, November 28. Congrats, Grace!!! :)
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Congrats to innocentpretender!

pipermaru — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:05:12 -0800

Jessica hit the 50K mark today!!! Yay!!! Congrats, Jessica!!!
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Bay City Write in 11/29

jschu3 — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 05:19:09 -0800

Well, its 8:15am and I just rolled over the 40000 word mark. It gives me the second star to put on my progress chart since midnight and I need to sleep. So I will not be there today, When I wake I plan on writing the other 10k to complete my month.
Josh
P.S. I've been awake since 10am yesterday.
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United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Congrats to Megan!

pipermaru — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 11:24:21 -0800

Megan Allen cruised past the 50K mark yesterday!!!! Whoo hoo!!!! Another Tridgeling earns that purple bar. Congrats, Megan!
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Congrats to Katy (Lain)!

pipermaru — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:41:56 -0800

Katy, otherwise known as Lain, hit 50K on November 22!!! Congrats, Katy!!!! It's an awesome achievement!
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Bay City Write-In on 11/26

pipermaru — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:21:31 -0800

Hey all!

I hope your novels are on track, and you're all writing furiously! I've been out of town for more than a week and am now trying to play catch up with my ML duties. Sorry I've been so absent!

Is anyone planning on attending the Bay City write-in tomorrow night or will you all be too busy getting ready for Thanksgiving. I am trying to determine if there is enough interest in still holding it or canceling it.

Thanks!
Dana
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

A Challenge to Honor a True Hero

pipermaru — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 09:32:44 -0800

Hi all,

I know we all talk about dares to add to our novels, but the link below is to a challenge of a different nature. I was really touched by it and am accepting the challenge. I hope a lot of you will, too.

Thanks.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3129303
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Word War Leader Board

A_Rachelle — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:19:59 -0800

To see the latest in the standing on the Word War visit the Leader Board here:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3123438

Also, if you missed the cut-off for sign-ups I've extended it to the 11th at midnight due to the delay in getting this up. Have a great day and Happy Writing!

Alaina aka A_Rachelle
Co-ML Michigan :: Lansing
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United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Bay City Write-In on 11/19

pipermaru — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:53:17 -0800

I'll be in South Carolina all next week, so I just wanted to let you know that I won't be at this write-in. I hope the rest of you have a productive evening, though!
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Midland Write-In

pipermaru — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 07:15:03 -0800

Hey there,

I am at the Coffee Chaos in Midland, but I left the write-in signs in the trunk of my car and don't feel like going back out to get them. *g* So, if you're here already and happen to see this or you're on your way, I am the girl sitting near the back by the bathrooms wearing the Michigan State hoodie. *g* Hope to see some of you out here! :)
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Extra Bay City Write-In!

pipermaru — Wed, 5 Nov 2008 19:47:19 -0800

Hey everyone,

The awesome go-to-get-it-done people in this region (I love the participation!) have decided to have another write-in time. Yay!

This one will be every Saturday, starting at 10 a.m. at the Tim Hortons in Bay City at 3460 Wilder Rd. (corner of Wilder and Euclid). Just in case, the phone number is (989) 686-7219.

I'll be adding it to the regional calendar and the regional sticky post shortly!
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Word War Sign-Ups

pipermaru — Wed, 5 Nov 2008 05:38:29 -0800

This is Dana, officially signing up!
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

NaNoWriMo Needs You!

pipermaru — Fri, 7 Nov 2008 18:05:08 -0800

It’s NaNoWriMo’s tenth year! From Adelaide to the Yukon Territories, on every continent (except Antarctica) over 100,000 would-be authors are taking up the challenge of 50,000 words in 30 days. On November 30th, tens of thousands of us will realize the life-long dream of writing a novel “someday.”

This event is possible because of the energy and optimism of a tiny staff at the Office of Letters and Light and an army of volunteers. Because the Office is a non-profit, your donations are essential. It takes a lot of money to keep servers humming, websites up and running, the office functioning, and the coffeepot perking. NaNoWriMo is free to everyone, but it has lasted this long because people like you donate to the cause.

There are many ways to give something back to the organization that gives so much to you, and many of them take no money at all. You can:

* Donate directly by credit card, PayPal, or check.

* Purchase some fine and stylish merchandise from the store.

* If you are monetarily challenged, set GoodSearch as your search engine, and Yahoo will donate a penny for every search.

* Set up a sponsorship page at Firstgiving.com and invite your friends and family to donate on your behalf.

* Or, visit the Donating When Broke page for more ideas on donating when you are broke.

The Washington Post has estimated that if NaNoWriMo's growth rate remains constant, by the year 2027, every single American will write a novel in November. Why not every person in the world? Please donate today to keep NaNoWriMo alive and strong – and help make it so!
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Handy Spreadsheet Widget

pipermaru — Wed, 5 Nov 2008 16:59:03 -0800

Hi all,

I showed off a neat little Excel spreadsheet at the write-in tonight that Erik Benson, a former Wrimo, developed back in 2003. All you do is enter your total word count and it calculates all sorts of nifty things for you.

It's at my website at: http://www.schoolgirlshamus.net/nanowrimo/images/nanowrimo_report_card_2...

If you have problems downloading it, let me know, and I will email it to you!

Enjoy!

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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Write-In and Kickoff Party Locations?

pipermaru — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:02:07 -0700

Anybody have any suggestions for locations for write-ins or the kickoff party? Places with free wi-fi are preferred for the write-ins, but the kickoff party can be anywhere.

November 1 is on a Saturday. Anyone mind of the kickoff party is on the same day as the start of NaNo? If there's enough interest to have it a couple of days before November 1, we can hold it during the evening one night the week before. I have Halloween plans in Lansing, so I don't want to do it on Friday.

Ideas? Suggestions? What are your thoughts?
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Michigan Regional Word War Information and Rules

pipermaru — Wed, 5 Nov 2008 05:37:20 -0800

Hi all!

A bunch of the regions within Michigan have gotten together and decided to have a friendly Michigan Word War--thanks to the fabulous leadership of Lansing's A_Rachelle! It's completely optional, but if you read the rules and think you'd like to participate, head on over to the "Word War Sign-Ups" thread and sign up!

Rules

Eligibility
You must live within Michigan and be relatively close to the city or region you wish to represent.

Sign-ups
Your ML will provide a "Word War Sign-Up” thread on your local forum to track word count. Participants will post ONCE in the Word War Sign Up thread by 8pm on 10th November stating that they wish to participate.

The Regional Word War
You must update your word count every two days, on the even numbered days of the month, by 8pm. If you are unable to update your count, contact your ML.

During the last partial week (26th –– 29th Nov), you must update your word count daily, by 8pm. If this isn't possible, contact your ML immediately.

If you do not update your word count on four consecutive occasions it will be assumed that you have given up and you will be removed from the war (unless you already have more than 50k) If you know that you’re going to be away and won’t be able to update, let your ML know so that we can prevent this.

You must input your final (verified) word count by midnight on 30th November. After midnight, you will no longer be able to update your count.

Scoring
You may drop out of the Regional Word War at any time up to 8pm on 20th November without affecting your region's count. If you do not drop out by messaging either myself (A_Rachelle) or your ML, you will be in for the remainder of the competition, NO MATTER WHAT!

During the Regional Word War there will be a regularly updated leader board which I will provide you a link to as soon as I have it verified.

Only the official word count from the "Word War Sign Up" threads on the NaNoWriMo web site will be considered when computing the final score.

After midnight on 30th November, I will ask the other MLs from competing regions (or their designated representatives) to verify the figures before declaring a winner.

Results
There will be two prizes:
The city/region with the highest average word count.
The city/region with the highest proportion of winners from the starting participants.

The MLs will compare results, and when all regions agree, the results will be posted on the NaNo boards.

Banter
Participants are encouraged to engage in good natured banter with participants from other regions in the various Word War Banter threads. Banter should remain good natured and within the bounds of good sportsmanship. The use of 'smileys' in messages is actively encouraged.

Our God-Like Powers
MLs decide what "good sportsmanship" means.

We reserve the right to remove folks from the competition for any violation of the rules and guidelines listed above.

MLs are the final authority in any dispute or question about the rules.
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Got Calendar?

Spencer_Grant — Tue, 4 Nov 2008 09:29:46 -0800

Hello everyone. I hope the writing is flowing like the mighty Mississippi. So can someone tell me how to find our event calendar. I found it once, but it was empty. Now I can't seem to find it. Help?
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"Because life is short and you are hot."

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

KICK-OFF PARTY INFORMATION AND RSVPs

pipermaru — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 06:23:44 -0700

The Tri-Cities Regional Kick-Off Party will be held Saturday, November 1, 1-4 pm at:

Harvey's
4000 E. Wilder Rd.
Bay City, MI 48706
989-686-3304
http://www.harveysgrillandbar.com/

Please RSVP in this thread if you plan on attending, so I can get an idea of how many people will be there for goodie bags and whatnot.

So far the following people have committed definitely or indicated that there's a good chance they'll go:

Grace
Danielle
Megan
Jessica

Stephanie and Angela also seemed very interested--Angela, would it help if we car-pooled? I am in Gladwin County and live about 15 miles or so southeast of Gladwin.

Everyone else, I hope we'll see you there!
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Hello there Tri-Cities!

Megan Allen — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 09:27:14 -0700

Hi!!

I'm Megan, and I live in Saginaw, going to school at Delta. The last two years of NaNo I came pretty close to winning, but never quite made it. I'm excited for this year and can't wait for write ins! I'm here to help if any one needs it to!

--Megan
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--Megara
AIM: astarealsnite
[url=http://dragcave.net/viewdragon/LSfn][img]http://dragcave.net/image/LSfn.gif[/img][/url]
[url=http://dragcave.net/viewdragon/HOQO][img]http://dragcave.net/image/HOQO.gif[/img][/url]

United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Novel of the year

jschu3 — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:07:13 -0700

Hey,
Just thought we could get a new thread going. This can be a place for you all to say a little about your novel this year or if you need help we can give plot suggestions here.

My book this year is continuing my story. In 2006 my nano book was book one, over the last 2 years I wrote book two, so now it is time for book three. I dont want to say much about this book, but I can give a bit of background from the previous books.
Book one, The Quiet Hour, was about an assassin who was killing city guards during the city's mid-night hour. It was found to be a man who was under magical possession and in the end lost all his memories and was thrown in a god made prison. Book two, Memories Found and a Soul Lost. Picks up 150 years later when the man is released from prison by an elf. They journey back to the man's home kingdom while he starts releasing his locked away memories. In book 2 his name is Ghost while in book one he goes by at least four different names. He is the wanderer the series is centered around. In book three, Making of a Bow, Ghost and the elf, Thamior are out to rebuild Thamior's bow. I do not wish to say more about book three until I get writing.

If anyone is willing to read book one or two (when it is fully typed) let me know. Both need some editing, spell check only does so much. :)

Josh
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United States :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities

Kickoff Party November 1

pipermaru — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 09:44:53 -0700

Hi everyone,

People seemed to indicate that November 1 was okay for the kickoff party in the other thread. I think Bay City might be the most logical place to have it--it's more central than either Midland or Saginaw.

I was thinking of an afternoon time--maybe 1 pm or so?

Three places that were suggested were Harvey's, Harvest Coffeehouse , or the Stein Haus. Despite the fact that Harvey's bills itself as a "grill and bar," they do have a kids' menu, so I think that can still be an all-ages kind of hangout. The Stein Haus (described at http://www.downtownbaycity.com/Dining.htm; just scroll down the page), despite being a pub had a more restaurant feel to it last year when we had the TGIO (Thank God It's Over) Party. It was also relatively empty, so that was nice, too.

So, where would you guys prefer to have the Kickoff Party? And, if a lot of you are really adamant about having it in Midland or Saginaw, then definitely say so--if Bay City isn't good, then we can definitely be flexible.

I also need to get an idea of how many people will be attending so that I can ensure that I have enough goody bags for everyone.

Thanks!
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~~Dana~~
Municipal Liaison, U.S. :: Michigan :: Tri-Cities
Co-Moderator, Military Lounge
The beautiful part of writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.--Robert Cormier