I think there was someone else interested in doing a Duck Tour, they haven't started a thread yet though. We're going to be getting a charter bus. Ideally, we're going to hit some spots on the Freedom trail, but what spots we hit (outside or inside of the Freedom Trail) really depends on what everyone votes for. So vote!
Well, why don't you add it? Add it to the list so we can vote on it! Just put in a little blurb about what in particular we can visit there (i.e. interesting things we can see)!
Oh no! Did you get an error when you tried to vote? Let me know, perhaps it's some kind of bug I can fix. Did you get any blinking "loading" message when you clicked the thumbs up or down?
Hmm... try it again when you get the chance, and give it a minute or so before you give up. I'm on this shared hosting provider... usually it works well, but sometimes it's terribly slow.
I've been meaning to talk to JonXP, he was mentioning that he had a better place to host this stuff and I keep forgetting to talk with him about it. =(
Hmm... try it again when you get the chance, and give it a minute or so before you give up. I'm on this shared hosting provider... usually it works well, but sometimes it's terribly slow.
I've been meaning to talk to JonXP, he was mentioning that he had a better place to host this stuff and I keep forgetting to talk with him about it. =(
I use Dreamhost. I have been with them since 2006 and I can host domains and such and have 100x more space than I could ever imagine to use...so if you need me to set you up with something on my hosting account I can do that. Give you a ftp username/pass, etc. For free as well!
Otherwise they have pretty solid deals themselves.
I'm on Railsplayground which has similarly large space offerings, which is nice... but it's really bandwidth on the shared server that appears to be at a premium. Not sure how it is with Dreamhost, but things sometimes go south at Railsplayground in terms of uptime. I can't really complain though for the price they gave... I think I'm paying somewhere in the vicinity of like 60 bucks for a year.
Thanks to the awesome and excellent JonXP, we now have a much more stable host! Jon is even, at this moment, doing some battle hardening of the code (using his awesome Rails skills!)! Thanks JonXP, you rock much!
LPM, give voting another try if you haven't already!
The site is now redirecting to JonXP's host automatically, so no need to change bookmarks, but the new site (if you want it directly) is:
Email may or may not not be working at the moment, but the rest should be there. Did a quick pass at optimizing the code as well, and the site should be a bit faster than it used to be in certain cases. Let me know if anyone sees anything odd, or if something just doesn't look right.
And LPM: Sorry I'm going to miss you! Heck, sorry I'm going to miss everyone at PAX-E.
jonxp on
Every time you write parallel fifths, Bach kills a kitten.
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We'll miss you too Jon! =( =( Thank you so much for doing that optimization run-through on it, you rock! (For those who don't know, JonXP is a Rails deity! )
Sooooo... I'm not taking the train to East. I'm saving that for the WCTT and Prime out West. What that does mean, however, is that I'm getting into Boston at 5:30am on Thursday, and I can do the MMT! First time EVAR!
... Now what do I do?
Arco on
Like this, not like the gas station.
Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
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Very soon (Feb 10th) I'll consider the voting closed and we'll be talking about where to go from there, as far as what kind of bus opportunities/fees for the locations we voted on/meeting times and places!
Just a heads up on some stuff that I liked from when I first moved here...
1) Faneuil Hall - Well worth it. The market area is fun, and if you're feeling cheesy, then have a beer at Cheers. It's nicer in the Spring/Summer, but then again everything is nicer in the Spring/Summer.
2) Harvard Museum of Natural History - Lots of fun
3) Bell in Hand Tavern - If you go, go during the day. It tends to get packed later on, especially on Thursday night.
4) Museum of Science - You could spend all day here. Choose, but choose wisely.
5) New England Aquarium - Same as above, only with awesome seals.
6) Granary Burial Ground - Worth checking out. Also, there's a bar across the street where you can go have a Sam Adams while you're looking at Sam Adams' grave.
Just a few suggestions based on opinion, and not enough to fill up 2 days, but there you have it.
Oh no, no need to do anything: I'm just going to tally up the winners at midnight and post it here. I never wrote anything to actually stop the voting at a certain date, haven't had time yet. But whatever it is at midnight, I'll post it here as the official list.
Sam Adams Brewery, 11
Bell-in-Hand Tavern, 11
Museum of Science, 13
Museum of Fine Arts, 9
New England Aquarium, 9
Harvard Museum of Natural History, 7
Harpoon Brewery, 4
Faneuil Hall, 3
MIT, 3
Old State House Museum, 1
U.S.S. Constitution Museum, 1
The Institute of Contemporary Art, 1
(On another story... why were the votes all out of order? I could've sworn I programmed them to show in descending order? Weird!)
Anyways, those are all the locations with vote totals > 0! I'll go down the list from top to bottom and try to fit as many of them as possible into a schedule!
Thank you everyone for voting! I'll get the details for signup/payment for your spot on the bus by the end of the week!
Hey Vt, I've had a reply from Boston Tourist info people, and my disabled driver badge is valid within the US, which should mean we'll have free parking/parking nearest where we will be going. I'll bring it with me, so we can use it on the bus.
LewieP's Mummy on
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Speaking of bus, I've been looking around, and here's what I've been finding thus far:
The bus rates I've been getting quoted have been in the range of ~750$ per day. If 30 people go (we currently have 30 people on the page as tentatives), that'd be 25$ per day per person (or 50$ for the whole two days). I'm not expecting that we'll actually get 30 people though... if we get, say, 20, then to break even it'd be ~37$ per day per person, or 75$ total... however:
I'm willing to eat some of this cost personally, but I can only eat so much of it. I've been looking at my finances, and I think I could eat about 500 bucks of this personally from what I've been saving for the occasion and still be okay... which would drop the per person total for both days to 45$ total (~22$ per day) if we get 20 people, and 30$ per person total (15$ per day) if we got 30 people.
What I'd like to know from everyone what you'd be willing to pay in terms of cost per person: how do you guys feel about it? Depending on how many of you actually want to go, we can get this down to 30$ per person for both days and I think that'll be reasonable for most people... but I'd like to know whether, if it doesn't work out that way, people would be willing to put in as much as 50$ total (25$ per day), and then I'll foot it for the rest. Let me know what you guys think!
yea, I've been thinking of the cost too.
But Im relying on people paying me for rooms to get me through pax, which will leave me with around $550 for PAX including food for the entire week Im there+Pub Crawl+Pre-Pax Dinner+Baubles+MMT
Right after PAX I have to see how much I have because I have to roll over to Fort Dreven so I can reclass.
Hopefully I have enough for MMT, because I was really looking forward to it.
Okay, I've got a couple of options on the table. The strongest one at the moment is this:
By signing up for the MMT (as an actual Tourist, not just signing up for voting as all of you have done up to now), you'd agree to pay some sort of "Maximum Cap". So if that's like 60 bucks, then that means no matter how many or few people go, you won't pay any more than 60$ for both days (and if it ends up that enough people can go that the actual cost is less than 60, you'll pay less than 60). That way I can get some kind of estimate of how much money if any I actually have to eat personally to make this happen.
The other thing we're looking into at the moment is the possibility of renting a bus for just 5 hours, which would be significantly cheaper apparently... if the proximity of the locations can be figured out in such a way that we can still have a comfortable tour in those 5 hours and get somewhere to hit up locations on foot or via subway the rest of the day (or just call it a day). Anyways, still looking into it now! And Zero's helping look up other costs that might be incurred as we speak!
This charter company gives 30 passenger school bus rentals for ~300 for 4 hours... which would be significantly cheaper than the other options I was seeing. Even if we get 8 hours of bus time each day (which I don't think we'd need... perhaps 6 hours, but not 8), it'd be a lot cheaper than the other option. I asked them to give me a quote. Anyways, I think that could be a good option if you guys don't mind school bussing it.
I also sent out requests to a dozen or so other bus/van rental places in the area, to see what they can quote. We'll get to the bottom of this.
EDIT: I strongly feel that this is going to be our place, look at these rates:
At that we could have 6 hours of driving per day for both days for just under 800$, which would be half of what I was thinking before (and would make the trip extremely affordable for all concerned! We're talking 32$ combined for the whole two days per person if we get 25 people to signup, which is pretty nice!)
I'll let you know as soon as I hear from them. I think these are our guys.
Posts
If not, you pretty much are doing the Freedom Trail + a couple bars.
http://www.cityofboston.gov/freedomtrail/
Might want to consider using it as a starting point.
Relevant info: #PAX East: 3 Coin Lunch organizer. 2012 Trading card available. Pokecrawl Assistant 2012. Pokecrawl attendee 2011. Cult of the Leaf attendee 2012.
Fannuel hall is a huge marketplace, and it is a awesome place for lunch if you want to land it there.
I reccomend waggamamma though if you end up eating there, but if you can't plan a time to end up there, it's got a gigantic food court.
Relevant info: #PAX East: 3 Coin Lunch organizer. 2012 Trading card available. Pokecrawl Assistant 2012. Pokecrawl attendee 2011. Cult of the Leaf attendee 2012.
The following locations, as of this moment, have a point total > 0. In order of popularity...
**********
Sam Adams Brewery
Votes: 6
Bell-in-Hand Tavern
Votes: 5
Museum of Science
Votes: 4
Faneuil Hall
Votes: 4
Harvard Museum of Natural History
Votes: 3
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Votes: 3
Harpoon Brewery
Votes: 3
Fenway Park (Tour?)
Votes: 3
U.S.S. Constitution Museum
Votes: 2
Museum of Fine Arts
Votes: 2
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Votes: 2
Old State House Museum
Votes: 2
Boston Common
Votes: 2
**********
Remember, voting closes February 10th, so get over there and vote!
If you guys dont go, Im going by myself the monday or tuesday before, anyone in the area is invited
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
I've been meaning to talk to JonXP, he was mentioning that he had a better place to host this stuff and I keep forgetting to talk with him about it. =(
I use Dreamhost. I have been with them since 2006 and I can host domains and such and have 100x more space than I could ever imagine to use...so if you need me to set you up with something on my hosting account I can do that. Give you a ftp username/pass, etc. For free as well!
Otherwise they have pretty solid deals themselves.
3DS Friend Code: 2707-1614-5576
PAX Prime 2014 Buttoneering!
LPM, give voting another try if you haven't already!
The site is now redirecting to JonXP's host automatically, so no need to change bookmarks, but the new site (if you want it directly) is:
http://mmt.finalmeasure.com/
And LPM: Sorry I'm going to miss you! Heck, sorry I'm going to miss everyone at PAX-E.
3DS Friend Code: 2707-1614-5576
PAX Prime 2014 Buttoneering!
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
... Now what do I do?
Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
Satellite Theater for life!
http://mmt.finalmeasure.com/
Very soon (Feb 10th) I'll consider the voting closed and we'll be talking about where to go from there, as far as what kind of bus opportunities/fees for the locations we voted on/meeting times and places!
1) Faneuil Hall - Well worth it. The market area is fun, and if you're feeling cheesy, then have a beer at Cheers. It's nicer in the Spring/Summer, but then again everything is nicer in the Spring/Summer.
2) Harvard Museum of Natural History - Lots of fun
3) Bell in Hand Tavern - If you go, go during the day. It tends to get packed later on, especially on Thursday night.
4) Museum of Science - You could spend all day here. Choose, but choose wisely.
5) New England Aquarium - Same as above, only with awesome seals.
6) Granary Burial Ground - Worth checking out. Also, there's a bar across the street where you can go have a Sam Adams while you're looking at Sam Adams' grave.
Just a few suggestions based on opinion, and not enough to fill up 2 days, but there you have it.
Anyways, voting closes tonight at midnight! Anyone who wants a say in where we're going should vote before midnight tonight!
3DS Friend Code: 2707-1614-5576
PAX Prime 2014 Buttoneering!
Sam Adams Brewery, 11
Bell-in-Hand Tavern, 11
Museum of Science, 13
Museum of Fine Arts, 9
New England Aquarium, 9
Harvard Museum of Natural History, 7
Harpoon Brewery, 4
Faneuil Hall, 3
MIT, 3
Old State House Museum, 1
U.S.S. Constitution Museum, 1
The Institute of Contemporary Art, 1
(On another story... why were the votes all out of order? I could've sworn I programmed them to show in descending order? Weird!)
Anyways, those are all the locations with vote totals > 0! I'll go down the list from top to bottom and try to fit as many of them as possible into a schedule!
Thank you everyone for voting! I'll get the details for signup/payment for your spot on the bus by the end of the week!
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
Speaking of bus, I've been looking around, and here's what I've been finding thus far:
The bus rates I've been getting quoted have been in the range of ~750$ per day. If 30 people go (we currently have 30 people on the page as tentatives), that'd be 25$ per day per person (or 50$ for the whole two days). I'm not expecting that we'll actually get 30 people though... if we get, say, 20, then to break even it'd be ~37$ per day per person, or 75$ total... however:
I'm willing to eat some of this cost personally, but I can only eat so much of it. I've been looking at my finances, and I think I could eat about 500 bucks of this personally from what I've been saving for the occasion and still be okay... which would drop the per person total for both days to 45$ total (~22$ per day) if we get 20 people, and 30$ per person total (15$ per day) if we got 30 people.
What I'd like to know from everyone what you'd be willing to pay in terms of cost per person: how do you guys feel about it? Depending on how many of you actually want to go, we can get this down to 30$ per person for both days and I think that'll be reasonable for most people... but I'd like to know whether, if it doesn't work out that way, people would be willing to put in as much as 50$ total (25$ per day), and then I'll foot it for the rest. Let me know what you guys think!
But Im relying on people paying me for rooms to get me through pax, which will leave me with around $550 for PAX including food for the entire week Im there+Pub Crawl+Pre-Pax Dinner+Baubles+MMT
Right after PAX I have to see how much I have because I have to roll over to Fort Dreven so I can reclass.
Hopefully I have enough for MMT, because I was really looking forward to it.
By signing up for the MMT (as an actual Tourist, not just signing up for voting as all of you have done up to now), you'd agree to pay some sort of "Maximum Cap". So if that's like 60 bucks, then that means no matter how many or few people go, you won't pay any more than 60$ for both days (and if it ends up that enough people can go that the actual cost is less than 60, you'll pay less than 60). That way I can get some kind of estimate of how much money if any I actually have to eat personally to make this happen.
What do you guys think of that?
http://tinyurl.com/yaztzlo
All the locations are there.
Twitter
Lord help me, I chose !Squirtle
Okay, so I shouldn't hold my breath just yet, but:
http://www.localmotionofboston.com
This charter company gives 30 passenger school bus rentals for ~300 for 4 hours... which would be significantly cheaper than the other options I was seeing. Even if we get 8 hours of bus time each day (which I don't think we'd need... perhaps 6 hours, but not 8), it'd be a lot cheaper than the other option. I asked them to give me a quote. Anyways, I think that could be a good option if you guys don't mind school bussing it.
I also sent out requests to a dozen or so other bus/van rental places in the area, to see what they can quote. We'll get to the bottom of this.
EDIT: I strongly feel that this is going to be our place, look at these rates:
http://www.localmotionofboston.com/bus/rates.htm
At that we could have 6 hours of driving per day for both days for just under 800$, which would be half of what I was thinking before (and would make the trip extremely affordable for all concerned! We're talking 32$ combined for the whole two days per person if we get 25 people to signup, which is pretty nice!)
I'll let you know as soon as I hear from them. I think these are our guys.
I should hear back from all locations by the end of the week.