Thank God for the NHL Lockout. If it were not for greedy hockey players and owners, Poptart and I would again be pounding the pavement looking for an appropriate locale for TARcon.

TARcon 6 will be held from on 2/8 again at Play By Play, which is the sports bar inside Madison Square Garden. MSG is located at 33rd St and 7th Avenue in NYC. Overflow will be in the Garden Terrace as last time.

In order to enhance your TARcon experience, we’re offering a couple of different options:

Charges are as follows:
$80 per Person VIP Dinner including TARcon Admission- Sold Out
VIP dinner will be from 6:30-8:00 and will include:
Choice seats inside Play by Play
Guaranteed Goodie Bag
Open (Beer/Wine/Soda) Bar (6:30PM - 10:00PM)
Dinner (Lobster Ravioli in a lobster cream sauce, Cheese tortellini with Basil Tomato Sauce, Assorted grilled vegetable platters, Boccacini (oven roasted tomato salad), Caesar Salad, Assorted breads, Coffee, Tea, Chef’s selection of Desserts)
Maximum: 100 people

Or
$40 Regular TARcon Admission - Registration Closed
Open (Beer/Wine/Soda) Bar 8:00PM to 10:00PM and a la carte menu

When the total count reaches 350, regular admission will raise to $55 per person due to increased room charges and other stuff, VIP dinner will remain at $80 until it is filled. Deadlines for all are 2/3, but please pay early. We have to give a pretty big deposit ASAP.

Gratuity for your prepaid drinks/(dinner for VIP) is included; please tip appropriately after 10:00 PM and for any a la carte food or drinks, you may order. The bar will stay open until at least 1:00 AM on a cash basis. The bar will stay open as long as we are drinking to a maximum of 2:30 AM.

There will be free video games for the whole night. List is forthcoming.

There will be a coat check.

Under 21s can be admitted.

Madison Square Garden tours will be offered at 5:00 PM. Sign up at tarcon@gmail.com

VIP Check in will begin at 6:00. Regular check in will be at 7:30. Bring your Paypal receipt (email or printout from Paypal) for admission. Poptart will not hesitate to throw you to the back of the line for not bringing your Paypal receipt. No ticket of any kind will be issued. None will be mailed to you and none will be handed out to you.

Comps: Because of budget, comps can only be admitted after 10. If any comp would like to come before 10, they will have to pay the cover charge. If you are a comp or know a comp and will be coming after 10, please email me directly. I need the names for the count.

Wheelchairs: Please enter MSG off of 7th Avenue, using the wheelchair ramp near the corner of 31st Street to access the main concourse level. Please proceed straight towards the box office lobby, and use the elevator on your left just before entering the box office. Take the elevator to the 3rd Floor and exit to your left for the doors to the Play by Play.

Donations for overhead or goodie bags are welcome.
___
We will be repeating our event at Sephora Flatiron (19th and 5th Avenue) on 2/9. The event will be 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM. Sephora will provide facials, makeovers and consultations, along with breakfast and goodie bags on checkout. That event is $26.50, payable by this link. You will receive a $25.00 gift card to use at the event. Deadline is February 2. RSVP here if you're planning to attend.

For information on Dim Sum Con, our traditional post-TARcon lunch, click here.

As always, there may be a few people who can get in past the deadline, but we really need it for count, so.... please pay before the deadline if possible.

Post here, contact Meggin20 (our illustrious goodie bag chair), Poptart or me with any specific questions. Meggin20 has again graciously volunteered to field emails. So if you write to me, don't be surprised if you get a response from Meggin.

ETA: Times are subject to change if an 8:00PM show time is announced.

Excellent!! Congrats missdona and poptart on your excellent organization - this already looks to be another stellar event.

I've already sent out the email to hubby and travel agent to arrange us being there (I DO have to do a site inspection in New York again, why not wrap it around TarCon again!).

I'll trade hockey for this any day!
Thanks to the organizers . . . y'all rock!

Question:
If I sign up for the VIP thing, can I come a little late and still get in/get food?

I'm travelling right before TARcon (I get back into the City at 4:50 PM on 2/8), and I don't know how quickly I can make it to MSG.

Thanks for the update.

Yay! for our Intrepid TARCON Organizers! Pre-thanks all around!

Mrs. Drone & I had to leave early last year. Not making that mistake again!

Yep, but all the food will be gone right at the stroke of 8.

If we do the regular $40 admission, does that mean no Goodie Bag or does it mean at that point, first come, first served?

Thank you party organizers. You always do a fantastic job.

Thanks!
I am now a paid, confirmed VIP!

How exciting . . . TARcon on Mardi Gras.
(Big Slick will be returning to the Big Apple from the Big Easy just in time for the big night. Too much partying? Never.)

Thanks organizers, as usual, you're the best.

I have a question about the food - do we get either the ravioli OR the tortellini or do we get both. I ask because I am allergic to lobster.

Miss Dona, you are the best!

Mrs. Drone & I will be there for dinner with bells on (unless our ox is broken, of course).

Alas, due to it being Mardi Gras, the Tiger family will not be coming to TARcon this time.

Everyone say hi to Charla for me, who promises she's going to attend!

Hee, I've just signed up. Party only - I'm afraid that even if I wanted to do the VIP dinner-thingy, I'd never get out of work that early...

Both or either. Either or Both. I chose a fish dish and non-meat dish on purpose.



That is a question that is best fielded by our illustrious goodie bag chair.

I'm in. 6th one in a row.

OK, this definitely makes up for the NHL lock-out...OK, maybe not totally, but the silver lining is there. That venue was awesome, I'm glad you could get it again Miss Dona. I think the two pay options are great as well, and will hopefully alleviate some of the headaches for the goodie-bag committee.

Thanks so much organizers. I'm in. I'm a TARCon virgin. Be gentle, y'all.

My s.o. and I will be there. He will be freaked out by the insanity that is TARCon I'm sure. I haven't even asked for the time off work yet, but I will be there.

On the goody bag question, I am a goody bag elf and I can say that there will be more than 100 goody bags, so there will be some available to non VIP ticket holders.

And SephoraCon! I think I missed SephoraCon almost more than TARCon last time. Mmmm. Pampering.

I'd appreciate it if some locals would e-mail me with suggestions of nice places to stay in the immediate area. Thanks. I'm looking for under US$120 per night, double occupancy.

Talk about speedy service! Thanks M.Darcy!

The Ramada New Yorker which is next door to the Garden is $119.

serious question: will Jonathan and/or Victoria be allowed to attend?

I'm not an organizer, but I've attened several of these things and I say, sure, why not.

Yippee!!

Very serious answer: Yes, and any party attendee that is rude or causes a scene will be thrown out without recourse. If you cannot be civil, don't say anything at all.

Ahh, the joy of the unemployed... increased TARcon duties.

I have approximately 45 emails in my inbox about either goodie bags or the event so I'm going to hold off on answering too many questions until I've gotten through those. Please be patient.

I can see it now:

Victoria: "This is kind of a weird party."

Jonathan: "I know... are they all mimes?"

As much as I want to come to my first TARcon, it being the same day as Mardi Gras makes it impossible to come this time. But that's sorta exciting that everyone will be partying at TARcon on Mardi Gras Day!

Alas, the finale is also the Day before the Lunar New Year, so I will be celebrating with my family that night instead of going to TARCon, which I was totally looking forward to. Alas. I'll be watching and thinking of you all at home. That being said, I would not be too sure about DimSumCon happening the day after, as most chinese restaurants in Chinatown tend to be closed for the New Year.

Happy Year of the Rooster! Have fun at Con y'all!

ETA: I stand corrected about DimSumCon

Yes!

I am attending, and I'm doing it right: VIP TARCon, and I'm staying in New York for a week and a half after the event so I can see Monty Python's Spamalot as soon as it gets to Broadway.

I can't wait!

DimSumCon alert!

We will be having DimSumCon on February 9, the day after TARcon, at Jing Fong, which is the same place we had it last time. As it turns out, February 9 is Chinese New Year, so expect it to be a little more busy and chaotic than previous times.

We're scheduled for 12:00-2:00 (I intend to be there around 11:45 - please don't come any earlier). I've given the manager an estimate on the size of the group, but if you want to attend, please email me an RSVP at pseudostudent@yahoo.com by February 1 so I can give the restaurant an exact head count beforehand.

The restaurant is handicapped-accessible. For those unfamiliar with how dim sum works, no ordering is necessary; the food is wheeled by in carts, and you choose what you want off the cart. Think of it as a mobile buffet. Your orders are tallied up on a bill that gets totalled at the end of the meal. Here is a site with more information. If you are on a restricted diet, dim sum may not be for you, although you can order other more suitable Chinese dishes during the meal. But I can promise that nothing on the carts will be alive or squirming.

If you are new to dim sum, don't worry that you don't know anything. Each table will have a table captain who will act as expert and/or brave-hearted taster. Table captains will also act as accountants at the end of the meal. Dim sum is relatively inexpensive - the cost for most people last time was between $7 and $10.

Dim sum veterans: if you are willing to help out as a table captain, please email me.

If any of the Amazing Racers come to DimSumCon (please note I don't guarantee anyone's appearance) and they sit at your table, please consider chipping in to pay for their portion of the meal as a courtesy. I'm sure if they come, they'll share all kinds of stories about Sequesterville and what happened behind the scenes. That's worth at least a free lunch!

One last thing: as a courtesy to the restaurant staff, I would encourage anyone who doesn't have to go to the airport right after DimSumCon to leave your luggage with your hotel porters if you can. Many hotels will hold your bags for you even after you've checked out.

As Jon or Kris might say? Sweet!

There's nothing quite like the thrill of that first missdona TARcon email to get the endorphins going, is there? Thanks to all the intrepid party organizers for the hard work you do for us each year. And the nice selection of food for the VIP folks.

Because of vacation commitments down the road a bit, I'll be flying in on a red-eye and flying out Wednesday night. Hmm. I think I may just have to make this my debut at a Sephora, too. I got a nice $216 r/t airfare on American Airlines into JFK.

Because I'll only be in town one night, I booked a room at the Ramada New Yorker's crosstown cousin at 161 Lexington Avenue. Via the Ramada site, I secured an "Inviting" room at a AAA rate of $80.99. I can only imagine "Inviting" is a really, really tiny standard room, but, hey, it's Manhattan and I'll be jet-lagged the first morning and inebriated later that night and hungover the second morning, so...yeah, good to go.

Missdonna, thanks for your answer to my question. I'm sure it will be a fabulous party, and I've always wanted to come to TarCon, but I'll sit this one out. Although I'm confident I could "not say anything at all", their mere presence would, for me, be an unpleasant distraction.

Zron, BWAH!

Montykins, I saw Spamalot in Chicago and it is hi-larious! Enjoy!

mizliz: it would be a mistake to let your feelings for Jonathan dictate whether or not you attend. The party is so large, you may not even see him. (Hard to believe, I know.) Plus, we don't know that he is attending.

I second pseudo's emotion. At every TARCON I have attended, there has been at least one racer whom, based on the show, I would not cross the street to piss on if he/she were on fire. But the pleasant distractions always, without exception, have more than made up for it.

Seriously [monkey], it's too good a party to allow some assclown to make you give it a miss.

If you don't go to TARCON, the Jonathans will have won!

(Hey, can we get that on a button?)

A big-ass party at a great location with a bunch of TARfans? Yay! I'm signed up. NY in February. That's gotta be fun, right? Right?

If you're thinking about doing this, GO! I didn't have a lot of use for Colin and Christie last time, but it's a huge place, they were mobbed, and it wasn't like there was a receiving line of racers or anything. And it's really a lot of fun to put faces with the names of posters.

I am, however, having a little trouble with the idea of being at TARCON if J/V win. Especially if they win a footrace against Jon and Kris at the final Bathmat. MissDona might want to purchase a surety bond for that particular contingency...just sayin'...there could be wreckage.

Have you extended an invite to Wanda Sykes yet? I hear she loves chat room parties.

Awesome. As usual, the organizers rock. Hard. Thanks in advance for all of your hard work. I'm not certain I can make it this time although last fall was a blast. I'll know for certain soon.

I can say that a number of us stayed at the Murray Hill Inn last time, which was cheap, adequate and close to the Garden.

Can't wait to go, have to wait on a payment to my VISA to go through before making reservations... :O

Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait...

ETA: THANK YOU missdona and all the organizers... I love you all !

If J&V win AND they show up at TARCON ....

Well, I may have to be thrown out.

If that's the case, we have to raise prices even more. I don't think any of us want that.

Well with work I can't afford to miss along with still paying off my previous trips to NYC last year, I won't be able to go (plus I want to get more familiar with the posters here before I take the plunge). Here's hoping I can make it to lucky #7. (Hell, for SephoraCon? My sister doesn't even watch TAR but would sign up for that in a heartbeat....perfect way to lure her for the trip.)

And I echo the sentiments of others: don't stop yourselves from going if J/V do attend. Worse case scenario, say a quick hello and be on your merry way. With all the people planning to go, chances are good that you do avoid them.

Bwah! Think she'll try to crash again this time?

I'm kinda new to the board, but I am coming out from Sacramento!! (God Bless Jet Blue and their $188 round trip airfares.) This is gonna be one heck of a party. (And if J&V do win, well.... I'm gonna duck, because there's gonna be a lot of stuff flying!!! :)

Lood forward to seeing you all there.

M.Darcy asked:

Devajd responded:

I want to clear this up a bit because this is not entirely accurate.

The goodie bags are "funded" by our fellow TWoPpers. There are a lot of people who put a lot of time, effort & money into the goodie bags. We have to put a limit on the number of bags we make and that number has stayed at a steady 200 bags for the last few seasons.

Out of the 200 bags, a lot of them get set aside for the teams, Phil or other CBS/World Race Production staff, and the people who make the goodie bags. In previous seasons this has left approximately 100 bags to be handed out at TARcon to other attendees-sometimes more, sometimes less. Methods for handing these out have varied from season to season - some were great when the event was smaller but won't work for such a large group and others sucked. This season we decided to do something different.

For this season, the pre-TARcon dinner option was available. There was no way the bags were getting handed out the way they were last year and the VIP dinner gave us an opportunity to make the bags first come/first served again, in a way. So 100 bags have been set aside for attendees of the dinner.

People who would already have had a bag earmarked for them, say if someone who donated $100 to the goodie bags were coming to the dinner, they would still only get one bag. This means that yes, there very well may be bags that will be given out when the later group enters the venue. It also means that there may be only one bag. Or two. Or none. We don't know and we won't know pretty much until that night.

I'm in and thrilled. No VIP for me, but thanks for offering this option - you made a really nice deal on the price. Excellent work yet again.

On accomodations... If you don't mind going "on the cheap" and sharing a room with a complete stranger or two, (or 3 or 4, :) then you may want to consider staying in a hostel, of which NYC has many. You lose a little privacy, but you get to stay cheap, and you get to meet people from literally all over the world. It's fun sharing tavel stories with others.

I am staying at the Big Apple Hostel, www.bigapplehostel.com , which is a half block from Times Square, for $32 a night! I share a room with 3 other people, and the bathroom is down the hall, but what a price for such a great location. The place is older, but it's *very* clean.

There are other hostels as well. You can go to www.hostels.com , and get more info. Again, if you don't mind giving up a little privacy, its a *fun* way to "do" NYC.

Uncle Al

Heavens to Betsy no. I'm sure we'll all behave. And thank you, btw, for all the work on this. I had a great time at the last one.

But only when people don't make it about her. Screw Wanda, somebody send an invite to Vincent D'Onofrio!

And it's pretty good, unless upon returning from TARCON you carefully take off your boots in the hallway, get undressed in the bathroom, tiptoe in to the room so as not to disturb anyone, and then the person you share the room with gets up at FIVE-THIRTY the morning and TURNS ON THE DAMN LIGHT and then BANGS AROUND GETTING DRESSED before SLAMMING THE DOOR on his way out.

Not that I'm bitter or anything.

Long time lurker... I'm certainly hoping to make this my first TARCon so I can stop living vicariously through all of you!

Thanks in advance to all the people who work so hard to put on this shindig. Hope to meet you there!