Scav 2010: The Return of the Obelisk

I’ve decided to get the ball rolling and start organizing GASH for 2010.  I just sent an email to our main email list. As of right now, that email list is about the best way we have of organizing.  I just sent an email to it as a rallying call to get this party started.  And to give you some idea, it had 12 points.  But I realize I forgot point #13:  Recruitment!  I suppose if you’re reading this, you might be wondering how to join GASH.  We should start up a recruitment page.  But for now, join the main email list and introduce yourself.  You know you’re a Scav Rock Star (TM) already.  You know you want to join.  FYI, Scav starts May 6, 2010.

Captain Sam

GASH shall return once more

For those of you who care, GASH shall return once more to Scav.  I am judging this purely based on the sheer amount of fun and enthusiasm shown both in Chicago and on our listhost.  We are preparing to get things more organized next year and to tell you better how to join us.  Stay tuned….

GASH Photo Tag

For those of you uploading photos of Scav, can you tag them all with the tags gashscav AND scavhunt09 ? That way, we can easily find all of the photos.

Captain Sam

Scav Hunt 2009: Tie for 6th with Blint

Dear GASH,

I have the pleasure of announcing that in the Great Scavenger Hunt of 2009, GASH took 6th place in a tie with Blint (a new team that is the combination of Broadview and Flint House).  Let me say this:  I am extremely proud of how we did.  Why?  We are a small team of rockstars.  We had about 20 people on the ground in Chicago and about 5 more people remotely working with us.  While the exact point total for us is currently unknown (due to the condition of us accepting a tie), I suspect that GASH received about 2000 points, thus giving each on the ground scavvie about 100 points.  For reference, the winning team, Snell-Hitchcock, had roughly 5000 points with 100 people, about 50 points per scavvie.  Yes, we rock, but we still need your help for GASH 2010: Odyssey Three (Arthur C. Clarke reference).  It has become very obvious that we need more help on the ground in Chicago.  Not only should you consider coming into Chicago and participating in Scav, you should talk to your friends and encourage them to do so as well.  I am very confident that even five more people would make an enormous impact as we had many times where our entire team was busy doing items in front of all the other teams (AKA Quad Events) that prevent them from completing more items worth more points.  This is not to say that we didn’t have fun, but that the additional people will enable us to Scav even better.

Captain Sam

An update from the field…

For those of you NOT in Chicago, we are having a wonderful time here. We appreciate all the help we are getting from everybody this year. Our headquarters is amazingly huge and I am honestly amazed that everything is progressing as well as it is this year. If you are reading this blog, we would love to have you help. Click on this link for ScavDB to help find something to do. Look for the tags marked “easy” and/or “remote”.

We are going through and labeling items that are easy to do/complete and ones that can be done remotely. Give us some time, we’re busy working on items here and have to keep track of everything. If you’d like to see the Judge’s view, check out their own blog.

In theory, CNET IDs for UofC WiFi

Hey alums,

Are you so old that you don’t have a CNET ID anymore? And don’t you need one of those to login to the UofC WiFi network? Well, you can go (re)claim your CNET ID! Go to https://cnet.uchicago.edu/claimacct/index.jsp and get it goin!

Sam

2009 GASH HQ is Open. And it is awesome.

I’ve been directed by Cap’n Nikki to declare the 2009 GASH HQ officially open! Oh, and it’s totally awesome; undoubtedly the best scav HQ in the history of Scav. It’s huge, fully equipped with kiddy sized toilets, and has even been trashed prepped for scav by its previous occupants. We also have 2 studio apartments in the same building with kitchens, showers(!), and comfortable carpet space for crashing on. So bring your sleeping bags, coffee mugs, power tools, or just your bare scavvy selves, and come join us for some happy fun scavvy times.

Directions to HQ can be found in the HQ info page (duh).

-Ryo

Annual Scav Blood Drive starts today

Hello GASH. I am in Chicago, FINALLY, after 2900 miles of driving from California. Today’s update is about donating blood. Donating blood is a tradition as old as time, dating back to the days before blood type was no barrier and the red stuff flowed freely between all peoples, given from the sheer joy of giving. A lot of people died. Fortunately today we have needles and safety so that you, the modern Scavvie, can partake of this ancient bloodletting ritual in ease and comfort with the snacks and everything. So! Here are the details of the Scav blood drive:

WHEN: Starts today, Monday, May 4th and runs through Friday, May 8th. 8 am – 4pm, every day. 

WHERE: 5th floor of Duchossis Center for Advanced Medicine (DCAM), 5758 S. Maryland Ave, Hyde Park. See map. 

WHAT:  An annual blood drive. You get a point for donating or attempting to donate, if you don’t meet the right criteria. Also you get juice and snacks and a sticker. 

HOW: You walk into the DCAM, go up to the 5th floor, and go to section 5G (Blood Donation). 

WHY: See above re: points, savin’ lives, snacks.

SEE ALSO: This Google Map.

View Larger Map

Donating to GASH: The feel-good internet sensation everyone is talking about. Especially me.

Greetings from the Motel 8 of Elgin, IL, GASHers. Ryo and I are hovering just outside the gates of ChicagoLande, awaiting the dawn when we can speed forth into the heart of the city and then a little south of the heart of the city to its Hyde Park appendage. Tonight’s fireside chat topic is DONATING MONEY which is SUPER EASY and GOOD FOR YOU. The “Donate” button is on the right side of this page. Click on it, type in how much you want to donate, and then sign into PayPal. Your donation form will be all nicely filled out for you and you just click the Yes button. Or Donate, or whatever. 

Here are some numbers to convince you. So far, we have the cost of renting two studios, one commercial space, and insurance to cover. The total cost will be around $1300. Right now we have about $925 in donations from this year plus rollover from last year. So there is a gap of $375. As Sam has pointed out on the gash-org mailing list, if eight people each donate $50, we’ll be covered for rental and insurance costs. It would be especially nice if people who are sleeping in the studio space donated some money. **COUGH**NUDGE**

Money’s tight for everyone, but even a little helps. GASH will house and feed you and give you good times, so drop a little sumpin sumpin in the ol’ e-tip jar, k? If you don’t use PayPal, make sure to give Sam some actual dollars during the Hunt. They are much appreciated.

Love,

Cap’n Nikki

What we have so far, and what we need

Dear GASH,

Scav is coming up! The glorious Hunt will run from Thursday, May 7 (at Midnight) through Sunday, May 10 (Judgment). While this list may have been quite recently, those of us working the organizational end of things have worked hard to get everything up and running. First what we have, then what we need.

1) We have an HQ again. We will be in a former nursery / pre-school space at East Park Tower at 5240 S. Hyde Park Blvd. The paperwork should be all cleared up within a few days hopefully. =
2) For those of you coming in from out of town, the plan is to rent two studio apartments in the same building as our HQ. Ideally one for cooking, another for sleeping.
3) This year, Nikki Everett and Samuel Friedman are Captains. We have Yitz Wasileski as Secretary again and Dan Kimmel as Cleanup Czar. (The rest of you, put in positions here. I’m just running quickly off the top of my head.)
4) A team name. GASH: Those Meddling Adults

What we still need:
1) Money! While we have enough for HQ proper, we still need some money for those studio apartments. Especially if you plan on sleeping in them, GASH wants your moola. The easiest way to do this probably is our PayPal link (available at scavhunt.net ). Also, GASH takes checks as well. Snail Mail it to:

Samuel Friedman
c/o K. McConnell
1610 Adams St
Madison, WI 53711

2) Another Captain! Given the short amount of time between now and the hunt, we hope that we can get one more volunteer for Captain. This person would help Nikki and Sam make decisions during the Hunt. At this point, we have most of the key organizational strucutre up and running. However, we agree that we want a third Captain. If you are interested, please email the GASH Organizing Committee at gash-org@groups.google.com
3) Road Trip! Beep Beep! If you want to drive around this country and have crazy fun, please email Captain Sam (or reply to this email) letting him know that you want to go. Captain Sam will be Road Trip Captain, which means amazing home base support and the chance for a crapload of points. In the past, Road Trip misses only about 10 points and they usually claim they have had a blast.
4) You! Yes, you can help right now. Go to our team database and register yourself at scavdb.scavhunt.net. For the username, it would be the abbreviation that is our team name (and sounds like slash) and the password is the first letter of each word of the phrase “By Our Powers Combined.” All letters lowercase. Now that you have registered, you’re ready to start to help Hunt. Of course, we hope that you will help GASH as much as you can, whether that is for 5 minutes or the entire Hunt.
5) Lodging. If you live around Hyde Park and have some crash space, please, please, please go to our scavdb and let us know under item #1004. (You will see other items that all relate to GASH but are not items from the judges.)

That’s all for now. Good Hunting!

Your Captains,
Nikki Everett
Samuel Friedman