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Originally Posted by
hobbybob
hopefully will be meeting Telemonster again
Due to conflicts at work, Ethan may not arrive until Wednesday or Thursday. Right now he's shooing for Wednesday afternoon, but it's not settled yet. Rest assured though, he *WILL* be there!
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Flying in on Tuesday 6th to Charlotte International Airport, arriving at 15.32 (eh i believe that is 3.32PM called in the States)
We actually use the colon : to separate hours and minutes, rather than a period. But either 15:32 or 3:32 PM is fine. :)
The venue is about 50 minutes by car from the Charlotte Airport. So my guess is that you'll probably get into Newton around 5 PM or so, accounting for the time it will take to get the rental car and get clear of the airport.
It's likely that we will still be working on setup when you arrive. We can stay as late as 9 PM on Tuesday if we need to, but typically we finish between 6 and 7 PM. So I would plan to just go to the venue when you get to town. Note that once load-in is completed we all take a break to go to the hotel and get settled, and then we all go out for a "pre-SELEM dinner party" at a local restaurant. No idea where that will be this year yet. (Maybe the Blue Moon Tavern downtown like we did last year?)
Give me a call on my cell phone at (843) 324-0735 if you get into town and get lost. :)
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I will probably just be bringing my laptop plus FB3 as to not having to lug stuff around on my few days of NY before, so travelling light...
That's a smart plan. Traveling light makes things much easier!
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Are there any outlet shopping centres so i can buy some stuff (Nike shoes, Jeans, shirts...) Just some stuff to have an After-Selem-Feeling ("I bought this during Selem 2019!")...
There are some local shops downtown that sell touristy-type things (shirts, hats, etc), and there are a few larger retail chain stores like Target, WalMart, etc near the highway that sell more common things like Nike Shoes, Levi's Jeans, and so on. But if you want to go to a big shopping mall you would be better off doing that in downtown Charlotte. Charlotte is a big city (close to 1 million people), while Newton is very small (only 13 thousand people).
If you just want something small that you can say "This came from Newton, NC when I was there for SELEM", then yeah, you can surely find that in town. But if you actually want do some serious shopping for goods, then Charlotte would be the better choice.
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Does the local supermarket sell the M&Ms Caramel edition (the blue bags with orange letters caramel), i love those and want to bring some home...
I'm not sure. I didn't know they made Caramel M&Ms! The best chance to find them in Newton would probably be either WalMart or Sam's club near the hotel. We usually make several trips to these stores to buy food and drinks for the event; I suggest you try to ride along on one of those trips to look for these candies.
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i am hyped up like an energizer bunny!
Yup! We all are! :) It's going to be a crazy, awesome, exciting, exhausting, fun week!
Experience everything. Watch shows. Take a turn on a live console. Watch someone hook up and fire an ion laser. Play a VR game. Talk to everyone you can. Exchange phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Keep moving. Ask questions. Take pictures. Tell stories. Tell jokes. Laugh. Remember to eat something.
Write down quick notes, either on your phone, in a notebook, or on a tablet or laptop, whenever you get a cool idea or see something new that impresses you. Seek out the people in the hotel who are willing to stay up late: each night when SELEM ends be sure to meet up with those late night folks (even if it's just for 30 min) to soak up even more knowledge as people share their stories. Have a beer or two if you want. But be prepared: you will probably not get enough sleep because there's just too much cool stuff to do.
And when you get back home, gather all your friends and fellow laserists and explain to them why they should come to SELEM for themselves. :)
Adam
