---Phreaknic 12 is Over!---
If you were there, you know. If you weren't, then you missed a great time. We look forward to seeing you next year, if you can make it. -Sky
An open letter to the Community...
Wow. Pn12 is over. What a weekend. Well, I'd like to say a few things, and I figured this is the best location. I'll start with the thanks, a few things I had on my mind, and end with asking you to come back next year. If you're not into long posts, you can use this summary instead of reading. :)
Thank you all.
For all of the attendees that came to PN12, I extend my thanks. Without you, it would have been 20 of us sitting around a big room kvetching. Thank you for taking the time out and devoting a weekend to come hang out with us. If you drove a far distance, I hope that you made it back home without too much trouble. Thank you to my staff. They put up with me constantly asking for updates, and going over things repeatedly. They are a tough bunch, and should be congratulated for a job well done. Tiefighter, thank you for taking care of physical security this year. Someone else said it best... 'you didn't know they were there until you needed them...' That's what we want. Transparency of the staff and volunteers. Tie, thanks for keeping it all in line this year, and for answering the phone at 4AM when I called about the guy on nine that just wanted to go home. Sorry I woke you up, hope you crashed back out. :) SomeninjaMaster, thank you my friend for not telling me to fuck off when I pestered you with questions over and over. We would have been screwed this year without you and your team. I've gotten so many compliments on your team's professionalism, and their desire to help out the speakers. Every year you refine your technique, and add more of your flair to the project. Mirage. I forgot to mention you in the closing talk/awards. I apologize deeply. You have got to have one of the most complex setups for a hacker convention network. Sorry some asshat skrypt kiddies tried old exploits to the point of screwing up the connectivity. I guess there's one in every crowd. Thanks for taking the time to put the firewall together, and for dipping into your own wallet to buy a fresh set of APs for this year. I can only hope that you do this again next year, and that I can find you a lackey so that you can have fun and relax.
Stefanie, thank you for wrangling the volunteers this year. It's not an easy job to do, and not everyone shows up when they are supposed to. Sometimes, alcohol can screw with schedules, and god knows we're prone to alcohol. LadyMerlin, thank you for making registration as smooth as it could be. I'd also like to personally thank you for not killing me after I spent so much time planning and then talking your ear off about events, etc. You're a real trooper to do that for both PN and OZ. Dolemite, thank you for taking care of the eats. You fed a huge crew of people, and I believe they were very appreciative. You took care of not only that, but you also kept the goodies in the hospitality area stocked, and I know for one the sugar kept me going many times. Thank you for having the faith in me to put yourself in my corner for presidency. I hope that what I have done continues the direction you put the Nashville 2600 organization and Phreaknic in when you took over. Corydon, thanks for taking care of the cash, and for spending the evenings breaking down the con-ops room. I think it will take a good month or so to finish sorting everything at the consortium out and back into the right locations for next year. Notlarry? You awake man? Thanks for handling R00tw4rz, and for chasing down the drunk ranting guy before he got to Jefferson st. I am sure he's happy you talked to him instead of getting to ride to see the Metro Nashville Jail. You're truly a compassionate man. Will you tell me the penquin joke sometime? :)
Digiears, thanks so much for the caffiene fix. You're the man! Mixing some awesome concoctions on the ninth floor, all the time listening to rock band thru some crappy little speakers. You should get an award for that. Thanks for coming back and contributing to the community, we love you for it. Eighty, thank you for making your way to PN and entertaining us friday night. Your music fits the bill for Geeks everywhere. You're truly a talent, and I will support you as long as you can grab a mic and freestyle about random gadgets and in any other endeavours you follow. Ashley, thank you for bringing your documentary to PN12, and sharing your vision of the hacker community. It was good to see you again, and I hope that we can collaborate on other events in the future. Howard, thanks for manning the NLUG table, and for spending time helping. You're a wonderful guy, and a maniac for lugging all that equipment up and down the hotel. Thanks.
Mudflap, You are a great inspiration to me. You've stood behind me and given me the thumbs up and support when I got frustrated or just needed to bitch. Your attitude of "sure, whatever you need man" still astounds me. Thank you.
Ware, or 'J-Weezy", you deserve both a thanks and a kick in the ass for being the inspiration for the 'Ware Chair Toss' event. I hope that your temporary internet fame leads on to better things. I expect you to step up and run that event next year, 'cause you know we have to do it again."That's how it's gonna be" Darren, Chris, and all of the crew for Hak.5, thanks for making the trip, and mentioning us on the show. Wes, you've gotta make it down next year, so that we can all have a drink together. Memories have to be made man, and I am sure the helsinki manouver can be replicated without much trouble. Jeff, thanks for programming hours and hours of anime. You're a monster man! Thanks for helping out with everything before your stuff started. Sorry I didn't have you a projector when you needed it, but glad we were able to get what you needed. Jessica, thanks for bringing the hoops and for sponsoring the drunken hula-hoop competition. Also, thanks for totally distracting me and supaflyflippin-a by putting on an impromptu exhibition. If I didn't think it might result in me needing medical attention, I'd almost pick one up and give it a try...
Arafat, thank you for helping with the Shooting Gallery, and giving Tuttle a break. After going to the range with you, I now know why you were at home. :)
Tuttle. Man. Thank you for keeping pace with me in the week leading up to the con, and all weekend long. You did an excellent job running the Shooting Gallery, and you did tons of work on prototyping the final design. What can I say man. I really appreciate you helping me and just being there while I worked on the program and such. Sorry we didn't get enough time for shirts. We're gonna make them anyway, and see about selling them at OZ. I hope that you get enough sleep and get back on track. There are some incriminating pictures of you out like a light on the couch in the lobby. We'll try and keep them to a minimum. You're a good man, and I hope that I can count on you for assistance in the future. In the meantime, get that 24 dbi antenna working and kick some Potter kid ass.
Thanks to Bobby for being the director of Wi-Fu. I am looking forward to your first talk, and to see what you come up with when your dad lets you work on shmoocon. You're a wonderful kid, and you have the potential to do many great things with your talents.
To all of the volunteers and speakers, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Taking time from your schedule to give back to the community we love so much is one of the things that will keep this group alive, and serve as an example to other groups out there.
Al. Wow. What can I say. "Scrambled eggs, Mango Juice..." Your stories are the best around, even if they make us cringe sometimes. Thanks for talking to me and giving me your thoughts and criticisms of the con. I respect your opinions and would gladly spend time chatting should you ever need to. I will be seeing you at shmoocon, and I hope to work with you on that whole T-Shirt idea. See, I come up with a good one occasionally.
Now, with all of the thank yous out of the way, I'd like to say that this year's Phreaknic was definetly one of my favorites. Laughing with everyone and watching everyone interact was quite a pleasure, and the fact that I had more drinks poured for me this weekend than ever before... wow. I think my liver wants a vacation! At the G33kshoot, we got to extend the con a bit more, spending time talking guns and laughing. Slowly, a few at a time, people left to go home, and suddenly there were only a few of us. We checked out, and headed into the parking lot. I could have stayed there all night talking. The comaradarie that comes from a conference like this is almost like a drug. I come down on sunday evening, and wake up monday morning wanting to see my friends again. I know that I will see them soon, but there is still no feeling like the one I get the weekends we get together at a con. I feel like I am a pusher, trying to get people to attend the different cons. Every new person that attends is blown away by the fun they have, and the friends they make. If the weekend helped one person better themselves, or gave a young hacker a new direction, then every bit of work was well worth it.
I'm acclimating myself back into work, easing the pain of missing everyone by hitting the #se2600 irc channel on freenode.net, and talking about the crazy shit that went on over the weekend.
If you have picture galleries, please send me the link at Skydog615 [at] gmail.com. I'd like to make a master list of them, so that we can all share.
*** One incident that I'd like taken care of... The asshat that threw a chair off the roof of the hotel... I'd like you to step forward and reimburse nashville 2600 for the $150 that we had to pay for the chair you threw. It got thrown between 7AM and 11AM, as far as we can tell, and the hotel was NOT pleased. The last thing we need is to be ejected from this hotel because we've been destructive with their property. I think we told them last year that we would make sure nobody threw anything off the hotel balcony, and dammned if it didn't happen AFTER our event insurance ended. Had you taken out the satelite dish, or hurt someone, Nashville 2600 would have been on the hook for expenses we could not cover. Contact me at skydog615 [at] gmail.com and arrange to send us the cash. Here are the pictures of the damage...
Overall, it was a blast. See you again next year, or at the next con, depending on when you can make it out. Remember, 'If it's not fun, it's not worth doing.'
-SkyDog