MACNA XVII

[Fluff]

And here are just some extra pics. We were at a small parking area along GW Parkway. One is of the Washington Monument, the other is Navy and Marine Monument dedicated to the americans lost at sea. It was beautiful, the pic doesn't do it justice. The boats were taken at one of the marinas around Mt Vernon.

 

[fishfreek]

Ya the lighting in many of the rooms was not overly adjustable to allow for proper lighting on the speakers and not have lighting directly on the screen causing glaire.

 

[Fluff]

Yes, I know you struggled with the lighting. You did an excellent job fishfreek. Thanks again.

 

[macman7010]

Hey,

MACNA rocked, Ill post some of my pics. Sorry I missed seeing you guys, I dont really have any faces to put with names and I sure wasnt going to walk around with a shirt that said macman7010 ... LOL! My personal favorite seminar was Sprung's, and I missed Bob Fenner's seminar on Friday evening. I left work as early as possibly but D.C. is a 3 hour haul for me. Anyhow it was a great expierence, I learned a lot and took a varitey of horrible digital photos.

 

[Hara]

Maybe for the Houston Macna, folks could buy AA shirts or something identifying to wear

 

[Fluff]

Yeah. It wasn't to hard for me since I had already met fishfreek, devilishturtles and bound_for_obx previously. I manage to find Phyllis on Sat. Sorry I missed ya. I didn't know if you were still going or not. I would have looked for you.

 

[macman7010]

its cool, the AA shirt idea was really good, I should have thought of that. even we could have made AA shirts if it was short notice, but anyhow it was fun. there is an event coming up fluff fairly close to me so somewhat close to you. once I get the details I am going to post about it in our regional forum.

 

[fishfreek]

I am supprised no one has commented on the vast amount of stuff given away at the raffle. Phyllis Did your crew come away with alot? I saw you sit down in the general area where the ticket taker and one of the winners for a few items was.

For those that didnt attend there where at least two tanks 90gal and one that was larger given away. These where complete systems. One included livestock!!!! Two people walked away with 12 cases of IO and 12 cases of ReefCrystals. Countless others wakled away with prizes from the raffle. The vendors really came thru with donations for the raffle.

The gala was set to handle 540 or so people and I think it was very near full capacity and not everyone attending the conference had a ticket to the gala.

 

[fishfreek]

In reference to the AA garments we have several new garments added to our store just prior to MACNA. I wore my shirt on the final day.

 

[Devilishturtles]

I really had a great time. I'm still trying to sort through my pictures. Sorry we missed ya Macman.

My favorite speaker I believe was Walt Smith. His seminar on his efforts in Figi were amazing. I've never seen so many corals and piles of liverock before. He kept things interesting as well. Julian Sprung gave alot of insight on sponges and their role in our aquariums. Rebecca Swenson gave an interesting speech on Berghia Nudibranchs, which I found highly interesting. I was a bit turned off by Dr. Ron, and his pompous attitude towards the curious and factseeking hobbyist...but I won't get into all of that ruckus.

Lets not forget to mention the free frags! How many did you guys walk away with? I got 6 all together. 4 for free, and 2 that I paid $10 a piece for at Dr. Mac's Booth.

On our way back home, well...it was an adventure. We got lost, or more rightly, I got lost. Off went Fluff in one direction, and me right on into downtown DC. I got a whole tourists view in about 15 minutes. lol. The Pentagon, Washington Monument, The National Mall, The Capital, The White House, alll of it. About 15 minutes later we met up though, and made it back home, about 45 minutes for me.

I spent the following three hours acclimating the new frags! I nice huge chunk of colt coral, 2 finger leathers, 1 star polyp, and 2 kinds of zoos (one pink, one orange and green).

I had a blast. Might be looking forward to MACNA XVIII in Houston, Texas in 2006. 8)

Pictures coming as soon as I can sort them out. 8O

 

[Menagerie]

Where are the pics of fellow AAers??

If you don't have AA gear, what are you waiting for? Cafe Express ships quick and the prices are reasonable (I have quite a collection of AA Ts, etc). Plus right now, there's a sale on women's clothing, use coupon code breeze2 by Wednesday.

 

[fishfreek]

Since we mentioned the next MACNA its also not to early to register. You can get in on the early bird special still. I belive the early bird price is $125 or something like that where as in a few days/weeks the price will jump to as high as $175.

The trade show was spectacular! Awsome products some new and some fairly established.

 

[fishfreek]

Some stats from the show. More to come.

Prior to running the event, we had 682 that purchased some product or other that let them have one of FULL CONF, GALA, RECEPTION.

At the event, I think we took in well over a hundred additionals (DAY PASS, EXHIBIT ONLY, FULL CONF, GALA, RECEPTION).

 

[Phyl]

Phyllis Did your crew come away with alot?

Our crew came away with quite a bit. One of our guys won slot 6 on the Ora raffle items and got a gorgous clam, another won a series of books and some oyster eggs, another won a tank that was donated to our club for a raffle item.

Sea Dwelling Creatures raffled off everything in their booth at the end of the show and we walked away with full arms from that. Most of those items have gone to benefit the NJ Reefers Club. One of those items (I won) was a Pacific Coast 1/4 horse inline chiller. That chiller will be raffled off at our December meeting (winner need not be present to win). It was a great time and wild horses will be necessary to keep me from MACNA in Houston in spite of the fact that it will be all the way across the country. NJ is looking forward to holding a future MACNA and we're preparing for the bid process (with any luck and a lot of preparation MACNA 2008 will be held in Atlantic City, NJ).