<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Kicking these things around is helpful. Inevitably there are as many views as players. I acknowledge on this particular one I come from having regrettably been absent from both the tournament and Monday evening's post mortem. A couple of thoughts come to mind for context:<div><br></div><div>(1) One of the things I've enjoyed about my time on the unit board has been its willingness to try out new things. Some work better than others, but we learn from each. Vasa last month was different in several respects and as much as we might like to think sorting out of causes & effects to be science, it is also art and in the end there's a fair measure of uncertainty. We can't become entrapped in trying to please everyone -- we do the best we can.</div><div><br></div><div>(2) As unappealing as some find Vasa, it has long had a role as one of our sites and a continuing role is not unlikely. As recently as 2013, three of our four open sectionals were at Vasa. Vasa remains the only site we can count on for the Sweetheart. We have searched for an alternative Sweetheart site and had North Seattle College lined up for February 2017, but that fell through. Miraculously, Bothell saved us by committing much earlier than they normally can for the 2017 Sweetheart -- otherwise that tournament would most likely have been canceled. Susan Cothern found Bothell some years ago and it has become a mainstay. It is ideal for the KO and has worked well for other tournaments. It is normally unworkable for the Sweetheart because IUOE 302 cannot commit to dates with the lead time we need. The upshot is that going forward we presently have no suitable, affordable, available alternative to Vasa for the Sweetheart. Let's make the best of Vasa we can, because until we find an additional site workable for February we are likely going to Vasa for the foreseeable.</div><div><br></div><div>Tim<div><div><br><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On Mar 8, 2018, at 9:28 AM, JC Chupack <<a href="mailto:jc.chupack@gmail.com">jc.chupack@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>I admit that I don't understand how anyone able-bodied could say they had trouble finding/getting lunch for Vasa Park. (I did understand that concern for Forest Ridge, just because the neighborhood there is so slow to go in/out.) There are restaurants, including counter service, fast food, and sit-down, within 5-7 minutes drive (under 2 miles) of Vasa Park. Restaurants include Subway, Teriyaki, Outback, Jack in the Box, McDonald's, Dairy Queen, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Bombay House (Indian), and Southgate Garden (Korean). There's a few more spots that I haven't seen personally, too. And the roads to/from are fast and easy to drive.<br><br></div>The comments about mealtime being short I can sort of understand, for folks who really strongly want to be able to have a sit-down meal vs. something counter-service or fast food. (And I can see both sides of whether having time for a sit-down dinner is a thing that should be expected on a daylight schedule.) <br><br></div><div>Is there something I'm missing about Vasa Park w.r.t. getting food? I played on Saturday & Sunday, and our group had no trouble not only having lunch but doing a full postmortem while at lunch on both days. Even if I were someone that needed extra time to get in/out of my car, you could get a meal equivalent or better than what we'd be able to provide in the allotted time. <br></div></div>JC<br><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">--<font size="1"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family:arial;font-size:small"><br><span style="font-family:arial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:x-small">JC Chupack</span></font></span></font><div style="font-family:arial;font-size:small"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:x-small">* Find me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, or Twitter: jcchupack</span></font></span></font></div></font></font></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Mar 8, 2018 at 1:37 AM, Ann Romeo <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:annromeo@gmail.com" target="_blank">annromeo@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">man, see what happens when I type on my phone....</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">I had dinner with Jeff the other night, and he made the observation that a meal should probably be served at Vasa specifically. Something to keep in mind.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">a</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></div><div><div class="m_960655312106252044gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div>Ann Romeo<br>Personal email: <a href="mailto:annromeo@gmail.com" target="_blank">annromeo@gmail.com</a></div>
<div>Local home: <a href="tel:(206)%20526-0871" value="+12065260871" target="_blank">206-526-0871</a><br>Work email: <a href="mailto:Ann.Romeo@ORCInternational.com" target="_blank">Ann.Romeo@ORCInternational.com</a></div>
<div>Work direct dial: <a href="tel:(212)%20463-6331" value="+12124636331" target="_blank">212-463-6331</a></div><div>My cell: <a href="tel:(425)%20615-1413" value="+14256151413" target="_blank">425-615-1413</a> (text ok)</div><div> </div><div><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">
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<br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">annromeo</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:annromeo@gmail.com" target="_blank">annromeo@gmail.com</a>></span><br>Date: Wed, Mar 7, 2018 at 7:11 PM<br>Subject: Re: [SBU Board] Attendance on Sunday<br>To: Seattle ACBL Unit Board <<a href="mailto:sbuboard@mailman.celestial.com" target="_blank">sbuboard@mailman.celestial.<wbr>com</a>><br><br><br><div><div>Hefg also made a goid point at dinner ladt night. We really shoukd hsve lunch on site at that particular venue...pizza or sandwiches. It will make swiss much smoother and faster. If I don't play...doable at reasonable cost. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div id="m_960655312106252044m_-1599344744700937792composer_signature"><div style="font-size:85%;color:#575757" dir="auto">Sent via the Samsung Galaxy S7, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone</div></div><span><div><br></div><div style="font-size: 100%; "><div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: JC Chupack <<a href="mailto:jc.chupack@gmail.com" target="_blank">jc.chupack@gmail.com</a>> </div><div>Date: 3/7/18 2:56 PM (GMT-08:00) </div><div>To: Seattle ACBL Unit Board <<a href="mailto:sbuboard@mailman.celestial.com" target="_blank">sbuboard@mailman.celestial.co<wbr>m</a>> </div><div>Subject: Re: [SBU Board] Attendance on Sunday </div><div><br></div></div></span><div><div class="m_960655312106252044h5"><div dir="ltr"><div>FWIW, I did think of another hypothesis for why we saw the biggest drop-off for the Swiss. What if people honestly gave Vasa Park another try because we noted it was remodeled, so they came out on Friday and/or Saturday, saw that it was still flawed in whatever way they particularly hate, and so blew off Saturday and/or Sunday, leading to a decline over the weekend as more folks decided it still wasn't meeting their expectations?<br><br></div>That is something that we'll get from the survey, though. I have no doubt the vocal anti-Vasa folks will let us know if they were disappointed with what they saw. :)<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="m_960655312106252044m_-1599344744700937792gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">--<font size="1"><font style="font-family:arial;font-size:small" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br><span style="font-family:arial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:x-small">JC Chupack</span></font></span></font><div style="font-family:arial;font-size:small"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:x-small">* Find me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, or Twitter: jcchupack</span></font></span></font></div></font></font></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Mar 7, 2018 at 5:51 PM, JC Chupack <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jc.chupack@gmail.com" target="_blank">jc.chupack@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>FWIW, we did discuss that specifically on Monday night. The most compelling reason to not do pairs & teams on that day is that whenever you have a pairs event with a team event and don't have separate rooms, the pairs event suffers noisiness when the teams are getting assignments and re-locating. Running pairs along with the teams happens a lot at NABCs and Regionals because they typically have the space to provide separation.<br><br></div>I'd also note that the event format itself didn't change year-over-year (YoY), nor was there any indication that it changed YoY. So, even though we all have heard feedback about reasons folks don't go to Swiss, I'd have trouble believing that the YoY drop-off is due to Swiss itself. It could be a factor, though, if the decision tree when some other big factor is at play (like weather or location), means that folks who aren't fond of our Swiss teams events anyways stay home. (i.e., "I am willing to deal with [Vasa Park, snow, etc.] for pairs because I like pairs games, but I'm not willing to deal with it for Swiss because I don't like that format.")<br><br></div>I'll do my best to address this somehow in the survey, but it can be very tough to tease out when a number of factors could be at play.<br><br></div>JC<br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="m_960655312106252044m_-1599344744700937792m_8497814322823725030gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif">--<font size="1"><font style="font-family:arial;font-size:small" face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><br><span style="font-family:arial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:x-small">JC Chupack</span></font></span></font><div style="font-family:arial;font-size:small"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-family:arial"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-size:x-small">* Find me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, or Twitter: jcchupack</span></font></span></font></div></font></font></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="m_960655312106252044m_-1599344744700937792h5">On Wed, Mar 7, 2018 at 5:18 PM, LARRY HOLDREN <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:larryholdren@comcast.net" target="_blank">larryholdren@comcast.net</a>></span> wrote:<br></div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div class="m_960655312106252044m_-1599344744700937792h5">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri; ">
<div>Hi all:</div>
<div> </div>
<div>When I got home Monday night, M asked about the meeting. I told her
that one of our concerns was the poor turn out Sunday at Vasa Park. Her
reaction was something like “no wonder, all you had was Swiss teams.”</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Maybe there is a point there. Perhaps one or two limited pairs games
and an open Swiss???</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Could a question on this subject be added to the planned survey?</div><span class="m_960655312106252044m_-1599344744700937792m_8497814322823725030HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<div> </div>
<div>Larry</div></font></span></div></div></div>
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