06-24-2008, 09:34 PM
Indeed, hopefully those who can attend have a great time and that the event is successful despite the serious problems. I was definately looking forward to the event and had expedited a passport and cleared vacation time from work. It wasn't a total loss as it helped me work on my kit and a few other positive factors. It is also a good lesson and it appears a lot of us (myself included) let our optimism and Mr. Cologni's charisma overshadow some very obvious problems and our groups should honestly have probably backed out a month ago when we lacked final confirmation or anything indicating that progress was being met with only rare reassurances that anything was being done and poor communication with the party responsible for arrangements. I haven't heard from Andrea since my initial contact in February and he hasn't responded to any e-mail since then and yet I was still optimistic everything would come together. Oh well, what does kill us...
Derek D. Estabrook
