The date for VAX party 2003 will be saturday, the 15th of november. 
where? at Isildurean Domain (270 38th street, near penn ave. & 38th st.
in Pittsburgh, PA)
when? sat the 15th, at 20:00 (8 pm to 12 hour people) 
what? a VAX party, of course! bring yourself, a friend, a VAX, whatever. 

RSVP to mrfusion@vaxpower.org
isildur

(directions to isildurean domain: 
from oakland:

find your way to s. craig street. On forbes coming from pitt, this means 
making a left after the carnegie museum onto s craig street. From CMU, this
means making a right at the same intersection, by the uni-mart. 

>From 5th ave, coming from pitt's direction, make a left onto s craig 
right after you see the SEI. from sq hill direction, make the right
when you see SEI across the intersection. 

follow craig street until it intersects with bigelow boulevard. 
go forward approx 250 yards, in right lane. make the right onto 
bloomfield bridge. make a left onto liberty avenue and travel approx .5
miles until you see 37th street on your right. it will be directly after
a very cool looking duquesne light substation. follow 37th street for approx. 
200 yards. you will cross several side streets and then cross penn avenue. 
immediately after penn avenue, approx. 65 feet from it, is a small street
called peoria way. make a right onto it. 
This dead ends on 38th street. my house is the one that will be directly
to your right on this corner, #270. find a place to park, usually there
is space further up onm 38th street towards penn avenue. technically there's
no parking on peoria way but you can usually get away with parking on the
_other_ side of it. my side is a fire lane.  I'd try to park on 38th street
first though. 


from north:

if coming down Rt 28, take the 40th street bridge exit and follow the 40th
street bridge til the light on butler street. make a right onto butler
street and then drive 2 blocks and make a left onto 38th street. My
house is approximately 500 feet ahead on the right. 

if coming down 279,  exit at the east street exit and bear to the left. 
Make a left at the light with East Ohio street, and stay in the right 
lane. Make a right at 16th street/chestnut street, and cross the river.
Make a left onto liberty avenue and follow liberty up to 37th street,
where you make a left. Follow 37th street for approx. 
200 yards. you will cross several side streets and then cross penn avenue. 
immediately after penn avenue, approx. 65 feet from it, is a small street
called peoria way. make a right onto it. 
This dead ends on 38th street. my house is the one that will be directly
to your right on this corner, #270. find a place to park, usually there
is space further up onm 38th street towards penn avenue. technically there's
no parking on peoria way but you can usually get away with parking on the
_other_ side of it. my side is a fire lane.  I'd try to park on 38th street
first though. 
(yes liberty is usually faster than taking rt 28 outbound!!) 


from east: 

from far east: 
taking 376 west, exit at the squirrel hill exit, and make a right onto 
beechwood blvd.this is directly after the big sharp turn in the exit 
ramp and is an equally sharp turn (effectively a u-turn) from the exit
to beechwood. travel approx. .35 miles along beechwood and make a right at
the light by the cogos and the brewsters ice cream place. Cross the bridge
and bear left through the park. Stay in the right lane and at the light 
with blvd of the allies, cross b.o.a and go straight until you meet a
stop sign approx 150 yards ahead. Make a left here, again heading through 
the park. Go straight at the next stop sign, and then make a left onto
darlington rd. From there, travel approx. 120 yards and make a left onto the
golf course road. Travel approx. 250 yards til you intersect with tech street,
and turn right into CMU. Travel approx. 100 yards until the stop sign and 
turn right onto margaret-morrison street. At the light with Forbes Avenue,
turn left onto Forbes. 
Follow forbes until craig street, where you will see the Carnegie across
and to your left, and a uni-mart on your right.  mae a right onto s craig st. 
Follow craig street until it intersects with bigelow boulevard. 
go forward approx 250 yards, in right lane. make the right onto 
bloomfield bridge. make a left onto liberty avenue and travel approx .5
miles until you see 37th street on your right. it will be directly after
a very cool looking duquesne light substation. follow 37th street for approx. 
200 yards. you will cross several side streets and then cross penn avenue. 
immediately after penn avenue, approx. 65 feet from it, is a small street
called peoria way. make a right onto it. 
This dead ends on 38th street. my house is the one that will be directly
to your right on this corner, #270. find a place to park, usually there
is space further up onm 38th street towards penn avenue. technically there's
no parking on peoria way but you can usually get away with parking on the
_other_ side of it. my side is a fire lane.  I'd try to park on 38th street
first though. 

>From near east: 
from highland park: 
follow negley avenue northward until it ends. bear right across the little
extension road and make a left at the next corner. at the next stop sign, 
go straight. at the next intersection, which will be 'wild place' which is
the road that goes around highland park and the zoo, make a left at the stop
sign. you shoudl have a painted wall on your left. Travel down this windy hill 
until the traffic light, where you make a left onto butler street. It might
be called alleghenny river boulevard at that point, im not sure. 
 Follow this until it becomes butler street, and then follow butler street
until 38th street. make a left onto 38th street, my house is #270, on the
right about a block and a half up. 


from shadyside/east liberty: 
follow 5th avenue until it intersects with penn ave/Rt 8,
and then turn left from 5th onto penn, heading towards downtown. Follow
penn til 37th street, and make a right onto 37th. 
approx. 65 feet from the corner, is a small street called peoria way.
make a right onto it. 
This dead ends on 38th street. my house is the one that will be directly
to your right on this corner, #270. find a place to park, usually there
is space further up onm 38th street towards penn avenue. technically there's
no parking on peoria way but you can usually get away with parking on the
_other_ side of it. my side is a fire lane.  I'd try to park on 38th street
first though. 
(yes liberty is usually faster than taking rt 28 outbound!!) 


>From south: 
if crossing on 279, take the liberty avenue exit (right downtown) after the
bridge. follow liberty avenue all the way to 37th street (approx. 3 miles)
follow the directions from 279N after this point. 
If crossing from the liberty tunnels, follow second avenue inbound to the
downtown area and make a right when it dead-ends at the red light under
the blvd of the allies ramp. im not sure of the name of this street. 
follow it through two lights, and then at the stop sign, which should be
7th avenue, make a left. Mellon Bank center should be on your left, and 
USX tower should be ahead of you. Turn right onto grant street, and follow
grant until it merges into Liberty Ave. Follow the directions from liberty 
avenue given in other sections. 

>From the moon: 
land rocket at intersection of penn ave and 38th street, being careful not
to burn my house down with rocket exhaust in the process. walk down
38th street to #270. 

>From china: buy a bigger shovel. 
)

> ok folks, the weather is getting chilly again and now we can heat
> it up with the excess BTUs that only a happily humming VAX can provide!
> thats right, it's getting time for the fifth annual VAX party!
> as usual, we'll have to figure out when is the best time. I'm
> currently thinking to do it on either the 7th or 8th of november
> or the 14th or 15th if 7 or 8 dont work out. 7 and 14 are fridays. 
> So, if anyone really cant make it some of those days, lemme know and
> ill work out the optimal date for it and send that out too.
> 
> so, some may ask, what is a VAX party? quite simple! It's a lot of
> VAXen, people, people geeking on the VAXen (and other stuff too), alcohol,
> and playing hunt til 4 in the morning! In years past we'd try to boot the
> 11/750 and then back upstairs to get stabbed, detonated, slimed, 
> shot and at-bombed by ralston.. The 11/750's are gone now, having
> found new homes over the summer, but there is plenty of other VAX goodness
> to go around. for example, we have the _smallest_ VAX ever made this time! 
> Also, for those interested, there will be a few VAX bits (random qbus stuff, maybe
> a vaxstation or 2 and a decstation or 2, other random pieces of computing gadgetry)
> that folks will be free to take home with them. The typical format is some hardcore
> vax geeking in the couple hours before people start showing up to get everything
> setup and working (anyone who wants to do more vax things and less other 
> things, show up early) and people start coming around 8 or so. food & drink are
> whatever i think of, but there will be real food as well as snack-things, and
> a varied selection of beverages, fizzing, foaming, flammable, caffienated,
> infused, and boiled.  I _might_ make an attempt at executing Ralston's lasagna
> recipe..
> In any case, it has been good fun the past 4 years so if you havent made
> it to previous VAX parties, this is your chance (well, you could always
> wait til next year..)
> anyone who wants to come but has scheduling conflicts or preferences
> about the 4 potential dates, please let me know so i can sort them all out. 
> 
> happy hacking,
> isildur
> 
> 
>