Didn't we mail PR1 just a week or two ago? The Minneapolis in '73 time travel committee must be experimenting with the space-time continuum again. The rest of us working on Minicon have also been busy. Not the kind of busy that comes just before the convention--more the laid-back summer kind of busy digging holes and pouring foundations. (Special thanks to Dreamhaven Books for providing our new meeting space!)

Registration is up and running, with checks being deposited within a month as promised. We began accepting memberships the day of the PR1 mailing party, and California fan Gordon Garb was first in line. After seeing the hotel announcement, Gordon sent email exclaiming, "I am sooo excited to be moving back downtown! Yayyy!" He went on to ask, "Can I just send you a blank check or my credit card number, and get memberships the second you start selling them?"

Minnesota Nice prevailed. We even told Gordon how much to make the check for rather than filling in the correct amount ourselves. Register by October 31st and you'll get the same $30 rate. (Children age 12 and under: $15.)

Gordon was the first paid member of Minicon 34, and registrations have been arriving steadily ever since. We were pleased (and relieved) when, for the first time, registrations and huckster room requests outnumbered the undeliverable PRs in the Minicon PO box. (FYI, we pick up the mail at least twice a week; processing it takes a bit longer.)

Speaking of undeliverable PRs, we remailed 162 copies whose forwarding time had expired, but we still have over a thousand lost souls. Please help us find them! See the Minicon lost souls web page: http://www.mnstf.org/minicon34/missing-people.html.

Many Minicon members welcomed the news that room reservations are made directly with the hotel this year. Remember, the sooner you reserve your room, the more likely you are to be in the Hilton. As of late September, the Minicon room block was 30% full.

We're progressing with other plans, too--look for our announcement of the Minicon 34 costume reception, updated information on the art show, and other convention news throughout this progress report.

In addition to working on Minicon and other fannish activities, a few dozen fans joined Transatlantic Fan Fund delegate Maureen Kincaid Speller at "TAFF-on-a-stick"--an outing to the Minnesota State Fair in honor of Maureen's visit to Minneapolis. We decided against serving deep-fried pickles in the consuite, or offering bungee skygliding on the program--Minicon 34 will be different, but not that different. Maureen's comments on Brit's Pub will likely show up in the Minicon 34 restaurant guide, though, and perhaps in her TAFF report, too.

And so the personal contributions continue, weaving with others in our collaborative effort to create a Minicon that is manageably big, shaggy, fun, and weird. We hope you'll join us--by suggesting new ideas, by volunteering to help, and by showing up and having a great time.

Until our third Progress Report, in January,
Geri Sullivan

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To get the $30 rate before it goes up on October 31.

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What good is a plan without a budget? Our budgets are based on memberships.

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Get out your checkbook, an envelope, and a stamp. It's that simple!

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Because it builds strong Minicons 12 ways.

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What strange powers did these ancients possess? Benjamin Franklin, John of Gaunt, Matthew Arnold, and Dr. Zyx W. Vuts agree.

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