...and good grief, could they have at least put a mirror in the dressing room?

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

And so how did you get in? My credential went missing from the locker room sometime on Thursday - between my solo and partnered dance events, warmups, and practices, I was on and off the ice 7 times that day, with costume changes every time. I took my credential off in the morning, stuck it in my bag, and didn't look for it again until the evening. When I couldn't find it, I reported directly to the registration desk, where I was told I could check in at the desk each time and they would verify me on the competitor's list. Except that when I tried to do that, I got dressed down by some girl from USFS and was forced to pay another $20 for a replacement credential. And it would have been $25, except somebody pointed out that I could get two day passes for $20, so they agreed to prorate it. I'm not even as upset about having to pay for it as I am at being treated so badly. Honestly, she talked down to me as if I were 6 years old!

Hey - that's MY kind of place!

If it isn't Skittl it'll be me. I am pretty sure I can pass my PreBronze dances by the end of the year, which will make me eligible to do an Interp at ANs, and since Interp (Artistic - I couldn't do comedy to save my life) is what I love most . . . so remember to bring the Champagne, because I intend to drink some, and then some more.

Sorry about the triple post, but $20.00 for a replacement credential??? That's crazy - the LOC got the credentials basically for free. I know, because I printed them on my home printer and I also supplied about 500 lanyards, given to me for the purpose by a friend who owns a PR firm, and the remaining lanyards and plastic badge pockets were similarly donated.

Wheee!!!!!!!

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"The only place where success comes before work is in a dictionary." -- Vidal Sasson

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." -- Unknown

Yeah, I expected to be charged something - maybe 5 bucks or so - but I thought this was outrageous. She just kept insisting that if it were easy to replace credentials there would be no point in having them. I always thought the only point was so they wouldn't have to verify every athlete off the list every time they walked through the door. I think the real issue is that they were afraid somebody's Aunt Millie might be getting in free with my missing credential, and so they charged me Aunt Millie's admission fee. 'Course, if my name had been printed on the thing in the first place, somebody could have returned it to me. I only wish I'd thought to write on it immediately, but I was kind of preoccupied with other things - like skating.

See, this just pisses me off even more. As both flo and I said above, PLEASE send an e-mail to USFS about all this. This LOC blatantly gouged us. I love how they got all the badges for free yet still couldn't put our names on them. What, ink too expensive? (Actually, I already know the answer to that question, and it's "yes," because when Pam Crowley told them, in my presence, that IJS skaters should be getting their own protocols for free, the LOC chair said no because the paper and ink would cost too much. True story.)

In this case, I don't think we can blame the LOC. They were willing to let me in by just verifying my name on the list. It was the USFS representative who insisted that I pay for it and was not very nice to me.

Our Club gave IJS skaters paper copies of their protocols for free, but I wondered if it would have been better to just email a pdf to the skaters after the event ended.

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Then please put that in the mail. There's no excuse for charging $20 when it's so easy to verify who we are. This competition is for us, right?????

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Give the USFS rep a break, she's done 3 Regionals, 1 Sectionals and ANs this year as the "credential Nazi"

There are two reasons why individual skaters' names weren't on the badges. First, a decision was made (not sure by whom) that it would be simpler and more efficient to simply have "Skater" or "Competitor" on the competitors' badges because that way a credential could just be put into each skater's gift bag, rather than matching the skaters and credentials as the skaters checked in. Also, the chair of the LOC got the complete list of skaters pretty late from USFS - I know that too, because I had asked for the list of skaters shortly after registration closed in January so that I could begin printing individualized credentials for everyone as early as possible and avoid a last-minute time crunch. However, the complete list wasn't made available until March, which would have made it tight, time-wise, getting an individualized credential for everyone as I was doing them all in the evenings on my home computer. I could have divided the job with someone else, but by that time I think everyone was pretty busy. Beyond that I don't know how the decisions were made - I volunteered to do credentials and that was pretty much all I had time for.

Then three regionals and 1 sectionals is one too many, still no excuse for being rude.

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Well...that farm girl never returned the ruby slippers and I was so mad that I turned really green so figured I better not come. LOL

Actually, I had a good reason too. I was direction an ice show and didn't really have a choice in the date since I was asked to direct after date had been picked.

Sheesh....what a mishap. Hope everyone had fun regardless thoughl

Wow...interesting.

On a better note though....how did it feel to be in Championship round? : )

Vesper, your commentary, especially during Championship Master's Jun/Sen men was hilarious! (comment after a skater fell on a 2-sal and "rolled" over on the fall) - "I wonder if he gets extra points for a difficult exit?" So good!

You should get it at the same time the results are posted, so that if there is an issue you or your coach can talk to the referee about it.

Thank you very much for volunteering your time. I hope you don't think I was blaming you. Names on badges are a small thing and wouldn't have even pinged my radar had it not been for all the other problems we faced as competitors. A lot of straws combined to break the camel's back!

w.w.west, you were very much missed! It just wasn't the same without you!

I don't think that at all - it is just the one thing about the event that I do have some information about.

I think that some of the concerns and issues raised here are worth bringing to the GC's attention, though. It might be a good idea to require the chair or co-chair of any future Adult Nationals to be an adult skater who has been to at least two or three ANs, and/or to require the LOC to consult with an ASC liaison on a regular schedule from the time the event is awarded until the event is actually completed. That might help everyone get on the same page regarding expectations.

oh she who had a few too many pulls on my "slushie"... I bought my own champagne in 2005, then bought for jazzpants in 2008. Jazzpants bought for Terri C in 2009. It will be Terri's responsibility to buy for you or Skittl when the time comes.

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Champagne in 2005, 2008, 2009 - who's next out of the pre-bronze club...?

Wang chung!

Agreed - a mentor of sorts would be fantastically helpful. Then again, it sounds like the LOC was too bullheaded to ask for help anyways, so it's another case of "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

Thanks. I'm coming to GC though....see you there?

lol thanks! we can haz fun timez! However I cannot claim credit for the best line of the night: "It's iTouch, not you touch!" LMFAO.

Ooh AZ ... I'm thinking Phoenix or a suburb. Coyotes FSC of Arizona is a pretty big club, they've had a few Regionals IIRC?

Sweetie, I seem to recall returning the favor on Saturday night with a few nips of my specially-enhanced OJ. Not to worry, though - if I really do manage to make it to ANs with an Interp (and it may well be a version of the one I have now because I love it), I will be certain to bring the Champagne myself. Count on it. And I'll bring good stuff, too - Chandon Brut, maybe even Perrier-Jouet Blanc de Noir. Just saying.

mmmm, forgot about the OJ. No, you should not have to buy your own, the Bronze for Life pact was that the courtesy be passed down. It's tradition. Terri will honor it, or else see to it that someone does.

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Champagne in 2005, 2008, 2009 - who's next out of the pre-bronze club...?

Wang chung!