So we kind of dropped the ball on getting this really announced ahead of time, and for that we apologize, but we’ve been working on a way to share each others photos and experiences in this wild and wacky web 2.0 worlds we live in.  For those who prefer to thoroughly document their experiences using the written word, you can sign up for a blog at my.mysterium.net, or even syndicate your existing blog’s RSS feed.  Get in touch with Odo or Alahmnat if you need assistance getting yourself established there.

We also have a Mysterium 2008 group on Flickr for the shutterbugs among us.  The address for the group is http://www.flickr.com/groups/Mysterium2008.  If you’re unfamiliar with how to contribute photos to a group on Flickr, check out this question in the Flickr FAQ.

Not Set In Stone Schedule

FRIDAY

Noon- Registration open game signups open
4pm- Ahyoheek Rounds
5pm- Field Trip Sign Ups open
6-8pm- Meet & Greet at Hotel
7pm- Age Writing Tutorial (in hotel room)

SATUDAY
10am-3pm Field Trips

New England Aquarium- $20 Adult

or
Peabody Musuem- $9 Adult
or
Freedom Trail Walking Tour -$12 Adult

4pm Marker Mission- Begins at hotel
4pm Displays open
7pm WWAD
8pm More ‘heek

SUNDAY
10am-Noon Round Tables
Noon- Heek Finals
1pm Presentations
2pm-4pm Memorial, Closing & Awards

Wolfie put huge amounts of time, energy and spirit into planning this year’s Mysterium. We’d be dishonoring him if we didn’t find a way to celebrate that spirit in some way.

On Sunday, we will be holding a non-denominational memorial for Wolfie, with a visual presentation, and time for people to speak. We will also have a memory book available for people to write in, that will be sent to his family.

In addition, we are passing the hat for a Wolfie Family Support Fund. This fund will have two priorities: first, clearly, to help alleviate the finance burden of funeral expenses.

The second priority is to support the Guild of Greeters in carrying on one of Wolfie’s projects, which was sponsoring a wolf of the Sawtooth Wolf Pack in Idaho. Funds beyond what the family accepts for expenses will be given to the GoG for this purpose

If you have pictures of CAGrayWolf you’d like to share, please send them to info@mysterium.net

To contribute to the fund, please use the mysteriumpaypal@gmail.com address, and include “memorial fund” in the notes. Or, you can contribute directly to the Guild of Greeters

Thank you all so much,

The Mysterium Committee

LOGO CONTEST WINNERS
We are pleased to announce that the winners of the 2008 Mysterium logo contest are

Daniel ‘Floydman’ Floyd and Claire ‘Shoom’lah’ Hummel
You can view the winning entries, and the other entrants HERE

Tshirts and other nifty items featuring their artwork are now available at our Mysterium CafePress Store

Congratulations to you both, and thank you to everyone who entered!

MYSTERIUM AUCTIONS
Between now and Mysterium, we will be having several items up for grabs on Ebay, suitable for any Myst fan’s collection!

You can view all active auctions HERE

REGISTRATION
We’ve made registration easier with a new web based form! Register for Mysterium today!

ROOMMATES
Looking for someone to share a hotel room with? We now have a roommate matching system to help you find others who are looking to share a hotel room and split expenses to help make you trip more affordable and stress free. Visit our roomshare page HERE

PRESENTATIONS:
We are trying something new this year for Presentations, by offering three different formats for groups & individuals to share their works with the community:

Display- Table space for displaying artwork, crafts or other creative efforts.

Small Group- For a small class, panel or smaller presentation.

Performance or Presentation- For larger presentation to all Mysterium attendees

Further details about each option, presentation rules and requirements, and registration, are available now on our Presentations Page HERE

PAPER PEOPLE
Once again, we invite those D’niverse fans who can’t join us in the flesh to join us on paper. Please send your picture in jpg format, with an 8×10 print size, to paperpeople@mysterium.net

EVENTS
Have we got some fun stuff planned for this year! Visit our Events Page for a preview!

PRIZES & MATERIALS
One of the things that makes Mysterium great is the amount of community involvement, and one way you can be involved – even if you aren’t able to attend Mysterium – is through the donation of prizes or materials.

If you create items that are directly related to the D’niverse (like Journey Cloths, or linking book replicas), or are thematically similar (like journals, or art of Age-like locations), we’d like to invite you to donate an item or two for prizes at Mysterium. In the past Mysterium has awarded prize winners journals, decorated cones, Journey Hand necklaces and more. Unique prizes are an inspiration to everyone! Please contact us at info@mysterium.net for donation instructions.

If you have materials you think might be useful to us, like button blanks, or printer paper, we may be willing to find a use for them! Please contact us at info@mysterium.net

TRANSPORTATION
Jet Blue has several specials to Boston right now, check them out!
We recommend that attendees NOT use American Airlines if at all possible, given their new $15 fee for a standard checked bag.
Manchester Ariport (MHT) is less than 50miles from the hotel, and there is a free shuttle that goes from the airport to the regional transit center near the hotel. Booking a flight to that airport may be cheaper!

Due to personal conflicts, I have chosen to leave the Mysterium Committee. I wish Mysterium all the best, and I hope it turns out as well as the new committee has intended it to be since forming ourselves together last summer.

A weekend of fun, adventure, learning and community kicks off FRIDAY at noon, and wraps up with Closing Ceremonies at 4pm on SUNDAY. Join us for three full days of MYST!

OUR HOTEL:
Hilton Garden Inn ~ Burlington, MA
Located just 15 miles NW of downtown Boston, and 11 Miles from Logan Airport, this beautiful hotel offers us everything we need, and then some!
We have graciously been given a room rate of $95/night for Friday and Saturday nights (plus 9.7% total tax) for occupancy of up to 4 people per room. You can register online, here at our RESERVATON PAGE

REGISTRATION:
As previously announced, Mysterium will have a registration fee this year. This fee goes to cover hotel and materials costs, allowing us to bring you the best Mysterium possible, funded by the community, rather than individuals.
We have an easy to use registration form that will calculate your fees for you, take you straight to paypal to make your payment, and then send the whole form to us. Please see our REGISTRATION PAGE for the registration rates and form.

COMING SOON:

Keep your eyes open for information about room-sharing at the hotel, carpooling to and from the airport, and other ways to make Mysterium easier, and inexpensive!

Events! Be watching for announcements about things like ~~ Tabletop Ayoheek ~~ Marker Missions ~~ Classes ~~ Presentations ~~ And the great mystery: What did Atrus break this time?!?

Don’t forget that the LOGO CONTEST ends on April 22nd! Get your entries in soon!

Recently, we compiled and released the raw results of the Location, Date and Attendance Surveys to our website. Included are the raw numbers and handy bar graphs that give you an idea of how people voted.

For information on how the polls were conducted, as well at the results themselves, please visit our Polls page.

Thanks!

-TW, Website Subcommittee

Shorah, Everyone!

What’s Mysterium without t-shirts? Once again it’s time for the Annual Logo Contest! There have been some changes from past years, so please make sure you read the submission guidelines carefully. There are so many creative people in the D’niverse community, we’re excited to see what this year’s submissions hold!

For the rules and deadline, please see our Logo Contest page!

~Wolfie~
Community Emissary
Mysterium Committee

Shorah Explorers!

We are excited to announce the location and date for Mysterium 2008!
The community has chosen Boston, MA for this year’s event, for the weekend of July 25 - 27, 2008. We are already working on finding and reserving a hotel and once we have this information we will be making another announcement with the hotel details so that you all can make your reservations. We are hoping to have this information to you within four weeks of the date of this announcement, if not sooner. There will also be another gathering in Kirel Community Room and CyanChat next week (time and date TBA) for you to be able to talk with some of the Mysterium Committee members about the upcoming Mysterium.

Shorah Explorer!

The nominations for this year’s Mysterium location are now closed. We have received bids for the following cities: Atlanta, GA; Boston Providence Corridor, MA; Cleveland, OH; Detroit, MI; Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Orlando, FL; Pittsburgh, PA. We’re running a survey to see which of the potential Mysterium locations has the most community interest.

Before the survey, you will be presented with some preliminary research data indicating the general cost associated with each location. We have also listed a number of attractions in and around the cities. We have compiled this data to make it easier for the community to make an informed decision as to which location would be best.

This survey will remain open until March 15th, and we will annouce the results soon thereafter. We will then begin scoping out accommodations in the chosen city with help from the city’s local contact, and then announce the hotel and date as soon as possible so you may begin making your reservations.

While your vote will be considered the deciding factor in the location of Mysterium 2008, the committee reserves the ability to overrule the top selection only in the event of severe mitigating circumstances, such as hotel availability, natural disaster, or other crisis. In this case, we will select the second-most popular location instead.

This survey will record participant’s preferences for the location, ranked from most-preferable, to least-preferable. The results will then be scaled, to give the most-preferable votes more weight, and the least-preferable the least weight. This will allow a more accurate picture of which city people prefer, and it will allow us to easily determine a second choice.

Please visit the Mysterium Location Survey to vote! You may only vote once, and duplicate votes will be detected and discard. Be sure to keep checking mysterium.net to keep up with any news!

-Mysterium Committee