Extremely rare photos....

[Deb]

I've been wondering if anyone noticed that half of the FutureQuest Team was missing for a little over a week last month. Just in case you did, I'm here to explain why ;)

The FutureQuest Team is spread out. Arthur is in the Netherlands (err he would correct me and say Nederland *grin*), Bruce is in Canada, Sheila is in California, and Melissa is in Oregon. Not to mention Brian being hours south of us and Bob being north leaving Terra, Kevin, and our Accountant Bob (affectionately known as $Bob) local...

In July everyone, for the first time, was captured in the same room together at the Data Center!! Those not in Florida were able to take a lil' vacation to Florida (though I don't think any of them visited the mouse..hmmm).

http://www.aota.net/4F/FutureQuest_Family_2002.jpg

Here's a pic of the family with their families :QTphoto:

Arthur, Bruce, Sean, Kevin, Brian, Joseph, Bob, $Bob, Jon, Chris
Josh, Melissa, Lorilee, Selene, Sheila, Deb, Terra
Stephanie, Samantha, Ashley, Jenny, Desiree, Heidi, Kaitlin

http://www.aota.net/4F/FutureQuest_Team_2002.jpg

Here's a pic of those you see most on the forums and in the Service Desk...

Brian, Terra, Arthur, Kevin, Bruce, Bob
Melissa, Deb, Sheila

The above pics took a LOT of planning to obtain ... I was truly excited to finally see the entire team together in one place :) After the above pics were taken we enjoyed a pool party/picnic where everyone got ummmm soaked :)

We enjoyed a great week with everyone and I'm sure over time various other pics will reveal some of the other things we did... ;)

There ya have it.... The FutureQuest Team of 2002 :QTFQuest:

Deb
- Can we go back to Busch Gardens now ??? :QTcrazy:


p.s. Apologies for the large images but I wanted to make sure we didn't cut anyone out ;)

[hobbes]

Thx. for the photo. I hope they got FQ to foot the travel bill. Oh wait, that would mean our package prices will go up; on second thought ... :)

[Deb]

http://www.aota.net/4F/Picnic_12.jpg

FutureQuest purchased the water balloons... something we may never do again!

Ever wonder how many techs it takes to fill one? IIRC we had four and they took about 3 hours to fill up a couple of balloons. Something about a water balloon war starting before they could ever finish filling them.

Note, these balloons were SUPPOSED to be for the kid's games...but nooooooooooo couldn't have that now could we?

The picnic was held in our backyard... hamburgers/hotdogs (oh and shrimp!!!) as well as some cheap entertainment (thanks Arthur and Sheila!!! =) )

Deb
- He started it!!!

[sheila]

Did you ever notice how some people project their own issues onto others?

:noddy:

[MarkM]

WOW! and you aren't just K-bytes with incredible personalities after-all!
Perhaps you could start a community photo gallery...
...well, maybe that's not such a good idea,
or we might get TOSsed out cuz of our looks!
Anyway, thanks, all for being so brave.
I will wait till haloween to send my pic, then you won't be so shocked!
All the BEST to FQ!
Mark
(my other half is the pretty one)

[Kara]

Wow I never realized that so many people work for FutureQuest! I hope you post more about what it was like being all together for the first time. Any embarassing moments?

Wouldn't it be cool if we could do a FQ team and site owner gathering?

Kara

[Deb]

Wow I never realized that so many people work for FutureQuest! The real question is which ones are really doing the work? The team or their families?

We played a little game to see who could name the most FutureQuest Servers in chronological order ... guess who won! Any embarrassing moments? This team, all together, in the same place at the same time, with free access to lots of water... embarrassing moments? Never Happen ;) Wouldn't it be cool if we could do a FQ team and site owner gathering? Yes it would be, however it would be terribly difficult to pull off along with that pesky need to continue working while playing :/

Getting everyone together wasn't easy that's for sure. I have no idea how long it will be until we can do it again, but I am soooooooo happy we were able to do it at least this once!!! Funny thing about the Internet is the fact that we spend an enormous amount of time with people "we've never met". Now we have visions of body language and voice to go with the ASCII and I do believe that makes working as a team much easier. Even though everyone now needs a vacation from their vacation, it was worth it ;)

As for me...
I had a great time trying to learn Dutch... but Arthur finally gave up on me lol. My lessons ended with "Just choke and spit and roll your tongue a lot". I thought I was doing well but Arthur thought I was choking to death... :P

Deb
- Call 911 !! Shes trying to speak Dutch again!

[SneakyDave]

Cool! I was hoping to see TAZ in there somewhere sweeping the floors or something, but no luck!

[Monty]

If it's ever decided to do a gathering of site owners and the folks behind FQ I would be game. I am going 1100 miles each way right after Labor Day to fish with a bunch of guys that have been doing this since 1998, each year, and it's a blast.

Thanks for the pics, Deb!

Mont

[lepton]

Darn --- all that activity :QTphoto: on the data center surveillance cameras (http://visionquest.net/Video.php) and I missed it.

Thanks for the photos anyway (and all the organizational effort it took to get them).

[Marbledog]

That's one of the most good-looking bunch o' computer geeks I've seen! Thanks

[MTDesigns]

It's nice to finally see everyone together!

[Mandi]

That's really cool :)! I can't imagine the coordination that it took to get a time when everyone could all show up together, wow! Hope that photo makes it to the FQ.com site someplace appropriate.

[sheila]

Can you imagine flying from California to Florida (and back) the weekend after you flew from California to Kentucky (and back -- unrelated trip) with a 5-year-old sitting next to you on the plane, wondering why there was a 2-hour delay taking off, while queued up on the runway? :P

Seriously, we had great fun, and my kids just wanted to keep going over to "Deb's house" the whole time we were there (in the Orlando area).

[DogAndPony]

Deb, et. al.--

That is so GREAT!

I can't imagine what sort of effort it took to align all those planets and stars (I'll leave it to you as to whom is which).

There are some many small to mid-sized companies now that have remote staff... and I'll bet only a small portion of them ever get everyone together all at once.

Well, I hope nobody got too sunburned or too tummy-ached during Questapalooza(TM)!

8}

...Bob

Bob West