Well, it's done on my end. I put in an application at 9 this morning. There was nothing at all to do; just sign in and click the button. Sort of a let-down. Now comes the longest ~24 hours ever...
-Tony
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
Shit goin' down
Like a fiery messenger from the heavens, word of the ever-elusive Mongol Rally 2008 Registrations has descended down upon us and left chaos and madness in it's wake.
It appears that registration has finally been set, according to emails received by 2008 hopefuls such as yours truly, as well as an updated page on the mongol rally site itself. And it looks like this year, things are going to be run a bit differently.
It seems that a registration window will open at 14:00 GMT on Wednesday, October 31st, which according to highly scientific calculations punched into my cell phone coverts to 9 am in my time. This window will remain open to teams for 24 hours. At the closing of the window, all the teams entered will be randomly assigned. If there are more applicants in this window than there places released, which seems likely, the spillover teams are automatically entered into a SECOND signup window, a week later, which has it's own batch of places to be assigned.
So what happens now is that we sign up on Wednesday and cross our fingers. Whether Team WOOOO gets in or not is completely random, but we have two shots at it, so I think we've got a fair chance. Additionally, the Rally organizers didn't specify how many places are being released in each batch - if the rally sticks to the 200 team limit of 2007, one would assume 100 places per window, but nothing's actually been said about the number. So now we sign up and we hope. Hope for the privilege of dying horribly in a country who's name we can't pronounce.
But one way or anothing, shit is goin' down son
- Tony
It appears that registration has finally been set, according to emails received by 2008 hopefuls such as yours truly, as well as an updated page on the mongol rally site itself. And it looks like this year, things are going to be run a bit differently.
It seems that a registration window will open at 14:00 GMT on Wednesday, October 31st, which according to highly scientific calculations punched into my cell phone coverts to 9 am in my time. This window will remain open to teams for 24 hours. At the closing of the window, all the teams entered will be randomly assigned. If there are more applicants in this window than there places released, which seems likely, the spillover teams are automatically entered into a SECOND signup window, a week later, which has it's own batch of places to be assigned.
So what happens now is that we sign up on Wednesday and cross our fingers. Whether Team WOOOO gets in or not is completely random, but we have two shots at it, so I think we've got a fair chance. Additionally, the Rally organizers didn't specify how many places are being released in each batch - if the rally sticks to the 200 team limit of 2007, one would assume 100 places per window, but nothing's actually been said about the number. So now we sign up and we hope. Hope for the privilege of dying horribly in a country who's name we can't pronounce.
But one way or anothing, shit is goin' down son
- Tony
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Worthless updates
Here's another update that doesn't really say anything. I'm making it, however, because I found out that the Rally website has a little teaser video thing that's pretty excellent and I thought it deserved a post. Watch it here and tell me you aren't excited.
My favorite is the guy that appears to fall off the top of one of the cars.
-Tony
My favorite is the guy that appears to fall off the top of one of the cars.
-Tony
Monday, October 22, 2007
Hey guess who still hasn't updated despite October being more than half over
Surprise, it's The Adventurists! Your prize for guessing correctly is pain, bitterness, and loathing. Don't spend it all in one place!
In other news, not one but TWO people I know personally have confided in actually reading this crap, and one of them didn't even need pestering! Wow!!! Team WOOO is now a bona-fide internet supersensation!
Lastly, I'd like to remind everyone reading of Gosleepgo, the site where we can win a thousand dollars towards our Rally costs. If you like the idea of our winning a thousand dollars, and I certainly do, you should go sign up for an account here, and then support our project here. DOn't worry, they don't send spam or anything, and we've offered to scribble the name of our Gosleepgo supporters on the car if we win. And if we don't, nothing lost but thousands of man-hours and the bright flower of hope.
Let's cross our fingers for some registration updates sometime this year!
- Tony
In other news, not one but TWO people I know personally have confided in actually reading this crap, and one of them didn't even need pestering! Wow!!! Team WOOO is now a bona-fide internet supersensation!
Lastly, I'd like to remind everyone reading of Gosleepgo, the site where we can win a thousand dollars towards our Rally costs. If you like the idea of our winning a thousand dollars, and I certainly do, you should go sign up for an account here, and then support our project here. DOn't worry, they don't send spam or anything, and we've offered to scribble the name of our Gosleepgo supporters on the car if we win. And if we don't, nothing lost but thousands of man-hours and the bright flower of hope.
Let's cross our fingers for some registration updates sometime this year!
- Tony
Friday, October 19, 2007
Team WOOO gains freedom and another obstacle!
Because Tony is a whiny little baby, he insists that I add things to the blog too so that people don't think he has made me up to make them think theres someone in the world who cares enough about his stupid ideas to accompany him on what is likely to be a suicidal deathrace accross the globe.
So today I finally got to talk to my boss about my time off. Good news: he knows what the rally is. Bad news: He laughed and told me to get stuffed when I asked for 4 weeks off. So I may have to go for the career break option, but that is last resort.
I also finally got rid of my crazy bitch girlfriend, which gives me even more incentive to do this thing because goddamnit I need to put the excitement back into life after 2 years of crazy hell!
If we don't get into this I will be very sad :(
- Rich
So today I finally got to talk to my boss about my time off. Good news: he knows what the rally is. Bad news: He laughed and told me to get stuffed when I asked for 4 weeks off. So I may have to go for the career break option, but that is last resort.
I also finally got rid of my crazy bitch girlfriend, which gives me even more incentive to do this thing because goddamnit I need to put the excitement back into life after 2 years of crazy hell!
If we don't get into this I will be very sad :(
- Rich
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The Adventurists: Here's something you already knew!
So I open my email inbox for about the twentieth time today, because I'm really neurotic like that. And there, gleaming like a nugget of gold left behind in the toilet, is an email from THE ADVENTURISTS, aka the guys that run this whole Rally thing. Foaming at the mouth, lacerating my hand on the mouse, I fly to open it.
If anyone ever tells you blueballs can only be caused by suddenly ceased sexual activity, they are lying, and probably work for The Adventurists. The email was a new newsletter, which is well and fine, but it really said precious little about the facts we're all waiting to hear: When the hell can we sign up for this damn thing?
The newsletter, under the heading of Mongol Rally 2008, informed readers that the "first batch of places" would be available "in the next few weeks", which is possibly even less information than we had prior to this. I suppose it's better than nothing, but man oh man. Blueballs.
A couple of interesting between-the-lines notes: first off, at least we know places are still coming. I was getting worried. Second, they make reference to the "First batch" of places, which implies the presence of one or more batches, logically. Not that this matters to me, since I will be pouncing on the first batch like a fatty on the fresh crab cakes at Old Country Buffet.
Oh yeah, and Jack Osbourne apparently did the rally in 2007 and will be appearing on British TV about it because he's so dang special. At least he's not an insult to the eyes anymore.
Oh, and Rich still doesn't know if he's getting time off or not, the worthless tosser.
- Tony
If anyone ever tells you blueballs can only be caused by suddenly ceased sexual activity, they are lying, and probably work for The Adventurists. The email was a new newsletter, which is well and fine, but it really said precious little about the facts we're all waiting to hear: When the hell can we sign up for this damn thing?
The newsletter, under the heading of Mongol Rally 2008, informed readers that the "first batch of places" would be available "in the next few weeks", which is possibly even less information than we had prior to this. I suppose it's better than nothing, but man oh man. Blueballs.
A couple of interesting between-the-lines notes: first off, at least we know places are still coming. I was getting worried. Second, they make reference to the "First batch" of places, which implies the presence of one or more batches, logically. Not that this matters to me, since I will be pouncing on the first batch like a fatty on the fresh crab cakes at Old Country Buffet.
Oh yeah, and Jack Osbourne apparently did the rally in 2007 and will be appearing on British TV about it because he's so dang special. At least he's not an insult to the eyes anymore.
Oh, and Rich still doesn't know if he's getting time off or not, the worthless tosser.
- Tony
Monday, October 8, 2007
Update: There's no update
Hi everyone! This is an update to inform our faithful reader(s) that we don't have anything to talk about! Hooray!
In keeping with the shoestring unpredictability of the whole mess, the Mongol Rally website still hasn't updated as to when positions will be available, even as the enigmatic "middle of October" draws nearer. We're still waiting for word on when we'll be able to become a real live team.
On the Rich side of things, he's asked for time off but hasn't talked to anybody about it yet. Thanks to corporate efficiency, he expects to hear results by April at the latest. Got to love retail bureaucracy!
That's really all we have to submit. It's not much, but I feel bad not updating on a regular basis. Stay tuned for our next exciting update, when I talk about some of my favorite socks.
-Tony
In keeping with the shoestring unpredictability of the whole mess, the Mongol Rally website still hasn't updated as to when positions will be available, even as the enigmatic "middle of October" draws nearer. We're still waiting for word on when we'll be able to become a real live team.
On the Rich side of things, he's asked for time off but hasn't talked to anybody about it yet. Thanks to corporate efficiency, he expects to hear results by April at the latest. Got to love retail bureaucracy!
That's really all we have to submit. It's not much, but I feel bad not updating on a regular basis. Stay tuned for our next exciting update, when I talk about some of my favorite socks.
-Tony
Monday, October 1, 2007
The first step: registration
Now seems like a good time to announce that your favorite Mongol Rally 2008 team, Team WOOOO, is not actually a Mongol Rally 2008 team. Yet.
The next step of our grand odyssey is to actually sign up for the rally. Why haven't we done this yet? We can't. As it turns out, the Rally has gotten so big, they have to limit the number of teams that enter in a year. I'm not really sure why this is - perhaps they hate money. When dealing with Brits, who knows.
The 2007 rally allowed a maximum of 200 teams. According to Wikipedia, the first 100 or so places were registered for in 22 seconds, and the final 50 were selected by lottery. Whew.
Registration for 2008's rally hasn't started yet. According to the Rally's website, registration opening "sometime around the middle of October". For those of our readers who don't interact with society much, that's only two weeks or so away. So soon, we meet our first challenge: snagging one of those precious spots. I intend, of course, to be sitting at my computer, possibly two of them, refreshing like mad as early as an hour before the scheduled opening. Team WOOOO will not be thwarted by mere failure to register.
Once we get registered is when things start happening. First of all, the registration itself costs us £387, paid online at registration, and split between Rich and myself. In God's money, that's about $750 between the two of us. Not a bad chunk of change. Having this money pre-paid, however, should motivate us to actually go through with this whole thing. Who wants to pussy out of a great adventure when it means losing $350 out of your own pocket? Not me.
After that payment, and the assurances that this whole thing is really going to happen, we'll start our other tasks. Rich will start scouring the whole of the UK for the car that speaks to him with the perfect mixture of sass, rust, and sheer pluck that we need for the Rally. Our agreed-upon budget for a car is £200 between the two of us, so you can imagine the sorts of finds we'll have. As he's doing that, I'll start the long and frankly terrifying process of finding corporate and private sponsors to get us on with this thing. We've already had a few people offer their support; thanks you truly from the bottom of my heart, those of you that know who you are. Rich would say the same if he had a heart to have a bottom to.
Until that fateful day of registration, however, there's not a whole lot for us to do. Rich will ask his time off, I'll continue to spread tendrils of internet presence, and we'll both try to get on with our lives, in quivering anticipation of the day that Team WOOOO becomes a real live team.
Wish us luck. Actually, don't, since the "lucky" thing would be to not go at all. Wish us success.
- Tony
The next step of our grand odyssey is to actually sign up for the rally. Why haven't we done this yet? We can't. As it turns out, the Rally has gotten so big, they have to limit the number of teams that enter in a year. I'm not really sure why this is - perhaps they hate money. When dealing with Brits, who knows.
The 2007 rally allowed a maximum of 200 teams. According to Wikipedia, the first 100 or so places were registered for in 22 seconds, and the final 50 were selected by lottery. Whew.
Registration for 2008's rally hasn't started yet. According to the Rally's website, registration opening "sometime around the middle of October". For those of our readers who don't interact with society much, that's only two weeks or so away. So soon, we meet our first challenge: snagging one of those precious spots. I intend, of course, to be sitting at my computer, possibly two of them, refreshing like mad as early as an hour before the scheduled opening. Team WOOOO will not be thwarted by mere failure to register.
Once we get registered is when things start happening. First of all, the registration itself costs us £387, paid online at registration, and split between Rich and myself. In God's money, that's about $750 between the two of us. Not a bad chunk of change. Having this money pre-paid, however, should motivate us to actually go through with this whole thing. Who wants to pussy out of a great adventure when it means losing $350 out of your own pocket? Not me.
After that payment, and the assurances that this whole thing is really going to happen, we'll start our other tasks. Rich will start scouring the whole of the UK for the car that speaks to him with the perfect mixture of sass, rust, and sheer pluck that we need for the Rally. Our agreed-upon budget for a car is £200 between the two of us, so you can imagine the sorts of finds we'll have. As he's doing that, I'll start the long and frankly terrifying process of finding corporate and private sponsors to get us on with this thing. We've already had a few people offer their support; thanks you truly from the bottom of my heart, those of you that know who you are. Rich would say the same if he had a heart to have a bottom to.
Until that fateful day of registration, however, there's not a whole lot for us to do. Rich will ask his time off, I'll continue to spread tendrils of internet presence, and we'll both try to get on with our lives, in quivering anticipation of the day that Team WOOOO becomes a real live team.
Wish us luck. Actually, don't, since the "lucky" thing would be to not go at all. Wish us success.
- Tony
Team WOOO needs time off work!
Because Tony was feeling lonely after a lifetime of neglect, he's badgered me into adding content to the blog. "But Riiiiiich," he whined, "nobody will read the blog or believe you are real and that I actually have friends unless you post on the blog! People will realise that I am a huge loser!" he added. So here I am.
Last night it occured to me that with my HIGH FLYING CAREER and all, it would probably be sensible to check I can get the time off before cementing any plans to drive to the middle of goddamn nowhere. So current Team WOOO status is: Asking for time off.
I have the vacation time to cover it, and if the company wont let me take it then I can do what they call "Career break" which is when I can have my contract reduced to 0 hours, then get it fully reinstated anytime I come back within a couple of months.
Hopefully I can fiddle this otherwise the project is dead on the ground and Tony might hang himself.
- Rich
Last night it occured to me that with my HIGH FLYING CAREER and all, it would probably be sensible to check I can get the time off before cementing any plans to drive to the middle of goddamn nowhere. So current Team WOOO status is: Asking for time off.
I have the vacation time to cover it, and if the company wont let me take it then I can do what they call "Career break" which is when I can have my contract reduced to 0 hours, then get it fully reinstated anytime I come back within a couple of months.
Hopefully I can fiddle this otherwise the project is dead on the ground and Tony might hang himself.
- Rich
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