A day after

There probably couldn't be a better day, weather wise, to happened for the trip to Cyan. It was a very compfortable, sunny day.

After our breakfast, Mysteriumites were ushered into their cars and we drove to the Cyan headquarters, which were not advertised on the road. We were given some hints (even here we had to solve puzzles ) on where to turn into the driveway.

At the entrance we were given a special number coded card and all huddle up to wait for the beginning of the tour. At around 8 o'clock, Rand showed up with RAWA and other employees of Cyan. Rand captivated the audience right away (as I'm sure we all were waiting and dreaming for this moment). He thanked all the fans for coming and continued support and gave us a list of rules to follow while inside their offices and also told us not to loose those special cards we were given up front, as that would be very bad for us

As I entered through the famous Mystish arch, I was transported into the Myst mekka. Immediately, there was a stand with Myst merchandise. There were Myst to Riven coffeetable books, T-shirts, CD's, posters and other merchandise. I grabbed the Myst to Riven book. :) Later on the original hardcover Myst trilogy books were brought for the hungry fans. I bought the Bookof T' ana, as mine got lost.

I've followed Rand into their museum section of the offices, where he had some props from the original Myst and Riven. There was a lof of signing of autographs for the fans. Rand was very gracious and patient with all of us. I had my share of autographs. I've collected quite a few: Rand's (of course), RAWA's (a usual smiley), Tim Larkin's, Josh Staub's, greydragon's, Mok's, Trent (GameTap representative) and .... surprise, surprise, Randomos. Randomos is back as a community manager for Uru Live :)

I don't remember many things I've seen, as I was in daze walking among the halls of Cyan. I took some pictures, but my batteries died and Rand brought me 4 batteries for my camera. Thanks Rand. :) Although they didn't leave long enough, I was without the camera for a big portion of the Cyan tour. Whatever I was able to take pictures of is still be a good memory.

As usual, I brought my video camera to Mysteriums, and this year I asked Ken to be a video camera operator, as I would ask him to create a video presentation, once the contents of the tapes will be copied to the digital media. Thanks Ken for being such a great video operator. The camera is quite heavy, if you hold it in one hand for extended time periods. It might take a month or more to put the video together, but it will be worth the wait. :)

We had hot dog lunch in the famous backyard loan, prepared by the famous Tony. Thanks, it was delicious. While I was enjoying my hot dog, I was approached by Doug Nadvornick, the program director of the local KSFC radio station. He heard me mentioning that I was from New York and he thought I qualify for the intervew. I was very nervious, but was able to answer his questions of what attracted me to Uru, how I found out about it and some other questions. I've mentioned about the role of the Guild of Greeters in Uru and a little history about it's creation. Ken was sitting next to me and got interviewed also. So, once this program airs. It will be available for stream download.

After the lunch, there were some annoucements, surpises and Q&A's. Rand was either anwering or dodging the questions. Ken created a list of these questions, you'll hear this from him. :) It's all have been video taped too. :)

As Rex mentioned below, the "Team Surface Quest" won the prizes for our hard work for the Photo Scavenger Hunt. We were the only team to find all the locations and photograph the targets as they appeared in the original booklet. It was really a well researched project, which we did before we started actual hunt and it payed off. Thanks to devonette and devon for leading the research in Google Earth and nailing the coordinates (approximate addresses) of our targets. It was actually an effort of 3 laptops brought into the room (Devon's Ja'de's and Rex's) and each had a target to research and we collectively found them all. Thanks to Roland, who safely drove us to all the destinations. Our teamed rocked :)

Back to Cyan tour. The surprise was, that the number we recieved at the front gate was the one that would allow all at the Mysterium to get the virtual Mysterium T-shirt in Uru Live :) I have this card. Yay!!

We were able to get a hold of Rand to take a snapshot of Greeter's with Rand. Sorry GoldenWedge, you were not in the vicinty and we missed you in that picture :(

What else, what else? My mind and my memory is swirling. I think I need a breakfast, before I continue....

There was a fan presentation that evening, but I'll write about it later on. Now to the picture posting for the Gallery.

:wave: to everyone who was not able to attend. It is an unforgettable experience. We thought about a lot of you here.