Every year we haphazardly slide into the behemoth that is the IC LAN, and every year we come away glowing, grinning, laughing, and recalling all the great memories we made. When over 50 people congregate at ICHQ for a week(end?), amazing things happen.
The Icrontic LAN is an annual event that brings together people from all over North America and Europe for a week of laughter, memories, gaming, partying, and general good times. This year's LAN was our 5th annual gathering - every year continues to get bigger and better.
The week started early (as it always seems to), with RyderOCZ showing up to help out with last-minute yard prep. Keebler and Ryder really made it happen - they cleaned, raked, mowed, swept, cleaned more, made brush fires, cleaned, trimmed, and finished off with more cleaning. Our first out-of-state arrival was Greg "fatcat" Jones, quickly followed by PJ "Eggroll" Bognot, who had to be picked up at the airport very early in the morning.
fatcat, eggroll, and prime at some ungodly hour, AM.
People had their doubts that I would be able to make it on time. As it turns out, they were right. However, I was a mere hour late to pick him up. No love lost, as we went and ate a gigantic breakfast in Greektown in Detroit.
The week progressed quickly, and by Wednesday, most people who registered were already in attendance. By Wednesday evening we had a houseful of awesome IC people, and a rowdy party took place.
Quinton "QCH" Healy and Eric "RyderOCZ" Ryder were completely amazing, as they upgraded the ICHQ electrical infrastructure to make the LAN tent power situation convenient and effective for all attendees.
Ryder, Keebler, and Q, discussing very important things.
Of course, besides a tentful of computers, we had all kinds of crazy little events going on.
Headshaving, IC style
Richard "Pigflipper" Walls decided on a whim that he wanted a mohawk, so Anne "StainMeNow" Baynes obliged by shaving our friend's head right on the back patio. This turned into a series of hair-related incidents, as I dyed my hair blond, Keebs dyed his nuclear orange, Pigflipper's mohawk ended up blue, Perry "FreshyP" Ambrozy ended up completely purple, and Kyle "MasterBuilder" Ambrozy went red.
Hair, electricity, and partying aside, the gaming tent was insane as usual. 50 computers in an outdoor tent is always a sight to behold. Of course, Team Fortress 2 played a big role this year. The TF2 "Keebs vs Prime" tournament was a blast. It should go without saying that team Prime won - there was no contest. Other games included Unreal Tournament 2004, Command and Conquer 3, and a variety of other countless blockbuster skirmishes. We've played UT2k4 at every past LAN, with the "Bombing Run" mode never really taking off. Oddly enough, it was this year's most popular game and event. The low-grav, instagib bombing run setup was ripe for angry shouts and a lot of smack talking around the tent, of which there was no shortage over the weekend, I can assure you. When Lord Canti bashes my head in with an aluminum bat in TF2, you can bet I'll shout and scream at my monitor. The LAN, however, provided the unique experience of reaching around behind me to flick him in the back of the head. That's pretty cathartic.
LAN!
