December 2006 Holiday Party (12/11/2006)
On Saturday evening, December 9, over 40 MASA-ites
gathered at the residence of Buzz & Kathy McDermott in Blaine for
the annual club holiday party. There was a huge turnout of all
ages - almost certainly the biggest MASA holiday party ever!
The annual MASA gift exchange game was once again a
fun time with well over 30 people participating. Homemade
nylon parachutes were again a hot item, with some toolboxes and a
rocket poster also changing hands numerous times.
Buzz ran a special build session where the
youngsters built and decorated a variety of rocket kits.
Thanks Buzz!
As a special bonus, everyone got to watch the live
launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery during the party.
2006 MASSY Awards
- Appreciation Award for hosting the MASA Holiday Party:
Buzz & Kathy McDermott (Thanks!!!)
- Most Outstanding Volunteer Award - Buzz McDermott
- Outstanding Service Award - Ted Cochran (MASA Planet
Editor emeritus)
- MASA TARC Mentors Recognition: Ted Cochran, Art Gibbens,
Buzz McDermott, Mark Nelson, Ken Jarosch
- Prang Award: Mark Thell for the flight (and demise)
of his MGD beer bottle rocket! Mark gets to keep the
"treasured" Estes William Shatner rocket video and a
rocket-shaped sand pail until next year. He also received
a "Pranger" patch to keep.
Drawings were held for free door prizes. The
winners were:
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(The following prizes were donated by Hub
Hobby Center of Little Canada.)
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Carol Marple - Estes Python 4 kit
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Mark Nelson - Estes Meteor Masher kit
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Art Gibbens - Semroc Thunderbee kit
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Justin Nelson - Custom Sierra kit
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Jeff Taylor - FlisKits Espresso kit
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Joshua Boe - C6-5's
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David Whitaker - D12-5's
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Andy Heren - G77-7R
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Cindy Whitaker - PML Black Brant VB kit
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(The following prizes were donated by Hub
Hobby Center of Richfield.)
-
Alyssa Taylor - Quest Nike-K kit
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Sue Carlson - Custom Sierra kit
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Ted Cochran - Estes Alpha III kit
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Austin Whitaker - B6-4's
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Ben Ericksen - Quest Flash kit
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Cheryl Vatsaas - FlisKits Espresso kit
-
Mark Thell - Estes Fat Boy kit
A BIG thanks to Hub Hobby Center (Little Canada and
Richfield stores) for donating prizes! A HUGE thanks to Buzz & Kathy for hosting the party this year! An enormous
thanks to everyone who attended!
Extra thanks to club officers Mike Erpelding, Stuart
Lenz, and David Whitaker for a great year!
(Alan Estenson)
from Buzz McDermott:
What a great party last night. It looked like a wonderful
success to me! There was plenty of great food to nibble on, LOTS of
MASA families to spend time with, a rocket build session, a huge
Christmas gift exchange, and Ted was even nice enough to schedule a
shuttle launch for us to watch! If you were unable to attend you
missed a wonderful evening.
Kathy and I would like to thank all who attended. We really
enjoyed getting to see all of you. Based on the RSVP count, and
allowing for a few additional people, we were expecting a turnout of
around 30 total adults and kids. In fact, somewhere around 44-46
people came. We had 38 in the gift exchange! You really packed our
poor little house (which is great!)!
And speaking of the gift exchange, there were several items
of note. Who put in the box of 4 Centuri and CMR kits (this is a
rhetorical question - I'm not naming any names!)? What a wonderful
present! Also, we had no less than three of those incredible
parachutes this year. Range boxes were all the rage with three of
them exchanging hands often. There was another classic kit that got
swapped around a few time (an old MPC kit) along with a very popular
rocket poster. Finally, MASA now has one very well armed teenage
girl in the club (having walked out with pointy implements of
destruction two years in a row!). I guess it's true what they say -
a young girl can never have too many knives (or something like
that). :-) :-)
By the way, who won the MASA Prang award this year? Oh, yes,
never mind. I remember - what a terrible end to a great beer bottle.
:-) :-)
There was also a special member recognition. Ted Cochran was
thanked for his many (was it five?) years of service as the club
newsletter editor. He has done a wonderful job and deserves all of
our thanks.
Again, thanks to all who came to join in the company of
fellow rocketeers, all those who brought along snack or dessert
items to share, all who participated in the gift exchange, all the
kids who built rockets, and anyone else we might have inadvertently
left out!
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