Off-Site Trips

We're having a party and all Mensans
are invited to attend the 2001
Greater New York Mensa Regional Gathering

“A New York State of Mind”
April 27th - 29th, 2001

FOOD, GAMES, SPEAKERS, CHOCOLATE, SOCIALIZING

Program Events & Speakers

The registration desk will be open on Friday from 2 pm to 10 pm, Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm and Sunday from 9 am to 10 am. If you are planning on coming at any other hours, please ask at the front desk of the hotel where to find the Registrar (Brenda). You cannot attend any functions until you have been registered.

Please note that the first off-site field trip, which is to The Jacques Marchais Center for Tibetan Art, is scheduled to begin at 3:00 pm on Friday, April 27th. Pre-register and avoid the registration rush.

For those staying at the Staten Island Hotel for the Regional Gathering, we have arranged free guest passes at a nearby Bally's Gym. These may be used on Friday until 10 pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 9 am to 6 pm.

Friday, April 27, 2001

Friday afternoon, 2 pm - Hotel Lobby – Registration Open until 10 pm. A special greeter will be on site. Sign up ASAP for Off-Site trips, as we need minimums to hold the events.

Friday afternoon, 2:30 pm - Hotel Lobby – Meet for Off-Site trip to the Jacques Marchais Center for Tibetan Art, with drives past an operating lighthouse and a Frank Lloyd Wright House. $7. For more details visit the Off-Site Trips page of this website.

Friday afternoon, 3:30 pm - Hospitality Rooms open. Visit the Verrazano Room and the Wadsworth Rooms on the first floor (one up from the lobby).

Friday afternoon, 3:30 pm - Games Room opens. Check out the games in Room 920. Sign up early for tournaments and group games.

Friday afternoon, 4 pm to 5 pm - Celebrity Room – Community Affairs Officer (Sgt. Robert Tubiak) from the 122nd Pct will lecture on crime prevention - the little things that could make the difference between being a victim or attending an RG.

Friday afternoon, 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm - Richmond Room – Alex Diacre from Microsoft will be able to explain all the ins and outs of Windows (3.1, 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT, etc.)! From computer novice to expert, he will make you understand what Bill Gates and Microsoft Corporation wants you to understand!

Friday afternoon, 4:30 pm - Room 920 (Games) – Come play "Sheep" or "Settlers of Catan" (same game). It's one of the German imports that has strategy gamers grinning.

Friday evening, 5:30 pm - 6:20 pm - Verrazano and Wadsworth – PIZZA is available in the Hospitality suites!!!

Friday evening - For fine dining in the Staten Island Hotel, buy one/get 50% off the second – enjoy two delicious dinners at a discount in the Hotel Restaurant – compliments of your RG registration.

Friday evening, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm - Celebrity and Richmond – Welcoming Cocktail Party. It's Friday Happy Hour time. We begin with an official welcome to Staten Island from City Councilman Donovan. (This may even be a photo/news opportunity.) We continue with light food refreshments provided by the hotel and reduced price cocktails available from the Staten Island Hotel bar in the adjacent lounge. Your RG registration gets a discount in the lounge for the weekend.

Friday night, 9 pm - 10 pm - Room 902 – Gourmet Chocolate Tasting. Do you love good chocolate? Unsure which variety is the very best, according to YOUR palate? Come to this chance to sample small pieces of milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and mixed chocolate from a variety of countries. The wrappers will allow you to judge for yourself and to record your preferences. Overdosing is a real possibility. Water will be provided. Event hosted by RG Co-Chair Susan Heimlich.

NOTE: Ug Diley (a famous Mensan cartoon character) might drop by to sample the goods and have his picture taken with the attendees at either Friday or Saturday's gourmet food tasting extravaganza.

Friday night, 9 pm - 11 pm - Richmond – “Joke-Off.” Staten Island Mensan Sid Rubinfeld, who can't resist a good joke, will host and lead this joke off. In his other life, Sid directs Special Education in New Jersey.

Friday night, 9 pm - Room 920 (Games) – Chinese Checkers Tournament Qualifying Round 1.

Friday night, 9:30 pm - Room 920 (Games) – Boggle Tournament Qualifying Round 1.

Friday night, 11:00 pm - 12:30 am - Celebrity and Richmond – Professional Comedy Show. We will have four PROFESSIONAL comedians: Tom Papa, Jane Campbell, David Nichols and Katie Olson to entertain us. There is a $10 charge for this show to non-RG registered visitors; for us, it is part of the weekend's pleasure. Biographies of the comedians will be distributed at the show.

Friday after Midnight, 12:30 am - ??? - Celebrity and Richmond – Sex Toys auction. Wonder which ones they are? Be there to find out! Hosted by RG Co-Chair Karen Coopersmith-Tobin, this late night event is meant to increase your pleasure for the whole weekend. Take a chance. Bring some money. We were going to demonstrate the toys for you, but hey, …

Friday after Midnight, 2 am - 10 am - Games Room closed.

Friday after Midnight, 3 am - 6 am - Hospitality Rooms closed.

Saturday, April 28, 2001

Saturday morning, 7 am - Verrazano and Wadsworth – Hospitality Rooms Opens.

Saturday morning, 9 am - Off Site – A nearby Bally's gym is available to our registrants at no charge. Hours are 9 am to 6 pm.

Saturday morning, 9:30 am to 10:30 am - Celebrity Room – Mongolia. Ambassador to the UN from Mongolia, Enkhsaikhan Jargalsaikhany will be our guest speaker. The Ambassador is an attorney. Heard of any other Mongolians? Hint: He ruled more of Europe than any ruler since the Caesars. Know of any desert where people bring their herds to graze? Esoteric history will come alive. 2500 years of non-stop culture mixed with the lands they conquered – and they aren't Chinese or European. A breed apart. Learn about them and be awed.

Saturday morning, 10:00 am to 10:45 am - Richmond Room – Our very own Mensa Regional Vice Chair Betsy Burke will conduct an RVC round table on regional issues of the AMC.

Saturday morning, 10 am - Room 920 (Games) – Games Room Opens.

Saturday morning, 10 am - Room 920 (Games) – Chinese Checkers Tournament Qualifying Round 2.

Saturday morning, 10:30 am - Room 920 (Games) – Boggle Tournament Qualifying Round 2.

Saturday morning, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm - Room 902 – Proctored Mensa Qualifying Exam. For people that are interested in either joining or just seeing how smart they are. Bring your friends and have them tested. For another $15 they can spend the rest of the day at the RG and attend our great presentations! For more information visit the New York Area Mensa Qualifying Exam page of this website.

Saturday morning, 10:30 am - Hotel Lobby – Meet for the Off-Site trip to “Behind the Scenes” at the Staten Island Zoo. $5. Return at 1 pm. For more details on this and other Off-Site trips visit the Off-Site Trips page of this website.

Saturday morning, 10:35 am to 12:45 pm - Celebrity – A presentation by Jerry Cohen of Jazz Photo (Bell & Howell) – if you are old enough to have had their movie projector, you are probably amazed that they still exist. They have now come out with a $30 digital camera. From box cameras with a separate flash to Instamatic Polaroids, cameras have evolved. The latest technology involves plugging a filmless camera into your computer (and using required software – manipulating it with a good software product – like EZ Viewer) to get digital pictures you can send thru email and print out.

GJC Software, Inc. has an awesome photo editing, file converter, print layout, scanning and editing software package. And it's really reasonably priced! A full demo will include using a digital camera to take pictures at the presentation, putting them into a computer and manipulating them before having them ready to send to your friends in email.

Saturday morning, 10:50 am to 11:45 am - Richmond – Calligraphy: The Art of Beautiful Writing. Joe Liotta, a fellow Mensan, has won first place in Newsday's "Tales of Tomorrow" contest. He has taught this at several adult classes. The lecture presents an interesting history of the art, along with introducing the five basic calligraphic styles readily in use and special tips for beginners intent on pursuing this craft. Calligraphy is not just writing, but is defined as a branch of penmanship in which alphabetical symbols are a means of artistic expressions.

Saturday morning, 11 am - Room 920 (Games) – Chinese Checkers Tournament Qualifying Round 3.

Saturday morning, 11:30 am - Room 920 (Games) – Boggle Tournament Qualifying Round 3.

Saturday, noon to 1 pm - Richmond – Carnelli, an incredible game. Come play the word game invented by a fellow Mensan. No boards, cards, or dice, just a circle of players naming copyrightable works. Our “arbitary, capricious, and final” leader will be Howard Gross. If you've never played Carnelli, don't understand, etc., come by to watch a round as your fellow Mensans do verbal battle. Then give it a try yourself.

Saturday lunchtime, 1 pm to 2 pm - Verrazano and Wadsworth – Enjoy “Chicken 'n Fixins” in the Hospitality suites.

Saturday afternoon, 2:00 pm to 2:50 pm - Celebrity – “Proverbial Wisdom” is an award winning board game of proverbs and familiar sayings. It challenges four players or teams to sketch a proverb for teammates to guess, choose the correct meaning or origin of a proverb, or guess what proverb is represented by a pre-drawn picture. Jordan Pine, its inventor (also a dentist and lawyer) will show us the game and talk with us about its creation and about the proverbs that make it up.

Saturday afternoon, 2:00 pm to 2:50 pm - Richmond – Joseph Califano, formerly of Mosaic, a science & technology company located in Massachusetts, will speak on how using DNA sequencing/DNA probe technology, you can detect harmful bacterial contamination in blood components prior to transfusion.

Saturday afternoon, 2:00 pm to 2:50 pm - Room 902 – Mensan Jan Myrna Bennett, head of our Parapsychology and Psychotronic SIG, will explain how water is NOT just some colorless liquid. She will speak on tap vs. bottled water and on what is good/bad for your teeth. Is there a chance she may go off topic? Of course. But it may be interesting and worth hearing!

Saturday afternoon, 2 pm - Hotel lobby – Departure point for the Off-Site trip to the Alice Austen House and Garibaldi-Meucci Museum. $8. Return at 4 pm. For more details on this and other Off-Site trips visit the Off-Site Trips page of this website.

Saturday afternoon, 2 pm - Hotel lobby – Departure point for Off-Site trip to Snug Harbor, including the Chinese Scholars Garden and John Noble Maritime Collection. $10. Return at 4:30 pm. For more details on this and other Off-Site trips visit the Off-Site Trips page of this website.

Saturday afternoon, 3:00 pm to 3:50 pm - Worried about the cost of an RG? PaineWebber, Inc. will present advice on Estates, IRA, Roth IRA, Stocks, Bonds & other ways to make sure you never have to worry about having enough money for an RG again.

Saturday afternoon, 3:00 pm to 3:50 pm - Abby Aronowitz, a Ph.D. in Psychology, has written a wonderful book "Am I fat?" She'll be talking about how to achieve a normal body size and accept the result without feeling insecure. Topics discussed like self-esteem, feelings of control and eating chocolate, too! She will discuss her book in an entertaining manner and will sell copies, too.

Saturday afternoon, 3:00 pm to 3:30 pm - Room 902 – "Check Out the Cheeses." This is a cheese sampling session. No promises of extravagance, just an array of cheese and a lot of toothpicks. What could be so perfect after some of our presentations?

Saturday afternoon, 3 pm - Room 920 (Games) – “Survivor” also known as “Every Man For Himself.” It takes several people to play. Here is a chance to find others who are interested.

Saturday afternoon, 3:30 pm to 4:00 pm - Room 902 – A Pepsi Challenge and Then Some. We move on to sampling sodas in our afternoon of tasting treats. You think you know your own brand? Are you sure? Are you sure there isn't something “better” out there? We may offer some obscure beverages to test your taste buds; we may stay mainstream; but you will only learn what we offer if you come.

Saturday afternoon, 3:30 pm - Room 920 (Games) – Chinese Checkers Tournament Qualifying Round 4.

Saturday afternoon, 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm - Room 902 – CHEESECAKE. A culinary treat! We are offering several varieties of cheesecake for you to try, again to decide for yourself which one you find most pleasing. Voting will be encouraged, as inquiring minds want to know.

Saturday afternoon, 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm - Room 902 – Special treat: The famous Ug Diley will be making an appearance in the room with the cheesecake (good taste, perhaps) and will be available for pictures with RG attendees for $1.00 (to cover the costs). Don't miss this golden opportunity to be photographed with a celebrity.

Saturday afternoon, 4 pm - Room 920 (Games) – Boggle Tournament Qualifying Round 4.

Saturday afternoon, 4 pm - Room 920 (Games) – Chinese Checkers Tournament Finals.

Saturday afternoon, 4 pm to 5 pm - Celebrity – Sexual Freedom: Does it Exist in America? If Clinton had oral sex with Monica two years earlier – he could've been prosecuted for it in D.C. – it was ILLEGAL until just before he did it – in D.C. Come to hear Susan Wright, Policy Director of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, speak and give an overview of sexual freedom in America. She will address legal restrictions, discrimination, censorship issues, etc, and she will touch on swingers, cross-dressers, sadomasochism and other alternative sexual expressions between consenting adults.

Saturday afternoon, 4 pm to 5 pm - Richmond – Thomas Flattery, a Registered and Licensed Respiratory Therapist and Patient Relations Coordinator for The Sleep Apnea Center, Staten Island University Hospital, will discuss sleep apnea. If you can't stay awake for this lecture, then maybe you really need to.

Saturday afternoon, 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm - Room 902 – Membership Forum with Scott Powers. Scott will lead a roundtable discussion on “Unique Traits of Highly Intelligent People and the Challenges We Face.” This is a new Special Interest Group for the GNYM chapter designed to foster discussion on topics of relevance to us.

Saturday afternoon, 4:30 pm - Room 920 (Games) – Proverbial Wisdom. You heard the talk? Try the game.

Saturday afternoon, 4:30 pm - Room 920 (Games) – Boggle Tournament Finals.

Saturday evening, 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm - Verrazano and Wadsworth – Long Sandwiches in the Hospitality Suites.

Saturday evening, 7:00 pm to 9:45 pm - Games Room closed for the Dinner Buffet and Speaker.

Saturday evening, 7 pm - Celebrity and Richmond – Our Sumptuous Saturday Night Dinner Buffet. Good food; good company.

Saturday evening, 8:45 pm - Celebrity and Richmond – Dinner Speaker: The scrumptious buffet will be done and we can sit back and listen to our speaker, Bill Machrone, the Technology Editor for Ziff-Davis Publications. Anyone that knows anything about computers wants to hear about what's new and upcoming in the computer field. One of the first to know is Bill Machrone (which makes us the second to know!). But ONLY if we attend the dinner or come by afterwards to hear him speak.

Saturday evening, 9:45 pm - Games Room reopens.

Saturday evening, 9:45 pm - Room 920 (Games) – “Sheep” also known as “Settlers of Catan” is being reprised.

Saturday evening, 10 pm to 11 pm - Room 902 – RG Co-Chair Karen will lead us in a trivia contest.

Saturday evening, 10 pm to ??? - Lounge and Richmond (and maybe Celebrity) – We will have dancing for those nimble-footed among us. The band is supplied by the hotel and by special arrangement, we believe they will listen to our music preferences. Bar drinks continue to be discounted to RG attendees.

Saturday evening, 11:00 pm to 12:30 am - Room 902 - RG Co-Chair Susan will lead a “cheesecake” contest and a “beefcake” contest. We're not talking food; we are talking body parts. Participants will determine which body parts we highlight. Come be part of the review. Come to watch and guess what parts go with what persons. One way or the other, join in!!

Saturday after Midnight, 12:30 am - Verrazano and Wadsworth – Late night food treats. Ice cream for sundaes, etc. may be found in the Hospitality Suites.

Saturday after Midnight, 2 am - 9 am - Games Room closed.

Sunday, April 29, 2001

Sunday morning, 7 am - Verrazano and Wadsworth – Hospitality Room opens.

Sunday morning, 9 am - Off Site – A nearby Bally's gym is available to our registrants at no charge. Hours are 9 am to 6 pm.

Sunday morning, 9 am - Room 920 (Games) – Games Room opens (we think). How many hours can you go with little sleep???

Sunday morning, 9 am - Room 920 (Games) – If the room is open, there should be a game of Taboo right about now.

Sunday morning, 9 am - 10 am - Room 902 – Microsoft speaker.

Sunday morning, 9:30 am - Room 920 (Games) – Surely we're up by now. It's a final game of Survivor (aka Every Man for Himself).

Sunday morning, 10 am - Celebrity and Richmond – Splendid Sunday Brunch. Food available to those with tickets until 10:45 am; speakers follow.

Sunday noon, 12 pm - Room 920 (Games) – Games Room closes.

Sunday noon, 12 pm - Verrazano and Wadsworth – Hospitality closes to all but the clean up crew and people who want to buy the leftovers.

Sunday afternoon, 1 pm - Hotel Lobby – Departure point for the Off-Site trip to Old Historic Richmond Town. You thought the RG was over? This group gets back at 3 pm. If you are not staying another night, surely you will check out of the hotel first. $4. For more details on this and other Off-Site trips visit the Off-Site Trips page of this website.

Also During the RG: Off-Site Trips!

Nancy will hold 5 off-site field trips - The Jacques Marchais Center for Tibetan Art, Behind the Scenes at the Staten Island Zoo, History and Technology on Staten Island (Alice Austen House & The Garibaldi-Meucci Museum), Sail the Seas to the Far East (Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Chinese Scholars Garden & John Noble Maritime Collection) and Historic Richmond Town. For more details visit the Off-Site Trips page of this website.

For other Information Contact:
Susan Heimlich RG Chair-Mensan	Karen Coopersmith-Tobin RG Chair-Mensan IlanasMom@aol.com