"Update on renovations at the Lancaster Host" Topic

With a little less than two months till the Cold Wars convention, I wanted to provide a brief update on the progress on renovations to the hotel which was provided by the management:

1. New boilers have been installed. The temporary boiler in the back will be removed in the next two weeks. There are no longer any problems with water pressure and hot water.

2. All rooms now have the new air conditioner/heating units installed.

3. All rooms have the new windows installed.

4. All ground level rooms have new patio doors installed.

5. Work is now beginning on new bathrooms (50 rooms at a time). This will limit out of service rooms to a maximum of 50 at Cold Wars.

6. Management met with the design team last Thursday regarding the bar and restaurant area. Expansion plans look very good and just need to be approved by the new franchise.

We should have more renovation updates at the membership meeting on Friday night. If you are unable to attend the membership meeting, it should be pretty easy to find one of the Directors during the weekend to ask any questions. I'll be in Hobby U trying to get some painting done when I can, so stop by. Hope this information helps.

Respectfully,
John Spiess
Treasurer, HMGS, Inc.

Very good.

What are people going to be able to complain about?

Don't worry. There's always something.

Wow, that's good news. Thanks John!

The big question is how this will affect the rates the hotel charges going forward.

The room rates for 2017 will not change since we already have signed contracts. The rates for 2018 and beyond are dependent on the current contract negotiations. While I can't give details on this forum, more updates will be given at the membership meeting at Cold Wars. Hope to see you there.

Respectfully,
John Spiess
Treasurer, HMGS, Inc.

Thanks, John! Will look to hear more at Cold Wars.

What are people going to be able to complain about?

They can start with the fact that the foundations are unsound and the place is settling unevenly.

So Ross are you an engineer that can state that with any degree of certainty or is it just your opinion? I would just like to know that when people make comments like you are what your background is in to be able to make the comments.

Thank-you for the update, good news.

I heard the Host sits on a Native American burial ground, and the new owners are occultists who intend to raise the spirits of the dead to conquer eastern Pennsylvania.

My training is as a paranormal specialist, certified by a course I took online through an ad I found in Circus magazine in 1988.

Btw, those same spirits tell me they do not plan to raise rates for the first half of 2018, but will for the summer season.

The place is cursed. All my poor dice rolls through the years are proof.

Of course it is unsound! Think of what years and years of wargamers huffing and puffing up and down the halls will do to a building.

mold or mould is a fungus that grows in the form of multicellular filaments called hyphae.

Molds are a large and taxonomically diverse number of fungal species in which the growth of hyphae results in discoloration and a fuzzy appearance.

Molds cause biodegradation of natural materials, which can be unwanted when it becomes food spoilage or damage to property. They also play important roles in biotechnology and food science in the production of various foods, beverages, antibiotics, pharmaceuticals and enzymes. Some diseases of animals and humans can be caused by certain molds: disease may result from allergic sensitivity to mold spores, from growth of pathogenic molds within the body, or from the effects of ingested or inhaled toxic compounds (mycotoxins) produced by molds

You know what we need on here to counter-balance the princess and the pea complaints about mold and every other bit of nonsense? An excerpt from whatever message board the hotel employees share their darkest fears of the astonishing barbarian horde that descends on them twice a year. In lieu of the 5,467th whine about some alleged mold that sent somebody staggering to the hospital, how about stories of what many of our august attendees leave in their wake.

I don't have the perspective of those on the front lines, of course, but I've seen enough sinks full of cold cuts and soaking wet carpets from leaking coolers. Not to mention the unconscionable things that are done to bathrooms during the weekend-long sack. We are indeed, a Four Seasons-worthy gathering.

Is management taking steps to make The Host handicap accessible?

Molds are also important tools in the production of wargaming miniatures.
I hope that statement resin-ates with the membership.

Disco Joe, that opinion comes from a talk with the hotel engineer back when Historicon was last at the Host. He was able to point to several readily visible symptoms and I presume he knows his stuff.

Ross, you never mentioned that in your original post and you state that it was the hotel engineer. I wasn't aware that hotels kept engineers on the payroll. And may I ask in what capacity you were talking to him concerning this? I mean did he saw "Hi I am the hotel engineer and I see problems here" or what? Were you representing HMGS and questioning him about it or what? To me I wouldn't think that it is something a hotel engineer if on staff with the hotel and as such being paid by the hotel would just mention to a stranger that he had never met before. So I am just asking please provide all the details and not just a few so that we can all get the complete picture.

A while back someone here on TMP announced that he would never go to the Host, as his MD told him he would die from the mold exposure.

This didn't sound right to me and I did a Pub Med search for actual deaths from molds. It seemed the mortality and morbidity rate in the entire US could be counted on 2 hands and the victims were all the very young or the very old. They were also severely immunocompromised. In that case the individuals should not be going to a convention in the first place.

Disco ,
Most larger Hotels with an elevator system and HVAC systems keep an engineer on staff -But it is not a person with an engineering degree it is a working engineer .
that being said -the rest of your post I agree with and also wonder about the conversation parameters .

Did you go to wikiapedia first or did you just google mold?

I, for one, welcome our sporulating overlords!

From Wiki:

"Starting in the late 19th century there had been many accounts by scientists and physicians on the antibacterial properties of the different types of moulds including the mould penicillium but they were unable to discern what process was causing the effect.[26] The effects of penicillium mould would finally be isolated in 1928 by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming."

Not mentioned in the passage is the role that hotels in Lancaster played in this important breakthrough.

Simple bread mold.

And not just any bread--rye!

Scene outside Host after particularly bad ergot outbreak:

Or after Texians win Alamo game, I forget which.

Oh my gosh! Great picture. That's me top center, jumping off the bridge.

Looks more like somebody from the HMGS Board of Directors, not you zoneofcontrol.

The entire scene reminds me of past (or future) HMGS membership meetings.

On a (slightly) more serious note, thanks for the continued updates on The Host, John. Many of us appreciate the time and effort you and your fellow BOD members put in on this and other matters.

Given where HMGS was a year or so ago, with The Host facing possible extinction, this is about the best outcome HMGS could have hoped for under the circumstances.