Sadly I had some unfortunate experiences at my last con, going forward I will be requiring anyone rooming with me to execute a roommate agreement if the room is in my name. This way I can avoid the headaches I had due to roommates backing out and noise complaints.

Thanks to  timoran I used his agreement as a template to make mine.

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Person requesting a room (Lessee)_________________________________________________

Event room is requested for ______________________________________________________

Dates of stay _________________________________________________________________

The following document and attached convention space specific addendum document also signed forms a legal and binding agreement between the Lessee and Leonard Kinerson.

1. You are being granted a limited license to stay in a room rented by me for the dates indicated above. This license grants you access to the room, bathroom facilities, a share of the closet and/or storage space, and the bedding accommodations as indicated on the convention space specific addendum document attached.
2. In consideration of the limited license to occupy the above listed space you agree to pay the amounts indicated on the convention specific addendum document attached based upon a nightly rate. The total amount you will be expected to pay will be number of nights x nightly flat rate. If the total reservation is three nights and you stay for only two nights you will be expected to pay for the third night as it is unlikely I will find someone to fill that slot. If he total reservation is four nights and you stay for only three nights you will be expected to pay for the third night as it is unlikely I will find someone to fill that slot.
3. The deposit expected for the room is ½ of the total cost for your share of the room and is expected upon booking the slot. This payment is non-refundable.
4. The balance of your portion of the room is due no later than 30 days prior to the first day of the reservation. You may cancel your slot UP to that 30 days and receive a refund of all moneys paid EXCEPT THE DEPOSIT in #3. After the 30 days prior to the reservation first day any refunds are at the discretion of Leonard Kinerson and for all intents and purposes are to be considered non-refundable. Any refunds provided will include forfeiture of the deposit WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
5. As a lessee of this room space you agree to and are bound by the following rules. Violations of the rules will result in your ejection from the room and immediate forfeiture of any and all funds paid whether or not you have received access for the days in question
a. You are forbidden to lend out, substitute, sublet, or in any other way provide your space to any other person without my expressed written consent. You are to maintain possession of your key at ALL TIMES and are not to allow unescorted access to our room to ANY PERSON. This is a MASSIVE violation of trust and will result in your being ejected from the room on the FIRST offence without exception.
b. You will maintain your body condition such that it minimizes offensive odors including but not limited to strong colognes, smoke, body odor, etc. If it becomes a problem you will be warned and asked to bathe subsequent times may result in your being asked to move out. Room holders are required to bathe at minimum of one time per day.
c. Snoring that disturbs other roomies may be dealt with on a case by case basis. Please consider options to minimize impact such as CPAP, breath right strips, etc
d. Bedding/sleeping accommodations will be CLEARLY indicated on the convention space specific addendum document attached. Typically you will be granted ½ of a double/queen bed, 1/3 of a king bed, couch space, ½ of a pull out couch, and/or floor and/or blow up mattress space. If you desire to have more than your share of a bed, etc you will be expected to pay the other shares. This will be clearly indicated in the convention space specific addendum document attached
e. If you are indicated for anything other than a bed, please plan ahead and bring pillows, blankets, etc.
f. You will be granted one towel per day if you need more, please bring it.
g. You are granted 1 key to the room.
h. You agree and clearly indicate you are of age of majority in the state of the convention and NOT LESS than 18 years of age in any case
i. You understand that this room is a sex positive room and you may walk in on others having sex and/or you may have someone walk in while you are having sex. You are not guaranteed any form of privacy and you are not allowed to lock any other roommate out of the room for ANY reason. Doing so will result in me having to remove you from the room unless it is determined to be SOLEY accidental.
j. If you walk in on someone having sex you will be polite and not make them feel uncomfortable.
k. Lights out is at 2 AM any and all activity other than sleeping will end by this time, further you acknowledge that you understand events may be taking place in the room up to that time. This may be wavered and time extended by consent of all roommates.
l. I will typically block out any incidental charges to the room but you will be responsible for any charges that occur to the room that includes but not limited to room service, wet bar, tips, parking, etc. Failure to pay may be actionable. I will be verifying with the hotel on any room charges on a daily basis.
m. You agree to notify me by phone and text of any contacts with hotel security for any reason including but not limited to, unauthorized entries to the room, noise complaints, etc. If you have guests in the room and I am notified by security that there have been more than one noise complaint against you and/or your guests, you will be ejected from the room without exception. I will not have the actions of a single individual threaten the lodgings of the others.
n. You agree should your actions/activities/etc cause damage to the room, cause the ejection of the entire party from the room, etc. You will be responsible for the damages and/or financial damages to the other parties in the room and you further agree to pay the amount immediately upon demand.
o. Alcohol use is acceptable in the room, however being “DRUNK” is not. If you are intoxicated to the point where you are presenting a problem, I will ask you to leave. If you refuse or cause an issue I will involve hotel security and/or law enforcement on an as needed basis. If you are passed out drunk to the point in my professional opinion feel you are a danger to yourself and/or your health I will engage the services of the local EMS team and have you removed to the hospital for care at your expense.
p. Any service of alcohol to a minor is illegal and will result in your being ejected from the room, reported to hotel and con security as well as local law enforcement.
q. Any illegal substance use and/or illicit abuse of legal substances will result in your removal from the room and possibly reports being made to hotel and con security
r. Any activities not otherwise covered which endanger the health, safety, legal status, welfare or wellbeing of any other roommate and/or that causes problems with the hotel will be dealt with on a case by case basis and may result in your ejection from the room. This ejection is at the SOLE discretion of Leonard Kinerson and will be without appeal.
s. If you are asked to leave the room, you will forfeit your moneys for the room, surrender your key, and leave quietly. If you make a scene I will contact hotel security and engage their help in removing you forcibly if necessary.
t. If you chose to leave the accommodations of your own free will for whatever reason, you are still grated license to the room unless you clearly indicate to Leonard Kinerson that you are forfeiting this license and surrender your key. Forfeiting your license does not guarantee a refund and any and all refunds are at the SOLE discretion of Leonard Kinerson. Further Refunds may take up to 30 days to be processed and returned. All refunds will be processed back via PayPal and you agree to forfeit any fees that PayPal charges.
6. These rules are put into place to assure that everyone is clear on what the expectations of the room are and this serves to promote clear communications as to those expectations.

Person requesting a room (Lessee)_________________________________________________

Event room is requested for ______________________________________________________

Dates of stay __________________________________________________________________

Signature of lessee _____________________________________________________________


Witness name _________________________________________________________________

Witness Signature ______________________________________________________________

SPACE SPECIFIC ADDENDUM

Person requesting a room (Lessee)_________________________________________________

Event room is requested for ______________________________________________________

Dates of stay _________________________________________________________________


Bedding Assignment:
_____ 1/3 of King sized
_____ Use of Room Couch
_____ 1/2 of a Double or Queen Sized bed
_____ Floor Space for inflatable mattress or Bed Roll(you must provide mattress)
_____ 1/2 of a Pull Out Couch



______ I am requesting the FULL and sole use of a bed or pull out couch and will pay 2x the amount listed below for a pull out couch or double/queen bed or 3x the amount for a king bed.

Total Amount estimated for the room for all nights of the convention $_________________

Agreed amount for each share of the room not including any doubling or tripling for extra use of bed space

$_________________


TOTAL AGREED AMOUNT OF PAYMENT $___________________________

Deposit amount due on reservation $____________________________
I understand that this deposit is NON REFUNDABLE and the remaining amount is due 30 days prior to the convention unless prior written authorization is received from Leonard Kinerson in advance. Following the 30 days prior to the event my space may be given to another person and no refund will be given of any funds paid. All payments are to be made by PayPal to kovudalion[at]gmail.com and/or cash in person. All PayPal payments must be made from a checking or savings account if you use a credit card you must add 2.9% + $0.30 to your payment to offset credit card fees. Payments are to be listed as a GIFT via the PayPal system. I further agree to cover any fees incurred due to improper payment.

Signature____________________________________________________________________________

Witness name ______________________________ Witness Signature _____________________________________

Well another FWA has come and gone, overall the convention was a good experience and the board/staff/volunteers of FWA have gone out of their way to make the experience a pleasant one. There were a few items that made the weekend less than optimal but I will address these later.

The good, let’s start with the positive:

The Hotel: This is a very nice facility, aside from the elevators and subsequent cascading events from the elevators I find this hotel to be one of the nicest the convention has chosen.


Board/Staff/Volunteers – The FWA team always strive to provide that southern hospitality, this year was no different. From staff just greeting me in the halls to the expeditious way that I was processed through registration all the way to the constant replenishment of the con suites your staff has exemplified themselves.

God Level Suite – What can I say, the food was great, I would personally recommend going back to Jersey Mikes for the lunch subs as I heard a number of people not get subs due to the limited numbers of sandwiches on the platters an others taking 2-3 of them. The Cheese was awesome, only comment there is MORE CHEESE MORE CHEESE (I am a cheese fiend in case you couldn’t guess).

Both Con Suites – The snack and soda variety was great, I liked some of the new options this year. The view was great, it was actually kind of interesting that the suites overlooked the 2 previous hotels and made them look so small (Especially the Sheraton)

Entertainment – What I was able to get to was great but missed a lot of events due to elevator issues, more on that later.

The guests/room parties – While you cannot control the guests or the room parties, it was great to reconnect with old friends and make new friends. A Couple of the room parties I went to were off the hook.

The Mediocre:

The air conditioning – As a fursuiter, being able to stay in suit is important to me however I found that due to the temperatures and waits on the landings, the few times I did suit, I was exhausted by the time I got to the con floor. Then once in the con space the temperatures were still very uncomfortably hot. I am no sure the convention can do anything about the temperature, but it was less than Ideal

The lack of social area- the convention needs to consider having a dedicated social area with chairs/tables/etc that is in a general area for folks to just sit and chat. Doing so in the corridors creates an impedance to movement and given the tight areas between the halves of the convention space this could become an issue. Perhaps an internet café might be ideal.

The Guests – SIGH, while this is not an issue with the convention itself, we do have a number of socially inept members of our community. Yes a convention is a time to let you hair down and relax and enjoy yourself, this is also a time when the furry community is under the public eye and we need to put our best foot forward. This is not directed at the 90+% of members who comport themselves with some level of modesty, courtesy and dignity, this is directed at the <10% who feel that they can do whatever they want. I saw during this convention both the best and worst of the congoers. I witnessed people getting off the elevators to allow a fursuiter on who had been waiting on the landings. I also witnessed people push fursuiters out of the way after the parade to pile onto the elevator. I witnessed a couple furs simulating sex in the hallway with kids in the room immediately adjacent to where they were doing it. When I mentioned it to them about the kids, I was told to mind my own business it was 2 am. I have also witnessed our con guests being rude and obnoxious towards other hotel guests not with the convention. If we comport ourselves in this negative way and repeatedly cause problems for hotels, THERE MIGHT NOT BE AN FWA AFTER SOME TIME. If we cannot find a hotel to house us due to a bad reputation there goes the convention. Just some common since and courtesy will make everyone’s lives better an make the convention more enjoyable for us as well as those around us. Simple stuff such as allowing non convention guests to have priority on the elevators, allowing fursuiters priority especially when returning from the convention floor when they may NEED to get out of suit to avoid passing out. Simply greeting non convention guests in the elevator in a pleasant manner and wishing them a nice day as they exit. These simple courtesies while they may seem trivial will go a long way towards smoothing over where there are rough edges.

The Bad:

The convention space – 1st major problem is having the convention on 5 different floors (Well 4 plus one you had to pass through). This makes the area very confusing and VERY hard to patrol for your security staff as well. I was constantly having to refer to the maps to remember what floor and what half of the floor I needed to be on to attend the events I could make.

The Elevators- OK, now we get to the major crux of most of the headaches for the weekend. To put it bluntly the elevators SUCK, at best they could hold say 15 people and there were only 4 elevators for the upper and 4 elevators for the lower half of the hotel. The 2 middle elevators, I am not sure what they do, but they never seemed to work (I only got one of them maybe 3-4% of the time I requested an elevator). It was no uncommon for me to have to spend 30-45 minutes waiting for an elevator and having numbers of full elevators stop and leave each time I needed one to go from the room floor to the convention or vice versa, getting to the con suites was marginally better, but I feel having them on 66 and 69 added to the elevator taxation. Due to these inordinate waits and the heat on the landings I did not suit as much as I wanted nor did I make many of the events I wanted because on more than one occasion I went 15-20 minutes before the event to goto the elevator and the event would be WELL underway by the time I hit the convention space. I did some brief calculations based upon the 2400 guests at FWA and assuming the elevator stops at every landing and it takes 30 seconds to stop, open the doors, tell people your elevator is full and the doors to close and start moving again, assuming also an equal distribution of the 2400 guests over all of the room floors the existing elevators would allow for a full movement of all guests only once every 6 hours. Considering the number of large events in the con space and the lack of available stairs to directly access the con space this makes the movement of guests to and from events untenable. While this hotel is a very nice facility, I think it is incompatible with the traffic flow patterns associated with such a large and dynamic convention as FWA. See my suggestions below for MY concept on how this could be resolved.

The hotel staff- Well my issues with this hotel started with parking when I arrived. I had to wait in a line backed up to peachtree when I arrived and it took over an hour to get to where I could unload my stuff an move towards my room, but this is not to be unexpected during a major check in day, just startling because it had not happened before. I usually pull up, unload, valet the car and get in the hotel in less than 15 minutes at every other FWA before. On check in day the staff was very pleasant and helpful however as the weekend progressed, it appeared the hotel staff became less and less friendly and in a couple cases rude, this however may be a function of the elevator issues and complaints from non-convention guests due to the behaviors of a few of our less socially adaptable members as well as the elevator overcrowding. Towards the end of the weekend, I found the HOTEL security staff (the ones wearing badges) watching the con guests as if they expected to have to intervene at any second.

Suggestions going forward:

I am not one to offer a complaint or concern without also offering a possible solution, while you may not accept or take my suggestion, I won’t be known and one who only points out problems and not solutions.

New facility – As stated this is a beautiful facility. The rooms were well appointed and the view, in most cases, none better, but the vertical format does not lend itself to a convention of this sort where there is large shifts of people to and from their rooms. The lack of stairs along with the limited elevators makes a horizontal format much better. The convention should also strive to have a hotel that has stair access directly to the convention floor instead of having to rely upon the elevators or exiting the building and re-entering (Also walking down 28 flights of stairs let alone 60+, not happening in fursuit or out).

My suggestion would be perhaps this convention has gotten to the point that no one hotel can handle it effectively, I would recommend that the hotel look at splitting the load among 2 hotels. Where could this be done effectively, look no further than FWA’s former home at the Hilton, The 2nd floor of the Hilton has a bridge that directly and easily connects to the marquis level of the Marriott Marquis hotel. This would allow for the convention to be maintained on a single level with only a bridge connecting the 2 halves of the convention. At a brief glance by placing registration, the main events rom staff lounge and the poker/blackjack tourneys in the Marriott the Hilton could easily house the remainder of the convention with space to spare. You could then offer a 2 tier hotel rate with prices for rooms in the Hilton and rooms in the Marriott.

By splitting between the hotels you then load balance the guests between the hotels and take advantage of the 8 elevators in the Hilton and the 13 elevators in the Marriott giving the ability to load split the movement of guests among the 21 elevators instead of just 8. Also both hotels are greatly shorter with a more horizontal layout which means guests can travel using stairs much more readily from the lower floors to the convention spaces. I am not sure what this kind of layout would mean for the convention budget as far as costs for convention space, but after paying close to $1000 to attend the convention I would have liked to have been able to ATTEND the convention instead of spending the bulk of the convention waiting for elevators.

Also by moving to these two facilities you would be only using about 1/3 of each of their convention spaces thereby allowing for greater expansion as the years progress.

I reserve the right to revise and extend my remarks, all comments here are my own personal opinions.

Megaplex 2012 Con Report ( #MP2012 #MP11 #megaplex2012 #megaplex11 )

PHOTOS AVAILIBLE AT: http://photos.kovudalion.com

Well another Megaplex has come and gone, this is one of my two home cons (Megaplex and FWA). I had been looking forward to this con for the past month or so, really excited to go to the con. However, through no fault of con staff or board members, this con has been an emotional mixed bag for me. Those of you who know me may have noticed I seemed to not be all there and not as enthusiastic as I normally am at a convention. So, I will explain what was going on before I get into my con report.

On Wednesday afternoon I was called by my mother because my father had taken a fall and was having some other issues. Some of you may remember them from Megaplexes in past years because they attend the convention with me, my mom is usually in an electric wheelchair. My father convinced her that he had just tripped and was ok. Well the following day he was no better and in fact was showing additional symptoms. Mom took him to the hospital and he was diagnosed as having several strokes. On top of the stroke each day during the con the doctors would find something else wrong including heart problems, and possible cancer in his lungs. His condition while not dire (He is able to feed himself and converse with some slurring of speech and other deficits but overall he is able to function at a high level) has caused great concern and worry (along with the emotional state of my mother). This coupled with the bad news being metered out in doses has led to the weekend having its ups and downs. So, if I was short with anyone or seemed mopey at times, I am sorry. At least one benefit, I was already in town with the con so I was able to visit my dad at Florida Hospital east.

Now onto the con report:

The hotel:

Well, what can I say except the hotel was grossly average in both condition and service; it lacked any wow factor that impressed me.

Prior to arrival when I went to make my reservations, the hotel staff while courteous appeared disorganized and lacking knowledge of their facility. I was originally slated to be in the con block of rooms but when I called up and asked about a junior suite and found out it was only a marginal increase from the cost of a regular room I chose to upgrade my room out of the con block. I was assured that the room was a 2 room suite with 2 bathrooms, 1 bedroom with 2 double beds, and a sitting area with a full sized pull out couch, and that roll away beds were also available.

When I called a couple weeks before the convention to confirm my reservation, I was again assured the same thing. I inquired to assure the rate was the same and was shocked, apparently someone had keyed in the rate wrong and after sending me a reservation confirmation I was told by the staff since it was their mistake they would honor the rate (BIG KUDOS TO THEM FOR THIS). I will not divulge what I paid but with 6 people in the room, this is the cheapest con I have been to budget wise.

Upon arrival we checked in and paid for the room and had all additional services turned off (No room charges), this way there was no holds put on our cards. We then went up to the room to inspect it. I guess at this point me and Kerne have been watching too much Hotel Impossible (http://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/hotel-impossible/) as we were more observant of maintenance and housekeeping issues than would normally have been noticed. Examples include an empty water bottle under our fridge (We jokingly though of putting an envelope under the fridge with a large tip and a note that says this tip goes to the housekeeper who properly cleans this room) and poorly maintained wall conditions behind an unfinished cabinet in the sleeping rooms. One big plus is the air conditioning worked great in our room and with 4 fursuiters in the room that is a BIG plus.

When we were checking the room we also noticed that the promised pull out couch was actually a regular couch, we contacted the front desk and they agreed to send up 2 roll aways since we had 6 people total in the room. One roll away arrived and we waited for the second one and it never came, further the hotel never notified us what was going on. It turns out they did not have another roll away, we were assured that when one of the rooms which were checking out on Friday that had a roll away had checked out, they would bring one up. Sadly, this never occurred, the maintenance staff in an attempt to provide an accommodation showed me what they considered a FULLSIZED pull out couch sadly it made the chairs in the room look large (I do however give them props for trying to find an accommodation), so after some shuffling of sleeping arrangements we had everyone situated (however the roll away bed from the reports our roomie gave us made the floor look soft).

The food services area was average and the wait staff could use some more practice in being attentive to the tables at the breakfast buffet (I ate there each morning). My drink was often empty and no one around to do a refill. The lack of attentiveness may have also been an indicator of dissatisfaction with the tipping from convention attendees, I rarely saw anyone leave a tip on the table when I was there.
Housekeeping did their best, but it seems this hotel has a shortage of towels, I was hearing about many people unable to get clean towels for their room and I myself had to wait over 2 hours for housekeeping to get more towels on our floor before we could exchange our towels on Saturday. This may be an area that Con Staff can address with the hotel to improve service.


Now onto the convention:

Thursday:
Check-in went smoothly, interesting that now you are scanning drivers licenses using an electronic device, I am a bit of a security nut so it initially made me a bit nervous but it was adequately explained. We then went to the bowling event. Kernedahusky being the goofball he is decided to wear his suit to the bowling alley and ride with his head out the window. This garnered a lot of strange looks and also quite a few photo ops. Bowling was fun, I did not bowl, however took quite a few photos. We left the bowling event around 9:45 to get back to the hotel so as to host a get together in my room with some friends. We also needed to get a key to the 3rd person in our room who was arriving that night (@steelclawfox). Stayed up till 4 am to wait for roomies # 4 and 5 and finally gave up.

Friday:
Found out roomies 4 and 5 didn’t leave till around 6 am from north Florida so they were going to be in later in the morning. Also found out roomie #6’s car transmission blew up and he was stranded in Gainesville on the way down (Many thanks to nighteyeswolf and Othello for picking him up on their way). Roomies 4 and 5 (@mazamure and @oskiethefox) arrived and got settled in about noonish. Opening ceremonies were nice with a good introduction to what steam punk is and introduction of the mascot Sir Pouncealot. Many thanks to the guest of honor for attending (@Noel_MacNeal and @ Ron_Schneider) and a big thanks for bringing Lionel (I know it sounds childish, but I LOVE Read Between the Lions (http://pbskids.org/lions/), go figure I am a Lion. I then hosted my first of 3 panels, First Year Con Panel, this was following a panel, breaking the Ice, so I guess they had 2 first year con panels. The panel was a lot of fun, with lots of good questions and suggestions. I introduced the new attendees to the 6-2-1 rule (if you don’t know it, learn about it), con planning and how to interact with fursuiters. I then taught the 2nd panel First time suiting panel where I introduced safety concepts, performance concepts, interaction with local businesses and then paired up those who were interested with experienced suiters to learn the ropes. I took a few photos today and was EXTATIC to be able to get a picture with Lionel from Read Between the Lions, only thing that would have been better is if they had brought Theo as well, sorry getting all fanboy here. About 6-7 roomie #6 (@Ari) arrived following his transmission ordeal. I Called it a night a little early this night.

Saturday:
Woke up and rushed to get food before the parade step off. Was able to get a picture of EVERYONE in the parade I belive (Over 300 shots), so check out my pictures. Attended some of the Care presentation (sadly could not make all of it due to trying to get lunch before the auction), Went out to Bahama Breeze with Oski and Kerne (Great food). Attended the auction and tried to bid on a couple items but all went out of my budget, bad for me and good for Care. Almost had to put the smack down on a fellow lion (@Wildmark) because he was bidding up the MP8 Poster I wanted since it was my first con, sadly both of us were out bid. I then prepared to host the Florida Furs Meet and Greet (Many thanks to Skippyfox for getting me a TV to the panels room it was a big help.) We went to dinner then back to watch #JullyBunnyMustDie (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Julie-Bunny-Must-Die/209574650782) this is not only a good play but a GREAT play. I am surprised that it has not made it to at least an off Broadway theater. I was happy that MP11 brought this to the event and look forward to further HIGH QUALITY shows like this in the future. Following Jullie Bunny went to get some libations for the party that I was hosting that night. It was an enjoyable visit with some friends following a stressful day and a couple drinks helped me to relax as well.

Sunday:
Wow, can PCDs (http://en.wikifur.com/wiki/Post-con_depression) start before you even leave the convention. Attended the fursuit games for a while then left the convention and spent several hours visiting with my mother and father at the hospital. I arrived back at the con (After taking my life into my own hands with the Orlando drivers) in time for the tail end (get it tail end) of the PawPet Show. I then attended closing ceremonies. Great show at closing ceremonies, and WOW the numbers:

--- Statistics --- (Taken from Kerne’s con report)
- Attendees: 625, a 75% increase from 2011!!
- Fursuits: 142, a 65% increase!
- Charity donations raised for the C.A.R.E. Foundation: Over $4,200, up from $1,328 in 2011!!

We then went back to the room to start packing for the trip home. Said good bye to many a good friend and now have to trudge through to Furloween.

BTW, as of the date of this posting, my father may be coming home today. He still has many months of therapy and rehabilitation ahead of him but they expect he may make a significant recovery from the strokes. If they can control the heart problems and the shading in the lung x-rays is not cancer he should be able to return to a somewhat normal life.
Many thanks for those of you who have shown concern, it is appreciated more than I can express.

Kovu DaLion

#MP2012
#megaplex2012

You can find my photos at

http://tinyurl.com/MP2012Photo


or the full link is

http://photos.kovudalion.com/index......gaplex%202012/

KDL

I have photos posted from the following events

Jax Picnic 2012
Elliot's Live Events 2012
FWA 2012
Megaplex 2011

MORE TO COME AS I SORT OUT MY DIRECTORIES

available at

http://photos.kovudalion.com