The setup is always a pain. The physical setup is relatively easy; four six-foot tables are crammed together to make one large tabletop, providing ample room for ten or eleven computers (some of which are merely servers, with KVM switches obviating the need for bulky monitors or keyboard space).

It's the network setup that usually provides the interesting challenges; multiple operating system versions and several computers normally set up for their own LANs have to be coaxed into seeing each other, and there's always one or two obstinate machines that don't want to play together. And this time, we've got a remote player coming in on a neighbor's borrowed cablemodem connection (since the host of the LAN party, a proud follower of Ned Ludd, doesn't even have email, let alone broadband).

Gotta bring the ranitidine, that's for sure. There's no way I can make it through an entire weekend of computer games without partaking of the fridge full of caffeinated beverages (and, of course, there's the traditional trip to the Indian restaurant). Bad Jeff. And of course I'll feel like a zombie on Monday morning. But it'll be worth it.

I just feel sorry for Karen, who's being gracious enough to donate her computer for the entire weekend, which means she'll be without the Internet all that time. Not like she's addicted to it, but the last time our cablemodem got fried by lightning, it really drove home just how convenient it's become to just hit the Internet to look something up...