I joined the club almost a year ago to the day and I couldn't go to the convention last year do I know how you feel. It actually wasn't that bad here on the board, a lot of people check in with updates, someone ran a bunch of contests last year only for people not attending the convention and there were also some chips sales for people not attending.....also the most important tidbit i was told last year and it actually turned out to be true (i got some decent deals), when everyone is at the convention, you can sometimes find some really good deals on ebay, less compitition.

Can't wait to attend my first convention this year!!! Hopefully you can save up and make it next year.

Eric