Sorry to start off the game with a punt to the tournament directors, I have been in off-site meetings each of the last two days.

For those of you who don't already know me, my name is Cory Burris, and I have been a member of DC for over 3 years. Most of my Diplomacy activity recently has been limited to GM duties, as the task of locating billions of dollars for a cratering state budget has taken up a fair amount of my time in recent months. I have the (mis)fortune of working in the budget office of the Governor of Illinois, who took office a year ago after our previous Governor was impeached and removed from office! No, I am not related to our state's junior US Senator, who was appointed by that former Governor before he was sent packing. Incidentally, given our state's backlog of unpaid bills, does anyone know a good way to find $4 billion fast?

Mike Sims has taken care of the pre-game announcements, so you should all know what to do. (Thanks for stepping in, Mike!) The tentative deadline he set, 3pm Central (US) / 21:00 GMT, works well for me. Don't forget that the spring 1901 deadline is Monday, January 11. Preliminary orders are strongly encouraged! And please be sure that you cc: the Orders box, which provides the only evidence that you sent orders in case I am away or Yahoo mail goes haywire, as it has been doing while I have been trying to compose this message.

If you have already sent prelims to Mike, please forward them to me. Now that I have returned, I plan to fulfill my GM duties.

Thanks, and happy stabbing!

Cory