Category: Life

Enough of the shiny and new schtick!

When looking at the schedule for today, we’d planned to go to the Tai Chi session at 9am this morrning, and I also wanted to go to the Bad Astronomy panel immediately afterwards. But we chose not to set the alarm last night, and this morning, we suffered the natural consequences of that action.

So when we finally dragged ourselves out of bed around 8:15, we had to choose between breakfast and Tai Chi. Breakfast won; we drove to Tiffy’s (which was actually closer than Captain Kidd’s, so we could easily have walked). The breakfast at Tiffy’s is good, but the service is very slow; by the time we finished, the Bad Astronomy panel was but a memory.

We arrived back at the Convention Center a few minutes into the 11:30am panels; Jeff went to see Marina Sirtis, while Diane and I wandered the fan exhibit space and talked with Joe Siclari and Edie Stern at the FANAC table. Eventually, we wandered up to see the last few minutes of the session, followed by another hike, this time to Marri’s Pizza and Italian Restaurant (passing Tiffy’s along the way) for lunch. Jeff had pasta; Diane and I split an amazingly bready pizza.

We split up for the next two sessions; Jeff and Diane went to the panel on Batman (the live-action series) and “Being an Alien” (actors). I went to the Denver Mah Jongg party and lost $750 in Denver Mah Jongg money, but I made up for it at Trivia for Chocolate, where I finished third with 43 mints (some of which made it back to the room). Then I joined Jeff and Diane for “Star Trek Between the Cracks”, which had Larry Nemecek showing slides and suffering horrible computer and projector problems.

We wanted a good dinner, and we got one at Market Broiler at The Block in Orange; tasty salmon, salads, starches, and vegetables. Recommended.

Then it was party time. Many of the parties were holdovers from last night, including Denver, Columbus, and Chicago with their last bid parties and Kansas City, moving into the final year of their bid cycle. But there were new parties, as well.

The League of Evil Geniuses was a dark affair, and crowded. I wasn’t able to stop long enough to admire the gallery on the walls, but I did see that there were additions.

Westercon 60 will be at the Marriott in San Mateo (the hotel on 101 which looks used to look like a castle); they were having a Gnome-themed party (much like Denver).

Xerps in 2010 was in high gear; we got probed even before we got into the room, and the Skippy was flowing freely.

Japan had green tea and other goodies; I’d like to go to the con, but it’s not clear that school will cooperate for Jeff.

There were other parties, including the Friendly Scandanavians, but my energy ran out sooner than the hallways did. Some will be there again tomorrow night…as will I.

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A bright, shiny new Worldcon

The con started today with a somewhat unusual opening ceremony — the first episode of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, in tribute to the late Frankie Thomas, followed by the usual silliness. Jeff missed it, since he and his friend were at Disneyland, where I think he might have had enough Disney for this trip. I say might have, rather than had, because at a party this evening, he showed interest when he heard that some other teens were going to Disney tomorrow — but only some interest.

We deviated from our Downtown Disney meal plan; breakfast was at Captain Kidd’s again; lunch was at California Pizza Place, which is a small pizza restaurant in a strip mall of small restaurants at the corner of Katella and Harbor, and was everything one would expect of a restaurant at that location (cheap, non-toxic, and fast); dinner was at the Grand China Restaurant on Chapman, which was an OK but not at all distinguished Chinese restaurant a mile or so away from here. The con restaurant guide is long on listings but short on judgements, so we’re on our own.

We spent a while in the huckster room/exhibit area after lunch, meeting friends, visiting the bid tables, and wandering. At one point, I found myself explaining the change in the Worldcon bid leadtime from two years to three and then back to two — if I’m not careful, I may find myself at the Business Meeting one of these days. But that wasn’t a danger today; instead, we went to “James T. Kirk: Threat or Menace”, which was enjoyable but deviated from the topic (and a good thing it did).
Here’s tonight’s party report:

Google party: lots of schwag, but the shiny Google pins were gone before we got there. They’d clearly raided the local Trader Joe’s, going for the dark chocolate as well as other goodies. They claimed to be interviewing, but everyone was welcome — and all attendees get free searches on Google.

Hollister in 2008: This was the bid party to hit, if for no other reason than my name on the wall of fame. Lots of Casa de Fruta goodies, not enough space for all the people.

KC in 2009: If you were hungry, this was the place — smoked meat and KC BBQ sauces, plus other goodies (Trader Joe’s struck again, too).

Denver in 2008: A nice selection of Colorado beers (after a very enjoyable High Tea during the afternoon), plenty of other goodies (including a chocolate fountain and ice cream floats), and the right date for Worldcon 2008. Recommended.

Chicago in 2008: Hot dogs, hotel info, and a letter from Da Mayor.

Columbus in 2008: Sam Adams, a sheet cake, good conversation, and a letter from the mayor.

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