Boskone - Thursday 13th Feb
Thursday morning I walked around a bit on my own, then hopped on the T to meet Ellen at the New England Aquarium. The Green Line is pretty run-down looking, in both stations and rolling stock, which is surprising for what seems to be basically the backbone of the system, running from the airport to the centre of Boston out to the western suburbs.
The Aquarium was expensive, at $15 a ticket, but the exhibition was good. The (literal) centrepiece of the aquarium is a huge cylindrical tank with a helical ramp running down it, while the other tanks are on the upward spiral. We also saw the daily performance of the sea lions.
Although the Whale Watch ships go out in summer, not in winter, I got a Right Whale Project T-shirt, with the whales depicted as if on an engineering blueprint. A pretty irresistible image for an alien design fan!
In the evening we went to the Prudential Center mall and had dinner in the California Pizza Kitchen, then went looking for the Sheraton's Ball Room, where the Boskone committee were setting up, to see if there was anything we could do to help. Ellen pointed to two people coming out of the Sheraton and said "they look like fans," and sure enough they were -- I recognised them from behind as autopope and feorag, so I introduced her to them.
In the Ballroom I saw Geri Sullivan and met Elaine Brennan, who gave me my membership badge. I saw Mark Olson, who I met at Evolution in 1996, so I asked if I could help out, and moved boxes about for a bit.
The Aquarium was expensive, at $15 a ticket, but the exhibition was good. The (literal) centrepiece of the aquarium is a huge cylindrical tank with a helical ramp running down it, while the other tanks are on the upward spiral. We also saw the daily performance of the sea lions.
Although the Whale Watch ships go out in summer, not in winter, I got a Right Whale Project T-shirt, with the whales depicted as if on an engineering blueprint. A pretty irresistible image for an alien design fan!
In the evening we went to the Prudential Center mall and had dinner in the California Pizza Kitchen, then went looking for the Sheraton's Ball Room, where the Boskone committee were setting up, to see if there was anything we could do to help. Ellen pointed to two people coming out of the Sheraton and said "they look like fans," and sure enough they were -- I recognised them from behind as autopope and feorag, so I introduced her to them.
In the Ballroom I saw Geri Sullivan and met Elaine Brennan, who gave me my membership badge. I saw Mark Olson, who I met at Evolution in 1996, so I asked if I could help out, and moved boxes about for a bit.