Since neither Cedric nor I had had any dinner, we set out at around a quarter to nine to find ourselves some grub. Thing was, I’d never stayed at the Omni before, and had no clue what eateries were in the area. Our original plan had been to grab a convenient dinner in the main hotel restaurant, but one look at their menu prices convinced us to look ( Read more... )

For the first time since 2009, I found myself having to take the train to get to Anthrocon.

My now-perennial room/ride share Soggy had some stuff going on in his personal life and was thus unable to make the con this year, and since my chances of finding a brand new fellow attendee who would just happen to be passing through north NJ and be willing ( Read more... )

I’m not sure what time Soggy was up the next morning, but it was a good deal earlier than I was - and I was up before 6am. He may even have made a trip to the truck before I awoke, such an early riser is he. Now normally 6am would be ungodly early for me, but having gotten to bed as early as I had the night before, anytime after 5:00 would have ( Read more... )

Once again, it was Up Early for breakfast down in the Drury cafe.

And once again, it was scrambled eggs and breakfast potatoes.

I skipped the buttermilk biscuit this time - too crumbly. I also skipped the Mello Yello, having finally discovered the orange juice dispenser. And thus did I have a fairly normal breakfast for a change.

Back up in the ( Read more... )

It turned out that Saturday was All About the Eating … with a Parade thrown in the middle somewhere.

Since I did NOT sleep until 10am - or even 8am - that morning, I was able to join Soggy for a trip down to the Drury cafe to see what breakfast fare was on offer. Have I mentioned that the cafe was located on the former banking floor of the building ( Read more... )

And what day might that be? Really couldn’t tell ya.

But what I CAN say is that, for the first time ever in my AC experience, I missed Friday’s Opening Ceremonies due to oversleeping.

I blame it on our view. A lovely view of a brick wall roughly six feet from our only window. A veritable man-made canyon into which little if any daylight ever ( Read more... )

For the first time in three years, I am now back from a Pittsburgh weekend at Anthrocon!

And to say it presented some challenges would be an understatement.

My now-traditional room/ride share Soggy had been kept very busy with his job; this much I surmised when I didn’t hear from him in the days and weeks leading up to AC nearly as frequently as I ( Read more... )

It occurs to me that, while I have long made a tradition of listing all my loot acquired during each Anthrocon, I’ve never done anything similar with my ProgStock posts, in spite of the fact that, since 2018, I’ve come home with a treasure trove of musical goodies quite suited to such a list. (I believe my 2019 haul, in fact, was a whopping 31 CDs ( Read more... )

What to say about the final day of ProgStock 2021?

I think I shall focus on the positive, and gloss over the negative, to the extent that I can.

Judging by the previous day’s travel times and success in making connections, I decided to gamble and take a later train out of Glen Rock. I still got up at 7:30 so I’d have time for a leisurely shower and ( Read more... )

Have I mentioned that I’m still wearing the blue plasticized wrist band I received last Friday? Ayup - and I refuse, on a matter of principle, to take it off until I’ve got all these entries typed up and posted. Got my seat number (H1) written on it and everything! And after multiple showers, too! Guess they weren’t lying when they said it was ( Read more... )