AC Wrap-up, AC wrap-up....
*Well there's certainly nothing like going food shopping at 4:30PM on a summer Monday to slam you back into 'reality' after a Convention weekend. There is not enough Oy in the world to describe the stupid I found there, but I digress....*
Thursday
We arrived in Pittsburgh, having made excellent time since there was not a terrible lot of traffic. We unpacked, hiked to Primanti's with lowen_kind and proceeded to nom. The hubby and I then went to registration, picked up our assorted things and went back to the room to rest.
Friday
I went to Opening Ceremonies, grabbed some lunch then did a quick run through the dealer's room. The mate participated in the Charity poker tournament, finishing 13th place, which wasn't bad since there were 70+ participants. He might have lasted longer but was tired and hungry and wanted dinner. I went to the "Meet Mercedes lackey and Larry Dixon" panel and was quite entertained. They're both pretty awesome folks. We ate at Nicky's Thai Kitchen, which at 8pm was quite crowded, a little loud but really, really tasty. It's a definite repeat for next year.
Saturday
More of the same con-type stuff this day, I pretty much spend the entire weekend in near-constant motion, one of these years I need to bring a pedometer to measure how far I walk. Attended an interesting panel on the Chinese Zodiac and how it may relate to characters and personas that people have. Supersponsor luncheon was huge, this year with around 400 of us it could no longer fit in the usual room so part of the ballroom was converted for the luncheon. Watched the Fursuit Parade and the marriage proposal that happened during it(congrats you two!), then more wandering and finally finding Kamau_d_lyon in the art show and had a nice chance to chat and catch up, while hopefully staying out of the way at the bidder sign-up table. Then it was off to dinner and then standing in line (yay, line-con) for Kage's Story hour. I met a really interesting woman from Sweden, whose name I regret not writing down as I've forgotten it, and chatted with her and a guy from North Carolina (who was big, bald, in a kilt with an awesome goatee/beardy...thing and had a Derpy necklace that I must have) while waiting. Story hour was fun, as was the masquerade.
Sunday
This morning was relatively calm, caught a bit of Sardyuon's performance before heading to the Charity Auction, wherein several bidding wars ensued for a few items. We then went to Gaucho's, an Argentinian steak restaurant, with a wood-fire grill. It was amazing, and I want to eat there again next year, and I will be prepared and be hungrier because my sandwich was huge. Hubby went up to the room after to rest a bit and I wandered around, as I do, and debated a few potential purchases, including a fleece hat with ears that I sat and debated with myself for quite a bit for. I mean, yeah I'm 40 years old and generally someone of my age doesn't go about with an eared hat but eh, I wanted it. The booth was almost packed up by the time I ran up, but they were kind enough to dig through their bags to find the hat. (I now realize the one I got is different to the one that initially caught my eye but, eh, it's cute and I can always get the other one next year.)
I also finally got up the courage to talk to Mercedes Lackey briefly, thanking her for being awesome, which she is, and for her involvement in City of Heroes. We shared a brief moment of commiseration (and then I spent hours afterwards agonizing over the moment, hoping I hadn't come across as an annoying/dorky fan or something like that. Ahhh, the joys of social anxiety) I never did get the chance to speak to Larry Dixon, apart from the random moment when he was standing at the elevators on my floor in the Westin, but he was talking with someone else and I didn't want to intrude. He's...like the eccentric Uncle that you always wanted when you were a kid, who'd show up one day in some old, unusual car and say "let's go on an adventure!" and dammit you would have that adventure and come home a bit dirty, maybe missing a shoe with twigs in your hair but you saw amazing things and learned a lot and so forth.
I waited around for the mate, since he was in line to pick up our art show purchase (a big damn tiger photo-print by Blimp Wolf) He went back up to the room again and I watched the last bit of the Fursuit Games before Closing Ceremonies. This was the first year I'd been able to attend those, since previous years we left early-ish on Sunday. It was nice, and amazing to hear that we'd raised over $30,000 for this year's charity, Equine Angels Rescue with some folks running up with additional donations as the women from the rescue were talking on stage. Also, Tom Minton, the third Guest of Honour is probably the fastest talking person I've seen in a long time. Whew. I also randomly, finally, bumped into joeygatorman as I was on my way back up to my room. It was a brief meeting but it was good to see you again :).
Hm, what else, well, this morning we packed, loaded up the car and drove to Primanti's for our second meal there, our first breakfast there since we, as mentioned before, always left on Sunday before, and headed home. I'm sure I've forgotten a boatload of stuff, but that's pretty much it. Whew, just relaxing now, doing laundry, then it's back to work tomorrow.
tl;dr version: Anthrocon. I came, I saw, I bought stuff, ate good food, walked a shitload of miles (probably) and had fun. I also apparently look like I know what I'm doing as I had several people stop me and ask directions or other assorted things.
Thursday
We arrived in Pittsburgh, having made excellent time since there was not a terrible lot of traffic. We unpacked, hiked to Primanti's with lowen_kind and proceeded to nom. The hubby and I then went to registration, picked up our assorted things and went back to the room to rest.
Friday
I went to Opening Ceremonies, grabbed some lunch then did a quick run through the dealer's room. The mate participated in the Charity poker tournament, finishing 13th place, which wasn't bad since there were 70+ participants. He might have lasted longer but was tired and hungry and wanted dinner. I went to the "Meet Mercedes lackey and Larry Dixon" panel and was quite entertained. They're both pretty awesome folks. We ate at Nicky's Thai Kitchen, which at 8pm was quite crowded, a little loud but really, really tasty. It's a definite repeat for next year.
Saturday
More of the same con-type stuff this day, I pretty much spend the entire weekend in near-constant motion, one of these years I need to bring a pedometer to measure how far I walk. Attended an interesting panel on the Chinese Zodiac and how it may relate to characters and personas that people have. Supersponsor luncheon was huge, this year with around 400 of us it could no longer fit in the usual room so part of the ballroom was converted for the luncheon. Watched the Fursuit Parade and the marriage proposal that happened during it(congrats you two!), then more wandering and finally finding Kamau_d_lyon in the art show and had a nice chance to chat and catch up, while hopefully staying out of the way at the bidder sign-up table. Then it was off to dinner and then standing in line (yay, line-con) for Kage's Story hour. I met a really interesting woman from Sweden, whose name I regret not writing down as I've forgotten it, and chatted with her and a guy from North Carolina (who was big, bald, in a kilt with an awesome goatee/beardy...thing and had a Derpy necklace that I must have) while waiting. Story hour was fun, as was the masquerade.
Sunday
This morning was relatively calm, caught a bit of Sardyuon's performance before heading to the Charity Auction, wherein several bidding wars ensued for a few items. We then went to Gaucho's, an Argentinian steak restaurant, with a wood-fire grill. It was amazing, and I want to eat there again next year, and I will be prepared and be hungrier because my sandwich was huge. Hubby went up to the room after to rest a bit and I wandered around, as I do, and debated a few potential purchases, including a fleece hat with ears that I sat and debated with myself for quite a bit for. I mean, yeah I'm 40 years old and generally someone of my age doesn't go about with an eared hat but eh, I wanted it. The booth was almost packed up by the time I ran up, but they were kind enough to dig through their bags to find the hat. (I now realize the one I got is different to the one that initially caught my eye but, eh, it's cute and I can always get the other one next year.)
I also finally got up the courage to talk to Mercedes Lackey briefly, thanking her for being awesome, which she is, and for her involvement in City of Heroes. We shared a brief moment of commiseration (and then I spent hours afterwards agonizing over the moment, hoping I hadn't come across as an annoying/dorky fan or something like that. Ahhh, the joys of social anxiety) I never did get the chance to speak to Larry Dixon, apart from the random moment when he was standing at the elevators on my floor in the Westin, but he was talking with someone else and I didn't want to intrude. He's...like the eccentric Uncle that you always wanted when you were a kid, who'd show up one day in some old, unusual car and say "let's go on an adventure!" and dammit you would have that adventure and come home a bit dirty, maybe missing a shoe with twigs in your hair but you saw amazing things and learned a lot and so forth.
I waited around for the mate, since he was in line to pick up our art show purchase (a big damn tiger photo-print by Blimp Wolf) He went back up to the room again and I watched the last bit of the Fursuit Games before Closing Ceremonies. This was the first year I'd been able to attend those, since previous years we left early-ish on Sunday. It was nice, and amazing to hear that we'd raised over $30,000 for this year's charity, Equine Angels Rescue with some folks running up with additional donations as the women from the rescue were talking on stage. Also, Tom Minton, the third Guest of Honour is probably the fastest talking person I've seen in a long time. Whew. I also randomly, finally, bumped into joeygatorman as I was on my way back up to my room. It was a brief meeting but it was good to see you again :).
Hm, what else, well, this morning we packed, loaded up the car and drove to Primanti's for our second meal there, our first breakfast there since we, as mentioned before, always left on Sunday before, and headed home. I'm sure I've forgotten a boatload of stuff, but that's pretty much it. Whew, just relaxing now, doing laundry, then it's back to work tomorrow.
tl;dr version: Anthrocon. I came, I saw, I bought stuff, ate good food, walked a shitload of miles (probably) and had fun. I also apparently look like I know what I'm doing as I had several people stop me and ask directions or other assorted things.