Anthrocon 2003 report
Jul. 21st, 2003 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
strredwolfBEST! CON! EVER!!!!
* Wensday eve
Rakarra, Xilimyth, and I decided that since I was going to be fairly early,
I would secure the room. This however required full payment, which I could
do via my Paypal Debit Mastercard. So, they sent over the cash, with
Rakarra covering for Leslie (alas, the uni doesn't have an account. We must
give hir one).
* Thurs afternoon/eve
Took the Amtrak #94 up to 30 street station in Philly. Uneventfull ride,
alas. Main confusion was at the station itself, trying to find things,
confirming what I've heard to where they were. SEPTA's staff was very
helpful. Unfortunately, the #44 bus stops on the other side of a buzy Rt. 1, and
there are no proper crosswalk signals where there are crosswalks. One down
for PennDot!
Xilimyth IM'ed me saying he couldn't make it today, but would make it
tomorrow. Someone had an emergency and he gave up his seat.
Got in the hotel (Holiday Inn), and tried to secure the room. Made a
mistake of being a dollar over what I had in Paypal, and didn't know that
Paypal doesn't like even being one cent overcharged. Heh. Tried it again
after two hours and a phonecall (receiving registration in that span), and
now I'm flat broke (overdrafted my end).
Talked to Kage in that two hours. We've been having problems with the hotel
not giving us the Con rate even though we asked for it. Turns out that
since we have the room now, we were supposed to be given the con rate by
contract with Anthrocon. And they're now giving us the run-around again on
what proceedure is. Rakarra and I will fix it tomorrow. They better
refund a good amount of my card, or give me cash. The extra $10 plus tax
plus a $50 deposit that noone knew about ontop of things isn't helping
matters. If it was the con rate, I would have like $12 in the bank, instead
of being $40 under!!!
Leslie showed up a bit hot under the collar due to a few things after I
secured the room. We cooled off a bit, before heading out to eat... and
catching Rakarra. A small change of plans later got him registered, and us
to Appleby's (not Applebee's), which is a nice little hotel restraunt with
not too bad food and decent prices.
Met Graveyard Greg ("Oh, heya RedWolf. YEIPE! HIDE!!! RUN AWAY RUN
AWAY!!!") who found Karol Luis. Went up there to see Karol after dinner,
and stayed for a bit of conversation. Met Don M in person (had called him
earlier) and a few other MZDM'ers. There should be like 10 of us or so.
So far, so good.
* Fri Morning (sub-2pm)
Woke up at 8am, got a good shower and breakfast in. Con funk is bad, folks.
Bumped into LilBryan early too. We chatted, and I gave the goods (a print
of the first Stalag '99 series and the ashcan) for $25. LilBryan had
brought the booze, and he knows how "dry" I'm am.
Found Wolf Kidd and Max Blackrabbit next to each other in a dealer booth, to
which I asked Wolf to do a sketch. $10 for a WolfSkunk or Dryger Sketch to
send back to him when scanned.
* Fri Afternoon/Eve
The Adams Mark was serving cheap food in the "Zoo" or main gathering area.
In a word, woo hoo.
Went to the Rendering Dark Fur in Acrylics semminar, which turned out quite
what I expected for it: You flood fill in midrange tones and then go back
and detail it with darks and lights. You also don't go for a pure black --
you go for an off black in the blue or red range.
Afterwards, floated around until the Professor Prismo Hosted ART WARS!!!!
I volunteered with another to do a picture relating to Pocky (Japaneze
cookie sticks) -- with condiments. So, I tied Pocky with hockey, using them
as the sticks, and slapping a black olive puck around. The use of the black
olives made us win (with the extra points).
I had gotten my artwork in, but in a small corner behind a pole. I'll try
to overcome it tomorrow with a sign which was said to be OK by Art show
staff. Still, it's in, which means I got to go to the Art Show Mixer with
other artists, sponsors, and more. There's a few artists who could use some
work and time, but there's alot of folk that are just damned good. I got
some work to do on mine.
Tomorrow:
Hyperfurs Lunch.
Webcomics panel.
VCL Mixer/NCD get together.
2's comedy blend.
And Sunday, I just chill for close. Just got to save my cash and that
token.
* Saturday
Woke late enough to make the Hyperfurs Brunch. LilBryan paid for me for a
favor, so I was ok. However, was a bit late for the Webcomics panel, but
then I was able to say to Pete Abrams (Sluggy Freelance) "Yes, you can blame
me for KeenSpot's problems, I'm a KeenSpace admin."
The VCL mixer and NCD get-together was interrupted a bit... by a ton of
conbook swapping.
2's Laughing Cockatoo Comedy Club was a laugh riot. Spazfox's first skit
was fairly good, but 2's rants are worth going no matter what.
* Sunday
Got up, was the first one out. Had breakfast at the Adams Mark, which had a
buffet that was comparable to the Holiday Inn, in both quality and price. I
still wish for a McDonalds close by.
Stuck myself in the Zoo (central gathering place) doing conbooks for folks.
Got these ones in for my own:
Wolf Kidd (paid)
Rancid
Merick
Yiffer
Shannon Douglas
Sardonyx Fox.
Lysozyme
Setti/Flammie
D
KT
...and one other who I have to get her name from.
Closing Cerimonies was not too bad. I was able to ask about if (and when)
the Adams Mark is upgraded to full broadband, the Internet Room should have
a WiFi Hotspot (secured, of course). Volunteered my time to setup for next
year, which I hope I'll have a gateway system set up. 2's message about
being in the main ballroom next year was delivered to the staff... again.
Some folks had praise while others needed further input and research to pull
off.
* Monday
Woke up OK and was able to not only get the bus back intime for the train,
but got my deposit back, as well as getting the rate adjusted with Rakarra's
help ("YOU WON'T?!?? *THOOOOOOOMMMM!*"). I like having a firedragon as
backup. Money back. Gotta love it.
* Conclusions
All in all... BEST CON EVER!!!
Now, if you excuse me, I've had four shots of Kahula's Origonal Mudslide,
and I'm about to go to slee*CRASH!*
* Wensday eve
Rakarra, Xilimyth, and I decided that since I was going to be fairly early,
I would secure the room. This however required full payment, which I could
do via my Paypal Debit Mastercard. So, they sent over the cash, with
Rakarra covering for Leslie (alas, the uni doesn't have an account. We must
give hir one).
* Thurs afternoon/eve
Took the Amtrak #94 up to 30 street station in Philly. Uneventfull ride,
alas. Main confusion was at the station itself, trying to find things,
confirming what I've heard to where they were. SEPTA's staff was very
helpful. Unfortunately, the #44 bus stops on the other side of a buzy Rt. 1, and
there are no proper crosswalk signals where there are crosswalks. One down
for PennDot!
Xilimyth IM'ed me saying he couldn't make it today, but would make it
tomorrow. Someone had an emergency and he gave up his seat.
Got in the hotel (Holiday Inn), and tried to secure the room. Made a
mistake of being a dollar over what I had in Paypal, and didn't know that
Paypal doesn't like even being one cent overcharged. Heh. Tried it again
after two hours and a phonecall (receiving registration in that span), and
now I'm flat broke (overdrafted my end).
Talked to Kage in that two hours. We've been having problems with the hotel
not giving us the Con rate even though we asked for it. Turns out that
since we have the room now, we were supposed to be given the con rate by
contract with Anthrocon. And they're now giving us the run-around again on
what proceedure is. Rakarra and I will fix it tomorrow. They better
refund a good amount of my card, or give me cash. The extra $10 plus tax
plus a $50 deposit that noone knew about ontop of things isn't helping
matters. If it was the con rate, I would have like $12 in the bank, instead
of being $40 under!!!
Leslie showed up a bit hot under the collar due to a few things after I
secured the room. We cooled off a bit, before heading out to eat... and
catching Rakarra. A small change of plans later got him registered, and us
to Appleby's (not Applebee's), which is a nice little hotel restraunt with
not too bad food and decent prices.
Met Graveyard Greg ("Oh, heya RedWolf. YEIPE! HIDE!!! RUN AWAY RUN
AWAY!!!") who found Karol Luis. Went up there to see Karol after dinner,
and stayed for a bit of conversation. Met Don M in person (had called him
earlier) and a few other MZDM'ers. There should be like 10 of us or so.
So far, so good.
* Fri Morning (sub-2pm)
Woke up at 8am, got a good shower and breakfast in. Con funk is bad, folks.
Bumped into LilBryan early too. We chatted, and I gave the goods (a print
of the first Stalag '99 series and the ashcan) for $25. LilBryan had
brought the booze, and he knows how "dry" I'm am.
Found Wolf Kidd and Max Blackrabbit next to each other in a dealer booth, to
which I asked Wolf to do a sketch. $10 for a WolfSkunk or Dryger Sketch to
send back to him when scanned.
* Fri Afternoon/Eve
The Adams Mark was serving cheap food in the "Zoo" or main gathering area.
In a word, woo hoo.
Went to the Rendering Dark Fur in Acrylics semminar, which turned out quite
what I expected for it: You flood fill in midrange tones and then go back
and detail it with darks and lights. You also don't go for a pure black --
you go for an off black in the blue or red range.
Afterwards, floated around until the Professor Prismo Hosted ART WARS!!!!
I volunteered with another to do a picture relating to Pocky (Japaneze
cookie sticks) -- with condiments. So, I tied Pocky with hockey, using them
as the sticks, and slapping a black olive puck around. The use of the black
olives made us win (with the extra points).
I had gotten my artwork in, but in a small corner behind a pole. I'll try
to overcome it tomorrow with a sign which was said to be OK by Art show
staff. Still, it's in, which means I got to go to the Art Show Mixer with
other artists, sponsors, and more. There's a few artists who could use some
work and time, but there's alot of folk that are just damned good. I got
some work to do on mine.
Tomorrow:
Hyperfurs Lunch.
Webcomics panel.
VCL Mixer/NCD get together.
2's comedy blend.
And Sunday, I just chill for close. Just got to save my cash and that
token.
* Saturday
Woke late enough to make the Hyperfurs Brunch. LilBryan paid for me for a
favor, so I was ok. However, was a bit late for the Webcomics panel, but
then I was able to say to Pete Abrams (Sluggy Freelance) "Yes, you can blame
me for KeenSpot's problems, I'm a KeenSpace admin."
The VCL mixer and NCD get-together was interrupted a bit... by a ton of
conbook swapping.
2's Laughing Cockatoo Comedy Club was a laugh riot. Spazfox's first skit
was fairly good, but 2's rants are worth going no matter what.
* Sunday
Got up, was the first one out. Had breakfast at the Adams Mark, which had a
buffet that was comparable to the Holiday Inn, in both quality and price. I
still wish for a McDonalds close by.
Stuck myself in the Zoo (central gathering place) doing conbooks for folks.
Got these ones in for my own:
Wolf Kidd (paid)
Rancid
Merick
Yiffer
Shannon Douglas
Sardonyx Fox.
Lysozyme
Setti/Flammie
D
KT
...and one other who I have to get her name from.
Closing Cerimonies was not too bad. I was able to ask about if (and when)
the Adams Mark is upgraded to full broadband, the Internet Room should have
a WiFi Hotspot (secured, of course). Volunteered my time to setup for next
year, which I hope I'll have a gateway system set up. 2's message about
being in the main ballroom next year was delivered to the staff... again.
Some folks had praise while others needed further input and research to pull
off.
* Monday
Woke up OK and was able to not only get the bus back intime for the train,
but got my deposit back, as well as getting the rate adjusted with Rakarra's
help ("YOU WON'T?!?? *THOOOOOOOMMMM!*"). I like having a firedragon as
backup. Money back. Gotta love it.
* Conclusions
All in all... BEST CON EVER!!!
Now, if you excuse me, I've had four shots of Kahula's Origonal Mudslide,
and I'm about to go to slee*CRASH!*
