LepreCon 38

Easter Weekend 2012 I worked the local science fiction / fantasy convention, LepreCon 38. It was sponsored by Leprecon Inc. I physically visited LepreCon 13 in 1987 and have been on staff every year since then. This year I was the Hotel Liaison and the Treasurer, although I was only the latter because the Chair could not find anyone else to do the job. That was still better than last year when I had to do those two positions plus Guest Liaison. The con was held at Tempe Mission Palms Hotel, downtown Tempe, Arizona. It was the site of World Fantasy Con 2004, Nebulas 2006, Westercon 62 (2009) and North American Discworld Con (2009). Should we win the bid to host NASFiC 2014, then it will be there as well. Guests-of-Honor were Franchesco! (Artist), Joe Haldeman (Author), Mark Greenawalt (Local Artist), Todd VanHooser (Gaming), Stephen Furst (Media), Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff (Music). We had about 422 total members with about 380 warm bodies. Final figures will be determined once we've recovered.

Thursday April 5 we took possession of some of the function space in the afternoon like Dealers Room and Art Show. Consuite and Staff Lounge came earlier. We didn't have a Green Room, so we rolled it into SL. Program space came to us early evening as well as Friday. Console Gaming got in on Thursday while Board Gaming got in on Friday due to another group being ahead of us. Since my wife was Guest Liaison we retrieved our Artist GoH from the airport Thursday afternoon, then I ran back to get the Author GoH and his wife early in the evening. The Local Artist and Gaming GoHs were local, so they came on their own. Our Filk (Music) Liaison oversaw the Music GoHs, so we didn't have to worry about them. Friday Apri 6 I also picked up our Media GoH. Thankfully, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport is close to the con hotel. I also picked up our roommate from Florida whom we hadn't seen for several years.

I spent much of my time dealing with hotel issues with Thu and Fri being the traditional tough days. I also had to make sure Registration and Art Show had starting cash. Daily I had to pick up Reg funds at night and then leave funds in the morning. Art Show dealt with their own then settled up on Sunday. Charity Auction also got a cash box for Sat only. Because of an offsite movie showing of Animal House with Stephen Furst playing Flounder I also had to set up a cash bag for possible memberships, but that produced none. Our roommate was the Fan Table Coordinator for the Phoenix In 2014 NASFiC Bid table and took two pre-support memberships! The only major issue we had came up Sat night / Sun morning when an overzealous security person for the hotel decided it was time to lock all the function space. Unfortunately, that occurred during the one hour I ran home to take care of pets and my phone died from overuse earlier in the day. Otherwise, everyone at the hotel was absolutely great.

Sunday I got to return our Artist GoH and Media GoH to the airport. Monday afternoon I did the same for our Author GoH. I then started the slow process of depositing funds into our checking account. Since we have a low activity account if I put too much in too fast we get zinged for fees. I learned that the hard way for Lep34. Usually by the end of the first week post-con I've got most of it deposited. With the Space Access Conference starting Thursday I may not have time to do that. I'm second in command for that event. It's a rocket science conference. How cool is that?

We've gotten lots of positive feedback online about Lep38. Photos will be viewable soon from our Historian. Lots of folks made the convention successful and I'd like to thank them here and now for doing so. It's a team effort and they all deserve accolades for their efforts :-) Next year we are working on a new contract with another hotel since TMPH doesn't have availability for the weekends we need. But two years in a row is a good run when we normally compete with ASU graduation nearby.

<== Mike ==>

Awhile back a friend on Facebook posted something about a free e-book if you were willing to review the book. So I said yes and he sent me the book mentioned in the subject line of this post. After reading quite a few poorly edited and short e-books on PC for Kindle I was expecting more of the same. Boy, was I wrong!

Specific Impulse by Charles Justiz was an excellent read. It wasn't clear up front that it was science fiction, but it certainly turned out to be. It pretty much takes place on Earth and mostly around the American Southwest. There was plenty of mystery, action, intrigue, govermental involvement and personal struggle. It was pleasantly error-free with only an occasional typo. After my most recent reads electronically I felt it was professionally edited.

I found the protagonists introduced at the beginning believeable and intelligently written. The antagonists were also written well. As the story develops it gets more complicated, but thankfully almost all threads are tied up by the end of the book. Enough was left open for a sequel, but not annoyingly so. The science was used well and the technology was either already in existence or has been speculated about for several years.

All in all this was a good read. Because of my schedule I tend to read short portions of material when I can. This book was the exception as I not only read one chapter at a time (per day), but also I looked forward to reading the next chapter (the next day). By the last few chapters I just read them all rather than wait any longer. It took me just over a month because of the length and my schedule. Your mileage may vary.

In short, go out and find this book, buy it and read it. I liked it that well. You may, too!

Friday night I took Jean to see the movie (in 3D, not Imax) John Carter of Mars.

EXCELLENT!

<== Mike ==>

DarkCon was held over MLK Day Weekend (Jan 12-15) at the Mesa Marriott Hotel about 12 miles east of the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. DarkCon is sponsored by DarkOnes Inc a 501(c)(10) fraternal organization. They hold it every two to three years once they reach an internal critical mass.

I was Hotel Liaison for DarkCon 2004 and 2007, wasn't for 2010 but was for 2012. So I negotiated the contract and implemented it pre-con as well as at-con. We're just waiting for the hotel bill now. We do know that we set a new record for room nights which is one of the major things I have encouraged them to increase. More room nights, easier to negotiate next time. Attendance was around 500 as an estimate. They had several media guests as well as an author guest (Jacqueline Carey). Rather than the regular memberships only they also offered VIP memberships which brought in lots of extra money. They had a large gaming room, a reasonable merchant room, a number of program rooms, one hospitality suite and a party/events room in function space. See www.darkcon.org for more details.

We had relatively few problems during the event. The hotel was great and responsive. The biggest problem was a couple who checked in using her debit card, but the hotel failed to notify her that they were adding incidentals onto the charge. This caused her card to fail, but they weren't notified until they were locked out of their room. So they used his debit card for the total amount instead of just the incidentals which caused them to have no funds for food or merchandise. Eventually the hotel and the bank sorted it out so the couple had room to breathe. I warned them to use a credit card in the future to check in, then pay using the debit card when checking out. They clearly don't travel much.

I commuted to and from the convention daily. I would take Jean to work, then go into the con. I would then return to take Jean home or perhaps dinner first, then I'd head back to the hotel again. Generally I'd be home by midnight to take care of pets before crashing. Post-con it took me several days to recover and get back into the usual pattern.

The folks I met there had a great time. The staff seemed to enjoy it as well. This year's theme was Steampunk and it was popular. They had several parties with lots of costumes. It is different from general interest science fiction / fantasy conventions. I don't know when the next one will be held yet. It will be at least 2014, possibly 2015.

Overall it went well and I had fun.

Happy New Year to all!

2011 was a good, but challenging year. We didn't do as much traveling out of state and certainly didn't travel out of country at all, unlike 2010. Our health is still good, we lost a few more pets (cats), and a few friends. Our gift shop (Tomes And Treasures Inc) is still in business, but after just more than one year open it is still in the red. I've made progress in cleaning up the yard, much to the satisfaction of the city, but have a ways to go before they will actually be happy. We clearly have a difference in mindset since we have been here since the late 1920s / early 1930s before the city was even incorporated. I haven't read nearly as much fiction as I'd like, but Jean has thanks to her Kindle. Now that we have an Android tablet computer I've put Kindle for Android on it and can read things myself there. Jean had cataract surgery in both eyes and can now see almost 20/20 in both eyes.

We have a number of trips planned for 2012. Since we're bidding to bring the 2014 NASFiC to Phoenix should London win their Worldcon bid we'll be visiting conventions we've never attended before. Thanks to the help from that Bid Team we should be able to get the word out through the year. LepreCon 38, our local convention, will be over Easter Weekend this year instead of its traditional dates over Mothers Day Weekend. Leprecon Inc is also starting up a new gaming convention, ConFlagration, in late June. After the demise of one well established gaming event a few years ago and two recent attempts to run an annual gaming event that ceased we hope the new one will be successful. Time will tell.

Mike

My wife, Jean, and I attended LosCon 38 this year. This is Los Angeles’ annual science fiction / fantasy convention held at the LAX Marriott Hotel near the airport. It is over American Thanksgiving Weekend. We drove over on Thursday after doing Thanksgiving Dinner in west Phoenix as we crossed town. We arrived late that evening and checked into our room, this year in the party area on the 17th floor.

Friday we headed out with friends from Virginia to shop at a nearby Costco. I had to get party supplies for the Saturday evening party we were throwing for the Phoenix In 2014 NASFiC Bid (www.phoenixin2014.org). After getting most of what we needed there I got the rest at Albertson’s grocery store next door. We then settled on a lunch restaurant in Los Angeles, House of Pies. It was featured on one of the television programs awhile back. I had the chicken pot pie and a dessert pie; they were good, but not outstanding. We then returned to the hotel briefly to drop off our friends before we headed to another store for some additional shopping. We got back and I set up the fan table for the bid. Mexican blanket, plastic stands with bid info, flyers for folks to fill out, etc. We were located next to Westercon 66 / Sacramento and Westercon 67 Bid for Salt Lake City. Our location was right across from the elevators, so we got excellent exposure. Before I shut down the table some friends from the Bay Area dropped by to inquire about dinner. We agreed to meet in the lobby at 630pm and go from there. After selling a few pre-support memberships I took our stuff up to the room. Jean wasn’t feeling great, so she opted out of dinner. I agreed to bring her some instead. When I went to meet our friends the husband indicated that his wife was not up to going out, so instead we walked to a nearby Greek restaurant. It was good and I got dinner for Jean before returning. After getting back I hit the parties on the 17th floor before heading back to crash. I did hear a member remark at the LosCon 39 party that the hotel offered him a lower rate than the convention rate. I asked him to repeat it to the Hotel Liaison who was nearby and he did. I’m sure the hotel heard about that as it affected their room night totals. All weekend I heard from fans complaining about their Consuite. Apparently, they didn’t make their 80% of the room block and the con opted to get food from the hotel to supply in Consuite. The one time I stopped by it was closed and the rest of the weekend I only heard complaints.

Saturday I got our stuff together for the fan table and headed downstairs. After awhile Jean came down and I headed to the lounge upstairs for lunch. I dropped by the Dealers Room and checked out the Art Show before relieving Jean at the fan table. I sold more pre-supports before it was time to shut it down. Jean was resting, so I got dinner to go for us from the lounge before setting up for the party. Decorations, bowls, salsa, chips, etc. Bill Laubenheimer stopped by to help and we finished the setup before opening. The party went well and we sold even more pre-supports. Midnight rolled around and we shut the party down, cleaned up a bit, I hit a few parties and crashed.

Sunday I set up the table again after final cleanup from the party, had some help from other Bid Team volunteers so I could get to the Dealers Room again, have lunch again, and sold more pre-supports. Thanks to Cathy Mullican and Carole Parker for helping out at the table. I closed the table and we made plans with local friends to join them for dinner. We all settled on letting them drive us to a barbecue restaurant in Marina Del Rey. The food was good and we were dropped off at the hotel. We spent the evening relaxing and catching up on stuff.

Monday we packed up, met our VA friends for lunch, checked out and headed off for home. We listen to audiobooks while on the road and we finished one series as we were arriving home. Unfortunately, as we pulled in I noticed a river of water flowing across the yard. Turns out the small leak I had noticed earlier became a large leak. In the end we had to replace 90’ of pipe with new high-tech plastic stuff, $2400+ later. But our petsitter said he saw no water, so the longest it could have run was 1.5 days. I still have to contact the city to find out if they have a forgiveness program.

In summary, the bid did very well pulling in about 40 pre-supporters and over $1300. The con was controversial because of Consuite, but what little we saw was ok. We got to eat with friends and discovered another good restaurant. We look forward to next year’s LosCon.

My wife, Jean, and I attended this year's World Fantasy Convention. It was held in San Diego, California, at the Town & Country Hotel. Visit www.worldfantasy.org and

follow the link for 2011 for more details.

We decided to travel our normal dates: depart the day before and return the day after. WFC is traditionally over Halloween Weekend and this year was no exception. So

we drove over Wednesday and back on Monday, returning on Halloween night. We got started late as usual, around 430pm MST after boarding our dog, and arrived

around 1045pm PDT. One of our roommates had already arrived from Seattle, so we checked in and found our room in the northeast tower. She was still up, so we

talked until late and finally crashed.

Thursday morning we got up late, went out for lunch to meet a local friend with our roommate, shopped for food and drink, then returned to the hotel to find our other

roommate from Los Angeles had arrived. Jean and I then wandered down to Registration to get our badges and freebie books. As is typical with conventions I ran into

folks from the time I got into the convention center. We attended Opening Ceremonies, then Jean stayed for the San Diego Zoo presentation while I visited the Book

Room. By the time I left Jean had returned to the hotel room. So I headed back and we made plans for dinner. One of our favorite restaurants in San Diego is the Butcher

Shop off of State Route 163 near Clairmont Boulevard. We drove up there and had steaks for dinner, then returned. I went off to visit the parties, got to chat with fellow

board members (I've been on since winning the WFC2004 bid in 2002) and make some new friends. I finally got tired and crashed around midnight so I could get up

early enough to make the first of two board meetings.

Friday morning I got up early, cleaned up and stopped by Hospitality Suite for calories. I wandered around trying to find the Tiki Room where the board meeting would be

held, finally found it, and consumed more calories. This board meeting was open to the public and consisted of folks bidding for future WFCs. DC/Virginia bid for 2014,

Columbus OH bid for 2015, Austin TX bid for 2015/2016, Brisbane Australia indicated intent to bid for 2015/2016/2017. We reviewed their details presented and then

adjourned. I stuck around to work with various board members on different committees, then contacted Jean about lunch. We left the hotel to eat at Sombrero's Mexican

Restaurant near Qualcomm Way and Friar's Road. It is now one of our favorite restaurants in that city. Afterwards we stopped by the store to get a birthday card for our

local friend's oldest son. We were invited to his party Friday night and wanted to take a card. So we returned to the hotel and I visited the convention, hung out at the

early parties, then we headed off to visit our friends. We dined with them while their son and friends played video games. After about two hours we left and returned. By

then the Autograph Reception was in full force and I got involved with board member discussions. I finally started wandering around, saying hello to lots of authors I

knew. After I hit the parties again before crashing.

Saturday morning I slept in while our roommates got up. We did lunch offsite again with another friend from Comic Con there. We met her at Luigi's Pizzeria which had

moved after being featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. After a couple of hours we came back to the con. I spent some time in the Art Show and Book Room, then ran

into two former ASFA board members. Both Jean and I are currently on their board. We got invited to join them for dinner, but Jean wasn't feeling up to it and stayed in

the room. So we three headed to Trellis' and had a fine dinner. I learned a lot about ASFA before I got involved and I gave them some insight into recent changes and

decisions. Once done I headed to the Artists' Reception, then the parties. Finally, I cashed it in around midnight.

Sunday I got up early again, grabbed lox and bagels in Hospitality, then headed to the board meeting. After more calories we started the public portion of the meeting,

then closed it for members only. Amsterdam had shown up to bid 2015/2016 and apologized for not knowing about the Friday meeting. We discussed the bids, brought

the bidders back in for comments, then proceeded to the rest of the agenda. This time all the serious bidders were also board members. In the end we didn't award any

future WFC for one reason or another. Because of the time and the pending banquet for the WF Awards we adjourned. I made sure our roommates paid their correct

share of the room before they left town, took one to the airport and later another friend after we went off for lunch again, did more shopping and returned. I spent some

time in the Book Room, hit the Hospitality Suite, skipped dinner to just graze off of Dead Dog, and chatted with friends. The hotel had botched our room rate and our

individual folios. I had written up a manual spreadsheet for the manager that showed how much each of us owed. They gave me a photocopy so I could show it when we

checked out in the morning.

Monday we packed up and checked out. I had to show the manager my email containing the room rate which was honored. In the end we paid our portion which was

within $1 of what I had calculated. She also agreed to refund the one roommate that had been charged too much. The other had paid what I told her to pay, so she was

ok. We hit Daphne's Greek Restaurant, near Sombrero's, for lunch before heading back to Phoenix. Listening to audiobooks the time flew by and we got home that

evening. We unboarded our dog after dinner and headed home to unpack and crash.

Next year's WFC will be in Toronto, Canada. In 2013 it will be in Brighton, England. No word yet on 2014 onward.

During Worldcon 2011 in Reno, NV (Renovation) I announced that Leprecon Inc was sponsoring a bid to host NASFiC in Phoenix in 2014 should London (UK) win their bid for Worldcon 2014. Since then the Phoenix in 2014 NASFiC Bid has had a presence at CopperCon 31 (Avondale, AZ), Conjecture (San Diego, CA), and FenCon / Deep South Con (Addison, TX).

At CopperCon we sold four Pre-Supports. At Conjecture we had flyers with someone speaking to folks as time allowed due to con responsibilities.

For FenCon I drove with my wife via Amarillo, TX (northern route) to Addison, TX (suburb of Dallas). We staffed a fan table and threw a party Saturday night. There were about 900 warm bodies and about a dozen parties. Because of this most of our food was donated to Consuite post-party for general consumption. We sold three Pre-Supports and one Pre-Oppose.

Our next scheduled convention will be World Fantasy Con in San Diego (flyers) over Halloween Weekend, then TusCon 38 in Tucson (flyers) in mid-November. From there we’ll be at LosCon 38 in Los Angeles to staff a fan table and host a party.

For those who don’t understand NASFiC (North American Science Fiction Convention) it only occurs in years when Worldcon is overseas (off of North America). Should London win their bid at Chicon 7 (Worldcon 2012), then the provision for NASFiC activates. The vote for NASFiC will be at LoneStarCon 3 (Worldcon 2013) should London win the year before. If Phoenix wins, then we have one year to plan the convention. However, we’re already working on a hotel contract with an opt-out clause in case either NASFiC isn’t activated or if we don’t win. Right now we have no competition, but that may change. If all goes well we have about 36 months to visit conventions around the continent. We plan to hold the event the weekend before London’s advertised dates. That is tentative on the dates the hotel gave us. Once approved and signed we’ll let folks know the details. Right now it means early August 2014.

As we always do we attended World Science Fiction Convention, this year in Reno, Nevada. Jean and I started out Monday afternoon (August 15) with a van loaded with food service equipment borrowed from Leprecon Inc, our local sf/f convention. Lep voted to loan the equipment for use by the Association of Science Fiction & Fantasy Artists Inc in their hospitality suite. Jean is ASFA's Secretary and I'm their Central Region Director (even though I live in the Mountain Region). We headed northwest out of Phoenix using US93 (and I-40 briefly) and after 300 miles got into Las Vegas, Nevada. We never stayed at La Quinta Hotels in LV, so we tried the least expensive one on Paradise Lane east of the strip. It turned out to be a nice property. We unloaded what we needed, got online for a bit and crashed.

Tuesday August 16 we woke, cleaned up, packed the van, checked out and hit the road. This time we took US95 north towards Reno, about 450 miles away. We encountered traffic construction near Goldfield which required us to wait for about 20 minutes before we could move forward. We also ran into a similar problem near Schurtz, NV. That delay was about the same. After awhile we jogged onto US50 west before continuing on US95. We ended up arriving at the Atlantis Hotel around 630pm which was too late to fetch one of our roommates from the nearby airport. Anticipating this in advance I had called our other roommate who was arriving by car from Los Angeles earlier than we were. She agreed to retrieve the other and they arrived at the hotel as we were arriving. We used Bell Service to unpack our stuff from the van, checked into the hotel which was easy due to our earlier roommate, and settled in. The four of us got to know the others. Ita, my LA friend, had not met my wife or our other friend, Cary. Cary is the At-Large Director for ASFA and ran the ASFA Suite at Worldcon in 2009 (Anticipation) in Montreal, Quebec. After awhile we hit the few parties open which were a few floors above us after doing dinner in the hotel (Manhattan Deli). Jean and I had the double decker pastrami and corned beef sandwiches; we got two meals out of it. I started with lox and bagels while Cary started with pickled herring, then had something else that I can't remember. After the parties we got online, then shut down for the evening.

Wednesday August 17 we got up at different times to not overload the bathroom. Once that logistical nightmare was resolved we grabbed lunch before shopping at Costco for food and beverages for the ASFA Suite. We had arranged for the suite via Renovation and check-in was in the afternoon. After we got back Cary handled the Bell Service while I checked into the suite. For some reason they didn't have my name on the reservation, just Cary's. Additionally, it wasn't set up on the Master Account correctly as pre-arranged with the con. Thankfully, Ben Yalow (Facilities Division Head) and Joyce Hooper (Hotel Liaison) were in the lobby. As I went to get Cary I mentioned to them there was a snag. They called me back, Ben had the suite added to the master and Joyce got my name added so we could check in. I joined Cary in going upstairs and the Bell Staff unloaded everything into the suite. I helped a bit before returning to the room to fetch Jean. We headed over to the convention center to get our memberships. The path was across the second floor of the hotel through the arcade, past Consuite in a few ballrooms, through a gerbil tunner (passenger tube over the street to the south of the hotel) and down an escalator. The line at Registration was long, but was moving well. I got in line while Jean waited at some tables with our southern friends. Once I got close she joined me, we got our badges and reg material, then she headed off to get her motorized wheelchair. I tried to talk her into one last year in Melbourne, Australia, but she declined. This year I was successful and it was a lifesaver for her. Our friend, Sally Woehrle, handled Disabled Services and two other friends, Judith Herman and Bill Thomasson, worked as staff. We hung out with our friends for awhile, then I took off to see Dr Demento and his music show. I had heard him on the radio for years and now got to see him in person! It was great. Lots of familiar strange music. He even showed some videos. I reconnected with Jean and we hit the ASFA Suite. From there we met friends for dinner at the Purple Parrot (24hr restaurant at the Atlantis Hotel). We returned to the ASFA Suite for an ASFA board meeting. We then opened up to our members, their guests, and anyone interested in art. We were on the 17th floor along with the SFWA Suite and the Staff Den. Jean returned to the room while I hit the parties on the 15th and 16th floors. After more food and drink I got back to the room for online work and sleep.

Thursday August 18 was a busy day. The Spokane Convention and Visitors Bureau representative, Shannon, arrived with the Convention Center rep, Kelsey. I'm on the bid committee for the Spokane in 2015 Worldcon Bid and am handling their facilities negotiations. I took Shannon and Kelsey around the entire convention showing them the exhibits, dealers room, art show, programming breakouts, ASFA Suite as a sample hospitality suite, etc. We ended at the bid table for Spokane where I left them to help tell folks about our proposed sites. I had to get ready for the ASFA Annual Meeting. Since neither our President nor our Vice President were attending I was in charge of running things; I was the previous President so have experience in doing so. We had a good turnout, read the minutes from the previous board meeting, and brought folks (members and non-members) up to speed on what we were doing. They gave us great input. 7 out of 9 directors were in attendance. We then split up to get ready for the Chesley Reception and Awards Ceremony that evening. I also had to retrieve our replacement roommate from the airport since Cary was now staying in the suite. Sharon arrived on time and I got her back and settled in quickly. She had met Jean before, but not Ita. I had to make a presentation at the Fannish Inquisition about our launch of Phoenix In 2014 NASFiC Bid (should London, UK, win the Worldcon Bid that year) as well as be around in case there were questions about Spokane. Next came dressing for the reception/ceremony, attend to eat and drink, the awards ceremony went well, and I returned to the suite to relax, chat with members, etc. I finished the day with more parties, more food, more beverages, more conversation.

Friday August 19 was much lighter. Caught some programming, shopped again for the ASFA Suite, saw some of the dealers room, visited the fan tables, Jean and I voted for Texas in 2013 Worldcon Bid (running opposed), ate dinner with fellow Compuserve friends, met a Mexican artist in the ASFA Suite who had never been to Worldcon before. So I took him around to all the parties, introduced him to smoked salmon, party hopping, mull/linger/chat techniques. He seemed to appreciate it. I left when he left and returned to the room for the usual.

Saturday August 20 was more of the same. Hit the ASFA Suite for breakfast, attend the Business Meeting to re-announce the Phoenix in 2014 NASFiC Bid, attended the following Mark Protection Committee meeting (I had been a member last year for Raleigh NASFiC 2010), upgraded our memberships in San Antonio 2013 from Supporting to Attending, then moved on to help at the fan tables (offered for Spokane, but Westercon 2012 needed me more). I got to see the art show, more of the dealers room, checked out the late Ken Moore Art Exhibit, then headed off to the Peppermill Hotel with Ita to see the Hugo Awards Ceremony. Our other roommate, Sharon, joined us and so did Dina Krause (Facilities for Raleigh NASFiC 2010) and her husband, George. The Hugos were quite good and a few folks won whom I knew or were friends. I didn't vote for some of the winners, but alas, that's always the case. We returned to our hotel where I hit some parties, joined a friend for a late night dinner, then crashed.

Sunday August 21 I had to help Cary pack out the ASFA Suite so we had Bell Service load out the suite, load it into the van, checked out of the suite and took her to the airport. Jean and I had lunch, returned her wheelchair, attended Closing Ceremonies and chatted with friends. We had been invited to have dinner with Richard Hescox (artist) and his wife, Alice. Joining them was Judith Herman, Bob Eggleton (artist), his wife, Marianne Plumridge (artist), Alice's brother who lives nearby, a friend of Bob's and the friend's wife. Turns out the brother and the friend were amateur astronomers, so we had a great chat about telescopes, observatories, astrophotography, etc. Dinner was grilled chicken, corn, salad, etc. We had a great time and brought Judith back to the hotel with us. I then heard from a Bay Area friend so joined her and friends for drinks on the second floor near Consuite. Before the evening was over I had to meet with ASFA Treasurer, Laura Domitz, also a Division Head for Reno, so we could reconcile the suite accounting. I got my refund and left for the room, giving up on parties.

Monday August 22 we met Virginia friends for breakfast, took them to the airport, took Judith and Sharon to the airport, checked out of our room, loaded stuff into the van, did lunch at Manhattan Deli at the hotel then took off to visit Sportif Outlet Store in nearby Sparks. We then left for Carson City, Nevada's capitol, before continuing on US95 alternate towards Las Vegas. We had planned to meet fellow Phoenix fans for dinner upon arrival, but didn't get there until around 1130pm. We stayed at La Quinta again and crashed.

Tuesday August 23 we left LV for Phoenix. We stopped for lunch at the Coffee Cup Cafe in Boulder City, NV. The bypass bridge across the Colorado River makes things go smoothly instead of having to cross Hoover Dam. There's now a state route that takes you there should you want to take the tour. We got home around 7pm and it was early enough to unboard the dog. We partially unpacked the van before getting online, feeding the pets and crashing.

Although Renovation wasn't the best Worldcon we have ever attended it was certainly above normal. We had a good time, always had something to see or do, didn't get to nearly enough programming, but that's ok as we have many friends to hang with. Next year Worldcon moves to Chicago for Chicon 7. I've already been tapped to help with pre-con programming doing science stuff. The Chair of Westercon 2012, Bobbie Dufault, is the Programming Division Head so I'll be working for her. I did this same job for ConJose in 2002, TorCon 3 in 2003, briefly for Noreascon 4 in 2004, then LACon 4 in 2006. So I'm familiar with the process. Since it's all pre-con I'll have time to enjoy the convention!

Comic Con International: San Diego, 2011

Jean and I volunteered again this year for CCI in SD. This was our 24th year. She's been in Artists Alley the entire time. I've mostly been in Programming.

We started out by leaving on Monday July 18, a day earlier than our recent normal. We left Scottsdale, AZ, in time to reach San Diego, CA, in time to join friends of ours for dinner. We hung out with them for many hours, then transferred to a nearby La Quinta hotel where we used a free room night. It took us about 6.5 hours to make the trip in our Honda Civic Hybrid (2007) where we averaged just under 31 mpg due to the speeds along the way, but no more than 5 mph over the entire trip. The hybrid really doesn't do well on mileage at high speeds like that.

On Tuesday July 19 we returned to our friends' home to join them offsite for lunch. They drove us to World Curry in Pacific Beach (or somewhere near La Jolla) and encouraged me to try the hottest curry on the menu. So I did. Thanks to three glasses of Thai tea with cream and the coconut ice cream at the end I managed to finish the plate, thus getting to put my name on the board of those who conquered the curry. Would that make me a concurriador? We then hit the beach before returning home. Jean and I transferred to the Manchester Hyatt Hotel for the rest of the stay. Our roommate, an artist friend, arrived late and we stayed up late to chat; Jean already knew him while I had never met him.

Wednesday July 20 (Moon Landing Day) we headed over to nearby Seaport Village for lunch. At first we ran into a problem when the hotel wouldn't let us exit the west entrance of our tower, the closest one to the village (very Prisoner-esque). Some VIP was coming in and the hotel had that entrance closed. After pitching a fit about Jean's ambulatory restrictions and so on the rep finally let us pass and we walked over to a sandwich shop just as the power to the village went out. Thankfully, they still took our order, but we had to pay cash and couldn't use the soda dispenser (or anything else that required power). We had a great lunch together before heading to the convention center to get our badges. This year they emailed us barcodes to turn into the Staff Reg booth; our artist friend had to go to Pro Reg, then check into Artists Alley at that booth. I then went upstairs to the Program Office in Room 10 to get my comp passes so I could leave a couple back at the hotel for some friends I met in San Jose earlier this month at Westercon. Another had already gone to a friend who gave it to a child he knew and the rest went to Jean to give to some local friends who had visited her gift shop in Scottsdale a month or so ago. Since I couldn't get into the Exhibit Hall to visit Jean I went back to the hotel for awhile. We were supposed to have dinner with our local friends from above, but due to traffic they couldn't make it. So, we waited to do dinner until after Preview Night was over. I had to attend a Program Team Meeting at 9pm and pick up my grey team polo shirts (2), so when done I came back to the hotel to join Jean and our friend at Buster's Restaurant at Seaport Village for dinner.

Thursday July 21 we headed to the convention center together where I split off to head upstairs to Room 10 while Jean and roommate headed to Hall G downstairs for Artists Alley. I got my clipboard, met my team of three fellow grey-shirts and we set up Room 6A with name placards and chocolate Hershey's Kisses for the speakers. We let the line of members enter an hour early, then Line Control handled them throughout the weekend while we handled the panelists/guests. I managed to go offsite for lunch at Ralph's grocery store where I had their deli make me a custom sandwich for much less than at the convention center. We were supplied with sandwiches as part of full-time staff, but Ralph's are always better. I worked the rest of the day until about 5pm when the night shift came on. I took off and went downstairs via the Mezzanine to walk through the back of the Exhibit Hall to ultimately find Jean at AA control desk. I hung out there until she got off when the hall closed at 7pm. From there we returned to the hotel. Jean and I were supposed to meet a friend offsite for dinner, but she was too tired. So I drove off and met him at Tamarind Thai. We had a good meal and got caught up on conventions, cars and life in general. I had to stop at Albertson's grocery store along the way back and got to see some of San Diego I hadn't before, but was back at the hotel soon enough.

Friday July 22 we repeated Thursday except for dinner where we hit the lounge at the hotel, Redfield's. They had good quesadillas and chicken wings. I liked their hot sauce on the side while Jean liked them dry. I then washed my second shirt for use on Sunday.

Saturday July 23 was another repeat except for lunch and dinner. I walked over to Seaport Village for lunch at the sandwich place from Wed. After Jean got off duty on Sat we decided to miss the Masquerade and head back to the hotel. We tried to do dinner nearby, but our choices were too busy. Back we went to Redfield's for more quesadillas and wings.

Sunday July 24 was different in that I hit the Greek restaurant at SV for lunch, then went by the Marriott Hotel for the fulfillment center. That's where I picked up my Volunteers shirt and some other goodies. We finished off our room around 430pm, dumped our shirts in the laundry pile in the back of Room 10, hung around for the final meeting, gave hugs to people until next year, and I waited for Jean to leave the Exhibit Hall. It is traditional for the AA team to do dinner together at the Butcher Shop north of downtown. I ended up driving me, Jean, roommate, local friend and San Diego friend to the restaurant. We ordered, talked, then dropped the SD friend off at her vehicle before returning to the hotel. And we talked until we all crashed.

Monday July 25 we packed, I drove our roommate and local friend to the airport, returned to check out and loaded the car. We then headed north to our friends' house to drop off a few items, headed south and east to meet other friends for a barbecue lunch, then hit the road to come home. We got back about 6 hours later after hitting the post offices where we have access to the mailboxes. Total trip was just under 900 miles, around 33 mpg although the last leg from Yuma was 40 mpg since we did the speed limit or less the entire way. We're still unpacking the car, but managed to retrieve our dog from boarding late. Thankfully, they stay open late. She was very glad to come home.

I got to say hi to Paul Cornell (Doctor Who writer) when we passed each other outside my hotel. I saw, but didn't get to say hi to, Pat Tallman from Babylon 5 as she was distracted by some guy on curved springy stilts just inside the Exhibit Hall. George RR Martin, Kevin J Anderson and Christopher Paolini were all in my room together with other writers on a panel, so I said hi to them all. The voice actor who does Disney's Goofy was in my room along with numerous other voice actors. Anthony Head from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer introduced some other actors at the end of a premier airing of The River. I also got to see the premier of Grimm coming soon to broadcast television along with their actors. The convention ended with Tom and Jerry in a rendition of The Wizard of Oz which was rather good.

My team in Room 6A was awesome this year. I trained three recent staff members. One was ready for her own room on day 2, one was ready after day 4 and the third will be ready after another year of experience. It went so smoothly this year. The only crises we had involved giveaways that hadn't been scheduled properly with the Program Giveaway Department. So, they had to deal with these impromptu things dynamically. But it all worked out.