Half way through the con [08/08/08]

So I woke up late this morning 7am! and got to the favoured Corner Bakery Cafe at 1147 16th St. later than I wanted. Had a regular coffee with Baked French Toast, which came with fruit salad and 3 strips of bacon, one of which was crispy, but the other two were nearly as floppy as I asked. This is one of the divides between the US and the UK. Those on this side of the pond think that if you can't snap the bacon in two it's under done, whereas we on the other side of the pond prefer to be able to taste the texture of the meat rather than eating wood chips!

Anyway I spent an hour on my eeePc updating stuff and had to leave before I finished as it was nearing 9am and I wanted to sign up for a Kaffeeklatch. But I also needed provisions so went to Walgreens where I got half a dozen KrispyKreme donuts, some gum and a belated birthday card.

I got to the signup sheet at 9:10 only to discover that the one I wanted was fully signed up, and the queues had started at 7:30! Fortunately they was a reading at 10am with the same author Patricia C Wrede and when she arrived early there were fewer in the audience than on the signup sheet, so we got a chance to ask a few questions. Pat read from her new book "The 13th Child" out in April 2009 her first original novel in 11 years! She read selected highlights, rather than the first x chapters and it was really cool, I really wish I didn't have to wait eight months to read the whole novel. This will be the first part of a trilogy of stories set in this new world. She hopes to write a book each year.

After the reading I got a chance to chat, this was the first time I'd managed to meet Pat in person, despite corresponding via email for years. We walked back to the CCC together when we parted.

I had a few words with madrobin on my way to the dealers room, where I finally succumbed and bought 4 books from Larry Smith (he has a minimum $30 purchase requirement for Credit Card purchases) and given the no access to ATMs I need to conserve my cash.

At 1pm Lois gave her Guest of Honor Speech, it lasted about half an hour and was followed by 45 mins of Q&As, and fortunately her voice held out. Out in the foyer after Frank K, Franz T, growlycub, little egret and a couple of other listies clumped together for a few minutes before I split for Trailer Park, where trailers for forthcoming movies were shown, inc Bond, Harry Potter. This finished in less than an hour so I was able to update my offline blog,

Then Sufford moderated "The ages of a writer's life" a panel of Bob Silverberg, Connie willis, Lois Bujold and Larry Niven. After an hour the panel answered questions from the floor, though Bob a to leave early.

I met nlbarber after this and got a spare signed Analog from her, realised I'd left a bag of books in the previous panel room! Dashed back and found them, followed her to a panel ""After the day job goes" with Steve Miller (kinzel), Robin Owens, Russel Davis and Colin Harvey. Found growlycub there too.

Afterwards we dashed to Arby's on 16th St for a meal, which we intended to take back to the CCC to eat there. But just as we started to leave a thunderstorm rolled in and it started to rain. So we ate in the shop (I'd put the meal on my card, and got cash back from the two ladies, eeking out my ca$h, Arby's was the only place that used chip and pin). I had a regular beef sandwich, curly fries, and a jamocha shake.

By the time we had finished it had stopped raining and we got back to the CCC just before the Masquerade started. When it finished I discovered my shoulder bag containing my passport amoungst other things was missing. Some time between 5:30 and 9:30 I mislaid it! I left at once to check at Arby's, with no luck, then back to the hostel, where I was able to get a photo copy of my passport just in case. Further blog entries were added, but without the pocket program there may be timing and titling errors. (I later realised I had an electronic copy in my Palm, but I wasn't really thinking straight by then. Bed 11:20pm

Half way through the con [08/08/08]

So I woke up late this morning 7am! and got to the favoured Corner Bakery Cafe at 1147 16th St. later than I wanted. Had a regular coffee with Baked French Toast, which came with fruit salad and 3 strips of bacon, one of which was crispy, but the other two were nearly as floppy as I asked. This is one of the divides between the US and the UK. Those on this side of the pond think that if you can't snap the bacon in two it's under done, whereas we on the other side of the pond prefer to be able to taste the texture of the meat rather than eating wood chips!

Anyway I spent an hour on my eeePc updating stuff and had to leave before I finished as it was nearing 9am and I wanted to sign up for a Kaffeeklatch. But I also needed provisions so went to Walgreens where I got half a dozen KrispyKreme donuts, some gum and a belated birthday card.

I got to the signup sheet at 9:10 only to discover that the one I wanted was fully signed up, and the queues had started at 7:30! Fortunately they was a reading at 10am with the same author Patricia C Wrede and when she arrived early there were fewer in the audience than on the signup sheet, so we got a chance to ask a few questions. Pat read from her new book "The 13th Child" out in April 2009 her first original novel in 11 years! She read selected highlights, rather than the first x chapters and it was really cool, I really wish I didn't have to wait eight months to read the whole novel. This will be the first part of a trilogy of stories set in this new world. She hopes to write a book each year.

After the reading I got a chance to chat, this was the first time I'd managed to meet Pat in person, despite corresponding via email for years. We walked back to the CCC together when we parted.

I had a few words with madrobin on my way to the dealers room, where I finally succumbed and bought 4 books from Larry Smith (he has a minimum $30 purchase requirement for Credit Card purchases) and given the no access to ATMs I need to conserve my cash.

At 1pm Lois gave her Guest of Honor Speech, it lasted about half an hour and was followed by 45 mins of Q&As, and fortunately her voice held out. Out in the foyer after Frank K, Franz T, growlycub, little egret and a couple of other listies clumped together for a few minutes before I split for Trailer Park, where trailers for forthcoming movies were shown, inc Bond, Harry Potter. This finished in less than an hour so I was able to update my offline blog,

Then Sufford moderated "The ages of a writer's life" a panel of Bob Silverberg, Connie willis, Lois Bujold and Larry Niven. After an hour the panel answered questions from the floor, though Bob a to leave early.

I met nlbarber after this and got a spare signed Analog from her, realised I'd left a bag of books in the previous panel room! Dashed back and found them, followed her to a panel ""After the day job goes" with Steve Miller (kinzel), Robin Owens, Russel Davis and Colin Harvey. Found growlycub there too.

Afterwards we dashed to Arby's on 16th St for a meal, which we intended to take back to the CCC to eat there. But just as we started to leave a thunderstorm rolled in and it started to rain. So we ate in the shop (I'd put the meal on my card, and got cash back from the two ladies, eeking out my ca$h, Arby's was the only place that used chip and pin). I had a regular beef sandwich, curly fries, and a jamocha shake.

By the time we had finished it had stopped raining and we got back to the CCC just before the Masquerade started. When it finished I discovered my shoulder bag containing my passport amoungst other things was missing. Some time between 5:30 and 9:30 I mislaid it! I left at once to check at Arby's, with no luck, then back to the hostel, where I was able to get a photo copy of my passport just in case. Further blog entries were added, but without the pocket program there may be timing and titling errors. (I later realised I had an electronic copy in my Palm, but I wasn't really thinking straight by then. Bed 11:20pm

Saturday

Up at 6:40 actually slept all night. Got downtown to discover my favoured eating place didn't open til 8am on the weekend, and most of the other shops and eating places weren't open (even Subway didn't open til 7:30. The free bus service also seems less frequent.

Dropped in on the Friends of Liad breakfast at the CCC, said hi to nbarber and growlycub but no spare places. So I then went looking for the CCC Lost & Found. There was a black bag found, which got my hopes up, but when I got to the security office it wasn't mine. Since it was after 8am I walked off to my regular haunt (Corner Cafe Bakery) and had a "Berry Almond Swiss" and coffee. This was quality museli with extra fresh fruit, thick dairy product (might have been cream and yogurt) in a very large bowl. Very filling. Uploaded one days notes, but I'm still at least a day behind.

Not having a program book made planning my day a bit difficult (until I realised I had a copy on my Palm!) Anyway I did catch the 10:00 panel on "The Future of Libraries" which rambled at bit. I left before it finished as I knew the next panel would be crowded, Lois Bujold reading from her new Vorkosigan novel.

It was for some reason, in a normal sized room and was crowded out, with standing room only, before Lois had even arrived. I was lucky as growlycub had saved me a space on the front row! Lois read 2 of the 4 chapters she has written so far. Material her publisher Toni W only got to hear with us. Set on a new planet with at least one new viewpoint character it sounds really interesting, how we will cope having to wait over a year for completion is another matter.

I stopped off or lunch at the Corner Bakery Cafe for a Bacon Lettace and Tomato sandwich for lunch, and saw Pat Wrede and Jo Walton (papersky) having lunch there too.

I then went to the Sheraton Hotel to report the loss of my bag (and passport) to the convention's Lost and Found, it was not easy to find as it was up an unlabled staircase, down a couple of corridors. I left my details including the hostel phone number. Interestingly of the 4 fans in the room only one wan't from the UK!

I rushed back to the CCC for "A Bryant of Books" missed the first few minutes, so don't know if James explained that the term came form the Bujold mailing list or not. (later discussion indicated he did). However the talk continued about types of collecting, rather than numbers (the original sub title).

"Choosing Religion as a setting for a Novel" with Lois Bujold, Louise Marley, PC Hodgell, Sharon Shinn and Steve M Stirling, was also well attended and has some pretty god good discussion.

I then mosied over to the main hall where "Star Trek: Phase II 'Blood and Fire' " was supposed to start at 5:30, but BSG Razor over ran so it didn't start until nearly twenty minues later, and as this was a 2 part story didn't finish until 7:35 It was a really good story, and even without all the special effects and music queues it was enjoyable. I look forward to be able to watch it on the web (http://www.startreknewvoyages.com) later this year.

The Hugo ceremony was due to start at 7:30 so the lights had gone down by the time I'd arrived, but none of the awards had been announced yet. As I was stumbling through the dark I heard someone call my name, tuned round to see Steve S, so I was able to sit next to him for the evening. The coolest award (for me) was that Sufford Lewis was given the Big Heart Award, as a fellow Bujold fan and attendee of the listie curry on Thursday, I saw her while leaving the theatre and was able to give her my congratulations.

Then back to the hostel, to try to determine what to do re loss of passport. Spoke to a police officer who recommended reporting the loss via www.denvergov.org/911. However on returning to my room, I found a note attached that said "call this number re the missing passport." with a local phone number. Which sounded like good news, and so to bed.

Saturday

Up at 6:40 actually slept all night. Got downtown to discover my favoured eating place didn't open til 8am on the weekend, and most of the other shops and eating places weren't open (even Subway didn't open til 7:30. The free bus service also seems less frequent.

Dropped in on the Friends of Liad breakfast at the CCC, said hi to nbarber and growlycub but no spare places. So I then went looking for the CCC Lost & Found. There was a black bag found, which got my hopes up, but when I got to the security office it wasn't mine. Since it was after 8am I walked off to my regular haunt (Corner Cafe Bakery) and had a "Berry Almond Swiss" and coffee. This was quality museli with extra fresh fruit, thick dairy product (might have been cream and yogurt) in a very large bowl. Very filling. Uploaded one days notes, but I'm still at least a day behind.

Not having a program book made planning my day a bit difficult (until I realised I had a copy on my Palm!) Anyway I did catch the 10:00 panel on "The Future of Libraries" which rambled at bit. I left before it finished as I knew the next panel would be crowded, Lois Bujold reading from her new Vorkosigan novel.

It was for some reason, in a normal sized room and was crowded out, with standing room only, before Lois had even arrived. I was lucky as growlycub had saved me a space on the front row! Lois read 2 of the 4 chapters she has written so far. Material her publisher Toni W only got to hear with us. Set on a new planet with at least one new viewpoint character it sounds really interesting, how we will cope having to wait over a year for completion is another matter.

I stopped off or lunch at the Corner Bakery Cafe for a Bacon Lettace and Tomato sandwich for lunch, and saw Pat Wrede and Jo Walton (papersky) having lunch there too.

I then went to the Sheraton Hotel to report the loss of my bag (and passport) to the convention's Lost and Found, it was not easy to find as it was up an unlabled staircase, down a couple of corridors. I left my details including the hostel phone number. Interestingly of the 4 fans in the room only one wan't from the UK!

I rushed back to the CCC for "A Bryant of Books" missed the first few minutes, so don't know if James explained that the term came form the Bujold mailing list or not. (later discussion indicated he did). However the talk continued about types of collecting, rather than numbers (the original sub title).

"Choosing Religion as a setting for a Novel" with Lois Bujold, Louise Marley, PC Hodgell, Sharon Shinn and Steve M Stirling, was also well attended and has some pretty god good discussion.

I then mosied over to the main hall where "Star Trek: Phase II 'Blood and Fire' " was supposed to start at 5:30, but BSG Razor over ran so it didn't start until nearly twenty minues later, and as this was a 2 part story didn't finish until 7:35 It was a really good story, and even without all the special effects and music queues it was enjoyable. I look forward to be able to watch it on the web (http://www.startreknewvoyages.com) later this year.

The Hugo ceremony was due to start at 7:30 so the lights had gone down by the time I'd arrived, but none of the awards had been announced yet. As I was stumbling through the dark I heard someone call my name, tuned round to see Steve S, so I was able to sit next to him for the evening. The coolest award (for me) was that Sufford Lewis was given the Big Heart Award, as a fellow Bujold fan and attendee of the listie curry on Thursday, I saw her while leaving the theatre and was able to give her my congratulations.

Then back to the hostel, to try to determine what to do re loss of passport. Spoke to a police officer who recommended reporting the loss via www.denvergov.org/911. However on returning to my room, I found a note attached that said "call this number re the missing passport." with a local phone number. Which sounded like good news, and so to bed.

Last day of the Con

So woke up at 6:15 and got up at half past. I just wish I could do this at home, then I have to use 2 alarms to get me out of bed in time to catch my train to work!

Last night I left my Palm to charge in the bathroom (the only place with a free accessible power socket!) So I caught up on LJ outside the hostel, since the walk downtown is only ten minutes and the Delectable Egg, 1625 Court Place, didn't open til 7am (one of the few open this early on the week end). When I got there I ordered three Pancakes and unlimited coffee, for $8.05, the pancakes were large and fluffy (much better than the ones at the Altitude for twice the price!) I didn't have access to power or wifi so I didn't linger (Jo Walton (papersky) arrived just before I'd left.)

Made my way to the CCC and arrived about 7:40 when I plugged in the eeePC and did some updating, to my notes. The first program item today at 8:30 was an Ecumenical Christian Service. It started with voting on if the sermon should take examples from The Dark Knight OR David Weber's Honor Harrington which was cool (we got the later). Considering the hour, there were a fair number of people there.

The next program item, was probably the one I was most looking forward to. Lois Bujold, Pat Wrede and Lillian Stuart Carl discussing how they met and how they became and remain friends.

I got to the room early and was able to bag seats at the front, so when nlbarber arrived she joined me, she also lent me her phone so I could determine what the note stuck on my door last night was about, and hurrah! my bag had been handed in, I said I'd be over after the panel had finished, and so was in a much improved state to enjoy the discussion (including letters going back 20 years archived by Pat!)

So I hurried over to the Sheraton, and more easily found Ops, collected my bag with all it's contents still there. Someone handed it into the information desk, without any indication who it was, so I was unable to thank them.

Deciding that I needed to have at least a few minutes filking in a 5 day worldcon I dropped in to the Ecumenifilk for a few songs, before discovering a copy of the Bujold inspired song book "Story Into Song". I hope it gets posted online as there were some very cool songs in it. I did catch Kathleen Sloan just before the closing and she said that a limited CD would be produced for the participants, and Lois.

My final panel, prior to the closing was "Holy Holographic eBooks!" which had James Bryant moderating a discussion of current hardware, limitations there of and a wish list that changed with each participant.

And then the convention closed, and everyone had to leave the building (the firemen had to setup for their convention!)

As we were leaving we (filkferengi, nlbarber, growlycub, stoutfellow and Stellan L) were spotted by Lois and her son (who had driven to Denver from Minneapolis!) and invited to diner/lunch with them, meeting at 4:15 at the Hyatt. growlycub, nlbarber and I decided to confirm that the Corner Bakery Cafe at 500 16th St would be open, and dropping off bags at their room, discovered that yes it was open, until 6pm.

So we met up and trooped off to the Cafe. On the way, while walking down 16th St we saw the most amazining busker, who was plying a xylophone using juggling clubs/sticks. in addition to playing a drum and mouth organ!. When we had arrived we ordered separately and I had a Club Panini and soda and we had some conversation during which Lois handed me a bag of signed books for distribution. I managed to get the other diners to take a few off my hands (luggage allowances are not large) but I'll be passing of most of the rest to web and list mistress Mel H. We finally left about 5:30 and wandered back to the Hyatt where Lois had to check out, we all got hugs which was cool. (growlycub said she wanted a T-shirt with "I was hugged by Lois McMaster Bujold" on it!

We lost Stellan on the walk back to the hotel, and then Lois and son also left, but we were still have good conversations sitting in the lobby of the Hyatt, for another hour or so.

When filkferengi's spouse arrived we went desert trekking! And eventually ended up at The Cheesecake Factory, 1201 16th St. where the wait for a table was about 40mins. The cool beeper technology did meant that we didn't have to stand inside the restaurant, but in the open air. We did wonder at other options but the beeper went off and we trooped inside. The lighting was terrible, nlbarber had to lend me her flashlight before I could read the menu, then I didn't get served with my requested soda (I wasn't billed for it so no loss). Not feeling too hungry I just had a signature cheesecake, tiramasu in my case We had to sent the check back so it could be divided up, my part came to $8.00 inc tax and tip!

We finally left around 10pm and said goodbye to stoutfellow (his hotel was just aound the corner), then good bye to filkferengi and spouse, hopefully to meet again at gafilk. then to the Crowne Plaza where I collected my bag, discovered behind the curtain, after much hunting and then off back to the hostel after promising to meet for breakfast in the morning. bed 11:15pm.

Last day of the Con

So woke up at 6:15 and got up at half past. I just wish I could do this at home, then I have to use 2 alarms to get me out of bed in time to catch my train to work!

Last night I left my Palm to charge in the bathroom (the only place with a free accessible power socket!) So I caught up on LJ outside the hostel, since the walk downtown is only ten minutes and the Delectable Egg, 1625 Court Place, didn't open til 7am (one of the few open this early on the week end). When I got there I ordered three Pancakes and unlimited coffee, for $8.05, the pancakes were large and fluffy (much better than the ones at the Altitude for twice the price!) I didn't have access to power or wifi so I didn't linger (Jo Walton (papersky) arrived just before I'd left.)

Made my way to the CCC and arrived about 7:40 when I plugged in the eeePC and did some updating, to my notes. The first program item today at 8:30 was an Ecumenical Christian Service. It started with voting on if the sermon should take examples from The Dark Knight OR David Weber's Honor Harrington which was cool (we got the later). Considering the hour, there were a fair number of people there.

The next program item, was probably the one I was most looking forward to. Lois Bujold, Pat Wrede and Lillian Stuart Carl discussing how they met and how they became and remain friends.

I got to the room early and was able to bag seats at the front, so when nlbarber arrived she joined me, she also lent me her phone so I could determine what the note stuck on my door last night was about, and hurrah! my bag had been handed in, I said I'd be over after the panel had finished, and so was in a much improved state to enjoy the discussion (including letters going back 20 years archived by Pat!)

So I hurried over to the Sheraton, and more easily found Ops, collected my bag with all it's contents still there. Someone handed it into the information desk, without any indication who it was, so I was unable to thank them.

Deciding that I needed to have at least a few minutes filking in a 5 day worldcon I dropped in to the Ecumenifilk for a few songs, before discovering a copy of the Bujold inspired song book "Story Into Song". I hope it gets posted online as there were some very cool songs in it. I did catch Kathleen Sloan just before the closing and she said that a limited CD would be produced for the participants, and Lois.

My final panel, prior to the closing was "Holy Holographic eBooks!" which had James Bryant moderating a discussion of current hardware, limitations there of and a wish list that changed with each participant.

And then the convention closed, and everyone had to leave the building (the firemen had to setup for their convention!)

As we were leaving we (filkferengi, nlbarber, growlycub, stoutfellow and Stellan L) were spotted by Lois and her son (who had driven to Denver from Minneapolis!) and invited to diner/lunch with them, meeting at 4:15 at the Hyatt. growlycub, nlbarber and I decided to confirm that the Corner Bakery Cafe at 500 16th St would be open, and dropping off bags at their room, discovered that yes it was open, until 6pm.

So we met up and trooped off to the Cafe. On the way, while walking down 16th St we saw the most amazining busker, who was plying a xylophone using juggling clubs/sticks. in addition to playing a drum and mouth organ!. When we had arrived we ordered separately and I had a Club Panini and soda and we had some conversation during which Lois handed me a bag of signed books for distribution. I managed to get the other diners to take a few off my hands (luggage allowances are not large) but I'll be passing of most of the rest to web and list mistress Mel H. We finally left about 5:30 and wandered back to the Hyatt where Lois had to check out, we all got hugs which was cool. (growlycub said she wanted a T-shirt with "I was hugged by Lois McMaster Bujold" on it!

We lost Stellan on the walk back to the hotel, and then Lois and son also left, but we were still have good conversations sitting in the lobby of the Hyatt, for another hour or so.

When filkferengi's spouse arrived we went desert trekking! And eventually ended up at The Cheesecake Factory, 1201 16th St. where the wait for a table was about 40mins. The cool beeper technology did meant that we didn't have to stand inside the restaurant, but in the open air. We did wonder at other options but the beeper went off and we trooped inside. The lighting was terrible, nlbarber had to lend me her flashlight before I could read the menu, then I didn't get served with my requested soda (I wasn't billed for it so no loss). Not feeling too hungry I just had a signature cheesecake, tiramasu in my case We had to sent the check back so it could be divided up, my part came to $8.00 inc tax and tip!

We finally left around 10pm and said goodbye to stoutfellow (his hotel was just aound the corner), then good bye to filkferengi and spouse, hopefully to meet again at gafilk. then to the Crowne Plaza where I collected my bag, discovered behind the curtain, after much hunting and then off back to the hostel after promising to meet for breakfast in the morning. bed 11:15pm.