Thursday

Although our alarm clock had been set for 8 AM, we were jolted out of sleep at 6:45 AM by a phone call from UncleKage: the truck was over in Hall C in the Convention Center and while PeterCat was there to provide guidance for the Art Show equipment, one of us needed to be there to tell the teamsters where to put our stuff. We both staggered out of bed, showered and dressed, and stopped by the Cool Beans coffee shop to get me some caffeine, then headed over to Hall C.

Where pretty much just sat. There were maybe two or three cartloads that belonged to Artists Alley/Con Store and the Finance Office, but the rest was pretty much either all Art Show or A/V. Unfortunately, the hall was also sweltering since the air conditioning was off due to the massive roll-up door being opened and closed for vehicles to get in and out. We coped, though. To his credit, Kage brought over coffee and yogurt as a peace offering when he stopped by later 🙂

At 9 AM, it was time to meet with the Convention Center staff. The meeting was brief but informative, and I got a better idea of what was required to work with a huge facility like the DLCC. After that meeting it was over to the Westin for the 10 AM meeting with their staff. Again, not too much notable but we did get to put some faces to names and positions, which was helpful. After that meeting, Dan and I stopped by the Brown Bag Deli for lunch, and hung out in Ops for a bit while we ate. Then it was back over to Hall C where I went to work assembling Artists Alley while Grandma and Grandpa Kage, R_Bear, and a swarm of volunteers worked to get Con Store set up. We had a bit of a problem with the credit card terminal, since it had lost its programming from the prior year and had some issues re-downloading from the vendor. We got that worked out, though, and everything seemed to be ready to go. At 4:30 PM, Dan and I headed up to the room to shower and change (did I mention it was hot and humid in Hall C?) for the 5:30 dinner with the Guests of Honor.

This was the first year we were invited to the Thursday night dinner, and it was extremely enjoyable. Sadly, Rob Paulson wouldn’t be in until late Friday, but we were joined by Mark Evanier (writer for innumerable comics, cartoons, and TV shows) and Carolyn Kelly (daughter of Walt “Pogo” Kelly), who were truly delightful people. The conversation was amusing and informative, and we learned fascinating tidbits like what it was like to work with Sid and Marty Kroft. After the dinner was the all-staff meeting, after which many of the Board members went to see “Furry Tales”. I met Dan over in the Finance Office of the Convention Center and was about to go to work programming the cash registers when we found out that at 10 PM we lost access to Hall C. Ah well. We walked back to the hotel and turned in relatively early, at 11 PM.