Furry Connection North. It was a weekend so big it’s going to need two posts to cover it!
First off, let’s talk about the convention. From everything that I saw, girtygrin and his staff did an outstanding job. All of the staff was extremely cordial and friendly. Things ran on time (if not early!). The sponsor lounge was very good, and the complimentary beer (Bell’s Amber Ale and Oberon) was excellent. All in all, they can give themselves a pat on the back for a job well done. Speaking personally, I really appreciate that Gir went out of his way to make our experience a pleasant one.
So that meant that I had a great time at the convention, right? Well…not so much. I can’t stress this enough, though: this is absolutely no fault of FCN or anyone associated with it. As I have suspected all along, if I go to a convention and I’m not volunteering in some fashion, I’m bored. It’s how I’m wired, I guess, but there it is. I think I needed to recalibrate my approach to conventions a bit, and by the end of the weekend I was doing a lot better. I was a lot more outgoing and social, and I met a lot of new people and got to spend time with folks who I don’t often see. It was a real pleasure to spend more time with tervicz and to make the acquaintance of jet_der_hund. I also had a blast hanging out with huskydoggeh, kodi_pup, dexcat, Dexgirl, and of course all the usual gang of miscreants from Chicago and Chambana.
The hotel…yeah, the hotel. We had been to the Best Western Executive Plaza for Dorsai Thing last year, so we knew what to expect. Then, and this weekend, we stayed in the “tower”, which was the newer side of the hotel; our suite had a bit of an odd odor to it and the furnishings were somewhere well past “worn out”. I hadn’t realized though that the other parts of the hotel were quite so…grim. The lack of air conditioning would have killed me, and there was unfortunately a litany of other complaints as well. The reviews on TripAdvisor pretty much sum things up. Also, mirkowuff hit it on the head: “This was probably a fantastic hotel – in 1984.” Granted, the costs were reasonable and it enabled a first-year convention to get its feet under it, so it definitely served its purpose.
So, what did I do to fill the time this weekend? Well, that’ll have to wait for the next post.
As I said in my post:
“The hotel was… Well, I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in such a cheap hotel. I was physically uncomfortable for the entire stay. The rooms looked nice, but the beds and pillows were uncomfortable, the AC barely worked in one room and in the other… It made our room smell like piss… Oh, and one of the toilets stopped working on Saturday and after two calls to the front desk and the maintenance person flooding our bathroom, they decided they couldn’t fix it and suggested we use the other bathroom…”
I still feel, “eh” and I SWEAR it’s the hotel… I’ve never been so excited to sleep in my own bed.
“As I have suspected all along, if I go to a convention and I’m not volunteering in some fashion, I’m bored.”
Thank God. I thought I was the only one inflicted with this abnormality.
It was great to spend more time with ya’ll too. And I love cheese. I’m just saying…
*blushes* It was great to meet you as well. I have been so fortunate over this last 6 months to be introduced to people such as yourself. I am very much looking forward to getting to know you and the rest of the Chicago group better. Thank you so much for making me feel so comfortable at the spirits tasting.
Thanks again for inviting me to the room party. The wine was good and I’m sorry if I didn’t say much. I had a good time though. I just tend to be shy and have a hard time keeping track of 5 conversations at once… >.>
Some of those rooms were /REALLY/ bad, and the hotel staff seemed to be fairly unaccommodating. We found out later though that we were lucky just to have a working air conditioning unit. 🙂
Kodi and I had a great time at the con thanks to you and Takaza. Great company always makes any situation a good time. Thanks and see you guys again soon! 🙂
The hotel had some issues for sure, but I really enjoyed the convention itself.
I get bored easily at cons too. A lot of people think that’s really strange, but I like to be doing something. FCN was the first time I really spent time working at a furry con, and sure enough I didn’t get bored! I may have to start lending a hand at others.