Category Archives: conventions

Got up around 630 EST. Packed up the car. Breakfast. Was on the road by 815 or so.

Temps were close to 50 around Detroit, and didn’t drop below 40 until I reached Illinois. Light rain all the way, changing to flakes north of Chicago. Made it home around 1 CST.

We had a snowstorm here on Friday, and I was concerned that I would need to clear the driveway before I could pull in. Imagine my surprise when I found it clear, with only a little slush and a melted-down plow bump at the bottom.

Unpacked the car, then went right out again and shopped for groceries because I had made coffee and didn’t have any half-and-half. The reason I needed coffee was because the hotel, while having pretty good food and one lovely wine, lacked in the coffee department. Seriously. Worst coffee I have ever had at a restaurant. Ever. It was as though they ran a gallon of hot water through a tablespoon of grounds. I had a headache Thursday and Friday, and while I thought at first that it was due to travel stress and dry hotel air, I think it was lack of caffeine. I slept like a rock, too, which one might do if one’s stimulant has been cut off.

I’ve had two cups of my coffee in the last two hours. I can feel my heart beating again.

Unpacked. I’m taking tomorrow off, so I’ll do the laundry then. The pups are still at The Bad Place, aka Not Home, aka the Doggy Spa. Picking them up tomorrow morning, which leaves me the evening to decompress. Kill Bill Vols 1 & 2 are on Spike. I may have another cup of coffee.

Tried to work last night. Dozed off at the desk, so I gave up and went to bed. The proverbial rock. Slept like it, I did. Got up at 630 CST (730 in this strange Eastern Time Zone), showered, and breakfasted. Am now in the lobby with coffee and laptop. The con really won’t get going until this afternoon, so I have time to work. Yes, *work*, dammit.

Quote from the Trib weather page:

THE CHICAGO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CONTINUES A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR 5 TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW TODAY INTO TONIGHT – ENDING FROM THE WEST BETWEEN 9PM AND MIDNIGHT

Looks like I picked a good time to get out of town…although I despair for the state of my driveway when I get home.

Let the bells ring out and the banners fly.

::faceplant::

I’m exhausted. Left home midmorning. The drive through Chicago/NW Indiana wasn’t bad, but I hit snow squalls in western Michigan, along with car-shuddering winds and lotsa semis. The weather improved around Kalamazoo. The sun even showed its face. But it wasn’t a relaxing drive, and I have the headache and stiff shoulders to show for it.

It didn’t help that the day’s intake consisted of a bowl of cereal and a couple of cookies. I ate as soon as I could after check-in–a salmon club and sweet potato fries. Just popped some ibuprofen.

The bar is the place to be, as you would expect. Saw Dave Klecha and Jim Hines and Yanni Kuznia. Met Myke Cole. I know I met other folks as well, but hey, I already have Con Head. It’s like Time Head, but without Alex Kingston’s hair**.

I am now back in the room, and may be out of commission for the evening. Ms Excitement, that’s me. At least I’m missing the storm that’s supposed to move through Chicago tomorrow. Very glad that I decided to drive over a day early.

First panel isn’t until tomorrow evening, so I have the morning and afternoon to muck about. There are actually some very nice stores a couple of miles away–a Nordstrom’s, for one–but shopping’s the last think I need to do. I will probably putter around the hotel and do a little work. Hang out. Even with the headache, it’s good to get away.

Jim Hines has a sonic screwdriver pen. I wants one.

**don’t get me wrong–I like Alex Kingston’s hair. She could give me half of it, and not even miss it. Then I’d have actual hair and not the dark lint that’s atop my head now.***

***very thin. very fine. gun-sight hair&&

&&and I’ve apparently started to blog like Robin McKinley. Footnotes are your friends.

I’ll be stopping by Capricon in Wheeling IL for one day only, Friday February 10th. But I have some great panels:

Reading: Kristine Smith – Friday, 02-10-2012 – 11:00 am to 11:30 am – River C (Cafe)

My First Doctor- The Classic Doctor Who Panel – Friday, 02-10-2012 – 11:30 am to 1:00 pm – Botanic Garden A (Special Events – Programming)
Whether he wore a scarf or a leather jacket, he was still the Doctor. Journey back into the vortex to late night PBS in the 1980s or the SciFi channel in the 00s as we look back at the first time we watched Doctor Who.
Javier Grillo-Marxuach
Michael Lee (M)
Kristine Smith
Dr. Michael Unger
Joy Ward

Does It Matter If Science Fiction Authors Are Bad at Predicting the Future? – Friday, 02-10-2012 – 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm – Willow
Sure, we get some things right, like flip phones or going to the moon, but SF authors also get a LOT wrong when they predict the future. Does it really matter? What is the value of the exercise of making predictions?
Cory Doctorow (M)
Bill Higgins
Kristine Smith
Gene Wolfe

‘Twill be a busy time. My great hope is that this abnormally mild winter we’re having here in the upper Midwest does not decide to revert to form the weekend of the con.

7pm, Friday Salon G Race, Class, and Gender
(Steve Piziks, Kameron Hurley, Kristine Smith, Sarah Zettel, Jay Lake)

10am, Saturday Salon E Over the Horizon
(Tobias Buckell, Kristine Smith, Doselle Young, Michelle Sagara West)

11am, Saturday Athens Reading
(Kristine Smith Jim Hines)

1pm, Saturday Salon H Natural Sounding Dialogue
(Kristine Smith, John Scalzi, Myke Cole, Christine Purcell, Christian Klaver)

5pm, Saturday Salon E Mass Autograph Session
EVERYONE

1pm, Sunday Salon F Women in Combat
(Carrie Harris, Jim Hines, Kristine Smith, Scott Lynch, Kameron Hurley)