Time spent
I've finally decided to take a bit of time to sit and do my post AC / cat-ch up post. Been a long time since I've done a post of any sort other than to wish a couple of friends a happy b-day. Life has been seemingly routine without much happening other than doing the day-to-day work thing. I very much enjoy my new position at work but its not very interesting material to post about. Recently, however, with AC , visitors, and a few other things, I find motivation to record events. :)
The new accommodations in Pittsburgh for AC were plentiful in space but, I also found that to be a major problem for me with the con as well. Things seemed too spread out. It wasn't really the long walks from one place to another that bothered me as much as it just didn't seem cohesive as a group. I dunno, difficult to explain the feeling, or lack of it. *shrugs*
There was one "problem" that set me off ina negative mood right off at start of the con though: Since a couple of friends had done the Super Sponsor thing. Pat and I both upgraded to Super Sponsors as well, specifically mentioning how we wanted to do so to enable us to enjoy the SS luncheon along with our friends. Upon returning to the room and opening our "goody bags", we discovered no luncheon invite enclosed. We discovered the luncheon was a catered event and had to have been rsvp'd prior to be invited to it. Now, since I can afford to do it , and really don't contribute in any other way like devoting my time and energy as a volunteer or staff, doing art , fur-suiting , etc for the benefit of the con, I really don't mind spending more fundage to support it but, it still upset me. First , I don't understand why we were not told "Well, if you upgrade now , it still won't allow you to attend the luncheon." after speaking specifically about why we wanted to upgrade. Its as if all the staff cared about was taking more money and letting us find out later. Secondly, Kage is always talking about how treasured the Super Sponsors are and this seems to be a bit hypocritical when I felt it was a "Sorry, we already have your money so now , we don't care" attitude. The staff knows they have , and I would guess , wants to retain SS upgrades every year. They should have a good handle on knowing upgrades happen and be prepared to treat those folks the same as others. I, and I'm sure others as well, prefer to preregister as an attendee and upgrade once there rather than risk spending the Super Sponsor fee in advance and then having something arise to prevent attending. Catered event or not, they could order several extra plates to ensure the upgrades would be also included. It'd just be good business. Much better to risk losing a few dollars on an unused plate than risk losing the extra $130 the upgrade brings in. Bottom line, it would just be good guest service. What we got wasn't. The whole situation just made me feel the only thing cared about was my money and once they had that, it was "Tough shit, its your fault for not knowing our system before giving us your money.". Yeah Kage, that makes me feel appreciated and that staff went out of their way to show it ...NOT :P
Anyway, ending my rant *grins*, having a suite at the con was nice. It allowed for hosting a couple of room gatherings and meeting a few new folks as well as space for friends to gather for the "annual sing along" without receiving complaints from neighboring rooms about the noise. :) I didn't get to se or spend as much time with all of the folks as I'd hoped to but, I was able to share and enjoy some time with most. Thank you to all of you that shared your time with me. Overall, I had a pleasant time.
There wasn't anything in the Charity Auction I really wanted this year but I bid and won a few silly things just because the big cat sanctuary was a charity I didn't mind giving some fundage to. Yay big cats! :) In the regular art auction, there wasn't any "I gotta have that!" stuff either. Although, I did find a couple of pieces I just had to purr-chase cuz I knew they would make great gifts for some loved ones. Plus a few others just cuz they were very nice and I wanted to help try to support the artists. Overall, I thought the art show itself was very nice. Lots of new artists and lots of new talent as well. Some of the artist names I'd not seen before but their work was very impressive. On the other side of the fence, I thought it was a shame the bids and sales didn't seem all that impressive. Lots of really nice art that was selling for far less than it should have. Great for me or others as a buyer but sucks for the artists. I'd like to see some more financial motivation to keep the show and number of new artists growing. If I was one of them, with the numbers lots of the art was selling for, I wouldn't bother putting any in there. My thanks to all of you who don't think the same. :)
The trip back to Virginia turned into a whole event in itself. About a mere 50 miles away from Pittsburgh, in heavy rain, a grey BMW lost control, bounced off a guardrail, and back into our lane, facing us. Farin, driving his F250 Super-cab diesel couldn't avoid hitting them head on. But, due to his exceptional eyesight and quick reaction time, he was able to slow enough it saved the lives of the two guys in the beemer. He had spotted the car through the dark, grey gloom of the rain , exclaimed "Oh shit!" and began breaking several seconds prior to my even being able to see what he was talking about. We crunched the Beemer purr-ty good as it was. Had we been traveling faster upon impact, I think the 7000+ lb truck would have driven right over the top of them . Farin's truck , from a distance, looked as if it hadn't incurred much damage at all. His right front tire took the major part of the impact. On close inspection, you can tell the bumper was pushed back, the right front quarter panel slightly damage , and a few other minor cosmetic things but, because the wheel took most of the hit, the real damage to the truck was "hidden". The tie rod was bent and the shaft going into the steering box was cracked, rendering the truck un-drivable and in need of tow. This made for a very long day/night before everyone finally got back home. We had left the con about noon on Monday. Everyone finally got home about 5am on Tuesday, including our two house guests , Felder and Harlequeen, who had planned to visit for the next several days following AC. Good news was no one wound up hurt. It could have been a lot worse, like killing the guys in the beemer , or having it turn into an 85 car pile-up behind us.
Our visit from Felder and Harlequeen went very nicely. They are both wonderful furs and I very much enjoyed their visit. We had one good day at Kings Dominion riding coasters and getting beat up by them. Sadly , the next few days , I was unable to share in most of their visit other than for some good dinners cuz I had to return to work. And, I was a well behaved panther , I never made dinner out of the uni or squirrel *grins*.
One more thing I'd like to make note of in this post is that, yesterday at the Park, I had a neat ex-purr-ience. As I was walking around the corner of one store, a fox popped out from some bushes. I don't know species of foxes but it was very foofy , cream colored with grey tail tip and ears. Very cute! It startled as it came out and froze for a while , just looking at me from a mere 3 feet or so away before casually padding off slowly as if it knew I would do it no harm. I'd only seen wild foxes before as a quick blip disappearing into the brush and never often even at that. To see one so close and for a recordable amount of time was very neat for me . :)
The new accommodations in Pittsburgh for AC were plentiful in space but, I also found that to be a major problem for me with the con as well. Things seemed too spread out. It wasn't really the long walks from one place to another that bothered me as much as it just didn't seem cohesive as a group. I dunno, difficult to explain the feeling, or lack of it. *shrugs*
There was one "problem" that set me off ina negative mood right off at start of the con though: Since a couple of friends had done the Super Sponsor thing. Pat and I both upgraded to Super Sponsors as well, specifically mentioning how we wanted to do so to enable us to enjoy the SS luncheon along with our friends. Upon returning to the room and opening our "goody bags", we discovered no luncheon invite enclosed. We discovered the luncheon was a catered event and had to have been rsvp'd prior to be invited to it. Now, since I can afford to do it , and really don't contribute in any other way like devoting my time and energy as a volunteer or staff, doing art , fur-suiting , etc for the benefit of the con, I really don't mind spending more fundage to support it but, it still upset me. First , I don't understand why we were not told "Well, if you upgrade now , it still won't allow you to attend the luncheon." after speaking specifically about why we wanted to upgrade. Its as if all the staff cared about was taking more money and letting us find out later. Secondly, Kage is always talking about how treasured the Super Sponsors are and this seems to be a bit hypocritical when I felt it was a "Sorry, we already have your money so now , we don't care" attitude. The staff knows they have , and I would guess , wants to retain SS upgrades every year. They should have a good handle on knowing upgrades happen and be prepared to treat those folks the same as others. I, and I'm sure others as well, prefer to preregister as an attendee and upgrade once there rather than risk spending the Super Sponsor fee in advance and then having something arise to prevent attending. Catered event or not, they could order several extra plates to ensure the upgrades would be also included. It'd just be good business. Much better to risk losing a few dollars on an unused plate than risk losing the extra $130 the upgrade brings in. Bottom line, it would just be good guest service. What we got wasn't. The whole situation just made me feel the only thing cared about was my money and once they had that, it was "Tough shit, its your fault for not knowing our system before giving us your money.". Yeah Kage, that makes me feel appreciated and that staff went out of their way to show it ...NOT :P
Anyway, ending my rant *grins*, having a suite at the con was nice. It allowed for hosting a couple of room gatherings and meeting a few new folks as well as space for friends to gather for the "annual sing along" without receiving complaints from neighboring rooms about the noise. :) I didn't get to se or spend as much time with all of the folks as I'd hoped to but, I was able to share and enjoy some time with most. Thank you to all of you that shared your time with me. Overall, I had a pleasant time.
There wasn't anything in the Charity Auction I really wanted this year but I bid and won a few silly things just because the big cat sanctuary was a charity I didn't mind giving some fundage to. Yay big cats! :) In the regular art auction, there wasn't any "I gotta have that!" stuff either. Although, I did find a couple of pieces I just had to purr-chase cuz I knew they would make great gifts for some loved ones. Plus a few others just cuz they were very nice and I wanted to help try to support the artists. Overall, I thought the art show itself was very nice. Lots of new artists and lots of new talent as well. Some of the artist names I'd not seen before but their work was very impressive. On the other side of the fence, I thought it was a shame the bids and sales didn't seem all that impressive. Lots of really nice art that was selling for far less than it should have. Great for me or others as a buyer but sucks for the artists. I'd like to see some more financial motivation to keep the show and number of new artists growing. If I was one of them, with the numbers lots of the art was selling for, I wouldn't bother putting any in there. My thanks to all of you who don't think the same. :)
The trip back to Virginia turned into a whole event in itself. About a mere 50 miles away from Pittsburgh, in heavy rain, a grey BMW lost control, bounced off a guardrail, and back into our lane, facing us. Farin, driving his F250 Super-cab diesel couldn't avoid hitting them head on. But, due to his exceptional eyesight and quick reaction time, he was able to slow enough it saved the lives of the two guys in the beemer. He had spotted the car through the dark, grey gloom of the rain , exclaimed "Oh shit!" and began breaking several seconds prior to my even being able to see what he was talking about. We crunched the Beemer purr-ty good as it was. Had we been traveling faster upon impact, I think the 7000+ lb truck would have driven right over the top of them . Farin's truck , from a distance, looked as if it hadn't incurred much damage at all. His right front tire took the major part of the impact. On close inspection, you can tell the bumper was pushed back, the right front quarter panel slightly damage , and a few other minor cosmetic things but, because the wheel took most of the hit, the real damage to the truck was "hidden". The tie rod was bent and the shaft going into the steering box was cracked, rendering the truck un-drivable and in need of tow. This made for a very long day/night before everyone finally got back home. We had left the con about noon on Monday. Everyone finally got home about 5am on Tuesday, including our two house guests , Felder and Harlequeen, who had planned to visit for the next several days following AC. Good news was no one wound up hurt. It could have been a lot worse, like killing the guys in the beemer , or having it turn into an 85 car pile-up behind us.
Our visit from Felder and Harlequeen went very nicely. They are both wonderful furs and I very much enjoyed their visit. We had one good day at Kings Dominion riding coasters and getting beat up by them. Sadly , the next few days , I was unable to share in most of their visit other than for some good dinners cuz I had to return to work. And, I was a well behaved panther , I never made dinner out of the uni or squirrel *grins*.
One more thing I'd like to make note of in this post is that, yesterday at the Park, I had a neat ex-purr-ience. As I was walking around the corner of one store, a fox popped out from some bushes. I don't know species of foxes but it was very foofy , cream colored with grey tail tip and ears. Very cute! It startled as it came out and froze for a while , just looking at me from a mere 3 feet or so away before casually padding off slowly as if it knew I would do it no harm. I'd only seen wild foxes before as a quick blip disappearing into the brush and never often even at that. To see one so close and for a recordable amount of time was very neat for me . :)