Anthrocon 2011 Report: Wednesday, June 22
Despite the initial disappointment that I did not get a full fursuit to debut at AC11, I had a great time at the convention this year. As expected, I became so involved in attending panels and taking pictures that I still had lots of fun, just like I have other years. I do have a really nice lion fursuit head (just the head), but as it turned out, I was unable to bring even that along because of luggage size restrictions which were yet another unexpected snag I hadn't planned on. But, I have learned from the experience and shall be prepared for the next con.
I was going to take the train, but then I heard about the Megabus. It cost half of what the train did, would arrive in Pittsburgh several hours earlier, and would head for home later on Monday morning so I could sleep in (the train departs at 7:20am, bus was 11:05am). So, I took the Megabus this year. It arrived in Pittsburgh 50 minutes later than scheduled, which was no big deal- still plenty early for me. Ha, it dropped us off right at the DLCC!
I arrived at Pittsburgh at 3:35pm, and went straight to the Westin lobby. I met my roommate, Abrahm, and was in the room by 4pm. 24th floor of the Westin hotel!
View out the room window.
All settled in, I headed down to Fernando's and got a pepperoni pizza. Met Synth Wolf, who was sitting two tables down from me. After supper, I came back and caught a number of pics of suiters in the zoo and the Westin lobby:
Tobias in the zoo.
Flow, cute and playful kitty.
I had originally planned to arrive early so that I could try out a lot of suiting on Wednesday and Thursday, before the con was in full swing, but now since I did not have a fursuit, that significantly changed my plans. So, I headed over to ConOps to make constructive use of my free time as a volunteer. I was pleasantly surprised to see Kitt3ns on the convention staff in at ConOps. Headed over to the DLCC for the bag stuffing, but accidentally got locked in the stairwell along with someone else and couldn't get out. Should have taken the elevator, didn't know. Finally hopped the rail and went down an adjoining flight of stairs and emerged into the parking garage, thankfully. Then, tried it again, this time taking the elevator. We ran into Kage, which was really cool because he had a special job for us apart from the bag stuffing we had planned on. "You look like two competent gentlemen," he said to us, prior to assigning our task, which was to set up the dealer's room table assignments. We put a sheet of paper on every table in the dealer's room, which identified who was to get that table (example, A01- Dragon's Lair, B25- Icy Paw Productions, etc.). At about 9:25pm, my helper Scotty had to leave to pick up someone at the airport, so I finished the job by myself by 10pm. I really enjoyed doing this systematic type work, also knowing I was making a small contribution to making the con happen.
After the volunteer work was finished, I went back over to the Westin to make my rounds looking for fursuiters to photograph. Following are a handful of these pics; I am only listing the names that I knew in "bold font" underneath them, the rest I did not catch. If you can identify any of these nameless furries, please comment! Also, as always, if you are one of these suiters and you would like the full size picture file, contact me (PM) with an email address and I'll send it to you. :)
Nice black fur color, nice legs.
Nice body on that tiger; Streak makes big cat kitty sounds and gives good hugs too.
Caffeine in the zoo. Cute!
I would see this fox again in 48 hours at the Fursuit Friendly Dance.
Nitro, Jace, and Yawni Husky
Saw this attractive fox last year, still didn't catch the name.
Cute pose!
Somebody's getting a noogie!
Photo op in the lobby! Flow the kitty now has pajamas on, so cute, all ready for bed.
Nice closeup pic of Meehsa in the elevator. I like that blue against the black and gray fur, color combo looks good.
Speaking of color, Sneety has lots of it! Another inside-the-elevator shot.
Well, it was after midnight, and I was pretty beat at this point and ready for bed, but then I went down to the lobby to meet Luka, a new friend of mine I had recently met online. We ended up talking there for a long time, so I didn't get to bed until like 2:00am... ughhh... but that was okay, I was glad I took the extra time to meet her for "real" (instead of only online) and got to know some more about her. And so went my first day, with the anticipation of the convention yet to come.
To be continued with Thursday, June 23...
I was going to take the train, but then I heard about the Megabus. It cost half of what the train did, would arrive in Pittsburgh several hours earlier, and would head for home later on Monday morning so I could sleep in (the train departs at 7:20am, bus was 11:05am). So, I took the Megabus this year. It arrived in Pittsburgh 50 minutes later than scheduled, which was no big deal- still plenty early for me. Ha, it dropped us off right at the DLCC!
I arrived at Pittsburgh at 3:35pm, and went straight to the Westin lobby. I met my roommate, Abrahm, and was in the room by 4pm. 24th floor of the Westin hotel!
View out the room window.
All settled in, I headed down to Fernando's and got a pepperoni pizza. Met Synth Wolf, who was sitting two tables down from me. After supper, I came back and caught a number of pics of suiters in the zoo and the Westin lobby:
Tobias in the zoo.
Flow, cute and playful kitty.
I had originally planned to arrive early so that I could try out a lot of suiting on Wednesday and Thursday, before the con was in full swing, but now since I did not have a fursuit, that significantly changed my plans. So, I headed over to ConOps to make constructive use of my free time as a volunteer. I was pleasantly surprised to see Kitt3ns on the convention staff in at ConOps. Headed over to the DLCC for the bag stuffing, but accidentally got locked in the stairwell along with someone else and couldn't get out. Should have taken the elevator, didn't know. Finally hopped the rail and went down an adjoining flight of stairs and emerged into the parking garage, thankfully. Then, tried it again, this time taking the elevator. We ran into Kage, which was really cool because he had a special job for us apart from the bag stuffing we had planned on. "You look like two competent gentlemen," he said to us, prior to assigning our task, which was to set up the dealer's room table assignments. We put a sheet of paper on every table in the dealer's room, which identified who was to get that table (example, A01- Dragon's Lair, B25- Icy Paw Productions, etc.). At about 9:25pm, my helper Scotty had to leave to pick up someone at the airport, so I finished the job by myself by 10pm. I really enjoyed doing this systematic type work, also knowing I was making a small contribution to making the con happen.
After the volunteer work was finished, I went back over to the Westin to make my rounds looking for fursuiters to photograph. Following are a handful of these pics; I am only listing the names that I knew in "bold font" underneath them, the rest I did not catch. If you can identify any of these nameless furries, please comment! Also, as always, if you are one of these suiters and you would like the full size picture file, contact me (PM) with an email address and I'll send it to you. :)
Nice black fur color, nice legs.
Nice body on that tiger; Streak makes big cat kitty sounds and gives good hugs too.
Caffeine in the zoo. Cute!
I would see this fox again in 48 hours at the Fursuit Friendly Dance.
Nitro, Jace, and Yawni Husky
Saw this attractive fox last year, still didn't catch the name.
Cute pose!
Somebody's getting a noogie!
Photo op in the lobby! Flow the kitty now has pajamas on, so cute, all ready for bed.
Nice closeup pic of Meehsa in the elevator. I like that blue against the black and gray fur, color combo looks good.
Speaking of color, Sneety has lots of it! Another inside-the-elevator shot.
Well, it was after midnight, and I was pretty beat at this point and ready for bed, but then I went down to the lobby to meet Luka, a new friend of mine I had recently met online. We ended up talking there for a long time, so I didn't get to bed until like 2:00am... ughhh... but that was okay, I was glad I took the extra time to meet her for "real" (instead of only online) and got to know some more about her. And so went my first day, with the anticipation of the convention yet to come.
To be continued with Thursday, June 23...