Score! (JadeCon odds and sundry)
Finally had enough time to take a leisurely perusal of the GenCon dealer's floor. Found some Wolverine figures for Drew (wanted to get him a t-shirt, but they had NO WOLVERINE YOUTH SIZE T-SHIRTS. WTF? It's not exactly a grownup fandom!) But the best is what I got for the girls (and one for myself.) The infamous t-shirts that read: "Then Buffy staked Edward. The end." My girls have been wanting one ever since they learned of their existence, since they are the only girls in their school who loathe Twilight. Can't wait to give it to them!
Also had an interesting mishap that turned out to be a good thing. When I got off the shuttle from the airport to the hotel, I grabbed the pull handle on my large bag, and it broke clean out of the bag, tearing a huge hole in the top. Clearly this was not going to pass muster for the return flight home (not even duct tape was gonna fix this one), so I now had to find a suitcase while downtown in a city with which I'm only marginally familiar and where I have no transportation to get myself around. Our hotel is connected to a mall, but as I suspected, the department store there had outrageously expensive bags ($595??? Uh, thanks, but no.) So I asked information if they had any luggage stores, figuring I was probably SOL finding anything I could afford and would have to beg a ride from a friend or cab it to the nearest Target. The lady at the information desk lists off the department stores, then says "TJ Maxx." BINGO! I had no idea there was a TJ Maxx here! It's not in the mall, but connected to it (as is much of downtown) via a skywalk.
In TJ Maxx, I found an AWESOME suitcase. For $70! There was also a $40 one the right size, but it looked like it would have the same handle-ripping potential as my old bag, so I decided to spend a few extra $ to get the sturdier one. And it had more pockets! (I love pockets in purses and suitcases.) Only when I got to the counter to pay for it did I realize its real true genius: it has PIVOTING WHEELS. This sucker corners like a RACECAR! I am SO in love with this suitcase! And it's American Tourister, so not a piece of crap like my old one.
So... pain in the ass, but solved easily and cheaply with a better bag than I probably would've found at home, so I'm very, very happy. Other than that, the gifts I bought on the floor today, and my share of the room, I've spent very little money on this trip, so that's good.
Today we did a "pimp your fandom" thing, and I got to do the "It's not just for kids" segment and talk about my current three favorite quality "kids" shows: Spectacular Spider-Man, Avatar, and Danny Phantom. It was fun. Think I sold a ton of people on Avatar. Probably notsomuch Danny Phantom or Spider-Man. I think this group is more an epic saga group than a superhero group. Ah well.
Oh, and a bit of excitement last night. While we were all counting on the suite's spiral staircase and multiple 12th floor balconies to be the source of sure doom, instead it was setting the suite on fire! Some paper wrappers from our catered tacos got too close to one of the sterno pots and WOOSH! Fortunately, it was on a glass table and one of our level-headed engineers got the fire out with no damage other than to a few napkins. Another notch in our JadeCon disasters belt. ;)
Also had an interesting mishap that turned out to be a good thing. When I got off the shuttle from the airport to the hotel, I grabbed the pull handle on my large bag, and it broke clean out of the bag, tearing a huge hole in the top. Clearly this was not going to pass muster for the return flight home (not even duct tape was gonna fix this one), so I now had to find a suitcase while downtown in a city with which I'm only marginally familiar and where I have no transportation to get myself around. Our hotel is connected to a mall, but as I suspected, the department store there had outrageously expensive bags ($595??? Uh, thanks, but no.) So I asked information if they had any luggage stores, figuring I was probably SOL finding anything I could afford and would have to beg a ride from a friend or cab it to the nearest Target. The lady at the information desk lists off the department stores, then says "TJ Maxx." BINGO! I had no idea there was a TJ Maxx here! It's not in the mall, but connected to it (as is much of downtown) via a skywalk.
In TJ Maxx, I found an AWESOME suitcase. For $70! There was also a $40 one the right size, but it looked like it would have the same handle-ripping potential as my old bag, so I decided to spend a few extra $ to get the sturdier one. And it had more pockets! (I love pockets in purses and suitcases.) Only when I got to the counter to pay for it did I realize its real true genius: it has PIVOTING WHEELS. This sucker corners like a RACECAR! I am SO in love with this suitcase! And it's American Tourister, so not a piece of crap like my old one.
So... pain in the ass, but solved easily and cheaply with a better bag than I probably would've found at home, so I'm very, very happy. Other than that, the gifts I bought on the floor today, and my share of the room, I've spent very little money on this trip, so that's good.
Today we did a "pimp your fandom" thing, and I got to do the "It's not just for kids" segment and talk about my current three favorite quality "kids" shows: Spectacular Spider-Man, Avatar, and Danny Phantom. It was fun. Think I sold a ton of people on Avatar. Probably notsomuch Danny Phantom or Spider-Man. I think this group is more an epic saga group than a superhero group. Ah well.
Oh, and a bit of excitement last night. While we were all counting on the suite's spiral staircase and multiple 12th floor balconies to be the source of sure doom, instead it was setting the suite on fire! Some paper wrappers from our catered tacos got too close to one of the sterno pots and WOOSH! Fortunately, it was on a glass table and one of our level-headed engineers got the fire out with no damage other than to a few napkins. Another notch in our JadeCon disasters belt. ;)