At an average of 8-10 cons a year, I have attended well in excess of 200 cons over 23 years in fandom. With that level of experience, a convention has to really stand out in order for me to consider it among my Best. Cons. Ever. And for a con to be considered perhaps among the top five, up there with two FilKONtarios (my original '94 trip and last ( Read more... )

Yep, once more I've managed to reach the end of the year with excess leave beyond my allowable carryover, so my official work year ended last Wednesday. Unofficially I'm workin' the remote access since there were a few tasks I still needed to finish and activities I need to keep an eye on ( Read more... )

When we last left our intrepid traveler, he was hanging out at his cousin's in Seattle between business meetings.

( Gary is very, very sneaky )

Continuing from last night's post...I had decided to take advantage of a pair of West Coast business trips separated by 4 days to visit my cousin and family in Seattle. I hadn't seen my cousin and his wife since they moved from Washington, DC to Washington state several years ago, and hadn't met their 2-1/2 year old son at all. It was also a chance ( Read more... )

I had about as much fun on my recently-completed West Coast trip as one can be expected to have considering it was anchored at both ends by business meetings and caused me to miss OVFF.
( Flights and Books! )

Writing a year-end post for 2011 is an interesting undertaking. I'm aware most of my friends want to bid good riddance to 2011. It's been a tough year; we lost keristor, badgerthorazine and dunkelpig, and many of my friends have experienced job losses, health problems, and relationship issues ( Read more... )

Back from visiting the_sheryl's parents in Florida. In the process of catching up on things, which will be helped by the fact I have the rest of the week off. Did see the sad news about badgerthorazineAs usual, a pretty low-key weekend. We did take a cruise along the Delray Beach portion of the Intracoastal Waterway, gawking at all the one-percenters' houses and condos. Of ( Read more... )

Back from a pleasant weekend in NYC. We stayed at the Hotel Indigo in Chelsea and the Flower District. I booked the hotel for $60 a night plus Priority Club points. The room was small, with just barely enough room to navigate around the king bed, desk, armoire, and easy chair with side table. But it was decently comfortable and one block from the ( Read more... )

Our grand tour of the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland Combined Statistical Area (plus Monterey County) continues.

( Mon 8/15 and Tue 8/16 )

Part I of my Renovation Trip report. Which actually started in California.

( Sat 8/13 and Sun 8/14 )