Whine. Whiney whine.

Wish I could be there. Especially because the temps shot back up to the mid-upper 90s for the next three or four days.

Paula:
Me too. Perhaps I can join you for some whine and conversation?

Temperatures are quite pleasant here, but there is that minor concern over Hurricane Felicia barreling at us. (Fortunately it declined from a Cat 4 to Cat 2 overnight and is expected to be no worse than a tropical depression by the time it gets here.)

Paul Krugman goes to SF conventions?

I knew he read SF, but that's ratcheting up the geek coolness factor quite a bit.

Heh. Clifton, have you stocked up on TP and rice yet?

(Those are the two products Hawai'i residents hoard whenever we face a "weather event.")

Clifton, believe me I'd rather be there. The heat here is one thing, but there is also a stiff south wind blowing--it's rather like being in a blast furnace when you go outside... with humidity.

We ARE having an "I'm not at the Worldcon and want to partee" party tomorrow, potluck and fun.

Linkmeister: We buy the TP at Costco, so there is usually a small mountain of it concealed somewhere in the house; as it happens we'd also just bought a fresh sack of rice, so we're set for a while. We'll probably go out and buy a case of bottled water "just in case" as we know it will get used eventually what with hiking, etc.

I wish I could dial in.

(My alarm clock didn't go off, so I'm late and no one is answering the Skype.)

Wishing all you the best.

Of course they have to change the room numbers; it's the Delta Hotel!

(Serge must be busy doing something else.)

#9
Ow, ow, ow!

Status report: the party was going great guns. Not hugely loud by con party standards, but obviously not dead silent.

Then Security knocked on the door and shut it down. Apparently, rather than designating it a party floor, they put people into conference rooms on residential floors, and they were getting noise complaints.

The party is now adrift, I think, and looking for somewhere else to land.

Further updates as events warrant.

(I don't know if the plums are still chilling in the bathtub. I think someone was eating them. Breakfast may be canceled.)

As someone who got to the Delta at around 10 and wasn't able to get anywhere, I'd definitely like to know where and if folks reconvene. I'm back at my room chilling out, but would still definitely like to meet up.

The party is now in the Lower level (basement) rooms Cartier A and B: this is where the Birthday party was last night.

Abi, if you're there,
1. We can reconvene virtual Abi-- they have ethernet.

2. please update this post. We're in the Lower level, room Cartie A and B.
Thanks

Ah well, this was a con first for me--getting expelled from a party (which was what Security announced when they dumped us off on the 23rd floor).

Also, does anyone know what was up with Security running such a tight cordon around the elevators at 11:30 tonight? Hotel security, not con security. I don't remember that happening last night.

Xopher's chocolates were truly exquisite--especially the chipotle and lime ones! Thank you so much!

... and we're now down in the basement in Cartier A ...

Oh excellent. Cartier A? That is lower level of Delta?

We are wicked tired at this point, but are going to walk on over anyway. Sleep is for when you aren't at a Con. :)

Indeed -- we are lighting the basement ;)

Clifton and Linkmeister, that cracks me up. We buy TP the same way and the downstairs bathroom tub is the utility/broom closet/paper storage unit for our house because we use the second floor bathroom as the main bathroom.

And NAKAKon gave us a 50 lb bag of rice, we're set for rice for about a year. We have a dog-food 'canister' from Walmart for that, bread flour and regular flour (I do a lot of craft baking when it's not so farking hot outside).

Wait, Paul Krugman? Dang, my disappointment at not being in Montreal just went up another 20%.

Yes, Krugman was here Thursday and Friday, at the invitation of the concom; he did a dialogue with Charles Stross on Thursday night, and a talk-with-Q&A on Friday afternoon. Sometime Making Light commenter Skwid reported on the Krugman/Stross event here.

His talk was absolutely fascinating, and I'm still processing it. I find I suddenly want a second life, in which I have the time to read more about economics.

[second try...]

Oh where oh where can the party be
The hotel took it away from me
I cannot find it and I'm full of gloom
I cannot find the party for its moved the room...

===========================

[it got worse, but the bitbucket ate the next piece.... ]

abi -- the computer with the webcam going had the battery run out
Serge says hi
Teresa went to bed.

abi @ 12 ...
(I don't know if the plums are still chilling in the bathtub. I think someone was eating them. Breakfast may be canceled.)

This is just to say

I have eaten
the plums
that were not in
the bathtub

since you
had probably
cancelled
our breakfast.

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and warm.

I don't know about plums, but when I stay in the bathtub too long, I tend to prune up.
Maybe next time have the con at the Alpha?

It was a great party (in particular, Xopher and his chocolates) and Kathryn did a terrific job of organizing.

Somebody got a bunch of little plastic dinosaurs and put them in, er, Compromising Positions. Sadly, there were no examples of Infernokrusher art.

Patrick @ 22--I'm feeling much the same way. My spouse, who did major in econ, lit up when I started telling him about Krugman's talk and started riffing on it himself....

All I know is that while I passed Micro (on my way to a j-school degree), I couldn't get past Macro. I think if I'd had Krugman as a teacher, I'd have understood it. I'm seriously considering a pilgrimage to Powell's when I get home.

I've got an MP3 of the Krugman talk, and I'm uploading it to the internet archive now; I'll post a link on my blog when it's done (the hotel bandwidth here sucks).

I only wanted to say "YAY!" to Kathryn from Sunnyvale for last night's Making Light party which ended not that long ago this morning. Now I must shamble to the con and find some coffee.

...must... drink... dregggggggs...

Good morning. Matt and I had a lovely time. I still wish that I'd been able to get there earlier in the evening, but it was great to see the folks who were still around by the time we got there.

I will second the "YAY" for Kathryn from Sunnyvale.

Another voice raised in praise of Kathryn from Sunnyvale and all her helpers. The party was out of this world (as is only proper). It had everything - dinosaurs, sodomy, lightsticks, knitting, miracle fruit, language, folly, plums, and xopher's chocolates. And (assigned to that room on the non-party floor) maybe even a bit of fraud.

And the pinata MacDonald was customizing when I got there, so that a thought bubble with the words "You People!" emerged from its mouth.

And, of course, you people.

Kathryn from Sunnyvale does indeed rock. The party was good enough for two continents.

(My own attendance was plagued by trouble, from the failing alarm clock to the kid barf incident. And I am now very weary. But it looked like fun.)

My personal high point: finally talking to Jim Macdonald! It was before the headphones turned up, so he heard very little of what I said, but that was neat.

This is just to say

I have not eaten
The Maple Pie
or the Ice Cider

which was
at the party
being saved
for a good moment

Give me
some ideas
they'll be sweet...

You know, if someone had told me 15 years ago when I was working for Tom Doherty that, at some point in the future, that photo would exist, I would have been...startled, to say the least.

Wish I could be there, but am enjoying the stories.

I had to go and spend mountains of money I don't have today to get over the thought of all you horrible bastards hanging out with PAUL KRUGMAN while I am here stuck in London. Bwaaaaaah. Yes, there's a WorldCon every year, but PAUL KRUGMAN.

BAWL.

My violet corset + skirt will forever hence be known as "the Paul Krugman Outfit".

What are they saying in the photo? "Nice little economics column you have there... be a shame if something was to happen to it..."

Sorry I missed it this year! Sounds like a great time.

Anna @ 36: Pictures or it didn't happen! ;-D

As for the rest of...You People!...I'll get you next time! /moustache-twirl

In re Krugman, I just read _The Return of Depression Economics_ and he makes it all seem so easy and straightforward. You know, one of the early warning signs that Obama wasn't really changing anything was his failure to utilize the national treasure that is Paul Krugman.

I think one of the best things we could have done to help the economy would have been to give Paul Krugman a trillion dollars with the mission of doing whatever he thought was best with the money. No strings attached.

Thanks to Kathryn, Duchess of Sunnyvale for organizing (whoops, I'm in Canada, s.b. 'organising') the wonderful party, and picking up the pieces when the hotel fucked us (especially Kathryn herself) over.

Thanks to everyone who said nice things about the chocolates, here and at the party; it was my pleasure to produce them and watch you eat them. Especially the watch-you-eat-them part.

The chipotle-lime chocolates were really just a weird whim of mine. I was surprised by their popularity, frankly. When I commented that I hadn't expected them to be so popular, someone (I wish I could remember who) said "NOOOOOOOObody expects the chipotle-lime chocolates to be popular! Their chief weapon is chipotle! Chipotle and lime..." (and yes, it went on for some time after that, and I'm sure you can guess exactly how).

And Paul Krugman definitely feels fannish to me.

Maya Con Dios: Chicxulub in 2012 -- It's the End of WorldCon as We Know It!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=121105237372&ref=nf

This is what happens when we're left at home to our own devices.

Xopher, the chipotle-lime chocolotls sound divine. Xomeday . . .

'lo again. If somebody sees TexAnne at the worldcon, could you ask her to look for me? I've got a message for her from somebody else and I don't have her email.

Being in the masquerade was fun. I was just a ninja for our group, which is why I hid behind its organizer when she won and came onstage. Judging took longer than the actual masquerade, but there were Bugs Bunny cartoons in the intermission so that was ok.

Went to bed late. As soon as I'm presentable, I'll go over to the worldcon and do some volunteer work. I think I'm registered to be an usher for the Hugos too.

Hi Serge--my email is my LJ username at mac dot com. But I'll still look for you.

TexAnne... Email has just gone to you. As for myself, I'll be wearing one of my patented very bright short-sleeved t-shirts - the orange one, this time.

Kip W @ 37... Heheheh

Xopher: Whom would you like me to kill in exchange for the recipe for those chipotle-lime chocolatls?

Retrying this post - I have a very few pictures up on Flickr from the 2131 phase. If anyone wants them, high-res versions are available.

Back from my con volunteering... I had thought it'd mean running around the place so I decided against lugging my brick-heavy laptop with me and against bringing supplementary reading material beyond that Kristin Rusch story in Asimov's. Of course I wound up being assigned gatekeeper duty at the ASFA suite. Only one person showed up to enjoy the food during those 4 hours. Oh well. I took a sort-of nap. Meanwhile I've been told that I will be an usher at the Hugos.

I made it up to the 28th floor about 11:00 PM (by the simple expedient of climbing the stairs from the lobby since the elevators looked like about a two-hour wait). I found 2827, but the door was locked. So I figured you'd all gone to bed, and went to the Lunacon Party, then back to the other hotel and to sleep myself.

It was a great party. All glory laud and honor to Kathryn from Sunnyvale.

I went back to my hotel to sleep because Abi told me to, and when is Abi not right?

TNH @52:

I'd feel guiltier about sending you home from the party, but I've seen what happens when someone recommends something that you don't think is a good idea. So I trust that my reminder of the time was not, um, untimely.

I'm almost done packing and will soon get onto a taxi that'll take me thru the security theater of the Garry Trudeau Int'l Airport. I had a wonderful time, thanks to all the people I met. I managed to make one writer run away in horror last night, reducing her to a gibbering remnant of humanity, simply by explaining my wife's absence from the con with one dreaded word - deadlines.

If you held the Con at the Aleph Null, you could always make rooms available by moving all the guests to even-numbered rooms, freeing up the odd-numbered ones.

Ca c'est juste pour dire

que ce n'ai pas moi
qui a mangé les prunes
qui étaient dans la glacière

et que vous sauviez
probablement
pour le déjeuner

C'etait probablement Serge
qui a pris "prunes" pour "puns"
Pardonnez-lui
il est comme ca

My violet corset + skirt will forever hence be known as "the Paul Krugman Outfit".

OH GOD NO

Well, thanks for landing me with that image. Thank god the photo was taken before the clothes-changing started at least...

Cheryl, #56: Très bien!

Cheryl @ 56: il est bien fait!

theophylact @55: And then, when a guest complains about the noise from the party in room 1, you simply assign them to the room number obtained by doubling their existing room number.

Cheryl #56: Brava!

Too late now, but at some time I am going to have to see if the text-MUD I have still works. I never bothered after the dynamic-DNS account lapsed--inactivity during my time in hospital--and I ought to check for an update to the server code.

If anybody can handle a text-only party experience, it must be you lot. At the moment, the database is a slightly warped, and furry, version of Wildcat Island. Do we congregate by the campfire, or resort to the treehouse?

Timezones will be a problem. CONUS is 5 to 8 hours behind proper time, and I'm not sure I want to leave the thing running unattended.

The big advantages are low bandwidth and no need for fancy software on the part of users. Anyone interested?

It is Monday afternoon (I leave tomorrow afternoon), and I'm contemplating the remaining supplies: if you bought one of these, do you need/want it back?
1. Small electric fan
2. good quality corkscrew
3. plates, plastic cups

Also, who requested the ice cider?

#63 Kathyrn from Sunnyvale

2. good quality corkscrew
If it is the white one I brought, it's free to a good home. There was another red one there, whose origins I don't know.

Also, who requested the ice cider?

Found it back on the "Our Worldcon schedule" thread; it was TexAnne.

It was great to meet everyone! And I'm having a small happiness that apparently my first attempt at a "This is just to say..." riff seems to have been received well. I was nervous. I'm used to lurking.

Thanks for all of your work, Kathryn, even when it seemed that the hotel was against you! And to Serge, for much slicing and dicing.

"And to Serge, for much slicing and dicing"

He was entrusted with a knife?!?

Linkmeister @65:
He was entrusted with a _knife_?!?

He needs one? I thought he just used his wit.

APPLE: I've done nothing wrong! What are you going to do?
SERGE*: You should throw yourself on the mercy of the core-t.
APPLE: Will there be any mercy?
SERGE: No, I'm feeling crabby today.
APPLE: (falls into slices)
ORANGE: How could you do that to him? What are you going to do to me?
SERGE: Your appeals are fruitless.
ORANGE: (falls spontaneously into pieces)
PLUM: My god! What have you done?
SERGE: Nothing I can't drupe-licate at will.
PLUM: (falls into slices)
BANANA: You bastard! You murdered them!
SERGE: They did it to themselves. The worst I am guilty of is plantain the suggestion that death is better than any more of my puns.
BANANA: (splits)

----
* Voiced for this scene by Christopher Lambert

#63, Kathryn: The red corkscrew was one I acquired from Zellers (the Hudson Bay Company's answer to Walmart) for a modest sum. It too is free to a good home in Montreal. I'm already back in Ottawa.

It was a great party.

For those interested, the Toronto Star today has an article on Miracle Fruit.

abi @ #66, Oh my. I bow in your general direction, ma'am.

Abi @66 *wilts*

While I missed Making Lumiere (I got there just as it was shutting down, and had to dash upstairs for a prior commitment), I did attend the Tor party and had a great time. Thanks so much. I had a fantastic con, and I'm grateful to everyone in attendance (even if I didn't get to meet you!) who helped make it that way.

(Home)
The Making Light party wound up in the subbasement, below the filking.... I had gone into the filking and someone told me the that Making Light party was downstairs, so down I went, and there it was, hours after the apparent shutdown.

As for the Miracle Fruit, it was pills made from the fruit, not the actual fruit.

I have not copied the still and video I took at the party yet. I need to download the file for decoding Pentaw raw images, and do some downsizing gfor anything that goes on the web--similar stuff with the video (I handed the camera that does video to someone--Kathryn?--to record me eating the Miracle Fruit.... )

As for my reactions to the Miracle Fruit, I could still taste acid in various stuff, and while the taste wasn't nasty-sour anymore, I could smell/taste things.... the pill didn't cause me to like things, it made them taste less overtly unpleasant.... the flip side is that I got a queasy stomach that didn't settle down until late afternoon....

(Home)
The Making Light party wound up in the subbasement, below the filking.... I had gone into the filking and someone told me the that Making Light party was downstairs, so down I went, and there it was, hours after the apparent shutdown.

As for the Miracle Fruit, it was pills made from the fruit, not the actual fruit.

I have not copied the still and video I took at the party yet. I need to download the file for decoding Pentaw raw images, and do some downsizing gfor anything that goes on the web--similar stuff with the video (I handed the camera that does video to someone--Kathryn?--to record me eating the Miracle Fruit.... )

As for my reactions to the Miracle Fruit, I could still taste acid in various stuff, and while the taste was no longer a high bar .... the pill didn't cause me to like things, it made them taste less overtly unpleasant.... the flip side is that I got a queasy stomach that didn't settle down until late afternoon....

A belated Thank You from me to Kathryn for her hospitality and organizational genius. So much happy! So many dinosaurs! I am still reeling.

Teresa, not that you will be unduly concerned about this, but I think I owe you a quarter. For strange reasons which perhaps psychologists could explain, I've had trouble remembering that there are no half-dollars in the Canadian system and that the things that look strikingly like U.S. quarters are indeed quarters.

Very happy to have been able to spend so much con time with TexAnne, Cath, Barbara, and others whose names my addled brain isn't readily spitting out. Excellent to finally meet Serge in the flesh and converse with abi digitally. Xopher's chocolates were miraculous once again. (Again, this is not meant to be an exhaustive list of high points. It was a weekend composed of 95% high points. No wonder I'm so pleasantly exhausted.)

It's Tuesday morning and in about 2 hours I will be making my way to the train station. Avram assures me that before I reach my connection in Schenectady I will have learned how to play this Dominion thing.

Not only did Kathryn trust me with a knife, but it was a ceramic knife and not once did I nick myself and spill one drop of my own blood onto the fruits.

Coming soon...
"CSI - worldcon"

I should practice the Caruso glasses-removing for when I go on my Citrus Splitting Investigations.

By the way, did you know that, starting with next year's Hugos, sites such as Making Light are eligible in the fanzine category?

My flight was cancelled again. Currently expected to fly out at 18:15, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.

Mark 48: There's no one to kill, because there's no recipe. I soaked some chipotle powder in lime oil, added a little bit of lime juice, and added it to my melted chocolate (in my tempering machine). Let it work for a while (the temperer keeps the chocolate agitated) before I put it in molds prepared with luster dust. What I'll do differently next time: use a ceramic bowl instead of a paper one (lost some oils to wicking), and look for a real fire-red luster dust. Also, I'll make more of them, since they were so popular.

"Luster-dust," Gracie? Dare one ask?

@ #75

Oh that Mike Ford were here.

(Add Muse of Fire, etc., to taste.)

It would, I think, be an interesting exercise over the tickets to the Hugo Losers Party.

Yo, Xopher:

Want me to drive up to Montreal, pick you up, and drive you to New Jersey?

Kathryn -- thank you for organizing the party! I had a great time.

I've put a photo of Jim's pinata up at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpolowin/3811895446/. Pictures of the googly-eyed brownies are here.

I'm hoping to get a well-informed explanation of what was going on behind the multiple room changes and party shutdown when my con-ops friends get back home. (When I asked one, she told me that it was a long story and she'd tell me later.) I know that the concom was looking for specific details about the supposed trigger event for the hotel closing the non-party-floor parties, and there were a lot of rumours which I'll avoid repeating at this point.

Jacque: A fine, sparkly, edible powder available at cake-decorating stores. Just decoration for the surface of the chocolate. I've also used petal dust (the orange ones at the party used that), which is exactly what it sounds like, and actual freeze-dried raspberry powder (the raspberry ones). Oh, and gold dust. I use them all in about the same way: brush them into the molds before pouring in the chocolate.

James: Thank you, but I still hold out hope for a plane flight to Newark. A very generous offer, though, since that would be many hours of driving.

Xopher, think about it. The local forecast in northern New Hampshire is for thunderstorms from now through midnight, and that's the airspace that you're scheduled to fly through.

Right now the air is as thick and warm as blood, with blinks of light in the sky and distant growls of thunder.

Xopher mentions a tempering machine.

I wonder if it would work for Astroturfed health reform rage.

James, Tonight the air was still and cold and chill. Then stormy clouds raced in on an icy wind, spitting hail and lightning bolts. A hard rain swept into the city like a curtain and was gone.

Hm. There's currently a storm warning in effect for Montreal, up until the early evening, also.

Mez, #84: Aside from the starting temperature, that sounds a lot like the storm cell that went past the restaurant where my friends & I were eating at Denvention last year. Also, nice turn of phrase!

#62 Dave Bell: If there was a Making Light Mud I would be there the moment I heard.

What server type is it?

If you'd like to use existing facilities rather than doing your own administration, why not invade Waterpoint; we've* got lots of lovingly-crafted grand spaces and cozy nooks nobody's bothering to occupy, and I think You People would get along reasonably well with Us People. (We don't have very many knitters these days, though.)

* I am not a Waterpoint admin, just a regular.

It's been far too long since I had Lakeside running, Kevin. It looks as though anything that would work with Waterpoint would work, at the basic level. I've never even heard of TWin before now.

Technically, it's a MUCK rather than a MOO.

The rain was certainly pounding the pavement at 9:00 in Montreal. Xopher, if you don't take Jim up on his offer, at least tell us when you land safely. Will be thinking good thoughts for your trip home.

Update from Schenectady's one hour of free wi-fi, where I am between trains: Avram was good as his word. I now have a new card game to pick up at the Gen Con dealer room. I also now have new friends on Twitter and Ravelry and LJ (hi Herbert and BDan and Josh!), and got to say some last goodbyes to Ron and to the Segals Stu and Stephen.

Trains are cool! They make the party longer, often without sacrifice of sleep! We must do this again, with those of y'all coming from the midwest at least, when WorldCon comes to Reno! (C'mon, you know you want to, we've got big sharp mountains! Made of rocks!)

I heard a train whistle, so I'd better pack this up--

#88: I don't think I asked "What kind of client do I need", but it got answered. Not sure how that happened.

Never had any experience with MUCKs. That is what I meant by 'server type' though; I don't think considering the various MU* to be Different Things In Need Of A New Acronym is very helpful (though of course different software should have different names); they're all muds to me. Except we say 'virtual world' these days.

TWin is an auxiliary thing; goes beside the regular text-based view and gives you windows for whatever the server provides. Very handy for reading documents and status displays, the sort of stuff that would be annoyingly verbose in a text-only system.

</ramble>

Joel #80 - good, you got the other side of the speech ballon from my pic.

Looks like Delays at the Airport continue:

http://ckd.livejournal.com/68367.html as of 2106 tonight.

Xopher, tell me you made it out okay....

and away we goo
with a MUCK and a MOO
from the revel that ends too soon...

Well, my plane was delayed by an hour again, then bumped by ten minutes for reasons never explained, then we all got on and they closed the door and started the safety lecture...

...then stopped, opened the door, reattached the jetway, and did NOT kick us off (which of course is what I feared). They had simply forgotten to fuel the plane.

They. Had. Forgotten. To fuel. The Plane!!!!

Now, I'm willing to be persuaded to think otherwise, but I really would respectfully submit that that last problem really cannot be blamed on the weather, except perhaps in the very distant sense that all the delays made hasty people, and hasty people make dumb mistakes.

At any rate, we arrived in Newark around 9:00. I just got home and collected my boxes from Lenore and put my pants in the wash and logged on.

Thank you everyone, for your kind wishes. Thanks especially to Jim for his kind and generous offer. Thanks to Someone Else, too. You know who you are.

Glad you made it back, Xopher.

My trip back to Boston was uncannily free of disasters. Worst thing that happened to me was not enough ice in my orange juice.

(I ran into Xopher at the airport, and saw him board his plane. Didn't find out about the fuel thing until I got home, though.)

Apparently if I'd wanted the 6:30 flight to Boston, I would have been totally horked -- it was cancelled with little notice. (The thunderstorm, I guess.) But I'd asked for the 8:00 flight and that just left twenty minutes late. Full, mind you -- the 6:30 people had no luck trying to transfer onto it.

A woman sitting behind me said that she'd been on a 3:30 flight which reached Boston, circled above the fog for a while *and then flew back to Montreal*. I thanked her for using up all the bad luck.

More conreport tomorrow night.

Xopher @ #94

That is mindbogglingly stupid.

Glad you didn't end up as a passenger on a Gimli Glider. They caught it, this time. At the end of that page is a disturbing list of airliner accidents. Apart from the birdstrikes and volcanic ash, there are several out-of-fuel crashes, but not many.

Nicole LeBoeuf-Little @ 73... Excellent to finally meet Serge in the flesh. Same here. By the way, since your con badge said 'Leboeuf' only, did many people try to speak to you in French?

94: at least they realised before taking off... which airline was this, so I know to avoid it?
(Wondering if there's anything else they occasionally forget. "Hmm. Draughty in here, isn't it?"

Ah, aviation!

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth

Flight crews must insure that all surly bonds have been slipped entirely before aircraft taxi or flight is attempted.

Maybe not, but I shall note that the Spontoons Islands Speed Week looms for intrepid aviators.

Ah well, to add to the Montreal exodus craziness, the passenger in the window seat in our row never showed up, so we were delayed because they had to pull his baggage off of the plane. I had to wonder if it was the guy who casually strolled off in the waiting area, leaving his bags unattended....nonetheless, that was a further delay, add to that delays from late arrivals on the plane.

We made our connection in Denver but it was literally deplane, change terminals, reticket (Air Canada and United's computers don't talk to each other, sigh, good data point to keep in mind for the future), and leap onto the plane. Our bags didn't make it with us, but they did get delivered to our house by a gnomish little man in a green station wagon late at night.

Another friend had her plane messed up by malfunctioning bathrooms, which led to a Winnipeg layover.

Okay. That's two Worldcons in a row that the planes have been screwy on departure. We're not going to Australia--Labor Day cons don't work well for teachers--but I strongly suspect we're driving to Reno.

Nicole--great meeting you at Alma's kaffeeklatch!

Xopher - a relief to hear you're home safe and sound. I regret missing your chipotle/lime chocos and I look forward to the next occasion to do so, or to simply bask in a conversation that includes you!

Joyce - yes, that was most excellent! Less of a kaffeeklatch and more of a catch-up-with-friends session, the way that turned out.

Serge - I generally post with my full name, but since I publish under my pre-hyphenated name, that's the one I put on con badges. In any case, though no one tried to speak to me in French, I had a few occasions with people surprised to hear me speaking English and assuming I was a local. I had to explain that though the name *is* sort of from Quebec, it was displaced a few hundred years ago to southern Louisiana. The word "Cajun" met with universal bafflement.

Antonia T. Tiger: Flight crews must insure that all surly bonds have been slipped entirely before aircraft taxi or flight is attempted. ...in other words, there's a reason "remove tie-downs" is in the checklist?

Nicole LeBoeuf-Little @ 102... The word "Cajun" met with universal bafflement.

They must be people who don't read much in English if they've never come across that version of 'Acadian'.

Nicole, it was nice to hear your name spoken approximately correctly, though, I'd wager? This POCD (Person of Cajun Descent) certainly enjoyed it the few occasions available...

#102 Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little

The word "Cajun" met with universal bafflement.

I... Really? Quebecois that you met didn't recognize the word "Cajun"? That's... well, I'm baffled. The Acadian Expulsion is a featured part of high school Canadian History classes. I don't actually know how you can grow up here and not know that.

Skwid: This is true. Didn't typically have to spell it for them, either.

Serge, Cheryl: Exactly. I was startled. Granted, it didn't come up *that* much, so possibly not a representative sample. Maybe I was speaking to people who had moved to the Montreal area post-school.

Nicole?

So, Nicole: Tonight's Farmer's Market night, and I leave work in a half-hour (5:30). Any desire to rendezvous at the Teahouse?

Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little @102, Serge @103, Cheryl @105: The Acadian Expulsion is a featured part of high school Canadian History classes. I don't actually know how you can grow up here and not know that.

My grandfather farmed in the Canadian prairies, and I don't think he had as much as a high school education. But Evangeline, by Longfellow, was one of his favorite poems. There is a scene where the ships carrying the separated lovers pass nearby without either being aware of it (described in this section of the poem). I had thought that the phrase "ships that pass in the night" originated there, but it's not to be found; that came from another Longfellow poem (I've linked to a blog which quoted the relevant passage: the full poem is much longer).

His other favorite poem was The Cremation of Sam McGee.

Finally got home late last night, after my flight from Newark being delayed for a few hours after we were on the plane. *sigh*

I only made it to the ML party a few minutes before we were kicked out of the initial location, and I opted to go back to my hotel and sleep instead of hang around in hopes a new one might be found, but I did manage to grab one of the chocolates on my way out.

A collection of photos from my Montreal trip. I threw in some con quotes and comments that struck me, but the pictures themselves are fannish only in some ineffable sense of fannishness.

http://eblong.com/zarf/thod/32.html

By the way, did anybody here try to voodoo-message me on Monday morning? Or maybe Sunday night. I got a red thumbtack but no note. Please re-send next year, or comment here if you want to be timelier than that.

(Not Serge's message on Friday about the ML party -- I got that, thanks.)

Andrew Plotkin @ 111... I really peppered the voodoo board with those red tacks, eh?

By the way, when I was waiting to go thru airport security, I saw that Tom Doherty was right behind me. He looks even more impressive up close.

Rob Rusick @109: Cremation was my dad's favorite poem, too. I had him do a dramatic reading for my Star Trek club's Halloween party one year.

Jacque, I'm still not home - am now in Indianapolis and have just finished up my first day at Gen Con. I have gawked at the dealers' room, played Munchkin Cthulhu, and participated in a TrueDungeon run. Have also had an improbable afternoon chasing down the last laundromat in Indianapolis. My first possibility for rendezvousing won't be until Tuesday.

I C UR YOOTOOB LINK DAVE

Serge, I still haven't read Evangeline. It's been on my todo list for most of my life.

Nicole J Leboeuf-Little @ 115... I still haven't read Evangeline

...and I've never liked hockey. What sad pitiful examples of North-American francophony you and I make.

My father owned a Complete Works of Longfellow. In consequence, I have read Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie as well as The Song of Hiawatha, The Spanish Student, Tales from A Wayside Inn, The Golden Legend and other products of his prolific pen. The man made many geese suffer.

Memory from the worldcon's Stross/Krugman panel... TexAnne being dismayed at the room's lights being darkened enough that she could hardly see that ball of black wool she was knitting with.

A question for LiveJournal users... I'm writing my worldcon report, and it may wind up being a bit on the lengthy side. How does one use the "under the cut" option so that only the beginning of the post shows up on the main page?

<lj-cut text="label">

Hidden content

</lj-cut>

Serge @ 119: In "Rich Text Mode", one writes all the text, then selects the part that should be hidden by mouse-dragging over it (or using CTRL and arrow buttons, etc.) and clicking the "LiveJournal Cut" icon. This brings up a dialogue box which allows one to specify the text which indicates that something is hidden (e.g. "Here be cut stuff").

Dave... Joel... Thanks!

I made it home OK (and ran into Neil Gaiman at the airport gate in Montreal!) but after a day's delay came down with the most horrendous flu I've had since...well, since I had pneumonia. The lady sitting next to me on the Toronto-Houston plane was coughing a bit, I wonder if I caught it from her. Yesterday was pretty much a total loss. Today I'm finally getting caught up on ML.

Dave@97: I'd never realized that airplanes have no real-time sensors for their fuel tanks. One more thing to worry about....

Nicole@102: Not just tiedowns; on light planes the pitot tube (air pressure/speed reader) has a cover (to keep flies out on the ground) with a \huge/ tail, and the control lock (prevents surfaces from flapping in the wind) has an extension that covers the ignition keyhole. And people still manage dumb stunts....

I was at the party for a little while and met several of you, and even spent a few minutes in the first alternate location on 28, before giving up; somehow I can't sleep past ~7 even at an off-site hotel, and after 2.5 days of firefighting I was wasted. (I arrived Monday night; Tuesday night I got the specs for the special exhibits I built on Wednesday, and ditto for the next day.) Drove home Sunday, through rain in VT, because my wife was coming home from Pennsic with a multiply-broken arm. (Jim: not a FOOSH; soon we have to find out how to get a TSA certificate for the plate, and later she and Debra can compare scars.)
The pills were fascinating -- to me they muted sour but not bitter; did anyone else slip and eat some of the pith or peel of the citrus pieces?

I didn't eat any of the citrus peel, but I did eat some grapefruit. It's always seemed to me that what I don't like about grapefruit is bitter rather than sour, and the "don't-like" was greatly mitigated. I don't know that I could say I liked it, but it was interesting and I think I could acquire that taste. Not that I'm likely to have many opportunities to do so.

It didn't seem to me that the pills turned sour into sweet so much as they just blocked the sour, letting other flavors and scents come through. Lemon didn't taste like lemon candy, it tasted more like Meyer lemon, and I had no temptation to swig down vinegar. It may be that half a tablet wasn't enough to give the full effect.

It did confirm for me that I just Don't Like Beer.

Was anyone at the party a card-carrying supertaster?

I do have a few (three, to be precise) pics from the ML party on Flickr:

Making Lumiere

I was going to take more, including pics of, you know, people, but then The Man shut us down.

Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little @115: ...played Munchkin Cthulhu...

I misread this as McGuckin Cthulhu, which produced a very strange image in my brain.

For those that don't know, McGuckin's in Boulder is The Best Hardware Store In The Known Universe.

Skwid @ 127... I still wonder how the pterodactyl felt about the brontosaurus standing on its ass. I think I suggested that Mister B was giving Mister P a Japanese-style massage.

As I belatedly catch up on this thread...

Andrew Plotkin (#96): The sad part is that I picked the 1805 flight so that if something happened, I'd have a backup option in the 2000 flight!

I did, as my LJ entries noted, get a chance to continue the convention at the Holiday Inn, in a small way. (Before my flight was cancelled, I saw ML's own Kathryn from Sunnyvale as she headed off to her own flight, which apparently did depart....)

Jacque @128: I misread this as McGuckin Cthulhu, which produced a very strange image in my brain.

And I read your post as Macaulay Cthulhu, which also suggested interesting images (the tentacles slapped to the side of the face with the beak in an 'O' expression...).

Rob Rusick @ 131: In that case, Macaulay Chthulhu would not have been so worried about those crooks trying to break in. He'd have been hungry.

Would anybody be interested in a Gathering of Light in Oakland, some time during the week of September 21? It might be held at the same place where we did this during the Holidays. Or elsewhere if people prefer, but, while the Pacific Coast Brewing Company can get a bit noisy, the service is good, and it's only a few blocks from the 12th Street BART Station.

Assemble at the PCB? Yes, I'm interested. Whether I can make it depends on timing -- it takes me an hour to drive there, longer if it's rush hour.

TomB @ 134... We could start at 5pm or at 6pm. Even if you showed up 'late', it wouldn't be a problem. This usually lasts until some time after 9pm. Is there a preferred evening? Even Friday would be possible.

Serge at 135: No particular evening. The only issue for me is traffic. Thanks

TomB @ 136... I'll post a reminder again on or two weeks before. See you then, hopefully.

Serge@133: While I certainly would be interested, alas I will be unable to attend.