21 May 1998: WisCon Looms

Thursday, 21 May 1998:

WisCon Looms

I have tomorrow off, for WisCon. Since we also have a deadline at work tomorrow, this means I spent most of yesterday and today doing a lot of final things to meet the deadline, which since most of my projects for this release have passed testing a while ago, meant that I spent a lot of time doing programmer testing. Yawn! It's probably the part of my job I enjoy least, but there you are.

I did manage to steal an hour to do some preparation for the fun project I talked about a couple of days ago, though.

Last night I decided to "take off" again, and watched lots more cartoons, as well as reading the latest APA and this week's comic book haul. I was a bit bummed that I'd only taped the first of two parts of Denny O'Neil's cartoon adaptation of his first Ra's Al Ghul story (interesting to know the character's name is pronounced "Raysh Ahl Gool").

[Later: I watched tonight's episode of Batman after I logged off, and discovered that it was the second part of the Ra's Al Ghul story. Good stuff! Not sure why they broke it up with a different episode in between, though...]

I picked up my APA from the Official Editor and also bought a few books from him - Doc Smith books that my Dad wants. I also contemplated buying a hardcover copy of Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon The Deep, but their first edition copy is worth a bunch and I didn't want to spend $50.00 on a book (I'm not really a collector, I just want a nice, durable copy), so I told them if they could get me a cheaper second or third edition, that would be fine.

Even with a night dedicated to lolling around, it seemed like I didn't have enough time.

Tonight I went over to the con hotel to help with packet-stuffing for WisCon, but it turns out they finished it all blindingly fast - in less than an hour, for probably 600+ packets filled with badges, program books and souvenir books. Wow! So instead I hung around with some other folks for a while, and later went out to dinner with them. The woman acting as hotel liaison (one of my dinner companions) I think is pretty stressed about the job, but she seems to be doing a fine job. I'm not sure if it was a relief or not that I told her she didn't seem all that nervous outwardly.

Tomorrow I need to run a few errands before going to the con, and then I'll be working the registration table for a couple of hours. I'll probably work the con suite some, too - I did that last year. But mostly I expect to go to lots of panels. Panels, panels, panels. I like panels; panels are why I go to cons. Did I mention panels?

So, I don't know when I'll update next. Maybe this weekend, maybe not 'til Monday or Tuesday. Patience!

Oh, and I think Luke McGuff is going to be at the con. How about that?

Michael Rawdon (Contact)