daisy_knotwise, catalana, and I headed down to Columbus Thursday night. Normally, we'd travel early on Friday, but because I was Toastmaster, I wanted to make sure we were there early enough on Friday that I was actually ready to do all of the Toastmaster things, so the late-night drive was in order.We got in about 3 AM Columbus time, after driving through some really spectacular thunderstorms on I-70. Fortunately, it was dark, so I couldn't see how crappy the weather was that I was driving through...
Anyway, the next morning, we got up, got lunch, and headed off to the Dealers' Room to set up. That went pretty quickly, although I'm now pretty firmly convinced that we need more than two six-foot tables, since we didn't even bother to bring the silly things and only barely fit everything on the table. Gretchen grabbed peanut butter sandwiches from the Krema Nut Company for us to eat before Opening Ceremonies, since we didn't have time for a full dinner before then. Erica watched the table for us while we headed there, doing Anne Passovoy's Strektacular Report to close the session, since Marcon was celebrating 40 Years of Star Trek.
I got out of the tuxedo and headed off to assist
jhayman, hofdave, Juanita, and Diana Huey on the Star Trek Round Robin sing. I managed to stretch my ST material to last through the time slot, although if we hadn't spent a fair amount of time telling stories, I never would have made it. Then Gretchen, Erica, and I went down and got dinner, the Dealers' Room having closed at 9 PM. Gretchen was pooped and went off to crash; Erica and I went to the filk, which proceeded quite nicely. We folded out about 1 - 1:30 AM, as I recall, but the filk was still going nicely.Gretchen told me to sleep in and I took full advantage of this, staggering down to the Dealers' Room around 11:30. When Erica got back from her panel, we went down and got lunch, then brought food back for Gretchen and Steve Salaba. I didn't have a panel until 5:30, so I was around the Dealers' Room most of the afternoon, save for a run through the Art Show, which was very nice. I left a note for Jody Lee, the artist GoH, inquiring about the status of one of the NSF pieces. Mind you, I might not be able to afford it even if it is somehow available, but I figured I'd ask...
huskiebear dropped by and we had a chance to chat, which was fun. Later, filkertom gave us a copy of his new CD, Last Hero on Earth, which was later fun to listen to on the way home. And at another point, I had a chance to have a nice chat with Trace and catch up on a few con-related issues, which is always interesting.Grabbed dinner with Steve and Dorotha Biernesser, Judith and Dave, Steve Salaba, Gretchen after my panel. We had to miss Erica's concert, as I needed to eat and get ready to MC the Masquerade. There were about 20 entries, many of them quite good. My personal favorite was "Quidditch Safety and You". The setup had been slow, so Luke Ski hadn't been able to perform the set he'd been promised he could do while folks were entering and waiting for the show to start, but Moonwulf generously donated part of his half-time set back to Luke.
There were a few problems at the Masquerade, mostly having to do with the sound and a piece of PVC pipe that decided to break and drop the backdrop onto the stage. But everyone handled it well and seemed to have a good time. I took this opportunity to recommend "Grid, the Wonder Support Material of the Future". We'll see what happens. :)
By the time Wulf, Erica, and I got to the filk, it was in full swing and very full. Wulf suggested heading down to the alternate filkroom, and that's what we did, where we were later joined by Judith and Dave, Maureen, Steve and Dorotha, Randy, Samuel Clemens, and some folks whose names I didn't catch. We ended up being the last room going, as Juanita came by on her way to her room and decided to stop and listen. We finally folded up about 2:30. I staggered back to the room, where I found Gretchen, who had just staggered back to the room from the Chicago in 2008 / Capricon party, where she'd been responsible for the punch. Of course, she had to make sure that the punch was of the highest level of quality...
I noted I was munchy. She told me there were plenty of hot dogs left and sent me after one. This worked.
The next morning, Gretchen and I packed up the room and got everything out before our concert. Erica joined me on Request, then went back to keep an eye on the Dealers' Table. We had a good turn out, especially for that hour on a Sunday, and everyone seemed to have a good time. Then we headed back to the Dealers' Room, got lunch, bought things, and submitted an application for three tables for next year. The room closed at 3 PM and we managed to get all of the CDs and tapes packed up before my 4 PM panel. I headed that way while Gretchen and Erica took charge of getting the stuff into the car, with the help of Marcon's wonderful and efficient Dealers' Room staff.
After the panel, I hopped back to the car, said bye to Judith, Dave, and Shelby, and we headed out. Unfortunately, we got to Indy just a little too late to get dinner at Shapiro's, so we ended up at Cracker Barrel. But the company was good, as was the conversation.
We got home around midnight, then kept chatting until about 2 AM, by which time it was definitely time to go to bed.
But I had a fine time at Marcon. Thanks to everyone there for having me!