Some of the busyness was putting in around 10 hours or so as Art Show security and auctioneer with the Dorsai Irregulars. Another chunk of it was sitting on a few panels and concerts (and watching some that Gretchen was on). And then there was gathering tracks from Steve, Dorotha, Dave, and Tom to get close to finishing up my album.
I *did* make it to some of the open filking, although not every night. Exhaustion had a tendency to win out. And what I heard sounded pretty good. Judith and Dave did a good job of keeping the filk track together, even when there were communications problems with the rest of Programming.
I picked up the original cover for Barry and Sally's CD, "Tempus Fugitives", at quick sale in the Art Show. That's really the only thing I bought all weekend that wasn't food. I figure to pick up the books I'm looking for at ConClave and avoid paying multiple layers of Canadian taxes.
As far as food went, we ate most of our evening meals at Marche, across Bay St. from the Royal York. Mark Bernstein led us there on the first night of the con and I conclude that we liked it. Gretchen describes it as an "inside-out food court". You get a ticket when you come in, then wander to the various stalls, pick out food, and get your card stamped. When you leave, you settle up at the cash register. It works and the food is better than average. The desserts are *substantially* better than average...
Other than that, my lunches ended up coming from one of the Chunky Fries lunch wagons in front of the convention center. I've been in serious french fry withdrawal since my local favorite hot dog stand lost his lease (he should reopen soon, I hope), so these filled the bill nicely. And I'm also fond of polish sausage, which I had with the fries (except for one cheeseburger).
We decided to drive all the way back to Chicago on Monday night. This turned out to be a good decision -- we got in around 1 AM local time and I doubt I would have gotten to sleep before that anyway.
That's sort of the top of the con report. I didn't have the chance to see and talk to as many folks as I might have hoped -- sitting behind the table has its advantages, I guess.