September 5, 2008
Thursday night was a blast. After pre-registration and dinner we headed back to the room for a bit to rest. After chilling for awhile we headed back out. The goal was to wander a bit and see what was what with our ultimate destination being Pulse, the Marriott’s in-hotel bar. Each hotel has several bar/restaurants and after sampling each last year, Mike and I prefer Pulse.
We settled in a Pulse and got to know our bartender, who ended up being our bartender for the weekend and a good friend. We also got to meet one of the managers who also ended up as a friend. This made hanging out at the bar that much more enjoyable.
One of the benefits of being freinds with the bartender is that you don’t have to wait as long to get noticed when you need a drink. As crowded as the bar gets, especially later in the con, this becomes an important perk. This perk came into play later in the evening our first night out.
While sitting at the bar talking to our bartender we glanced over and right next to us was Gigi Edgely, who played Chiana in Farscape. She was waiting to order drinks, but wasn’t having much luck. By this time in the evening the bar was pretty busy. Mike had pointed her out to me and I offered to not only get her the drinks she wanted, but also told her that they were on us. We chatted for a bit and she invited us back to her table to hang out with her. At her table we met Sean, who is a British guy that is involved in the planning of some cons in London and Dean Haglund, Langly from the X-Files and its spin-off The Lone Gunmen.
Talk about a way to kick off the Con. Gigi, Dean and Sean were all a blast to hang out with. Meeting the actors in the Walk of Fame is nice and all, but getting to hang out with them in a social setting is so much better and a hell of a lot more fun. You aren’t limited to just a few minutes and you get to know them a lot better. The one thing that we try to avoid, which I think, and hope, was appreciated, is going basement or fanboy on them and focusing the conversation on career and favorite episodes and the like. We also try to limit the photo ops and attempt to treat them as anyone else we’d meet and have a converstaion with.
We ended up hanging out with Gigi and Dean until they called it a night at around 3 AM, but continued to hang with Sean until we all decided to call it a night, which if I remember correctly was about an hour later. Of course calling it a night for us meant breakfast. We made the mistake of going to the Metro Cafe Diner, which we learned last year was not the best place to eat. It hit the spot at the time though and we really did need something to eat.
More to come . . .
Posted by cayusa under 2008, Bar, Chiana, Con, Dean Haglund, Dragon*Con, Dragon*Con 2008, Farscape, Gigi Edgely, Langly, Marriott, Pulse, X-Files | Comments Off
September 4, 2008
Last year we drove. This year we flew. I have to say that I much prefer the flying method of getting down to Atlanta. Kathy dropped us off at the Airport, we checked in, we sat around until they boarded us and then two hours later we were in Atlanta. There was no need for bathroom breaks or food stops and the lack of cops at 30,000 feet pulling you over for speeding was nice too. We landed on time and got our bags and then found our shuttle. It is a rather quick trip from the airport to the Hotels and check-in was a breeze.
After checking in we headed over to the Hyatt for pre-registration. Pre-registration is never fun, but I have to say it seemed to go faster this year than last. The one thing I didn’t like, but I guess I’ll have to live with since I bought my tickets at a cheaper price, was that those who purchased their tickets through Ticket Master got moved to the front of the line since their line was shorter. All of us poor souls who purchased our tickets through the Dragon*Con Website had to wait in the longer line. The line really isn’t all that bad. Considering that when we got in line we were at the front door to the Hyatt and the line wrapped all the way around the building to almost where we were starting, it ran rather quickly and you get to meet some interesting people in line, especially when you hit the rat maze and start seeing the same people each time you zig and they zag.
I’d love to figure out when the best time to line up is. On Thursday it runs from 4 PM until 9 PM, but the line seems to be long regardless of the time. Not wanting to have to get up early and line up on Friday, I’ll suffer through the Thursday pre-registration line regardless, but if 7 PM is a better time to line up, then I have no problem with lining up then versus lining up at 4 PM. Next year I’m going to have to look at that and see what is what. I can’t remember what time we got in line last year, but I do know the line was shorter, but it seemed to take longer to move to the front and get registered. Maybe I just knew what to expect this time and had more fun in the line than I did last year.
Having now driven and flown, I have to say I prefer flying, but driving does have its positives as well. The main drawback with driving, other than the cost of gas, which I think works out to just about the cost of a plane ticket, but divided between a group is probably cheaper, is the time it takes. I have no problem driving through the night, but you really are worn out when you get there, which is a drag, especially if Mike is insistent on eating at the Atlanta Underground (something I don’t recommend), but I was the one who insisted on driving the entire way and I could have switched out at any time and taken a nap. On the positive side though, especially for those who dress up, there is no baggage restrictions. If you can fit it in your vehicle then you can take it with you. Flying really has become a pain in the ass with the rules and regulations. I understand the whys behind them, but it doesn’t make them any easier to deal with. With the added fee now for gate checking an item and the extra bag fee, you are severely limited to what you can bring if you fly. If I were to say get a set of Storm Trooper armor, I have no idea how I’d get it down there. Fed Ex is an option and I wonder if anyone has ever used that for getting the larger and bulkier costumes down to Atlanta from distant shores or if they just pay the $40 fee and deal with it. If anyone who does dress up for Dragon*Con read this, I’d love to hear how you deal with it.
Anyway, the trip down this year was pretty uneventful with a nice and relaxed flight down to Atlanta. There were quite a few Marylanders headed to Dragon*Con on our flight which made the wait go by rather quickly, which was a nice change.
More to come. . .
My photos from Dragon*Con can be found here.
Posted by cayusa under 2008, Atlanta, Dragon*Con, Dragon*Con 2008, Travel, Vacation | Comments (0)
August 27, 2008
In less than 21 hours I will be on a plane headed to Atlanta for this year’s Dragon*Con. To say I’m excited is an understatement. I’ve been looking forward to this since last year’s Dragon*Con and this past week has been torturous. Today has gone by particularly slow and it isn’t even over yet.
I’ve cleaned my desk off (so I have something nice to come back to) and contacted all of my clients to let them know I’m gone until next Thursday. At home, I’ve made all the necessary preparations and all that is left to do is put the clothing I am taking into the suitcase. It has all been separated out and washed and folded, now I just have to make final selections of t-shirts. I still have to charge up all my camera batteries and come the early morning pack up the laptop, external HD and camera, but then it will be off to pick up Tony, Mike and Steve and head to the airport.
The FAA gave me quite a scare yesterday by reporting that there was a glitch in their systems and flights were being delayed across the country. Fortunately, for them and us, that has all been worked out and there should be no problems leaving on time. Even the storms that are scheduled to hit us seem to be spaced appropriates so as not to cause delays. We should have clear skies here and in Atlanta when we land. There might be some bumps along the way, but that is part of the fun of flying.
I might have some spare time to update the blog while I’m gone, but if not, you’ll know why. In the days following my return I’ll be busy editing and posting some of the thousands of pictures I plan on taking while down there. I’ve already created a set for them over a Flickr which can be found here. The set even contains a few shots of this week’s prep and planning with the last of that series going up tonight.
In addition to the planned frivolity and fun I am planning on having, not to mention the ton several beers I am planning on having (snicker snicker) I am also going to be meeting up with an old High School and BBYO friend, Bryna, who happens to live down there. Last year I got to hang out with Paige (a friend from College) on our way back to Maryland and on the way to Dragon*Con we stopped off at Clemson so I could look around my alma matter. I haven’t seen Bryna since probably a year or so after graduation. It should be a lot of fun catching up after all those years.
The group I’m going down with this year is the same as last year, with one exception. We traded in last year’s basement for an unknown this year. Steve is a great guy and I got to hang with him a Shore Leave so I’m not super worried about him going basement on us, but you never know. With all the stuff going on down there he just might! (LOL) There is a fairly large group from the NOVA Browncoats going down, of which Steve is a member. This will make our extended group a lot larger than last year’s. Heather and Dan will be back again this year along with my new best buddy and fellow camera geek, Layna, and the rest of their group. I was fortunate enough to meet several Maryland locals at Shore Leave as well who are also headed down this year. All in all, this year is looking to be twice as fun as last year’s event.
Posted by cayusa under 2008, Atlanta, Dragon*Con, Vacation | Comments (0)
August 27, 2008
There is a great kids book out there by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault titled Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. My mother bought this book for Savanah years ago. It is more or less considered a baby book and is great for teaching kids the alphabet. Savanah is way past that level, but still occasionally pulls it out and reads it. The sing-songy quality of the story, which also happens to be quite silly is still fun to read.
The story, for those of you who don’t know is about a bunch of mischeivious lower case letters, a through z who have a race to the top of a coconut tree. Once all the lower case letters are in the tree it bends over dumping them all in a pile. The upper case letters, the mamas and papas and uncle and aunts, come racing over to collect their little ones and begin searching through the pile of letters and assesting the damage. There are stubbed toes, black eyes and loose teeth. It is complete nonsense, but very fun.
This past Sunday, Savanah pulled that book out as one of her bedtime books along with one of her Disney Fairy chapter books. She was so exhausted from the day’s activities that she only managed to get through Chicka Chicka Boom Boom before passing out. When I checked on her I had expected to find her still up and resisting sleep. She was very excited all weekend about starting school on Monday, but after running around all day at a friend’s birthday party, she was just pooped.
At around 11:00 that night we heard a large bang. Savanah had rolled out of bed. She doesn’t do this often, but when it happens it scares the crap out of us. Kathy was the first on her feet this time and was upstairs to checking on her in seconds. When she opened the door she saw that Savanah had climbed back in bed, but was rooting around under the covers. Normally Savanah just climbs back in bed (or just falls back asleep on the floor) and that is that. Kathy pulled her out from under the covers and laid her back down. Savanah was still pretty out of it and not quite awake, yet not quite asleep. Kathy asked her what she was doing, to which Savanah replied, “Looking for a and b and c and d.”
Apparently, the story was still in her head. It does have a tendency to do that much like It’s A Small World After All does.
Posted by cayusa under Family, Funny, Savanah | Comments (0)
August 26, 2008
I blogged awhile back about my disappointment in our Governor’s lack of action about constructing a wind farm off the cost of Maryland. One of the major problems with moving forward with a project like this, other that our Governor sitting on his ass about it, is that Ocean City’s mayor, is “concerned what the horizon will look like” if these turbines are put up.
People will come to the beach. A few wind turbines off the cost, hell, a hundred wind turbines off the coast, isn’t going to stop this. Considering their distance off the coast and how big they will actually appear from the beach really should make this a no brainer, but then I’ve said that before.
I have been to my fair share of beaches and coasts, from Florida up the coast to Massachuesets, from San Diego up to Los Angeles and then on up the coast through Santa Barbara, Malibu, Caramel-By-The-Sea, Monteray and then on up into San Francisco. I grew up in Houston and trips to Galviston and the Texas coast were common. I’ve even been to beaches in Spain, Holland and up and down the west coast of Italy. There is one thing that I have found to be a constant in all of those places. If there is a beach, people will come. I find the water to be a bit frigid along Cape Cod, but that doesn’t stop people from swimming and enjoying the beach. At Daytona Beach, cars drive up and down the beach, yet the beaches are always packed with people. The exhaust and noise doesn’t seem to bother them. I can remember many beaches where tar and other nasties that stick to your feet have been washed ashore from oil rigs off the coast. In Jersey and New York they had issues with medical waste washing up on shore, yet people still go to the beach. It is ludicrous for the Mayor of Ocean City to think that a small, thumbnailed size white spot on the horizon is going to dissuade folks from coming to the beach.
I like Ocean City, which is a pretty major statement from somebody who isn’t the biggest fan of beach sand (it gets everywhere and takes weeks to finally get out of everything!). I enjoy the boardwalk and the nightlife and the general atmosphere of Ocean City. I’ve always had fun there and when I’m on vacation that is what I’m looking for. Ocean City is not, however, the classiest place on Earth.
No offense to Ocean City, but when it comes to costal cities and resorts, Ocean City is not at the top of the list. For Maryland and some of the surrounding States, Ocean City is an annual summertime destination, but I think that has more to do with proximity and cost than it does with anything else. Now I’ve been to worse beaches, but I’ve also been to better. Just up the road from Ocean City in Deleware are some of the area’s nicest beaches. The sand is “softer” and the beaches aren’t nearly as crowded, but then these beaches don’t come with the entertainment value or night life that Ocean City’s boardwalk and other areas offer. Some of those who like to vacation on the coast of Deleware and appreciate the peace and quiet that it offers at bedtime still seek out the night life that Ocean City provides.
Ocean City isn’t the prettiest to look at either. Anyone who visits Ocean City need only walk out to the water’s edge and turn around to see what I mean. The boardwalk and pier are busy, noisey and, while fun, not the most attractive. The piers along the California coast have us beat in that department hands down. I’m not saying these places are run down and most of the hotels along the boardwalk are kept up rather nicely, they just aren’t architectural wonders. The shops and arcades compete against one another with bright lights, big signs and noise. There is a shop on the board walk that sells cheap art prints that has to be one of the more interesting looking buildings in Ocean City, ugly, but interesting. Further up the beach, once you get past the boardwalk, you begin to see hotels and apartments followed by massive condos. While not wholey unattractive, they aren’t winning any awards either.
Then of course, there is the beach advertising. Loud low flying planes travel up and down the beach all day long with long banners advertising anything and everything. They are loud enough to force a pause in any conversation you may be having at the time which I find to be really annoying. When the planes aren’t up the boats are out. They travel up and down the beach with large signs affixed to their tops advertising everything the planes do. If the Mayor wants to talk eyesore then lets start with these two things.
The Mayor of Ocean City can whine and cry all he wants about this project. The simple truth is the longer he and our Governor wait, the worse off it is for us. The longer that we ALL have to pay these outrageous rates and additional fees (fees for nothing, try getting a BGE operator to explain them to you one time, just have a shovel ready because it gets deep) the worse off we all are. These prices aren’t going to come down anytime soon. Our Governor promised to do something about it, yet I keep paying more and more each month for electricity even though I’m using less and less each month. I used less electricty this last 32 day billing period than I did the month prior on a 28 day billing period yet my bill went up almost $25.00. How is that even possible? It is called Summer Billing Rates. Another way for them to jack up the price even though most of us are conserving where we can.
England has already prooven that these turbines work. Several countries in Europe are reaping the rewards from wind farms. Deleware gets it and has initiated thier own wind farm project. Attractive or not, the need for it is there and delaying it because a few folks think it might mar an otherwise “attractive” beach setting is crap. I’d be willing to place a bet with the Mayor that should this wind farm project proceed that Ocean City will see NO drop in visitors as a direct result of their installation. As a matter of fact, I’m of the opinion that it will actually create a short, but rewarding, bump in tourism as curiosity seekers come to see it for themselves.
Posted by cayusa under Maryland, O'Malley, Ocean City, energy, wind farm, wind turbines | Comments (0)
August 25, 2008
This past Saturday (August 23, 2008) I was fortunate enough to participate in a nationwide photo walk sponsered by Scott Kelby in “celebration” of the release of his latest book, “The Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers.” If you’ve followed my Flickr Stream or this blog you’ll undoubtedly know that Scott Kelby is probably my favorite author when it comes to the topics of photography and Photoshop. His books make up a good percentage of my photographic library.
In case you don’t know what a photo walk is, it is “a social photography event where photographers get together, usually in a downtown area or trendy section of town, to walk around, shoot photos, and generally have fun with other photographers.”
This walk, being that it was sponsered with prizes to eventually be awarded, was limited to 50 photographers per group, it had to be with groups from 45 Countries and 236 cities . Your level of expertise didn’t matter nor did the type of camera you were using. I got on the waiting list a bit late, but thankfully, due to a few last minute cancellations, I was able to participate as a fully registered participant.
The event itself was a lot of fun and it was kind of cool being part of something so large. Not only did I get to meet a lot of the photographers whose streams I already follow over on Flickr, but I got to meet some new local talent as well. The weather was perfect for us, although in the future I’d like to shoot a bit earlier or a bit later.
I’m hoping that the momentum from this event will spawn more local photo walks around the area. The interest is definitely there, from others as well as myself. As much as I bitch about Maryland, there are a lot of areas around here worthy of a photo walk or two, not to mention being so close to Washington DC and Annapolis.
You can see my shots from the day here and the group shots here.
Posted by cayusa under Baltimore, Maryland, Photo Walk, Photography, Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk, photowalk | Comments (0)
August 21, 2008
Last night, with the exception of an hour for Ghost Hunters International, we watched the Olympic Games. We watched Walsh and May-Treanor successfully defend their title and win the gold for the second time in Beach Volleyball and we saw USA’s indoor volleyball team beat the Cuban team to advance into the Gold Medal round. We pretty much just followed NBC’s coverage for the night, until they went off air.
After NBC signed off for the night we switched over to USA’s coverage of the games and for about ten minutes after switching I couldn’t stop laughing. We had clicked it on just as the first competitors of the 12.4 mile race walk were approaching the Bird’s Nest. I didn’t mean to laugh, I just couldn’t help myself. They looked so funny. The way they walk is just funny to watch. I completely understand that this “sport” requires dedication and training. I tried to mimic it and after ten steps at a rather slow pace I was worried about throwing something out of whack. To walk 12.4 miles that way, amazing. That doesn’t, however, change how silly they look when they do it.
They looked to me, with their visors on, like some strange flock of flightless birds. As a matter of fact, if you made them wear all black and white they would have looked like a bunch of penguins walking across the ice.
As funny as I found them to appear, I am amazed with Russia’s Olga Kaniskina finishing time of 1 hour, 26 minutes and 31 seconds. I get running and I can wrap my mind around the times. I understand how very fast Phelps was with his times. I’ve been in an Olympic sized pool and I know it takes me a lot longer to swim a lap. I also understand that it takes me about 20 minutes to walk a mile and back in the day when I could run for long distances I know how long it took me, more or less to run a mile. To WALK 12.4 miles in the time it would take me to walk about three to four miles just blows my mind.
I still don’t know that I’d call it a sport per say, but the athleticism, dedication and passion one would require to do what Kaniskina did is mind blowing, a tad bit humorous, but mind blowing nonetheless.
Posted by cayusa under 2008, Beijing, Cuba, May-Treanor, Olga Kaniskina, Olympics, Russia, USA, Walsh, beach volley ball, racewalk, racewalking, volley ball | Comments (0)
August 21, 2008
Are people nowadays just inherintly dishonest or is this something they have learned recently? And why is it that they seem to get dishonest about the smallest of things that are always the easiest to verify?
We just had our front parking lot here at the office repaved due to a busted pipe and ever increasing sink hole. After the repaving I got a call from the paving company about the re-striping of the lot. They had labeled all of the spots out front for us. When we moved in to this location we signed a lease that included ten of the twelve parking spaces in front of the building. The remaining two belonged to DaVita, a dialysis center that is located upstairs from us. The doctor’s office that is right next door to us uses a bunch of the spots along the side of the building. DaVita has a full parking lot upstairs at their level but keeps the two spots down in front for their employees.
The DaVita people had spoken with the paving company and informed them that they had made a mistake when they restriped the lot, which is true, not ALL the spots out front were for our office. The DaVita people, however, informed the paving company that four of the spots out front belonged to them. As I said before, when we signed the lease it was for our space plus ten parking spaces. It doesn’t take a math wiz to figure out that twelve minus four doesn’t equal ten. I corrected the count with the paving company and told them which two spots belonged to DaVita. They are the same two spots they had when we moved into this space and they happen to be the first two spots when you pull into the parking lot. I thought, after clarifying all of that with the paving company that the issue was settled.
I was quite surprised when I came into work on Monday and saw, scrawled in chalk, an attempt by DaVita to move their two spots up closer to the building (not that they are far now). The spots that my boss and I have been parking in since relocating to this building had been marked in chalk as being DaVita spots. Now I can’t claim to know who actually wrote this on the ground so I can’t say with 100% accuracy that it was somebody from DaVita, but a quick call to the paving company knocked them off the list of likely suspects. They had fixed the striping appropriately and had ignored the chalk they encounted. All fingers seem to be pointed at our upstairs neighbors.
What gets me is that whoever did it really thought they’d get away with it. Even if the paving company had labeled those two spots as DaVita it wouldn’t had made a difference. My boss and I would have continued to park in those two spots and I would have called the paving company right away to inform them of the error. Chalking the two spots that way was an exercise in futility. I guess somebody thought they were being clever. In actuality, it was dishonest, silly, petty and it did nothing to improve the already strained relations we have with these folks.
Posted by cayusa under DaVita, General Stupidity, Work, culture, dishonesty, office, parking | Comments (1)
August 21, 2008
As gaming becomes more and more popular with the younger generation parents are apparently having more and more trouble with them. So what do you do when your kids misbehave, talk back and tune you out?
One father in Mechanicsville, Va. apparently decided that enough was enough and delivered the ultimate punishment. He took the X-Box away, but didn’t stop there. It ended up nailed to a tree in the back yard.
Personally, I’m too much of a gamer to do this myself if I had kids acting up, but the guy’s wife says the punishment fit the crime. I just hope it fit the bill too. These units aren’t cheap. That is an awful lot of money for a yard decoration.
I gotta give the guy credit though. I am so tired of opening the newspaper and hearing about some kid who went wrong because the parents didn’t PARENT. Extreme or not, at least this guy is doing his job. If these kids go bad it won’t be because they had parents who didn’t care or weren’t involved in their lives. Me, I prefer to limit my daughter’s access to video games and teach her to balance her time between the virtual world and the real world so that I don’t run into this problem down the line, but even that is no guarantee that I won’t one day end up with a Wii or Playstation or X-Box nailed to a tree in my yard.
What is even funnier, though, is that they guy tried to sell the X-Box on Ebay. I’m guessing he thought that, due to CNN’s coverage of the story, he might get a decent amount of money for the novelty of it. The deal was half of the proceeds would go to Hanover County Schools and the other half into his kids’ college fund. The auction closed down with zero bidders and a lited price of $0.99 ($15.00 for shipping). No new books for the Hanover County School system this year.
Posted by cayusa under Funny, X-Box, gaming, punishment | Comments (0)
August 21, 2008
Yesterday I blogged about the trash talking that has been occuring during the Olympic Games. The other night, however, I was quite pleased with what I saw.
Sure, it was great to see the USA take the Gold and Silver in the Balance Beam competition and I was pleased with that, but that isn’t what I’m referring to.
During the competion the Chinese girls didn’t fare as well. One girl almost feel off the beam. She was still amazing, but that fall cost her some points and the two Americans, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin were able to place first and second in the competition.
After Shawn Johnson’s routine as she approached her coach, she stopped to greet the Chinese coaches and the Chinese gymasts. At that moment I didn’t care if the girls were underage or not and it didn’t matter who was ahead. The Chinese team congratulated a foreign competitor on a fantastic routine even before the scores were in. Nastia was up next and was treated to the same kindness and graciousness that Shawn was. There was no animosity there or any thoughts of “butt kickings” or “smashing” your opponent. These girls share a common background in the hours and hours they spend training and a love of gymnastics. It didn’t seem to matter to them what country they were from. It was a beautiful moment that embodied what these games are about.
Later that evening, after one of the running semi finals it was nice to see two of the top runners, an American and a Jamaican joke with each other. Even during the interview, the American runner complimented his competitor and had nothing but kind words about him. He talked himself up as well, but there was no trash talk. The two were still joking with each other as they left the Bird’s Nest. The camaraderie between these two athletes who both want the gold was great to see.
Last night, it was, again, nice to see an athlete having nothing but nice words for fellow competitors, even after not advancing to the next round. It is unfortunate that the press chooses to focus on and run with stories about the trash talking instead of what the Olympics are really about. Sure,they’ve run with some other stories, but the overall coverage of the trash talk far outweighs that of most other topics.
Posted by cayusa under 2008, China, Nastia Liukin, Olympic Spirit, Olympics, Shawn Johnson, balance beam, trash talk | Comments (0)
