Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Eastercon +2
Home again, home again.
This morning called for a gentle start, with me doing my packing before heading downstairs for breakfast at 09:00. The Brasserie, where we'd had breakfast for the previous few days, was closed. A look through the windows revealed that they're clearly taking the opportunity to do a deep-clean, to the extent of stripping and re-polishing the floor. I'm sure fans aren't really that messy... maybe they do it after all conventions, fannish or otherwise.
Breakfast was therefore in the Henley, the rather posh bit with comfy chairs and regency portraits... a good place to sit and drink coffee whilst reading my complimentary copy of the Daily Telegraph. Having said that, I did remove myself to the comfy chairs in the reception area to wait for the bus. Before I could leave, though, I thought I'd check to see if my parcel had finally arrived. After a little investigations (which involved phoning the company) I discovered that it had arrived and had been signed for last Wednesday. Clearly what had happened was that two parcels had arrived for me and had ended up in Ops but I'd only heard about one of them. The remaining parcel is probably now sitting with the rest of the Ops stuff in someone's living room, which means I'm going to have to try to work out some way of picking it up. If all else fails I'll arrange to have it shipped to Liverpool and pick it up in July, but I'll first try to arrange to collect it on my way back from either India or Spain next month. :(
At Heathrow I completely failed to buy anything of interest in duty free other than three spare italic nibs for my Lany pens. If Dixon's had had an Eee then I would probably have succumbed on the grounds that I'm having such a terrible time trying to find a handbag into which I can fit my laptop that it might be easier to buy an Eee that fits in my handbag.
One interesting thing, though, was that Icelandair has begun refitting its aircraft with personal entertainment centres, allowing me to watch two episodes of The SImpsons and the fascinating flight status display sequence (full of maps and useless information such as altitude, airspeed and heading). This sense of the new and interesting was somewhat dashed when I transferred to a Dash 8-100 37-seater (I know - I counted them) for the journey north but I consoled myself with the knowledge that this was a new aircraft to me (the Reykjavík-Akureyri flight is normally aboard a Fokker 50).
So I'm back and probably going to bed fairly soon. After all, I have work tomorrow.
1 comments
This morning called for a gentle start, with me doing my packing before heading downstairs for breakfast at 09:00. The Brasserie, where we'd had breakfast for the previous few days, was closed. A look through the windows revealed that they're clearly taking the opportunity to do a deep-clean, to the extent of stripping and re-polishing the floor. I'm sure fans aren't really that messy... maybe they do it after all conventions, fannish or otherwise.
Breakfast was therefore in the Henley, the rather posh bit with comfy chairs and regency portraits... a good place to sit and drink coffee whilst reading my complimentary copy of the Daily Telegraph. Having said that, I did remove myself to the comfy chairs in the reception area to wait for the bus. Before I could leave, though, I thought I'd check to see if my parcel had finally arrived. After a little investigations (which involved phoning the company) I discovered that it had arrived and had been signed for last Wednesday. Clearly what had happened was that two parcels had arrived for me and had ended up in Ops but I'd only heard about one of them. The remaining parcel is probably now sitting with the rest of the Ops stuff in someone's living room, which means I'm going to have to try to work out some way of picking it up. If all else fails I'll arrange to have it shipped to Liverpool and pick it up in July, but I'll first try to arrange to collect it on my way back from either India or Spain next month. :(
At Heathrow I completely failed to buy anything of interest in duty free other than three spare italic nibs for my Lany pens. If Dixon's had had an Eee then I would probably have succumbed on the grounds that I'm having such a terrible time trying to find a handbag into which I can fit my laptop that it might be easier to buy an Eee that fits in my handbag.
One interesting thing, though, was that Icelandair has begun refitting its aircraft with personal entertainment centres, allowing me to watch two episodes of The SImpsons and the fascinating flight status display sequence (full of maps and useless information such as altitude, airspeed and heading). This sense of the new and interesting was somewhat dashed when I transferred to a Dash 8-100 37-seater (I know - I counted them) for the journey north but I consoled myself with the knowledge that this was a new aircraft to me (the Reykjavík-Akureyri flight is normally aboard a Fokker 50).
So I'm back and probably going to bed fairly soon. After all, I have work tomorrow.
Labels: orbital2008
1 comments
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Eastercon +1
Today even the survivors of the Dead Dog Party left.
And I, instead of heading back to Iceland, simply headed into London for the day. Following a number of goodbyes after breakfast I shared a taxi with J and F to Heathrow and took the Heathrow Express into the city. This is rather more expensive than the tube but it's a lot faster and more comfortable.
Once at Paddington I transferred to the tube proper. I suppose that it says a lot about a person which tube stations they can remember as being important for their travels around London. The first ones which come to my mind are Russell Square and South Kensington - the British Museum and the Natural History/Science/V&A museums. Anything else and I have to think hard and consult Mr. Beck's magnificent diagram.
Unsurprisingly all of that day's 500 extra tickets for the terracotta warriors exhibition had been sold by the time I arrived just before noon. Ah well. Instead, I spent a couple of hours wandering the ancient near/middle east galleries, camera in hand. It's quite a strange feeling wandering around the BM taking photos of things in the hope of inspiration for a Stargate RPG you're supposed to be running in the near future. I think that I have an idea for an introductory scenario with disposable PCs whose mess can then be tackled by the main PCs at some time in the future.
By mid-afternoon I was feeling rather tired and decided to have lunch and go back to the hotel. Paddington happens to have a very useful mini-Sainsburys which provided me with a tub of Bisto granules (an acceptable alternative to Oxo), a pack of hot cross buns and a couple of packets of jammie dodgers. These will, no doubt, be used to soften the transition between the UK and Iceland over the next few days.
I didn't bother with dinner; instead I just fell asleep. Right now I'm considering the merits of eating a Chelsea bun (also obtained from Sainsburys) compared to those of ordering something from room service. I think that the bun is going to win as it requires rather less effort.
3 comments
And I, instead of heading back to Iceland, simply headed into London for the day. Following a number of goodbyes after breakfast I shared a taxi with J and F to Heathrow and took the Heathrow Express into the city. This is rather more expensive than the tube but it's a lot faster and more comfortable.
Once at Paddington I transferred to the tube proper. I suppose that it says a lot about a person which tube stations they can remember as being important for their travels around London. The first ones which come to my mind are Russell Square and South Kensington - the British Museum and the Natural History/Science/V&A museums. Anything else and I have to think hard and consult Mr. Beck's magnificent diagram.
Unsurprisingly all of that day's 500 extra tickets for the terracotta warriors exhibition had been sold by the time I arrived just before noon. Ah well. Instead, I spent a couple of hours wandering the ancient near/middle east galleries, camera in hand. It's quite a strange feeling wandering around the BM taking photos of things in the hope of inspiration for a Stargate RPG you're supposed to be running in the near future. I think that I have an idea for an introductory scenario with disposable PCs whose mess can then be tackled by the main PCs at some time in the future.
By mid-afternoon I was feeling rather tired and decided to have lunch and go back to the hotel. Paddington happens to have a very useful mini-Sainsburys which provided me with a tub of Bisto granules (an acceptable alternative to Oxo), a pack of hot cross buns and a couple of packets of jammie dodgers. These will, no doubt, be used to soften the transition between the UK and Iceland over the next few days.
I didn't bother with dinner; instead I just fell asleep. Right now I'm considering the merits of eating a Chelsea bun (also obtained from Sainsburys) compared to those of ordering something from room service. I think that the bun is going to win as it requires rather less effort.
Labels: orbital2008
3 comments
Monday, March 24, 2008
Eastercon 4
The convention is now over.
The final panel has concluded - although it concluded after the closing ceremony. Which I missed, due to being on another panel at that point and then having to charge from one side of the hotel to the other to appear on the final panel. I was about 6 minutes late, which isn't too bad considering their respective locations. I would have liked to go to the closing ceremony though.
A and I spent a couple of hours this morning sorting out not only the final instalment of the photo wall but also a powerpoint slideshow of convention photos for the closing ceremony. I say A and I but it was mostly A, as he had better software on his machine and we didn't think to set up a local network to let us both work with the printer. That's one of the things on the document I wrote defining the material and operational requirements for running a photo wall in future. It should be rather easier to do the job next time now that we've ironed the bugs out of the system so I've volunteered to do it at Redemption. I believe that it's possible to do it as a 1-fan job providing that everything is set up right, although it does need a bit of pre-planning and pre-announcing.
The Dead Dog Party was fun. I ended sitting in a corner with various folks while large chunks of what was left of the convention wandered past at various times. Although I did give up just before midnight, wimp that I am. It was either that or fall asleep on C, which would have been embarrassing, if comfortable.
I have a variety of photos, none of which have been uploaded yet but will be eventually.
0 comments
The final panel has concluded - although it concluded after the closing ceremony. Which I missed, due to being on another panel at that point and then having to charge from one side of the hotel to the other to appear on the final panel. I was about 6 minutes late, which isn't too bad considering their respective locations. I would have liked to go to the closing ceremony though.
A and I spent a couple of hours this morning sorting out not only the final instalment of the photo wall but also a powerpoint slideshow of convention photos for the closing ceremony. I say A and I but it was mostly A, as he had better software on his machine and we didn't think to set up a local network to let us both work with the printer. That's one of the things on the document I wrote defining the material and operational requirements for running a photo wall in future. It should be rather easier to do the job next time now that we've ironed the bugs out of the system so I've volunteered to do it at Redemption. I believe that it's possible to do it as a 1-fan job providing that everything is set up right, although it does need a bit of pre-planning and pre-announcing.
The Dead Dog Party was fun. I ended sitting in a corner with various folks while large chunks of what was left of the convention wandered past at various times. Although I did give up just before midnight, wimp that I am. It was either that or fall asleep on C, which would have been embarrassing, if comfortable.
I have a variety of photos, none of which have been uploaded yet but will be eventually.
Labels: orbital2008
0 comments
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Eastercon 3
Mmm... artwork... :)
I like to pick up artwork at Eastercons, as it's about the only place I can find things that I like. This year I've got a print of the original artwork for the cover for Interzone 100, Welcome to the Interzone (and the basis for SMS' website - I'm really pleased with this one as I can put it up in my office, it being an HCI-related piece. I'm also hoping to get another of his prints for the office that would relate rather well to my data visualisation module. This is slightly scary - buying art for the office as well as for the home. You'd think I was becoming someone respectable and influential or something. :) If I'd realised that Art Show was taking credit cards I'd have picked up a piece by his partner too, but I was a bit low on cash at the time.
Another day, another programme item. This was a panel discussion on plausible space travel technologies, which was fairly lightweight but quite enjoyable. The photo wall is coming on nicely although the printer is practically drinking ink, judging by the way we've been going through it. We've now designated a couple of official Con Photographers (Andrew and Toby) to make sure that we get the requisite images of the guests of honour and of the more important programme items.
Right now I was going to be attending an item on the death of British physics but my back is feeling a bit off so I'm relaxing for a while in my room. I do not plan to fall asleep. Apart from anything else I plan to go to the Clanger physics and ecology talk later this evening.
0 comments
I like to pick up artwork at Eastercons, as it's about the only place I can find things that I like. This year I've got a print of the original artwork for the cover for Interzone 100, Welcome to the Interzone (and the basis for SMS' website - I'm really pleased with this one as I can put it up in my office, it being an HCI-related piece. I'm also hoping to get another of his prints for the office that would relate rather well to my data visualisation module. This is slightly scary - buying art for the office as well as for the home. You'd think I was becoming someone respectable and influential or something. :) If I'd realised that Art Show was taking credit cards I'd have picked up a piece by his partner too, but I was a bit low on cash at the time.
Another day, another programme item. This was a panel discussion on plausible space travel technologies, which was fairly lightweight but quite enjoyable. The photo wall is coming on nicely although the printer is practically drinking ink, judging by the way we've been going through it. We've now designated a couple of official Con Photographers (Andrew and Toby) to make sure that we get the requisite images of the guests of honour and of the more important programme items.
Right now I was going to be attending an item on the death of British physics but my back is feeling a bit off so I'm relaxing for a while in my room. I do not plan to fall asleep. Apart from anything else I plan to go to the Clanger physics and ecology talk later this evening.
Labels: orbital2008
0 comments
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Eastercon 2
Photo wall is running more smoothly today.
Andrew is helping out a lot and we've now got photos up on the wall. We've put out a request for photos in the newsletter and hope that more will start flooding in.
It wasn't supposed to be too busy a day, and indeed I only did a couple of hours on the Redemption desk before my talk on terraforming Venus. We had one or two tech problems which will remind me in future that I should always carry my video lead converter with me so I can connect my Mac directly to projectors. We started a little late so I had to rush things towards the end, but I then spent several fascinating hours chatting to a couple of new folks culminating in dinner at a local curry house with the local writers' circle - an all-round great evening.
0 comments
Andrew is helping out a lot and we've now got photos up on the wall. We've put out a request for photos in the newsletter and hope that more will start flooding in.
It wasn't supposed to be too busy a day, and indeed I only did a couple of hours on the Redemption desk before my talk on terraforming Venus. We had one or two tech problems which will remind me in future that I should always carry my video lead converter with me so I can connect my Mac directly to projectors. We started a little late so I had to rush things towards the end, but I then spent several fascinating hours chatting to a couple of new folks culminating in dinner at a local curry house with the local writers' circle - an all-round great evening.
Labels: orbital2008
0 comments
Friday, March 21, 2008
Eastercon 1
Hello? Is anybody there?
So I'm sitting in the room designated for the photowall 'team' and I'm beginning to think that volunteering for this was a bad idea. But that may be the lack of anything to eat since breakfast talking. I found myself asked to sort out the Redemption desk and ended up spending 12-4 dealing with that, then an hour trying to sort out the setup for the photo wall (no sign of key, various things like that) and then a frantic quarter of an hour trying to find where chaos costuming was supposed to be so I could do my dressmaking basics talk. Barbara and Teddy had no idea I was due to be there until just before, but it all worked out and I ended up displaying how to make patterns by pinning and marking throwaway fabric.
The ops folks seem to be rather over-worked, but unfortunately volunteering to do this has effectively stopped me doing my normal ops shifts. I ended up making an announcement after the opening ceremony asking people for photos, saying where I was and so on, and in the hour since then I haven't seen a soul. What I'd like to do is to work on the day's photowall stuff in the evening so that the day's photos can go up for everyone to see next morning. Somehow I don't think that's going to work. I think I might put up a notice saying that I'll be in here from X until Y and ask newsletter to handle the pictures otherwise (which is what they'd normally do if there wasn't a photowall).
The hotel is as frustrating as I remember it from the Wrap Party, except more so. There are extra bits and the signage needs a bit of work. I suspect that everything would be a lot easier in a different hotel.
Ooh! has just visited with two photos and promises of more. I still think I'll sort out times though, and maybe ask newsletter to publicise these in their next issue.
0 comments
So I'm sitting in the room designated for the photowall 'team' and I'm beginning to think that volunteering for this was a bad idea. But that may be the lack of anything to eat since breakfast talking. I found myself asked to sort out the Redemption desk and ended up spending 12-4 dealing with that, then an hour trying to sort out the setup for the photo wall (no sign of key, various things like that) and then a frantic quarter of an hour trying to find where chaos costuming was supposed to be so I could do my dressmaking basics talk. Barbara and Teddy had no idea I was due to be there until just before, but it all worked out and I ended up displaying how to make patterns by pinning and marking throwaway fabric.
The ops folks seem to be rather over-worked, but unfortunately volunteering to do this has effectively stopped me doing my normal ops shifts. I ended up making an announcement after the opening ceremony asking people for photos, saying where I was and so on, and in the hour since then I haven't seen a soul. What I'd like to do is to work on the day's photowall stuff in the evening so that the day's photos can go up for everyone to see next morning. Somehow I don't think that's going to work. I think I might put up a notice saying that I'll be in here from X until Y and ask newsletter to handle the pictures otherwise (which is what they'd normally do if there wasn't a photowall).
The hotel is as frustrating as I remember it from the Wrap Party, except more so. There are extra bits and the signage needs a bit of work. I suspect that everything would be a lot easier in a different hotel.
Ooh!
Labels: orbital2008
0 comments
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Eastercon 0
Today I had something of an organisational disaster. But I survived.
As I was sitting on the riverbus sailing from the Tower to Greenwich I pondered my planning of this day. Why, I wondered, had I booked a ticket for the Egyptian exhibition at the dome at 16:30 on Thursday and one for the Terracotta Warriors exhibition at the British Museum for 12:30 on Tuesday. It would have made far more sense to got to something at 12:30 today and 16:30 next week.
You can see where this is going, can't you? For some reason (I put it down to recent stress) I had the right times but the wrong days. I was mad with myself for about ten minutes, after which I just accepted that it was probably a stress issue and that I was only holiday and I wasn't going to let it ruin everything. I have decided to re-organise the Terracotta Warriors ticket for Tuesday and try again. I did get a good look at the gift shop and didn't buy anything - there was a neckalce I liked but it was gold-plated and would have played havoc with my skin. Ah well.
In spite of these frustrations it's been a pretty good day. I popped in to Covent Garden and found some nice stuff, then realised that I could get to the O2 dome by river rather than by underground and had a very enjoyable sail down the Thames and back. I'm quite impressed at how effective is the river transport. Boats beat trains in my book any day.
There was a minor travel hassle - it took an hour to get back from central London to Heathrow... and then another hour to cover the half mile from Heathrow to the airport. The traffic greatly delayed all of the buses and it seems to be physically impossible to get out of the airport precincts on foot. Eventually, though, I got back to the hotel.
By now folks had started to arrive. There was a bit of a mess-up with dinner - it had been arranged that there would be a large buffet in the larger dining room area. Unfortunately the hotel tried to start putting people in the smaller area and wouldn't let us use the reserved area because they didn't have hot food up there yet. It took a bit of 'forceful discussion' to remind them of the plan but in the end we have a fairly sociable meal. It'll be interesting to see how the hotel copes with the full force of fandon over the weekend.
0 comments
As I was sitting on the riverbus sailing from the Tower to Greenwich I pondered my planning of this day. Why, I wondered, had I booked a ticket for the Egyptian exhibition at the dome at 16:30 on Thursday and one for the Terracotta Warriors exhibition at the British Museum for 12:30 on Tuesday. It would have made far more sense to got to something at 12:30 today and 16:30 next week.
You can see where this is going, can't you? For some reason (I put it down to recent stress) I had the right times but the wrong days. I was mad with myself for about ten minutes, after which I just accepted that it was probably a stress issue and that I was only holiday and I wasn't going to let it ruin everything. I have decided to re-organise the Terracotta Warriors ticket for Tuesday and try again. I did get a good look at the gift shop and didn't buy anything - there was a neckalce I liked but it was gold-plated and would have played havoc with my skin. Ah well.
In spite of these frustrations it's been a pretty good day. I popped in to Covent Garden and found some nice stuff, then realised that I could get to the O2 dome by river rather than by underground and had a very enjoyable sail down the Thames and back. I'm quite impressed at how effective is the river transport. Boats beat trains in my book any day.
There was a minor travel hassle - it took an hour to get back from central London to Heathrow... and then another hour to cover the half mile from Heathrow to the airport. The traffic greatly delayed all of the buses and it seems to be physically impossible to get out of the airport precincts on foot. Eventually, though, I got back to the hotel.
By now folks had started to arrive. There was a bit of a mess-up with dinner - it had been arranged that there would be a large buffet in the larger dining room area. Unfortunately the hotel tried to start putting people in the smaller area and wouldn't let us use the reserved area because they didn't have hot food up there yet. It took a bit of 'forceful discussion' to remind them of the plan but in the end we have a fairly sociable meal. It'll be interesting to see how the hotel copes with the full force of fandon over the weekend.
Labels: orbital2008
0 comments
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Eastercon Day -1
I've arrived at the Radisson Non-Euclidian and feel human again.
I put a lot of this down to a very pleasant and quite delicate chicken curry in the Brasserie (only £13... although the accompanying gin and tonic was another £7.50 - I look forward to the con bar!).
My room (a triple) has a huge almost-floor-to-ceiling view of... MacDonalds. What I can report, though, is that there is a cash machine just outside the golden arches. It's one of those generic ones, not one attached to a bank so it may well not take non-UK cashcards or credit cards. As someone who has one of those, I say 'drat'.
Still, I'm here, I'm fed, and I'm about to have a good night's sleep before someone else cooks breakfast for me tomorrow and I go off to Greenwich for Cultural Day 1.
0 comments
I put a lot of this down to a very pleasant and quite delicate chicken curry in the Brasserie (only £13... although the accompanying gin and tonic was another £7.50 - I look forward to the con bar!).
My room (a triple) has a huge almost-floor-to-ceiling view of... MacDonalds. What I can report, though, is that there is a cash machine just outside the golden arches. It's one of those generic ones, not one attached to a bank so it may well not take non-UK cashcards or credit cards. As someone who has one of those, I say 'drat'.
Still, I'm here, I'm fed, and I'm about to have a good night's sleep before someone else cooks breakfast for me tomorrow and I go off to Greenwich for Cultural Day 1.
Labels: orbital2008
0 comments