Worldcon, Day Two
Aug. 9th, 2008 08:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jcfialaDay Two
At the start of the second day of the convention, I wised up and went to Walgreens, buying a pair of shoe inserts which give me padding under the heels and arch. This proved to be a fantastic move, as although I had problems with footaches all throughout the first day, on the second day they eased off, and on the third they were gone.
Tammy, my wife, took me downtown for some early breakfast at Sam's #3, but after we were finished at 8am, I then wandered on my own to the convention center. There wasn't any programming until 10, and the Dealer/Art hall wasn't open until about then, so I ducked into the treasury room and helped out for a bit.
When 10am rolled around, I went into a panel called 'Why didn't SF predict the Internet?'. The interesting result was that SF did predict the internet, although often not using the same terms, and not as often as it predicted spaceships and the like. There was a 1946 story, called 'A Logic Named Joe'* which pretty much had an internet as the basic plot. It even predicted the ability to publish your own information onto it.
After that I felt a little claustrophobic, so I went off to delve into the Dealer's room, searching this way and that for interesting things. I didn't really feel like any more panels, so I started heading out of the convention center for lunch, when I ran into Matthew and Ritchie. They were heading over to the Sheraton (the big convention hotel, where I hadn't been yet), so I started following them, although my method of following involved hopping onto the light rail for two blocks to 16th and taking the free shuttle down to the Sheraton. I got to talk to an interesting woman with feathers in her hair along the trip, and arrived not too much later than M&R, who had apparently found Rose. I followed them around for a bit - willing to be helpful, but apparently nothing I could help with - and after they tried to deliver some things we all went to the food court across the street for lunch. That was nice and relaxing, and I followed it up by exploring the con spaces - amusingly enough the con suite is two floors underground in the Sheraton, and is huge!
I got tired after lugging around a pile of things, and started seriously thinking about returning home, which I ended up doing. I took the bus home, played around on the computer, and then had a nap. After that, my wife came home, feeling a little ill. I let her nap for a while, and then we tumbled into a car and went downtown, finding a close by street parking space - we put $2 into it to reserve it to 9:30, when we intended to come out and put in more quarters... but we ended up forgetting. Tammy's stomach was still a little green, so while she settled down to play British Rails, I went out in search of Ginger ale...
And kept searching...
Eventulally I located a can in the other side of the hotel's bar, and brought it back to her. Success! I skittered off to the livejournal get together, in time for the very end - a few people talked about unique interests they had, and then everyone introduced themselves a final time before breakdown. With that done, I decided to hit the con suite, where I ran into![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
iamcompubear, who I hadn't seen in a long time, and certainly not since her husband tragically died. We talked a little about how horrid it all was, and her financial problems. She got a call and had to go, so I went up to check out the parties, enjoying the DASFA party the most, I think, although it was interesting seeing the rooms of fans crammed together like sheep. God forbid a fire should break out!
About tennish I got a call from my wife, who was done with her game and wanted to go. I headed down, met up with her, and we returned to the car, which was happily enough unticketed. That done, we headed home.
Unfortunately, my wife's not very impressed with the worldcon.
*Correct title provided by mandlebear! Thanks!
At the start of the second day of the convention, I wised up and went to Walgreens, buying a pair of shoe inserts which give me padding under the heels and arch. This proved to be a fantastic move, as although I had problems with footaches all throughout the first day, on the second day they eased off, and on the third they were gone.
Tammy, my wife, took me downtown for some early breakfast at Sam's #3, but after we were finished at 8am, I then wandered on my own to the convention center. There wasn't any programming until 10, and the Dealer/Art hall wasn't open until about then, so I ducked into the treasury room and helped out for a bit.
When 10am rolled around, I went into a panel called 'Why didn't SF predict the Internet?'. The interesting result was that SF did predict the internet, although often not using the same terms, and not as often as it predicted spaceships and the like. There was a 1946 story, called 'A Logic Named Joe'* which pretty much had an internet as the basic plot. It even predicted the ability to publish your own information onto it.
After that I felt a little claustrophobic, so I went off to delve into the Dealer's room, searching this way and that for interesting things. I didn't really feel like any more panels, so I started heading out of the convention center for lunch, when I ran into Matthew and Ritchie. They were heading over to the Sheraton (the big convention hotel, where I hadn't been yet), so I started following them, although my method of following involved hopping onto the light rail for two blocks to 16th and taking the free shuttle down to the Sheraton. I got to talk to an interesting woman with feathers in her hair along the trip, and arrived not too much later than M&R, who had apparently found Rose. I followed them around for a bit - willing to be helpful, but apparently nothing I could help with - and after they tried to deliver some things we all went to the food court across the street for lunch. That was nice and relaxing, and I followed it up by exploring the con spaces - amusingly enough the con suite is two floors underground in the Sheraton, and is huge!
I got tired after lugging around a pile of things, and started seriously thinking about returning home, which I ended up doing. I took the bus home, played around on the computer, and then had a nap. After that, my wife came home, feeling a little ill. I let her nap for a while, and then we tumbled into a car and went downtown, finding a close by street parking space - we put $2 into it to reserve it to 9:30, when we intended to come out and put in more quarters... but we ended up forgetting. Tammy's stomach was still a little green, so while she settled down to play British Rails, I went out in search of Ginger ale...
And kept searching...
Eventulally I located a can in the other side of the hotel's bar, and brought it back to her. Success! I skittered off to the livejournal get together, in time for the very end - a few people talked about unique interests they had, and then everyone introduced themselves a final time before breakdown. With that done, I decided to hit the con suite, where I ran into
iamcompubear, who I hadn't seen in a long time, and certainly not since her husband tragically died. We talked a little about how horrid it all was, and her financial problems. She got a call and had to go, so I went up to check out the parties, enjoying the DASFA party the most, I think, although it was interesting seeing the rooms of fans crammed together like sheep. God forbid a fire should break out!About tennish I got a call from my wife, who was done with her game and wanted to go. I headed down, met up with her, and we returned to the car, which was happily enough unticketed. That done, we headed home.
Unfortunately, my wife's not very impressed with the worldcon.
*Correct title provided by mandlebear! Thanks!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-08-09 03:21 pm (UTC)The Internet or the equivalent was predicted more often than personal and hand-held computers; it took a long time to catch on to the implications of Moore's Law even after it had been out there for a while.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-09 03:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-09 04:34 pm (UTC)