Tuesday 9 September 2003

• Science.com News - The Harvest Moon Arrives Early This Year

  
  

  So I survived CopperCon XXIII.  Thanks to all involved, it turned out to be a success.  We had some six hundred attendees.  Jayson and Kim helped me make door signs last week, and they were well liked.  Lani Tupu and David Franklin complimented our work, so I let them have the Braca and Crais room signs.  Meanwhile, the Catherine Book asked for the Elrond poster, only to have it stolen before the convention was over.  The same thing happened to the Aragorn poster, which I had promised to Kim for her hard work.  So, the only sign I brought back from the convention was Dunedain, which I've offered to Kim.

  
  

  Yvonne Coats suggested that I send out a moderator information packet to those moderating panels.  It sounded like Bruce Farr has done such a thing in the past, so if I ever act as program director again I'll ask him for advice on what to put in there. 

  
  

  The thing which most surprised me about being program director was how much fun it was.  I mean, I got to meet and talk with some panelists I never would have otherwise.  I missed out on all of the panels I would have liked to have seen.  I missed out on the Chill Room and Modern Dance by ConFusion.  I missed out on playing Shadowfist with Trollgod and scion.  I never saw the Hospitality Suite.  So I missed out on all of the normal convention experiences, yet I still enjoyed myself between all of the work. 

  
  

  Connie Willis went out of her way to come into Program Operations to sign my books because I missed her autograph session.  That was very sweet of her.  What was really cool was that she signed my copy of Bellwether, "To Paul, Trendy Best Wishes, Connie Willis".  Unfortunately, none of my staff had read the book and got the joke.  Oh well.  Maybe someone in Xangaland will.  (I have the book listed under "Currently Reading" for those interested in it.  I'm actually still reading The Magus.  Perhaps I can finish that faster now that I don't have a convention on which to constantly work.)

  
  

  You know, I learned a lot out of it all, and if I was given the usual three years of preparation time, I would do it again.  I know I wasn't exactly looking forward to this all, but in hindsight it wasn't as bad as I had expected. 

  
  

  One thing I noted was that I had a hard time trusting most of my staff.  The most trustworthy people were Lori (who wasn't my staff, but Gaming staff) and Rusty (who wasn't my staff, but Green Room staff for Kitty).  Maybe it was because they offered to help when they didn't have to that made them more trustworthy in my eyes.  Bill, Bruce, Kristi, Lea, and Wayne were good staff when I had them, but none of them could arrive on time for the life of them.  Because they arrived later than agreed upon, I often had to call upon Kitty, Lori, or Rusty to do something for me when none of my staff was present.  Then, Wayne wondered why I was cranky with him by Sunday, when the continued sleep debt I was racking up took away some of the tact I try to have.  Go figure.

  
  

  I slept like thirteen hours last night when I got home, then started cleaning up the house.  Tonight, my parents stopped by to take me out to Greek Town, followed by mass at Saint Jerome's Parish.  That was fun.  I made sure to say prayers for Jayson (due to his car accident), Christopher's friend and her unborn child (due to miscarriage), and Kathleen (due to her torn cartilage) who all had difficulties this weekend that I found out about today.  The deacon had a homily about healing and how selfishness and pride can get in the way of our faith. 

  
  

  Larry Warner sent an E-mail my way saying thanks, even though we never had a chance to meet this past weekend.  That was very thoughtful of him.  He apparently enjoyed his Filk Concert and The Trek Liberation Front discussion panel. 

  
  

  Last night, after the Convention Close Out Panel, we all went to the YC's Mongolian Wok at Metrocenter.  It was closing as we arrived, but they let us go through anyway.  Then, they gave us to-go boxes when I was about halfway finished because they wanted to go home.  I think their problem was that I filled my bowl up so high that after they cooked it they had to use two bowls to return it to me.  I was hungry.  Despite the fact that there was a staff lounge and that I could eat Green Room food, I was so active over the weekend that I didn't eat too many full meals.  I did, however, convince Bill to eat a Vomit flavoured Berty Bott's Every Flavour Bean! 

  
  

  Kevin seemed rather concerned when Kristie didn't return after Friday.  I had told him about her karate match, but that didn't seem to explain why he hadn't seen her after that or on Sunday.  He hoped she was alright.  For that matter, so did I after talking with him.  But then, I figured if something had happened Rob would have called me to let me know.  So I figured that they just got too busy with karate and other things to return.  I'm sure we'll hear from them again at some point. 

  
  

  Billy stopped by and asked me how I was holding up, and was happy to see that I was surviving and doing well.  He said that he though I would easily be able to handle things, and was glad to see that he was right.  Later, Gary Swaty said that I looked to be surviving quite well, and that he was pleased to see that.  He said his filk program had went well, and was pleased that our program went well, too. 

  
  

  A lot of people asked me if I would do it again, and surprisingly I said yes.  I had said it was highly unlikely before the convention, but now that I've done it once I can totally see what I could do better next time.  The one thing I totally need to teach myself to do is mail merge.  That would have saved me hours of time.  I ended up using the FarScape font by Scorpwanna for the room signs which listed all events by title and start day and time, while using the Ringbearer font by Pete Klassen for the room signs which listed the current event by title, start day and time, description, and participants.  People really liked those. 

  
  

  Alan Dean Foster ended up having to cancel his Saturday appearances and had to leave Sunday after 11:00 hours because of his work on Riddick: Pitch Black 2: The Chronicles of Riddick.  He had to interview Vin Diesel later on Sunday, so I can totally understand wanting to do his job over attending a convention.  He said it was his shorest convention attendance ever.  Hopefully he enjoyed himself.  Donald D. Markstein then started to regail him with a time when a publisher flew him out to a convention for an even shorter attendance than that. 

  
  

  Anyway, I'm just kind of rambling so I'm going to leave it at that.  If I think of more to say, I'm sure I'll let you all know.  Night!

  • 02:11
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