by theGeneral on February 27, 2012
[February 23-26, 2012 - Atlanta, GA - USA]
Ok, finally a con with a ton of pictures. My second time at AnachroCon, a Steampunk convention. The first time I was there they already outgrew that hotel. I hate to say it but they were bursting at the seams at this hotel. The con suite was removed from the activities, but was on the same floors as the party rooms that wasn’t too bad. The party rooms were great, in fact. I think this is the first Steam event I went to where there were half a dozen party rooms per night, so that was awesome! However, the dealers room was incredibly way too small. I’d say one of the features of a great Steampunk con is a great Steampunk dealers room – because people always want to upgrade what they have or start buying bits and pieces for the next costume. (A BIG dealers room is essential.) Nonetheless, it was great! And I seem to meet more people at Steam-cons than at any other con. Met “Biscuit” and her hubbby “Limey” (he’s from the UK, yes, he used it on himself so it’s not being rude or anything) this time. And a bunch more people. I do highly recommend AnachroCon, go next year! Here are the pics:
AnachroCon 2012
by theGeneral on February 13, 2012
[February 10-12, 2012, Wheeling, IL - USA]
The problem with going to the same con for the five-hundred-millionth time is that it becomes the same old thing and picture taking gets relegated to, “Oh, crud, I forgot to take pictures.” The you rush and take a boat load. Or, just give in and forget it. Well, I took a few and here are the two better ones:
left to right – Shelly – Jill – Charissa
left to right – Charissa – Me – Jill
by theGeneral on January 21, 2012
[January 13-16, 2012 - Long Beach, CA - USA]
A steampunk convention was helf aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA. The location was unique and the ship fit the steampunk them extremely well. This was a four day convention so it was nice and long. As with any ship I board, whether sea or air, I walked fore to aft, starboard and port. The more interesting parts of the ship were all blocked and locked off, which was annoying, but the open parts were interesting as it were…
There was a “con suite” but it was usually devoid of people. It seemed there were more people who knew each other than just broke off into their own little gatherings. Otherwise, it was basically just what was scheduled. There were no party rooms either. Of the pictures I took, a lot more than usual were blurry, so there aren’t too many pictures (sorry). The surviving pictures are below, click on the pic as usual to get more:
Steam Powered Giraffe on stage aboard the Queen Mary
If these few pics of the Queen Mary intrigue you, you can get more information on the ship here queenmary.com.
by theGeneral on November 1, 2011
[Oct 29, 2011 - New Orleans, LA, US]
Halloween. What to do?
This year, I went to New Orleans, LA (US) for the Endless Night Steampunk Vampire Ball on Oct 29, 2011 at the House of Blues. Started around 9:30pm and I got back to my hotel room around 3:00am. Luckily, I didn’t have to wake up till 9:00am on Sunday so I did get some sleep… SO, here are the pics:
Endless Night Steampunk Vampire Ball New Orleans Oct 29, 2011
by theGeneral on October 28, 2011
[October 20-23, 2011 - Seattle, WA, US]
Flew from DCA to DFW to SEA, second week in a row… It was a “mileage run” but there was a handy con in Seattle so that was cool.
On top of that, my work buddy collects mugs so he wanted me to go to the first Starbucks store in downtown Seattle so I figured what the heck. And my friends Charissa and Kevin were supposed to fly to Seattle last year for SteamCon II as a wedding gift but they didn’t make it so I got an extra one for her.
I was at the SeaTac Airport Hilton so I hopped on the light rail (which took 45 minutes) to get to downtown Seattle. Got the mug and hung out at the Pike Place Market and went to a French restaurant (Maximilien). They had Absinthe on the menu so I had to have one. That was cool.
After that mini-adventure, I attended ZomBcon 2011. There were a lo of zombies and zombie killers running around. Is there something in the air in Seattle that this con didn’t have a con suite and didn’t have any party rooms? (If you recall my last post on SteamCon III, they didn’t have a con suite; and they had only a few party rooms which were insufficient for the attendance. Oh well.) Anyway, here are the pics from the con…
Seattle, Starbucks First Store, Absinthe at Maximillien and ZomBcon 2011
by theGeneral on October 20, 2011
[October 13-16 , 2011 - Seattle, WA, US]
Flew from DCA to DFW to SEA. Left 2:00pm Eastern and got to my hotel 1:00am Pacific. Ug, so I slept a bit late…
Hotel was nice and huge with people milling around all day and night. I was at SteamCon II and it was so so, but hey, it was their second year. I thought they would get it together this time but sadly, not quite. There was a major lack of party rooms – I mean attendance was in the thousands and there were a whopping 3 party rooms per night. And it had no con suite! I mean really? There was a volunteers’ room that was about 99.999% empty about 99.999% of the time. That could have been a con suite right there. (And you really don’t have to stock it with goodies, just a few snacks so people can gather and mingle – that’s the whole point – so it can be uber-low cost.)
There were two bars in the hotel so people split between the two and there never was a “place to hang out”. Oh well. Maybe next year. A lot of people were there during the day but dissipated into the ether as it got into the evening. Not a good thing. Well, with all of the handicaps that were there, the intrepid people did hang out and have fun.
Here are the pics from the con…
Girl Genius at SteamCon III
by theGeneral on September 25, 2011
[September 22-25, 2011 - Addison, TX, US]
Flew in the DFW airport and hopped into a limo and went to FenCon in Addison, TX (US). It was a nice hotel and the con was hopping with a lot of people. A great full blown con with a real nice con suite (hospitality room) and there were room parties! So it was a great time! Handed out my ToServeFan.com website cards and a few people signed up for the FaceBook.com/ToServeFan and ToServeFan Twitter page so that was icing on the cake.
Here are the pics from the con…
Honor Harrington, FenCon 2011
by theGeneral on August 21, 2011
[Aug 17-21, 2011 - Reno, NV (US)]
This year, WorldCon was held in Reno, NV. WorldCon is the annual event where the Hugo Awards are given out. WorldCon Reno page is here: WorldCon 2011 in Reno. Met up with two friends from New Zealand and one from Sacramento. Also bumped into a few familiar faces. Hung out at the Klingon room party most of the time.
And, I bought a “Friend membership of the bid” (which means the entire amount will be applied in full as a discount on Attending membership of the convention, in the event that the bid succeeds) for London. First time I did that for any WorldCon, well, since I like London I guess. Ha! WorldCon London Bid 2014 is here: WorldCon 2014 in London.
Again, I was having too much fun to take a lot of pictures (sorry) but here they are:
WorldCon 2011 poster
by theGeneral on August 7, 2011
[Aug 04-07, 2011 - Indianapolis, Indiana (US)]
Okay, the second gaming convention I have ever been to. GenCon was huge. It was two to three times as large as Origins in Columbus. Just hung around the Flying Buffalo booth most of the time. Visited my friends, Kevin, Charissa and Shelly out side of the con for lunch and/or dinner. Didn’t take too many pics, but here they are:
Doctor Who, a Weeping Angel and Amy Pond at GenCon2011
by theGeneral on July 19, 2011
[June 30 - July 04, 2011 - Minneapolis, MN, US]
Convergence, as good as always. Met a few new friends and promptly got connected via Facebook 
I was having too much fun at the party rooms that I totally missed the masquerade and the subsequent pictures. Oh well, sorry about that… Here are the pics as usual:
Convergence 2011 from Jun 30 to Jul 04
