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 October 14, 2011
[September 29, 2011 to October 2, 2011 - Whitefish, MT US]
This was a long trip (and a ton of air miles of course) from DCA (Washington DC) to DFW (Dallas) to SEA (Seattle) to FCA (Glacier Park International Airport). Went to my Cousin Stephanie’s wedding. My dad went too. Stephanie’s dad (my Uncle Jerry) was there of course but the other two uncles from Arizona did not make it. It’s weird to go to a ski resort when there is no snow. Took so many pictures I actually drained the battery in my camera. I took over 500 pics. Here are the 253 better ones…
Stephanie and Jason cutting the cake
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 September 19, 2011
[September 19, 2011 - Alexandria, VA, US]
My friends from college who live in the DC area and I went to dinner at the Bilbo Baggins Pub in Alexandria, VA. Well, we thought it was a dinner. We ordered the 11 beer flight that we shared. Ordered the food and we were merrily tasting away the selections and we “noticed” we didn’t get our food. The server forgot to enter the order! Wow, that was like bizarre. We’ll we were all kinda full on the beer and bread anyway, so we canceled the food. At least I got the Green Dragon beer glass for free!
Here are the pics from the pub…
Bilbo Baggins Pub, Alexandria, VA
by theGeneral on September 6, 2011
[Sep 01-06, 2011 - London (UK)]
Ah, nothing like going to your favorite spot and doing nothing. Okay, well, close to nothing. Went and visited Rob who I have originally met at San Diego ComicCon and a few other places after that. So he was in town and we went to Camden (Camden Town stop on the tube) and had a beer or two. Okay, I had a beer or two, he had coffee 
Went back to Camden Stables (famous for shopping bazaar) and walked around a lot the following day in the rain. Got some Indian food from one of the hundreds of food vendors there. Was pretty good. Got a jacket I will need to ‘augment ‘ into steampunk wear
Here are the pics from London…
Camden Docks
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 31, 2011
[July 29-31-2011 - Cayman Islands - British West Indies (UK)]
First the bad:
Okay, I splurged this weekend. Cayman Islands aren’t cheap any way you cut it. I think it’s the most expensive place to go in the Caribbean and the Gulf, bar none. I thought Bermuda was expensive. I was sadly mistaken… All of the hotels there are a major vampire on your credit cards. The Westin where I stayed at was “old”. They charged all kinds of fees and I didn’t get anything in return for it. “Resort fee” for what? Absolutely zippo. And, the other fees they tack onto your “room charge” would make the airlines cry for the inventiveness of the vamping… I dis-recommend the Westin.
And, the Cayman dollar is more expensive than the US Dollar (US$1.00 get you 80 cents Cayman). In fact, if you want to go to the Caymans, don’t even go there directly – hop on a cruise ship instead! A day stay in Cayman will pay for about 33% of your 7 day cruise (assuming double occupancy). No, I don’t work for the cruise industry.
Next the good:
Okay, my rant is over. Otherwise the island sky and water is amazingly crisp, clean and just gorgeous. Went to the restaurant at the end of the island at Rum Point via catamaran onn Friday. The restaurant looked like a typical island joint but the food was amazingly excellent. The tab includes tip, so make sure you don’t double tip.
On Saturday, went snorkeling right off the beach to Governor’s Reef and the fish just swam around you. Totally awesome. I bought a cheapie underwater camera. But it’s film, so I’ll post those pictures later – after I get them back from the processor.
Then of course Sunday rolled around and flew off the island. Here are the pics:
Cayman Islands July 29-31-2011
by theGeneral on July 25, 2011
[July 07 - July 10, 2011 - Tampa - St. Petersburg, FL, US]
Decided to try the Gulf side of my state of residence… First time in Tampa. Rained most of the day on Friday. Saturday, it cleared up. Risteen Gates, his wife Melanie and baby Jahzara was visiting from Illinois. Risteen was visiting his dad. Again, a coincidence that we were in the same spot at the same time. I post my next trip out on Facebook and he caught it so we met up. FB is really handy. We all went to the Dali Museum. No pictures inside the museum, so sorry, no Dali for you! So it was fun. I see my college friends more away from home (well, my previous home state of Illinois). Here are some pics:
Tampa St. Petersburg July 07 – July 10, 2011
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
