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General's Log: Lollapalooza 2010, Chicago, IL , Aug 5-8, 2010
| Went to Lollapallooza to meet up with John Yost of Rhythm Revolution in "Kidzapalooza" - the kiddie section of the event. John is a local Chicago musician and is in and has been in several Chicago bands. He is now doing drum circles and drum related performances. He is sponsored by Remo and is available for private and corporate events. More info at: drummingcircle.com |
General's Log: Boulder, CO, July 23 - August 01, 2010
|
My friend Mike and his wife Sue were supposed to meet up with me and then head to (their daughter) Marina's apartment and meet up with her
boyfriend, Aaron, to play Catan. However, Mike and Sue canceled at the last minute so I went without them.
I was supposed to fly in Thursday night but due to storms in DC, my plane got in late at DFW (Dallas) and missed the connection to DEN (Denver).
So I stayed overnight in Dallas and flew out on the earliest plane Friday morning.
Got in, called Marina and she said she wanted to go hiking. I said sure, so Marina and I drove from Boulder, Colorado, to the Rocky Mountain National Park, entering at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center. We hit the Deer Ridge Junction and got out of the car - still raining - so I didn't take my camera, only Marina did since she had a backpack, so these pictures are mostly taken by Marina. Started at the Dear Mountain Trailhead, elevation 8930 feet. The trail is 3 miles long and the top of Dear Mountain is 10013 feet. (So we climbed 1083 feet...) I got annoyed at the zig-zag trail so I said to Marina, let's go straight up. So we did :) Got to the top, took pictures, and headed down. Once we got back to Marina's apartment, we play Catan till Marina got too tired. She drove me back to my hotel for the night. Next day we went shopping for expansion sets for Catan. Aaron popped in and we played more Catan. Was fun. Sunday, flew back out as usual... |
General's Log: San Diego ComicCon, July 21-25, 2010
| [July 21-25, 2010, San Diego, CA, US] Okay! I went to San Diego ComicCon 2010. Sorry, didn't take too many pictures... For some reason I got super-upgraded to a huge suite at Marriott, so I took pictures of the room :) And, got a great contact at the con... Currently talking with a independent publisher about getting Dreadnought: Invasion Six (a) re-released as a graphic novel and (b) made into a radio play! How cool is that? So now, I have to really update my DreadnoughtSeries.com site! |
General's Log:
 Pics of and from train, no pics of NY
|
[July 15-18, 2010 New York, NY, US]
New York by Train, July 15-18, 2010
I cracked my tooth earlier this year and I had to get it extracted. Next step was to get an implant, followed by attaching the crown (ceramic tooth).
I went back to my Illinois dentist and he suggested an oral surgeon to do the extraction and implant. The dentist was going to do the crown. The cost
of the whole procedure was: extraction $400, "flipper" $600 (partial denture to cover up the gaping hole), implant $2300, abutment (basically one screw)
$800 and crown $1500. So I spend $400 for the extraction and $600 for the flipper. Now I still had to pay $4700!!! This is for one tooth. One!
(And as it turns out, you don't "need" the flipper at all, so that was a waste of money.)
You thought the US Military was paid too much for a toilet seat for $500? How about one dinky "abutment" screw for $800! So I started to look around and decided to go to Costa Rica to get my dental work done. Well, I need to do two trips, one for the implant (jaw bone to gum line) and one for crown (the fake tooth). It takes approximately 6 weeks to heal after the implant procedure. So Costa Rica was out. For one trip, it would have been cheaper, but not for two. So I was bummed and just starting hitting Google and Yahoo and typing in all kinds of search terms an I found a dental clinic in New York who would do the implant, abutment and crown for $1800 (vs $4700)!!!! That's a 62% discount!!! Of course I was weary of the choice, I mean why would all other places in the US charge about $4700-$9000 and theses people can do it for a whopping discounted price of only $1800??? I mean they were even cheaper that Costa Rica (excluding air fare, of course, I mean just the dental costs)!!! So I asked them and they said they just do so many of these procedures that they can discount the price... Okay, fine, but I still feel uneasy. What the heck - so I went on the train from WAS to NYP - taking the NorthEast Regional Amtrak. The train ride was not impressive at all. The physical train tracks were horrid - the train shook a lot. I get to the dental clinic and there is no one in the waiting area! My first thought was I am soooo screwed... Well, after they took an x-ray and said I can get the implant without any bone graft. (If you have a missing tooth and don't get an implant within a year or so, you start to lose bone and you may need to get a bone graft - that itself is another $1000...) I said great, lets do it! They shot me up with novocaine and the whole procedure took less than two minutes. They drill a hole in your bone - your head shakes like operating a jack hammer (but no pain at all). Then the dentist showed me the implant (a short post about 2mm-3mm wide and about 1cm tall). He literally screwed the post into my jaw with a ratchet. I thought I'd be spewing blood all over. But no, the entire operation was done and there wasn't one drop of blood! Amazing. So, I have to go back in six weeks to make sure it healed okay and if they give a go ahead, they'll measure the area to fit the crown and then I need to come back again to have the crown fitted. (Good thing I didn't go to Costa Rica - the airfare would have wiped out any savings in the procedure!) Well great, that was easy. All I had to do was take antibiotics for a week and done. There was a dull throbbing pain in my mouth for about ten days. (It didn't hurtunless you touched the area.) Your results may differ! They gave me a high dose Motrin prescription but I didn't bother getting it. So, on the way back from NYP to WAS, I took the Acela an paid for First Class since I figured I won't be taking the train next time. It was pretty nice. This train had some sort of shock system so it didn't shake as much, but it still shook on the worst parts of the tracks. But hey, got a free lunch and free alcohol... So where is this place? Here: ContemporaryDentalImplantCentre.com/ ( NOTE: They have a coupon for $395 on their site, you must print it and show it to them to get the discount. Then they say you need a consultation first - I said I need to get the implant in the same visit and they said that is fine. Even though I had the $395 coupon, they charged me up front for $1400 and when I get the crown, I pay $400. In my case, I didn't care, $4700 vs $1800, hey, they could have charged me for the whole thing at once...) |
General's Log: Ireland, July 05-09, 2010
 Tim Costello, RIP The Brazen Head Dublin, Ireland
| [July 05-09, 2010 Ireland] Well I flew out to Ireland for the week - straight from Convergence Con (see below) on July 4, 2010. Was there till July 9. First time in Ireland. First day (July 5), landed, hopped on a bus and went to the hotel. I was tired from the weekend and the plane flight so I just hung in the concierge lounge of the (Marriott Renaissance) Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin. The following day (July 6), I did a self-directed walking tour of Dublin. Went around to a few cathedrals and took pictures, then Dublin Castle. After that, did the Jameson Distillery tour, then the Guinness Storehouse tour. Next day (July 7), went on a rail tour - started early in the morning at 5:00am, starting at Hueston station in Dublin onto a high speed train to Limerick Junction, then to Limerick, then to the west coast of Ireland to the Cliffs of Moher, then Burren and to Galway - then back to Dublin - around 9:00pm. The following day (July 8), I slept in since I was zonked out. I woke up and when I was doing my email, I found out that my friend Tim Costello had died of a heart attack - he was only 42. I was really bummed because it was Tim who went to Dublin previously and he was the one who told me where to go in Dublin. So, I rushed out to The Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Dublin and I ordered a Guinness and drank a toast to Tim. That night I just hung out in the concierge lounge of the hotel. Then I flew back to the US on July 9. |
General's Log: Convergence Con 2010, Bloomington, MN July 01-04, 2010
 Convergence 2010
| [July 01-04, 2010 Convergence 2010] Convergence was excellent as usual. Jill (JAR) from Illinois made it and so did Tina (my LosCon buddy Nathan's sister) from California. Charissa and Shelly from Indiana didn't make it due to a SNAFU at the Indiana airport. A lot of costumes, so that's always a good thing. Party rooms were great. A lot of them ran out of food and drinks, but that's a good thing - people had fun. And, for the people who threw parties, less to carry home... (No, really, I threw parties and if there is stuff left, I give it away, like to late night parties, etc. - no point in bringing it home...) |
General's Log: Florida Super Con 2010 which was mostly CosPlay, Miami, FL June 18-20, 2010
 CosPlayers
| [June 18-20, 2010 Florida SuperCon] I thought Florida Super Con 2010 was basically a pro/media con with generic science fiction types roaming the hall but no. As predicted there were no party rooms - which was expected. The media stars were all there behind booths so you could walk up and talk any of them. No one was really hounded, so you could just walk up and say hi. The only pic I took was of Dawn Wells (Mary Ann in "Gilligan's Island")... But, the whole place was taken over by CosPlayers which was totally unexpected, especially from the web page description of the event. But apparently, it's the annual CosPlay gathering there. Okay, so now I know. I took pictures, of course. |
General's Log: Singles Cruise 2010
 Royal Caribbean Grandeur of the Seas
| [June 10 - June 14, 2010, Ft. Lauderdale, FL] This was a four day long weekend cruise with singlescruise.com. As usual, there was a day before party at a designated hotel Bahia Mar Resort (sorry, no pictures from there). A few dozen showed up. (The whole group was a little over 70.) The group was more or less cohesive throughout the cruise so it was more fun than my previous experience (where everyone just splits up into mini-groups and do their own thing). This is the most massive number of pictures I have taken, so I hope you have a good internet connection! 347 pictures!!! |
General's Log: Baycon Science Fiction Convention 2010 in Santa Clara, CA May 28 - May 31, 2010
 The Ood from Doctor Who
| [May 28 - May 31, 2010, Santa Clara, CA] Baycon is a science fiction convention held every Memorial Day. Collectively, even though this was a generic scifi and fantasy con, there were more Steampunk outfits than all of the rest of the costumes combined. But, there still was plenty of variety of costumed people walking around. Surprisingly, the con suite was pitifully small. It was two regular hotel rooms with a connecting door and half the room flled with tables. Not conducive for 'hanging in the con suite', so everyone went onto the first floor of the hotel. Programming had a lot of glitches, delays and generally it didn't fall apart because the fans were waaaay patient. One notable thing I did was that I went to the Klingon Charity Slave Auction for Make-a-Wish Foundation and I did win a round of bidding and got Sarah to do my bidding. That was fun. But the overall con was not as good as what a 28th year should have been, so the rating of the con is 7.0 out of 10. |
General's Log: Steampunk World's Fair 2010 in Piscataway, NJ, May 14 - May 16, 2010
 Brute Force Studios
| [May 14 - May 16, 2010, Piscataway, NJ] This was the first "Steampunk World's Fair". New cons usually have a couple of hundred attendees. Not huge. Well, they thought planning for 800 would be a good ballpark number to plan activities around. Unbelievably, over 3000 attendees registered selling out the Radisson and the Embassy Suites next door. The event was smashingly good. No complaints from me. The con had over a dozen live bands, shows and more. Again, as with Anacrocon (below), over 80% of the attendees were dressed in Steampunk garb. Absolutely amazing. And there were dozens upon dozens of vendors. A lot geared up (no up intended) for the Steampunk genre, but a lot that were not quite ready (many had ren, horror, pirate-ware)... Anyway, next year would be a much bigger event, held earlier and should be really really good! All in all, the con has a rating of 9.5 out of 10. |
General's Log: AnachroCon 2010 in Atlanta, GA, Apr 30 - May 2, 2010
 Katie and Erin from Penny Dreadful Productions
| [Apr 30 - May 2, 2010, Atlanta, GA] AnachroCon is more than steam punk, but most of the attendees were in steam punk garb. Steam Punk is catching on like wildfire. Over 80%+ of the attendees were dressed in costumes! I don't think I've been to any con where 80%+ were dressed up. Even though "Steam Punk" is a specific genre, based on the Victorian period, a lot more people can get into it because current clothing can be modified much more easily than any other genre. Well, it was cool :) There were live performaces by bands both nights (Friday and Saturday) and on Saturday, there was period performances during the day The only thing bad about the whole thing was that is was mega-cramped, as in tiny tiny tiny spaces. The vendor area was waaay tooo small and the con suite was waaaaay waaaaay tooooo small. But, have no fear, next year, they will be getting a new hotel so that should improve the shortcomings. All in all, the con has a rating of 9 out of 10. |
General's Log: Arizona - Grand Canyon, Sedona, etc. Apr 09 - Apr 16, 2010
 Cousin Yuki from Japan and Dad at the Grand Canyon
| [Apr 09 - Apr 16, 2010, Grand Canyon, Sedona, etc., AZ] My cousin Yuki flew in from Japan to visit my dad so I took a week off and went to visit them. Visited my mon's grave site :( That was the saddest part. Went to, as in drove from Oracle, AZ (north of Tucson) to the Grand Canyon. Stayed overnight then on the way back visited Sedona. Went to the Sonora Desert Museum on another day. And a few other places. Well, here are the pictures... |
General's Log: Washington DC Snowstorm Feb 08 - Feb 12, 2010
 Starbucks was open
| [Feb 08 - Feb 12, 2010, Arlington, VA] It snowed big huge time. Closed the airport. Metro was dead. Streets were left unplowed for weeks. It was bad. I was going to LA for a Mensa Regional Gathering but they closed the airport so I was stuck in my hotel room. Oh well, at least I had my Starbucks everyday :) |
General's Log: Aruba, Feb 4 - Feb 8, 2010
 Aruba
| [Feb 4 - Feb 8, 2010, Aruba] So I few all the way down to Aruba. Equatorial, so the sun is intense! DO NOT go outside without SPF1000000 slathered all over your body! I took a five minute walk in the sun and I could feel my skin cooking. Oops. Luckily I dived into building shadows. I went on a sunset cruise and had SPF 50 on and I had to reapply the gook on my face every ten minutes or so. I saw people who were more red than the brightest red lobster walking on the beaches. Skin cancer candidates! I wanted to scream at them to get in now! They will be in massive massive pain the next day. Hopefully that's all that will happen to them. And, hopefully their family members will inspect their skin every couple of months for about a year. (Bob Marley, the Reggae artist, died of skin cancer - on his foot. Yep, so watch out for any lumps anywhere on your skin!) |
General's Log: Key West, FL, Jan 28 - Jan 31, 2010
 Key West, FL at the Southernmost Point...
| [Jan 28 - Jan 31, 2010, Key West, FL] Went to Key West to go to the First Annual Food and Wine Festival. It was pretty good. A tad disorganized but hey, it's their first one. Next year ought to be bigger and better. If youi know the legend of Captain Tony, I met one of his daughters - she was working at the concierge desk at the Key West Marriott. That was cool :) I also made friends with the Barefoot Winery rep. After the wine and food tasting event in the tent was over, they gave me a few bottles :) |
General's Log: Bermuda, Jan 15 - Jan 21, 2010
 Palm trees at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess Hotel, Bermuda
| [Jan 15 - Jan 21, 2010, Bermuda] Was in Bermuda for an extended weekend, almost a week. Went across the island. This small island has more history than you would think was possible. Anyway, I didn't get to see everything but here are a boatload of pictures... |
General's Log: Key Largo, FL Jan 07 - Jan 10, 2010
 Palm tree view from my hammock :)
| [Jan 07 - Jan 10, 2010, Key Largo, FL] Checking out Florida... Went to the Marriott Key Largo this time for the weekend. Got an upgrade to a huge two bedroom suite thanks to my Marriott Platinum status :) Took a few pictures of the suite and the ocean view from my window. Good thing I went down to the small private beach on Friday... My favorite picture is the one I took looking up at the palm trees from the hammock. On Saturday, the weather turned awful - see last three pictures in the set. But I already had fun on Friday so it was okay :) |
General's Log: New Years Eve Party at The Edison, December 31, 2009
 Steam Punk band, Abney Park performing at The Edison.
| [December 31, 2009, Los Angeles, CA] The Edison is a steam punk bar/restaurant. This place is decked out to the max in "real" steamm punk decor (as in, this used to be the power generation room of the building so it looks really industrial). About 90% of the people dressed up for the New Year's Eve party - with over 70% in steam punk outfits. Live music by the premiere steam punk band, Abney Park! Please note, I didn't use flash on most of the shots because it took too much of the atmosphere away, so the non-flash pics are a bit "soft". The party has a rating of 10 out of 10. |
General's Log: Biscayne Bay, FL Dec 24 - Dec 27, 2009
 Port of Miami sign
| [Dec 24 - Dec 27, 2009, Biscayne Bay, FL] Checking out Florida... Went to the Marriott Biscayne Bay for the weekend. First few shots are from my hotel room window. The rest of the shots were at night cruising down the canal by the cruise ship port on an dinner and drink cruise. It was nice and serene. A little bit on the cool side but was still warm enough (for me anyway)... |
General's Log: St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, Nov 21-23, 2009
 Waters of St. Croix
|
[November 21-23, 2009, St. Croix, USVI]
So, the reason this is a short visit again is because St. Croix was a mileage run (to get miles on American Airlines so I can be "Executive Platinum" or "EXP"
next year. As an EXP, you get upgraded to first class for free if there are any seats available. So it's a humgo-benefit :).
Well, I flew in from ORD (Chicago, IL, USA) to SJU (San Juan, PR, USA). Then from SJU I flew on an ATR (GAG! Bad plane. Awful plane. This plane was banned from flying in cold/frigid/snowy weather! It is an unstable design and the pilot has to be an mega-expert to fly the stupid thing. Even the flight attendant I talked to on the plane hated the plane. And , the entire ATR fleet is falling apart. By the seams. Bad deal.) So anyway, I met Doctor Tina on the plane and we decided to explore the entire island the following day. (I was there only for one whole day, Tina was there for the whole week to scuba dive.) So, Tina and I went from the east most point of the island to the (almost) west most part of the island. It was totally fun! You can see the pictures in chronological order... |
General's Log: Halloween Orange County, CA Oct 30-31, 2009
General's Log: Britain and Paris 2009
 Hanna and David at "The Medieval Banquet"
| [October 3-6, 2009, London, England and Paris, France] Okay, this was another whirlwind tour... Of Britain... err specifically London and Paris... Massively cool. Meet a bunch of great people and had a ton of fun. Each pic has a caption on it so you can tell what;s what (unless I forgot what the pic was....) |
General's Log: Britain 2009
Click on pic for more photos Dover Cliffs, Britain, UK Photo by Lovett Bickford  "Doctor Who: The Leisure Hive" Directed by Lovett Bickford |
[April 17-19, 2009, Great Britain]
Mike Nunamaker thought it would be cool if I joined him and his wife to go on a weekend jaunt to the UK and meet up with his sister Claralynn.
So he generously forked out mileage on AA so the three of us (Mike, Sue, me) flew First Class on a Boeing 777 from the US to UK. It was a
whirlwind tour but Claralynn and I crammed in a day's worth of trekking in London via the tube on Friday; then on Saturday, we took the
British Tours
tour of Canterbury Cathedral, Dover Cliffs and Leeds Castle. Flew back on Sunday.
On Friday, Mike and Sue decided to take an afternoon nap so Claralynn and I went tubing,and hit the road, I mean rails. We started from our hotel at Marriott County Hall, walked across the Westminster bridge, and popped into the Westminster station, got my Oyster card, and we hopped on the Jubilee line to Green Park, popped over to the Piccadilly line to Hyde Park Corner. Went up and waked through Hyde Park, cut out way back to Knightsbridge to hit Harrods. The place was packed, I mean there were more people in there than you can cram in a tube station. Got my Harrods Earl Grey No. 42. (purported to be a favorite of Douglas Adams and a possible origin of 42. Cool beans, or I should say cool leaves. Great, off to the Knightsbridge tube, back on the Piccadilly line to Piccadilly Circus, then switched to the Bakerloo line to Charing Cross. Got off and headed for the Sherlock Holmes Pub. I got fish and chips of course and had the Sherlock Holmes ale. Claralynn had tea with milk. Running late! Back to Charing Cross and hit the Northern line going south to Embankment, switched to Circle line and hit Westminster. Got to Mike and Sue's room and told then about the pub and we took a proper British cab to the pub. Ate, walked back and zonked out. Saturday, got up early and met our guide British Tours Guide, Keith Sugden. We were off on our merry way to Canterbury Cathedral and as luck would have it, his water pump blew a hole. He called for road assistance and they tried to use sealant but the hole was too big. He called in a replacement guide and we waited for an hour or so. Soon, our replacement guide came by and we waved good-bye to Keith and we were back on the road to Canterbury. We found out that our guide was non other than Lovett Bickford who used to work as a Director at the BBC! As you know, I am a huge Doctor Who fan so of course I said, "I am a huge Doctor Who fan." Among the many things he has done at the BBC, he directed The Leisure Hive (Tom Baker as the Doctor and Lala Ward as Romama). But I digress. So, we go to St. Dunstan's and take a peek at vault where the beheaded head of Sir Thomas More lies. Then off to Canterbury Castle, but first, we stop off at Falstaff Hotel, a Coaching Inn for a break. Then to Canterbury Cathedral we go. Okay, people complain that there are too many Starbucks eveywhere. Well, let me tell you. All of the Starbucks crammed in all cities in the United States of America pales in comparison with where this particular Starbucks was located. Right in the gatehouse of Canterbury Cathedral! Good grief man, they should be hung upside down, dragged through the streets then drawn-and-quartered then their head impaled on a stick right next to Sir Thomas More! (Please don't get bent out of shape, this is just a hyperbole.) But I digress further. So of course, while we are touring Canterbury, I am trying to take a picture of Lovett Bickford, but it was going to be tricky because he said he didn't want any pictures taken of him. So every time I succeed, you can see him scowling at me :) We went back to the Coaching Inn and had lunch. I had genuine Boddington's Ale of course. But I digress even further. So, after finishing up our food and ale, we head to the White Cliffs of Dover - where the coolest thing happened. A plane buzzed us. Good thing it wasn't a Messerschmitt because we'd be dead. I identified the plane as non-other than a Britten-Norman BN-2A-26 Islander, G-BCEN, Air Atlantique (AAG), or to be more precise, it was a plane of Her Majesty's Coastguard! (Look at the tail picture I took... I also added Sue's pics to fill out the plane sequence. She got the pic of the plane going over the top of the cliff, so that was a good catch!) Then off to Leeds Castle. Did a real quick tour, took great pictures. On the way back, got a pic of the Mi6 building. After we got back to the hotel, Sue said I should get an autograph from Lovett Bickford. I said that was too tacky, by Mr. Bickford obliged and I have his autograph. Cool beans. We said our good-byes and we're off. Off to the London Eye, that is. We get there and get in line but since Mike was walking with a cane, we get to go to a will call line and get in quickly. Then we also got to go straight on into the capsule. So that was cool. Took a boatload of pictures and then we were done for the day. Whew! Sunday, we were off to the airport and flew back home... |
General's Log: New Year's Eve Party 2008
 Charissa, Jill and Shelly
| [December 31, 2008, Arlington Heights, IL] This was the 25th Annual New Year's Eve Party. About two dozen people showed up as usual. No new special effects or anything. Had three web cams as usual. |
General's Log: BioSphere2 in 2008
 BioSphere 2
| [November 28, 2008, Oracle, AZ] Visted BioSphere2 when I was out in Tucson, AZ. The place is gigantic. A great engineering feat. The photos are shown in the order of the tour... |
General's Log: WindyCon 2008
 WindyCon 2008
| [November 14-16, 2008, Oakbrook, IL] I didn't technically go to WindyCon. I was just visiting Charissa, Kevin and Shelly because they were throwing Raymond's party there... |
General's Log: San Diego Comic Con 2008
 Dreadnought San Diego ComicCon 2008
| [July 23-27, 2008, San Diego, CA] San Diego ComicCon 2008! Shaene was the sole Dreadnought Girl. I was in uniform on Saturday. And as usual, plenty of costume pics from passers by around the Dreadnought booth... Plus, I lucked onto going to Pop Candy's (Whitney Matheson's) party. Got a pic of her too... |
General's Log: Wizard World Chicago 2008
 Dreadnought Wizard World 2008
| [April 26-29, 2008, Rosemont, IL] Chicago Wizard World 2008! Linda and Jill reprise as Dreadnought girls. And of course, plenty of costume pics from attendees! |
General's Log: New York Comic Con 2008
 Dreadnought New York ComicCon 2008
| [April 18-20, 2008, New York, NY] Went to New York Comic Con to promote my comic book Dreadnought: Invasion Six (DreadnoughtSeries.com). Got a booth and it was staffed by the two Dreadnought girls Linda and Jill. Here are some pictures of the costumes at New York Comic-con 2008. |
General's Log: Capricon 2008
 Con theme was Captain Morgan drinks...
| [Feb 15-17, 2008, Arlington Heights, IL] At Capricon, I had a party room and had it staffed with almost the entire Dreadnought crew. Here are the pictures from the party room. Bondo and Jenny got married there so I posted the three best pictures I took of the couple. |
General's Log: LosCon 2007
 You never know who you will bump into at LosCon... Larry Niven.
| [Nov 23 - Nov 25, 2007, TGN, Los Angeles, CA] Last time I was a LosCon was in 2003 when it was held in Burbank. LosCon is now in Los Angeles, which of course kinda makes sense... Theme of this year's LosCon was "The Dig" (as in archeological dig... The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is: 8 out of 10. |
Captain's Log: Convergence 2006
 Aboard the original NCC-1701 Enterprise...
|
[July 7 - July 9, 2006, TGN, Minneapolis, MN]
This year's theme was "Boldly Go" which translated to a ton of Trekkies milling about.
There was a huge two room completely built out Star Trek "set" of a party room. It was too cool!
Of course there were dozens and dozens of party rooms as usual and it was totally fun, as usual
The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 9 out of 10.
The Klingon Hello Kitty pictures are in this set! Or you can go look at all of them here:  |
General's Log: New Year's Eve Party 2005
 Last Webcam shot of the night
| [December 31, 2005, TGN, Hoffman Estates, IL] First NYEP to be held at a hotel! Two dozen people showed up. It was different. Had to wrap up early due to time limits imposed by the hotel. Oh well. The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 6 out of 10. |
General's Log: Convergence 2005
 Sheep, Grommit and Wallace
| [July 1 - July 3, 2005, TGN, Minneapolis, MN] Another Convergence with a ton of room parties. There were so many room parties, there were three floors worth of room parties (as opposed to the normal two floors worth). There weren't too many costumes this time though. And, no costume really hit the "oh wow" moment. Wallace and Grommit came close though... The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 8 out of 10. |
General's Log: Singles Cruise 2005
 SinglesCruise.com Carnival Ship Facination
| [May 30 - June 3, 2005, TGN, Miami, FL] Singles cruise from singlescruise.com started out day before the cruise at Lombardi's resturant. About fifty showed up and it was a great start. Over a hundred fifty singles boarded the ship and we went off to Key West Florida and Cozumel. Last day was at sea. It rained all day - people couldn't sun, but we had all of our singles activities 'indoors' on the ship. Take a look at the pics... The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 8 out of 10. |
General's Log: 23rd Annual New Year's Eve Party - 2004
 Placeholder for now...
| [December 31, 2004, TGN, Arlington Heights, IL] 20 or so people showed up. Mike Lenihan from college (like haven't seen him in 23 years!) and his wife cme. So that was very cool. Party went to about 3:00am... The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 7 out of 10. |
General's Log: DragonCon 2004
 DragonCon2004
| [Sept 3-6, 2004, TGN, Atlanta, GA] DragonCon needs to be experienced by everyone at least once. Let me just warn you, there are no room parties; which is a huge negative in my book. However, please note, with way over 10,000 attendees, a room party can cost the hosts way too much money! Okay, okay... I suppose I shouldn't publicize secrets, but there are room parties there (shhhh!). You just need to be invited. Oh, that's hard to do, yes, but just keep your eyes and ears peeled! The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 9 out of 10. |
General's Log: To Be CONtinued 2004
 Chase Masterson (right) and me.
| [April 9-11, TGN, Rosemont, IL] To Be CONtinued was a fun con. The con featured the Dueling Blenders Saturday night. The hotel (Radison Inn, just north of O'Hare) is the new home of To Be CONtinued, as well as Windycon in November. Still a new con, the attendance was sparse with only a few party rooms each night. The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 7 out of 10. |
General's Log: 22nd Annual New Year's Eve Party - 2003
 Bondo talking to Yuri and Deek
| [December 31, 2003, TGN, Arlington Heights, IL] 30 people showed up - which is very good. Charissa came from Indianapolis and Chloe came from Madison. A whole bunch of people from the local scifi cons came. Also, Merobel (previous work) and two of her friends came, so that was great. This is Jessica's (aka Crow's) last party for a while, she is joining the USAF. I can go on and on but I don't want to bore you, so go check out the pics! Party went to 4:00am... The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 8 out of 10. |
General's Log: LosCon XXX 2003
 Click on the pic to get all the pics...
| [November 28 through November 30, 2003, TGN, Burbank, CA] No matter where you go, there you are... Or in case of cons, no matter what con you go to, you meet the same kind of people! In the case of LosCon, I met old friends from the Chicago circuit - Mad Mike and Chuck and Annie! Not one but three familiar faces. Amazing. Made new friends too. Nathan, Barbara and Kelly (last pic on the pic page.) Oh, the first pic is a panel I went to - Todd MacCAffrey (son of Anne), Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher, Armin Shimerman (Quark) and Tin Powers. The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 8 out of 10. |
General's Log: Windycon 2003
 Click on the pic to get all the pics...
| [November 7 through November 9, 2003, TGN, Schaumburg, IL] Another weekend, another Windycon. Oh, I (we) had fun, but the con is verging on becoming a relax-a-con. Need more party rooms! As if my brain was in gear - I flew in from San Diego on Friday and flew out on Sunday. Whirlwind. Oh well. The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 5 out of 10. |
General's Log: San Diego Fire 2003
 Click on the pic to get all the pics...
| [October 26 through October 28, 2003, TGN, San Diego, CA] To say the fire was close is an under statement! If the winds didn't die down, my location in Rancho Bernardo would have been toast with about a 20 minute warning. Rancho Bernardo is on the west side of the map (see pics for map) - I was right by the "B" in Rancho Bernardo. Bob Haas and Charissa Bihl were visiting. Bob was pretty calm, considering his apartment might be fried that day... |
General's Log: CONvergence 2003
 Click on the pic to get all the pics...
| [July 4 through 6, 2003, TGN, Minneapolis, MN] Well, well well. Another great CONvergence con! The only things that remains are the pictures - but hey, that's what web sites are for. This CONvergence was more exciting than last year, if memory serves correctly. (Why aren't the any pics from 2002 you ask? Well, I went to Las Vegas right after the con to go to a screenwriter's conference and guess what - I lost my camera with all of the pics! Well, gloom.) This year, my camera is safe and here are a ton of pics to make up for last year! The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 9.5 out of 10! Now that's really good. (And, a hard act to follow.) See you next year! |
General's Log: Capricon 2003
 Never Give Up, Never Surrender!
| [February 7-9, 2003, TGN, Arlington Heights, IL] Left to right, the TRCLJ (Troy Rick Cliff Lisa Jed) group unveiled the Galaxy Quest costumes for Capricon - as Teb, Mathasar, Quelleck, Lt. Madison and Commander Peter Peter Peter Quincy Quincy Quincy Taggart Taggart Taggart. Kathy (Lisa's mom) was the designer and seamstress for the Commander Peter Quincy Taggart and Lt. Tawny Madison outfits. Cliff was the seamster for the three Thermain outfits. The con was a blast and a half. I was having too much fun that I for got to take pictures on Friday! Well, I shot a bunch on Saturday, but still, I missed a few costumes here and there... The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 8.0 out of 10. (8.0/10?! Why only 8.0??? Well, the parties were excellent. Dueling Blenders were great as usual. Chicago Force out did themselves, but the con itself didn't have that snappy feeling like the time they had the Amabssador's Reception - now that was great, but I digress...) |
General's Log: 21st Annual New Year's Eve Party - 2002
 Wave goodbye...
| [December 31, 2002, TGN, Arlington Heights, IL] 39 people showed up - which is a record for the "house" parties. Of course, the record holder is still 80+ people at Don Moy's resturant a long time ago... The party lasted until 4:45am -although I pulled the plug on the web cams at 3:45am. We had three cams again, but Cam3 (KitchenCam) fritzed out during the night. Oh well. Bunch of people came, including new faces I invited from the local scifi convention scene (courtesy of Bondo, but that's another long story). The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 9.5 out of 10. |
General's Log: Windycon 2002
 "New Dominion" Room Party
| [November 8 through 10, 2002, TGN, Schaumburg, IL] The biggest improvement to Windycon was the new con suite. It was nice and roomy, as opossed to the old con suite. A bit too bright for my liking but, I'll take the room over the lighting! Also, new picture format. Instead of me commenting on each pic, I just clumped them into a bunch. E-mail me if you hate the new format... The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 6.5 out of 10. |
General's Log: Capricon 2002
 Sith Bar...
| [February 7 through 10, 2002, TGN, Arlington Heights, IL] The convention was memorable here and there, but it was not what one would call one of the better ones... Then of course there was the Sith... Other news: a couple staged a re-marriage - (party man "Martini" and his longtime girl friend) with (the real) Dr. Demento giving the bride away. My pictures didn't turn out that great, but you get the idea... The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 6 out of 10. |
General's Log: 20th Annual New Year's Eve Party - 2001
 Party lasted till 3:02am. View from WebCam1...
|
[December 31, 2001, TGN, Arlington Heights, IL]
Two dozen people showed up. Party was hopping till 3:00am. Jeff Moy even showed up this time!
Hector and Renata dropped in. And, I finally got a picture of Matt and Pia, so they can now officially quit
griping that their pics are not on the net! |
General's Log: Windycon 2001
 Gene Roddenberry Jr. (left) with me.
| [November 9 through 11, 2001, TGN, Schaumburg, IL] Windycon was hopping this time around. The usual setup but with special guests (Gene Roddenberry, Jr. as pictured above) and Dr. Demento. Five party rooms on Friday and 10-15 or so party rooms on Saturday. And, there were a bit more costumed people than usual. Of course, I was camera-less half the time, or was too busy having fun instead of taking pictures as usual. So, if you have any cool pictures, please send them to me! The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 8 out of 10. |
General's Log: CONvergence 2001
 More Coffee?
| [July 6 through 8, 2001, TGN, Minneapolis, MN] Convergence was, like huge! Over 40 party rooms each night! That's more than all three Chicago-land scifi cons (Windycon, Capricon, and Duckon) combined!!! And, not only that, there were three different party rooms serving just coffee! One room just served food. Then the rest were party rooms. Some had only a few decorations, others had the entire room decked out. Total fun. And more costumes than ever! The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 10 out of 10. |
General's Log: Duckon 2001
 Click on the pic to get all the pics...
| [May 11 through 13, 2001, TGN, Lisle, IL] I would say, Duckon as a con is picking up steam again. It is still smaller than the other two Chicagoland cons (Capricon and Windycon), but some of the party rooms were pretty wild... The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 6.0 out of 10. |
General's Log: Mardi Gras 2001
 Everything you have heard and seen about Mardi Gras is totally true!
| [February 21 through 28, 2001, TGN, New Orleans, LA] Well, it was totally to cool! And a fun time, of course. Where else can you get 64oz (that's half a gallon) of Hurricane (as in that bottle in the pic above) for only $19.00 and walk around town and the police do not even care! Amazing. And, I was on the Krewe of Bacchus float (#19) on Sunday! Got a neato costume! And threw over $500.00 worth of beads to the screaming crowds! Well, quit reading, take a look at the pics! The official rating of this Mardi Gras is 10 out of 10. |
General's Log: Capricon 2001
 Best Costume Presentation Winners Jed, Lisa, Me, Cliff, Troy
| [February 9 through 11, 2001, TGN, Arlington Heights, IL] Capricon is now undoubtly the best fan run science fiction convention in the Chicago area! They out did themselves this year with a great "Ambassador's Reception" on Friday with room parties galore on both Friday and Saturday nights. Our costume group (Cliff, Troy, Jed, Lisa and me) won the Best Costume Presentation on Friday dressed in the Star Fleet Ambassador's Reception uniform as shown in the Star Trek: Insurrection movie. (These were designed and constructed from scratch by Cliff Suda.) We proceded to be assimilated and all became Borg on Saturday. The official eZine-TGN Con Rating is in: 9.5 out of 10. |
General's Log: 19th Annual New Year's Eve Party - 2000
 Choloe crashed on the couch while Tim stares into space.
| [December 31, 2000], 2000: TGN, Arlington Heights, IL] The party was 30 people strong with about a dozen more coming and going throughout the night. The party lasted the longest ever. The mess created was almost record breaking too. We had midnight dry ice fog as usual (captured by Steve Kraus). The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 8.0 out of 10. |
General's Log: Windycon 2000
 Dueling Blenders with Indy click on picture above for more...
| [November 10-12, 2000: TGN, Arlington Heights, IL] This Windycon was right after Worldcon 2000 in Chicago, so the con was rather tame. It was sparsely attended and there were only a few good costumes - so, there are only a few pictures. The picture above is from the Dueling Blenders Party which is alway very popular. Flash, one of your regular bartenders was away on assignment in London, England, so, Indy (right) did a stand in for him. And, the official eZine-TGN Con Rating is in: 4.0 out of 10. Blenders rating is of course 10.0 out of 10.0. |
General's Log: Halloween 2000
 Two Halloween parties in one year!
| [October, 2000: TGN, Arlington Heights, IL and Greenville, SC] Only a few pictures... One set was at the Mensa HalloweeM RG (Regional Gathering and one set from Greenville, South Carolina - at the weekly Bowling League night. (I had a job contract there in Greenville almost all of 2000.) |
General's Log: Worldcon 2000
 Delen trying really hard to convince Mr. Morden to turn away from the Shadows.
| [August 31, 2000 through September 4, 2000: TGN Chicago, IL] Worldcon was five days long. The masquerade (costume) contest was disappointing due to lack of contestants. On the party side of things, there were a lot of room parties; however, they all shut down too early in the night. People were complaining about the noise. Gloom. And, as what's becoming the norm, there were only a few costumed people running around. Overall, the official eZine-TGN Con Rating is: 3.5 out of 10. |
General's Log: Duckon IX 2000
 The Klingons gather...
| [June 16-18, 2000: TGN, Arlington Heights, IL] Well, the con was really close to a relax-a-con. One would hope that it will improve next year... Need much more room parties!!!!! I took a few pictures from the Klingon track. And, the official eZine-TGN Con Rating is in: 3.5 out of 10 Oh, maybe I am getting too critical; but the rating stands - for now. |
General's Log: Capricon XX 2000
 Post-Armageddon SciFi Con
| [January 27-30, 2000: TGN, Arlington Heights, IL] And, the Post-Armageddon party was as exciting as Y2K... Okay, it wasn't that bad, but it wasn't as good as last year. For Capricon, I did something different. I shot a few videos. I have yet to convert them to avi format. Don't hold your breath... And, the official eZine-TGN Con Rating is in: 4.0 out of 10 |
General's Log: 18th Annual New Year's Eve Party 1999
 This is the last live feed at 3:30am from the Party Web Cam
| [December 31, 1999: TGN, Arlington Heights, IL] Well, due to the 1999 computer "hoax", most of my friends and acquaintances were stuck at work at midnight on December 31, 1999, so only a handful (like 8 people) showed up. But, the party did go on for a while. The live webcam feed was up until 3:30 pm. (Next year's party, the real turn of the century on December 31, 2000 should be a lot more fun, especially in my new condo I will be getting...) And, the official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 4.0 out of 10 |
General's Log: WindyCon XXVI 1999
 Mike with cool blue light saber and Chloe as Queen Amadala
| [November 12-14, 1999: TGN, Schaumburg, IL] "Windycon XXVI" is slipping on the room party scene... There were 1500+ attendees, putting the con in the "super well attended" category. It seems to be a trend where the costumes are now becoming all Rennaissance and Medival with only a handful of Science Fiction themed costumes. However, those that were dressed in SciFi costumes had more intricate work, such as Queen Amadala above. There were a lot of teenagers this time, so have no fear, the science fiction and fantasy genre fan convention will still go strong! And, the official eZine-TGN Con Rating is in: 7.0 out of 10 |
General's Log: Duckon VIII 1999
 A Jedi fighting a Sith Lord
| [June 11-13, 1999: TGN, Rosemont, IL] "Duckon VIII" had a lot more room parties than last year, which is always good. There were 600+ attendees putting the con in the "well attended" category. The "Furry" track (people dressed up in furry animals, not pertaining to Scifi) will split off into its own con next year - DUckon will be pure Scifi next year... Well, as predicted, there were a bunch of Star Wars characters running around - Jedi and Darth (Sith) Lords. There were no fancy Star Wars costumes (such as any one of Queen Amidela's wardrobe). Oh, by the way, Ramada Inn in Rosemont is terrible, so I heartily dis-recommend them for any future events there. And, the official eZine-TGN Con Rating is in: 5.0 out of 10 |
General's Log: Commodore Cruise 1999
 Commodore Ship: Enchanted Isle
| [April 17-24, 1999: TGN, Commodore Cruise] Commodore is a small ship compared to other cruise ships. There are about 800 passengers (versus 2000+ on other ships) so you get to see the same faces over the course of the week. Since you bump into the same people all the time, you get to know them very quickly. We went to Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Grand Cayman. No, that's not an error, Jamaica was canceled due to riots in the streets (because the government raised taxes). The ship is smaller so it is not as stable as the larger ships. The official eZine-TGN Cruise Rating is in: 9.0 out of 10.0. |
General's Log: Capricon XIX 1999
 The Duelling Blenders Party Room
| [February 12-14, 1998: TGN, Arlington Heights, IL] "CapriconXIX" had a lot more room parties than last year! There were 600+ attendees putting the con in the "well attended" category. However, there seems to be a major lack of room parties, only 5 on Friday and 3 on Saturday. There seemed to be a preponderance medieval and renaisance costumed people, a trend which does not seem to be diminishing. And, the official eZine-TGN Con Rating is in: 5.0 out of 10 |
General's Log: 17th Annual NYEP 1998
 The pre-party clean room.
| [Dec 31, 1998: TGN, Des Plaines, IL] "The 17th Annual New Year's Eve Party (NYEP)" was great!. Old friends (from UIUC) and new ones from all over popped in. Even Hector Olson (after a multi-year hiatus)... And Ilmar Hein joined the fun. I could go on and on but I will just bore you, so I'll shut up :) There were 30 attendees. The party lasted until 2:00am. Are we getting old or what? The official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 8.0 out of 10.0. |
General's Log: WindyCon XXV 1998
 Ambassador Delen (Charissa L) and Commander Ivanova (Melissa R)
| [Nov 13-15, 1998: TGN, Schaumburg, IL] "WindyCon XXV" was great as ever. Met old con friends (10 Forward crew), current con friends (Voyager crew), and new con friends (Babylon 5 crew). I invited friends around here and from Michigan. There were 1200+ attendees and the place was packed. As usual, there were major room parties, 10 or so each on Friday and Saturday nights. Stayed up till 3:00am both nights! The official eZine-TGN Con Rating is in: 9.0 out of 10.0. |
General's Log: Carnival Cruise 1998
 Carnival Ship: Imagination
| [Sept 26 - Oct 3, 1998: TGN, Cayman Islands] The Carnival cruise was great! To get pics of the cruise, go back to Home page and click on the cruise ship pic! The coolest thing to do is to be in a submarine. The Atlantis submarine was great - we were 100 feet under the surface for about 35 minutes... The official eZine-TGN Cruise Rating is in: 6.0 out of 10.0. |
General's Log: Duckon VII 1998
 L to R: Lisa, Cliff, Lana, me, Troy. No other pics...
| [June 12-14, 1998: TGN, Rosemont, IL] You can click on the picture above to get better details. "Duckon VII" was okay. There were 500+ attendees but hardly saw more than small groups at a time. Again, there was a major lack of room parties, only 1 on Friday and 1 on Saturday. There was a furry track, so there were a lot of animal costumes. Also, medieval and renaisance costumed people were about, including Nero types. And, the official eZine-TGN Con Rating is in: 3.0 out of 10.0 |
General's Log: Capricon XVIII 1998
 Best of Show from Capricon XVII. No other pics...
| [February 6-8, 1998: TGN, Rosemont, IL] "CapriconXVIII" was fun! Your's truly won the best costume of Capricon (as Borg, of course)! You can click on the mini-Borg picture above to get a full size photo... There were 600+ attendees putting the con in the "well attended" category. However, there seems to be a major lack of room parties, only 5 on Friday and 3 on Saturday. There seemed to be a preponderance medieval and renaisance costumed people, a trend which does not seem to be diminishing. Well, I didn't bring my camera (yes, I am a moron), so I don't have any pictures. Hopefully, someone will submit some to me and I will post them. And, the official eZine-TGN Con Rating is in: 5.0 out of 10. |
General's Log: The 1997 New Year's Eve Party
| [Decemer 31, 1997: TGN, Des Plaines, IL] "The 16th Annual New Year's Eve Party (NYEP) and Costumes Of Course" was a smashing success. There were 40 attendees making the party rather festive. Partygoers were treated to drumming of the Japanese taiko by Patty Adachi and the African djembe by John Yost. At midnight, we had a phenomenol dry ice effect throughout the house. The first wave left around 2:30am and the rest of the crew went around 4:30am. And, the official eZine-TGN Party Rating is in: 9.0 out of 10! This is a real good rating which we haven't seen in many years. Keep your eyes peeled for pictures... |
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