Shore Leave

To continue making 2010 the year of the con, I attended my third con this year, this being Shore Leave 32 up in Hunt Valley, MD.  I had a very good reason to go this year, especially for a first time.  Back in February when the Shore Leave folks were doing pre-registration at Far Point, I read the flyer and discovered that Edward James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff (Adm. Adama and Starbuck) of the new Battlestar Galactica were going to be there.  On top of that, one could have a photo taken with them.  Since BSG was one of my favorite series, I made sure to sign up that weekend.

Far Point

A few weeks ago I went to my very first Sci-Fi convention, Far Point, up in Timonium. I didn't know what to expect for sure, but from what I told, it would be a fun weekend.

I took a half day at work that day, which was fine because this was the Friday after the two Snowlyshit blizzards. The roads were still not great so I wanted to drive up to Timonium during the daylight hours before things could turn icy. The drive itself wasn't terrible at least since I was sticking with 95 and then 695, those roads had actually been cleared off for the most part.

I got to the hotel, got the key from RB and met up with DB and MA briefly before I headed back down and started exploring the dealer area just to see who had set up. I also was checking out the program to figure out what I had wanted to see. The one thing I did know was that I was going to get an autograph of Mira Furlan for JN, since he couldn't make it and asked that I get that.

I would get to meet some new folks this weekend, and we ended up hitting it off nicely, especially as we hung out at the bar. I have to give some credit to the bar because they held up as best they could, considering that the storms screwed up getting any of their shipments before the con, however, collectively the con goers did kill quite a few of the bottles. Along the way, between GB, CiA, myself, we helped invent a new drink with Allie, the bartender there. It's called a Sex in the Snow, and in a glass with ice you add 1 shot each of vodka, creme de menthe, and peppermint schnapps. It was good, and we got pretty hammered on them. I had warned my friends that if I did any tweeting, it would be drunken tweeting, and yes, apparently I delivered in the form of tweets that looked like I just mashed random buttons on my phone. I ended up staying up and hanging out with folks until about 4 AM before I finally got back up to the hotel room and crashed out.

Saturday morning around 9 I woke up, pulled myself together and got dressed and headed downstairs. For a bit of fun, I did some cosplay, but not in the way you would think. I took the Rocky Balboa boxing robe, shirt, and shorts that I had used one Halloween and wore that for the day, including wrapping my hands in the gauze the boxers wear under the gloves. It definitely caught the eye of some folks and it was good for a laugh. I hit up some of the panels during the day, including a Q&A from Felicia Day. She was a real sweetheart and clearly she loved to interact with her fans. I also made a few bids on some items in the art auction there, including a few pieces I knew that ChA would love.

When the evening rolled around, I changed into the kilt and vest I would be wearing for the evening, and then hung out before the masquerade began. RB and DB had entered the contest dressed up as officers from Space Battleship Yamato, complete with lip-synching the theme from the show as they entered. There were a lot of well done costumes there, including a female mandalorian. It turned out that she had modified an original mandalorian costume, no easy feat because she had to cut it down from being for a 6' tall man to a 5'4" woman. She ended up winning an award for craftsmanship. One guy was dressed as a Cthulhu Cultist, another pair dressed as Orcs, one woman recrated Kaylee's social dress from Firefly. There was definitely a lot of good work put in.

After the masquerade was the charity auction, and this became one of the craziest con moments I had seen so far. One of the prizes was lunch with Felecia day. By the time the bidding sheet had been filled in and it went to the live auction, someone had bid 300 dollars. From there people started to bid like crazy. I thought it would end quickly because that would become too rich for some people's blood, but then a bidding war started between 3 folks and eventually dropped to two folks, and the price climbed into the four digit figures. Felecia looked a bit embarassed that the price was going that high for a lunch with her. In fact, her and the emcee mentioned a few times as a reminder that it was just lunch. By the time the dust had settled, the final figure came in at $5,000.  Just, wow, it turned out that was the single highest bid ever made in the history of the charity auction.  Ultimately at least the money went to something good.

Clearly I had blocked this part from my brain but it has now come back,  I was warned about one of the con goers, simply known as the troll or the cabal.  She is basically one of those folks who will hit on anything with a penis, even though she is truly nothing to look at, except to maybe turn around and run away.  I'm sorry if I sound mean, but really, if you wanted to destroy someone's belief that there is a God, just show them a picture of her.  Anyway, so the cabal was trying to get cozy with one of the guys down in the lobby, and she is wearing this super short black dress.  Well apparently somehow part of her skirt was flipped up and in the belt line, because someone in our group noticed and said look, we turned, and then there were about 15 of us screaming simultaneously because we realized that the cabal not only was in a short black dress and the skirt needed to be pulled down, but that bitch wasn't wearing underwear (this is why I drink, to forget!).  CiA would save the day by going over and basically pulling the cabals skirt back down into place.  I hope she got some kind of hazard pay for that one.

The rest of the night would be spent hanging out in the lobby at the dance area.  I also went and hit a late night panel as well.  Once again I would end up staying up until about 4 in the morning before coming in and crashing.

Sunday was the day to begin winding down and packing up.  I went down and finished the last of the art auction because a few pieces I had bid on in the bid sheet had gotten enough interest they went to the live auction.  I feel slightly bad for the woman I got into a mini bidding war for the udon noodle bowl because she wanted it as well, but all is fair at that point.  I walked away with several beautiful pictures (that I still need to put into frames!) and a bowl, plus I got the items for ChA as well.  I also got a copy of the first season of The Guild signed by Felecia Day during the autograph session, which was pretty cool.  Mira Furlan commented on how much she liked the shirt I was wearing that day, which was an asian shirt that my parents had sent to me the last time they were in the Chinatown section of San Francisco (hope to go there this summer!).  To wrap it up, I attended a showing of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which is still a riot to this day.  After that it was time to drive back to Greenbelt and recover from a rather busy yet awesome weekend.

Of course, now I am ready for more, DB, RB, and I have already signed up for Shore Leave in July, in big part because Edward James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff will be there.  That part is what is exciting for me, I can't wait!

OutQ NEM Meetup

So as a part of the National Equality March this past weekend, there was a planned meetup of those who listen to SiriusXM OutQ. Several show hosts and producers were planning to be down at the Helix Hotel in DC and would make an appearance at the hotel bar. Frank Decaro, Doria Biddle, Mr. Greg, and Michelangelo Signorile were the line-up, and while I had met Mr. Greg previously, the other folks were people that I had wanted to meet for various reasons.

If you're a regular listener to OutQ, then you know of the (in)famous CR from PA. We have met up several times, and this time was no exception. When he arrived in town he gave me a call and I met him and his friend Eric down at the local Silver Diner for a late lunch. Afterwards it was off to the Metro to get down to DC. If you're a local, you already know that Metro was all screwy this weekend due to track work. Luckily our destination was on the Red Line, and it became to our advantage to transfer at Ft. Totten in order to get down to Dupont Circle.

We arrived at Dupont Circle and the first order of business was to hit the local liquor store because we figured we'd butter up one of the hosts with booze (Yes we're that bad). CR knew that Doria loves Chopin Vodka so he picked that up, and I picked up Vampyre Vodka as something different for her to try. After the booze run, it was a walk to the hotel. I saw along the way just what 15th and P has turned into, though it really can't get much more gentrified. There were also protesters outside of a new house that the Scientologists were opening up. I would have taken pictures of them, but I think it would have freaked them out. They were wearing masks as it was to avoid issues the the Scientologists.

The three of us got to the hotel and found our way to the lounge, and it was early enough that we were able to get a table together. Drinks were ordered, there was chatter, and plenty of clock watching as well. The lounge would then get very crowded with other listeners who were also showing up. Eventually I got up and noticed that arriving in the lobby were Frank and Doria.  I pointed that out to CR and we both headed to the lobby.  I said hi to Doria and she immediately recognized me as "Mangi in Maryland."  It probably helped that I was wearing my Haloti Ngata jersey as well.  I then met Frank as well, and I got to watch CR's reaction as he met Doria.  It was all classic.

A few minutes later Michelangelo Signorile arrived as well and of course was immediately mobbed just like Frank and Doria.  I eventually got back to my bag and returned with my copy of Queer in America for Signorile to sign.  Of course he was more than happy to sign it for me.

About 20 mins later, I saw a woman I would immediately recognize the minute I heard her say "darling."  It was the very well known Tori in DC, someone that I have heard call in to Frank, Michelangelo, and Derek and Romaine for many years.  A few years ago I missed seeing her at pride, so I didn't want to let this opportunity slip away.  I must say that she is very charming and fun to be around, we enjoyed chatting with one another.  Later I saw her husband, and clearly she has good taste in men ;-) 

Most of the night would be spent talking with other listeners, getting pictures, and of course, hearing what the hosts had to say.  I was there for about four hours with folks before finally leaving since we were getting hungry (none of us had dinner).

BTW, if what Doria tells me about men is true, I might have to consider a move to L.A.  Below are pictures from the meetup, click on Frank and Michelangelo to see them all.

Lobby Day

Yesterday I traveled to Annapolis to participate in Equality Maryland's lobby day.  This is my fourth year of talking to my state reps about why all same-sex couples should have the same rights and privileges that heterosexual couples have.  I'll be frank,  I was resistant to the idea of going again because it felt like it was going to be the same old song and dance that I have been hearing at both the rally and from my elected reps.  However, my attitude would change as the night went on.

The one thing that did get me to go this year was the fact that the speaker at the rally was going to be openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson.  I had always wanted the chance to meet him.  Also since my church was organizing to attend lobby day, I felt I should go.  Thing is, I am glad to see when my church does go because members from all walks of life go; all of them being supportive of the idea of equal rights for all.  I am always impressed to see the folks who do go.  As a bonus, my priest also came along and it turns out that she now lives in my legislative district.

We met at church and carpooled down to Annapolis.  I was one of the drivers as well.  We took the shuttle down to the State House and met at the Lawyers Mall where the rally was to begin.  Bishop Robinson eventually arrived and he actually came over to us because he knows Connie!  We got to meet him, shake his hand, and a few pictures of us with the Bishop were taken as well.  I'll post them when I get a copy.

The rally started and we heard from the various speakers, including the Bishop.  He had an excellent speech about how far we have come, but there is still work to be done.   Along with that he says that we should take the Bible back because our stories are in there.  We have had similar experiences that the people have faced in the old and new testament, and for far too long, there have been people who have used it to spread a narrow minded view of how people should be.  It was a most excellent speech.

After the rally we went and met with our state reps, and it was a very good meeting.  My reps, instead of being more non-committal about the bills to provide equal rights and protections for same-sex couples, transgendered people, and same-sex parents, they actually said that if the bills make it out of committee and to the floor, they will get behind them.  Thank god, we finally have more of an answer out of them!  Now to start working on the committee members so they will consider the bill and bring them to the floor.

After the meeting we went to dinner.  My $10 a month that I spend for Verizon Navigator came in handy because I was able to search for the restaurant we wanted and get walking directions right over there.  My group definitely loved me for that.  We went to the Rams Head Tavern and enjoyed a nice warm dinner by the fire, which was needed after our bit of time standing out in the cold.

So overall, it actually ended up being a good lobby day.  This time around though I am going to work to continue the dialogue that has been started with my reps and try to start dialogue with other state reps now.  It can't hurt to try.

Atlanta

About a month ago, I was sent to Atlanta by my employer to do a field observation for Consumer Expenditures Quarterly, and to observe training for the new Survey of Construction. So for three days, I got to go to a completely new place and see just what it is that goes on in the field.

The plane flight to Atlanta was fine. I had never flown AirTran before but JH said it was the airline he uses to get to Ft. Lauderdale and they're pretty good. I liked being able to listen to complimentary satellite radio (even if it was XM) in the armrest. I did have one issue with it though. I own a pair of earbuds and so I would have the volume at a good level that wasn't going to destroy my hearing. However, any time there was an announcement made over the cabin it would come through my headphones and it was set at a much higher volume, to the point that I had to take my earbuds out to be able to listen to announcements.

Got into Atlanta and was picked up by the field rep to go do the observation for CEQ. The first respondent wasn't home, however, his mother was, and since this FR has been trying to contact him for a few days, she left a business card with her. As I would predict, he would call back later and set up an appointment to do an interview because we all know that good boys listen to their mother. The second place we visited was someone who the FR had been unable to get in touch with by phone lately, so she made a personal visit and set up another appointment.

The third person we talked to was one who had made an appointment, so I got to observe the interview. The interview itself went fine, though it ran so long due to all the questions that we were unable to finish in the time given. The FR made the point that some questions take way too long to read and it drags out the interview. She mentioned she has a number of respondents who get to the 4th or 5th interview (they're interviewed every 3 months) and they just refuse to do it anymore. Perhaps some data analysis needs to be done to see if that is a trend, or just isolated to a few people.

I was dropped off at the hotel I was staying at, which was the Omni Hotel at CNN Center. I gotta say it was a very nice hotel, and at a very nice price thanks to the federal discount. I had a room that faced into the CNN Center, unfortunately I could not use the balcony at the time because they were still fixing storm damage from the tornado that struck downtown Atlanta in March. Still, free usage of a fitness center, free wireless (if I had a laptop) and other little perks along the way, I have no complaints. I do hope they fixed the leaking toilet though, especially since Atlanta is in a drought (yes I did tell the front desk).

I unpacked and then headed out to walk around and get to know the streets of Atlanta a little bit. The office I needed to be at for the training observation was 1/2 a block from the hotel so that was going to be a really easy walk in the mornings. I walked down to Underground Atlanta and located the visitors center, so I picked up a few adverts and magazines on things to do. I kept on walking around, saw some places that looked interesting for meals later on, and made sure I also knew how to get to MARTA later.

Centennial Olympic Park is across the street from the hotel, and on Wednesday nights they feature live music from local bands, so I wandered over and got to hear some Jazz playing for a while before the band took a break. I snapped pictures of buildings in the area that clearly had felt the wrath of the tornado, including my hotel. I walked the entire park looking at everything that was available to look at. One thing I noticed was that there were a lot of folks out who were picnicking; that would be something fun to do around here hint hint.

Dropped in at some nearby Mexican food place, it was your standard fare, too bad there wasn't any dishes featuring green chile, god I miss that stuff. I took a bath, watched some TV, and crashed out.

I woke up Thursday morning and grabbed a breakfast burrito at a place downstairs. There was also a national competition for robotics going on, so the CNN center was full of high school kids running around in their team shirts and various funky hairdos or accessories to set them apart from other teams. Breakfast was good, so I suggest stopping at Great Wraps if you happen to be in the area.

Went over to the regional office and met with the folks conducting the training. We got upstairs and I sat back and basically took notes and provided assistance when needed. All of the FRs who were attending were FRs who are experienced in using SOC, but also in using the Blaise software, so that meant training progressed quickly since they knew their way around the laptops and such. The comments were good, they liked that they were finally getting this new version of the survey and that it offered more flexibility than in the past. There were a few concerns about if some of their old data was being brought forward into the new survey, which it is, so that became a non-issue for them. Lunch was awesome thanks to befriending the locals, as I went with some folks over to Mae's Soul Food and enjoyed fried chicken, mac and cheese, and greens. By the end of the afternoon, they were through all of the listing operations and were starting to work on the interviewing side of things. So far everything looked great, and I also got a tour of the regional office and met some of the staff as well. They like seeing different folks drop in every once in a while.

I need to not basically dare the FR's to try and break the survey because they will find a way. One person purposely entered an incorrect zip code in the builder table, and instead of it behaving like it did in the past, which was to prompt the FR that they needed to enter 5 digits, it threw a few other errors that should not have happened. I called back to HQ and let them know what had happened so they could start taking a look. My co-worker asked me to E-mail him the details and what they did. I tried doing it from the regional office, but as it figures, the freaking server goes down so no one can log-on to their computer. Remember how I mentioned the wireless was free at the hotel if you had a laptop? Well if you need to use their business center and one of their computers to surf the Internet, it's $7 per 15 minutes, though you can print airline boarding passes for most major airlines for free. So I think I might have a record for most expensive E-mail sent thanks to that stupid charge.

We ended early enough that I got back to the hotel and after dealing with the E-mail I went over to get a ticket to take a tour of CNN. Unfortunately I have no pictures from that tour as photographs are not allowed. It was an hour well spent and I would recommend it, especially for the price ($12 for an adult). You get to see where they tape the CNN Newsroom and CNN Headline News as well, along with a demonstration of how they display the weather maps, some videos of the anchors talking about working for CNN, and pointing out studios like CNN radio.

I grabbed dinner at Golden Buddha Chinese which was right down the street, great food and not outrageously priced. I didn't have to break the bank to be able to eat good ;-) Later I hit the fitness center at the hotel and took a sauna as well, which was nice and relaxing before heading to bed.

The next morning started out with me being woken up to a text message from JH asking if I was interested in going to Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. Do you think I was really going to turn that down? The rest of the morning went by quickly as the FR's finished up the interviewing training and then used some free time to do what they wanted with the survey. Thankfully no one broke anything else, so I felt pretty confident that things were going to work well out in the field. It was about 10:30 when it was all over, and my flight wasn't until 7 PM, so I decided to hit the Georgia Aquarium. I was considering going over to the World of Coke, but apparently that's a rip-off unless you like looking at 50 years of Coke advertising.

Hate to say it Baltimore, but you could take a lesson from Georgia on what should be in an aquarium. They have it divided into five parts, and each one has a different theme. There's the local rivers, the coral reefs, the deep sea, the cold water ocean, and the Amazon. There were lots of tanks and lots of different fish and animals to look at. There's also a number of touching pools; I was able to touch stingrays, sharks, sea anemones, horseshoe crabs, starfish, and shrimp. I spent a good three hours looking through the place and taking plenty of pictures.

I grabbed a late lunch and then decided to take a tour of the city via MARTA since I had a few hours left before I had to be at the airport. I learned that if you want to do such a thing, use their East-West line rather than the North-South line. Also, I am surprised that subway service in the city stops after 9 PM, including weekends. I would think that's when you would want the subway the most, or like when there's a game at Philips Arena. I did get to see a good portion of Atlanta by train before finally heading back to the airport.

While at the airport I ran into what has to be one of the crazier guests I have ever heard on Howard Stern. The former pro-wrestler The Iron Sheik was at the same security area I was in, and he rode the same train that I was riding to get to the terminal. He was in a wheelchair due to having a broken leg, so he was talking to and joking with the guy who was assisting him since the guy had grown up watching The Iron Sheik on TV. I secretly snapped a few pics with my cell phone for proof ;-)

Got to the terminal, got on the flight and listened to the Orioles game on the way back to Baltimore, where I was picked up by JH to get to bed before heading to New Jersey the next day.

If you made it all the way to the end of this entry, you get a bonus! Click the picture at the top to go look at all the pictures I took in Atlanta :-)