Through the Wormhole
Jul. 7th, 2012 02:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeFriday afternoon, Lisa and I headed out for shopping for the Tonopah party. We had to find a Radio Shack because we wanted to connect my computer to the television in the room, and I'd left my S-Video and audio connectors at home; we thus had to buy more cables. After that, it was over to Safeway for sodas and chips. We significantly overbought because of the buy-2-get-2-free offers at Safeway.
Returning to the hotel, we were able to get a cart from the hotel to move our party supplies upstairs. Thanks to Lisa nagging me about it and the help of Kevin and Andy, we'd found that the hotel would let us have ice for free from Banquets if we supplied the containers. So while grocery shopping, we bought a box of heavy-duty garbage bags and lined three Bankers' Boxes with them, then took the boxes on the cart and got the ice. I had the "Ice Pass" that allowed access to the ice, but I misunderstood the directions and accidentally went to the wrong ice machine on the first round. We got it straightened out for the second run. I also made a third run with Kevin and Andy, to help supply the "Go Underground" party for UK in 2014 with ice since I had the cart and boxes handy. I returned the boxes to our room and the cart to the hotel, and after Lisa finished with most of the room prep, we went to dinner.
After dinner, we completed our room setup and actually opened about 45 minutes early, which is what we prefer to do whenever we host a party.
Kuma Bear supervises part of the Hospitality Suite, including the Pet Alien (complete with tinfoil hat) dispensing Kuma's Goldfish crackers.
We were very pleased to have a fairly continuous crowd of visitors until after midnight. It was never more than the room could handle, especially with the large balcony that wraps around the corner of the hotel, and with Lisa having rearranged the furniture to make the layout more efficient. It also helps that this is a former Red Lion hotel property, with rooms that would be classed as mini-suites at other large chain hotels.
Thanks to a suggestion from Scott Dennis, we made up "site selection" ballots and offered to let anyone who wanted to do so vote in the site selection that was taking place in Tonopah's alternate universe. (Like this one, the only bid on the ballot was Salt Lake City.)
We also made an offer similar to when we were bidding: if you bought a membership or one of the refrigerator magnets, you could take a spin with the chuck-a-luck dice cage (shown in the photo above with Kevin ready to sell memberships) and if you rolled three 6's, your purchase would be free. Although we sold one $20 "post-apocalyptic" membership and five $1 magnets, nobody managed to roll 666, although we did get a 664 and Lisa rolled a 665 once while demonstrating the process.
We handed out copies of the Tonopah Westercon Program Book and discussed how we would have run Westercon in Tonopah. Lisa had decorated the room with a Nevada map and Tonopah postcards, and I had the same presentation on the TV that we used while bidding. Several people commented favorably on our presentations and publications, which was flattering.
Just before midnight, the Doubletree Hotel's Security showed up (while I was out visiting the other parties) and ordered parties to close their doors because they apparently knew nothing about "party floors" and everyone was being too loud. I hope this confusion is resolved by Saturday night, although it doesn't affect us personally since we're not hosting a party on Saturday.
Shortly after midnight, we felt the wormhole starting to close and said good night and thank you to the remaining guests and started returning our hotel room to its "Seattle" configuration. Boy, do we have a lot of leftover soda! Lisa fished it all out of the bathtub and left it stacked on the bathroom floor to warm back up so that she can put it back in the boxes tomorrow.
Lisa says Kuma Bear is sad because the Tonopah adventure is now over and he has nothing left to do. She'll have to find him a new job.
Returning to the hotel, we were able to get a cart from the hotel to move our party supplies upstairs. Thanks to Lisa nagging me about it and the help of Kevin and Andy, we'd found that the hotel would let us have ice for free from Banquets if we supplied the containers. So while grocery shopping, we bought a box of heavy-duty garbage bags and lined three Bankers' Boxes with them, then took the boxes on the cart and got the ice. I had the "Ice Pass" that allowed access to the ice, but I misunderstood the directions and accidentally went to the wrong ice machine on the first round. We got it straightened out for the second run. I also made a third run with Kevin and Andy, to help supply the "Go Underground" party for UK in 2014 with ice since I had the cart and boxes handy. I returned the boxes to our room and the cart to the hotel, and after Lisa finished with most of the room prep, we went to dinner.
After dinner, we completed our room setup and actually opened about 45 minutes early, which is what we prefer to do whenever we host a party.
Kuma Bear supervises part of the Hospitality Suite, including the Pet Alien (complete with tinfoil hat) dispensing Kuma's Goldfish crackers.
We were very pleased to have a fairly continuous crowd of visitors until after midnight. It was never more than the room could handle, especially with the large balcony that wraps around the corner of the hotel, and with Lisa having rearranged the furniture to make the layout more efficient. It also helps that this is a former Red Lion hotel property, with rooms that would be classed as mini-suites at other large chain hotels.
Thanks to a suggestion from Scott Dennis, we made up "site selection" ballots and offered to let anyone who wanted to do so vote in the site selection that was taking place in Tonopah's alternate universe. (Like this one, the only bid on the ballot was Salt Lake City.)
We also made an offer similar to when we were bidding: if you bought a membership or one of the refrigerator magnets, you could take a spin with the chuck-a-luck dice cage (shown in the photo above with Kevin ready to sell memberships) and if you rolled three 6's, your purchase would be free. Although we sold one $20 "post-apocalyptic" membership and five $1 magnets, nobody managed to roll 666, although we did get a 664 and Lisa rolled a 665 once while demonstrating the process.
We handed out copies of the Tonopah Westercon Program Book and discussed how we would have run Westercon in Tonopah. Lisa had decorated the room with a Nevada map and Tonopah postcards, and I had the same presentation on the TV that we used while bidding. Several people commented favorably on our presentations and publications, which was flattering.
Just before midnight, the Doubletree Hotel's Security showed up (while I was out visiting the other parties) and ordered parties to close their doors because they apparently knew nothing about "party floors" and everyone was being too loud. I hope this confusion is resolved by Saturday night, although it doesn't affect us personally since we're not hosting a party on Saturday.
Shortly after midnight, we felt the wormhole starting to close and said good night and thank you to the remaining guests and started returning our hotel room to its "Seattle" configuration. Boy, do we have a lot of leftover soda! Lisa fished it all out of the bathtub and left it stacked on the bathroom floor to warm back up so that she can put it back in the boxes tomorrow.
Lisa says Kuma Bear is sad because the Tonopah adventure is now over and he has nothing left to do. She'll have to find him a new job.
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no subject
Date: 2012-07-07 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-08 05:16 pm (UTC)The problem of leftover soda and needing variety is why when Shirt and I run Lunacon parties, we only serve bottled water. We also use plastic tubs to serve the water instead of putting it in the bathtub. It uses a lot less ice and we can shut off the bathroom completely and use it as another spot to store stuff.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-08 05:23 pm (UTC)