Laws, Sausage, and Worldcons

In my role as Chairman of the WSFS Mark Protection Committee (the closest thing the World Science Fiction Society has to a permanent organization), I sometimes have to interact with governments, businesses, and individuals who are trying to understand what Worldcon and WSFS are. What they really want is for there to be a single legal entity (the World Science Fiction Society) that exists at a single place (a physical address; an ordinary office would be preferred) and that organizes a series of events called World Science Fiction Conventions. Unfortunately for them, reality is much more complicated.

( Musings on WSFS )

The whole structure is maddeningly vague to people (especially governmental bodies like those that issue trade/service mark registrations).

For most fans, this is all way too structured and formal. For most governmental agencies, it's much too unstructured and informal. And therefore, there is no single right answer to any questions about WSFS structure!

Scoping Out the Marriott

Lisa arrived mid-afternoon, and when I was able to finish up today's work, I packed my bags into her van and we headed down the hill to the San Mateo Marriott. (Parking is not free at the Marriott, so I left my van at my office.) After checking in and unpacking, I showed Lisa around the hotel, and we poked our heads into unoccupied function rooms to get an idea of what the place is like.

Lisa felt like dinner, and I suggested Fresh Choice, so, also at my suggestion, we walked there via the Hayward Park Caltrain station. This was not nearly as far as I thought it would be -- only a little over 2 km each way. But it's not at all obvious, as the path is convoluted. While waiting to cross the street at 20th Avenue and El Camino Real, the driver of the car waiting to turn from ECR to 20th waved and shouted. It was frankwu! We waved back as we crossed the street in front of him, but he and we were going opposite directions.

After consuming too much food at Fresh Choice, I'm glad we had a 2+ km walk back to the hotel.

The room we have is huge -- it compares favorably to an ex-Red Lion San Jose second-floor double-double. I figure that if the room we have at Westercon is this big -- we've reserved one of the mini-suites -- we should be well situated for hosting a party.

This room has been equipped with an HDTV and there are plugs in the desk that would allow me to connect my laptop's S-Video connector to the TV. I didn't bring my S-Video connector, or I might try watching a rugby match on the big screen. There are also RCA video and audio jacks, handy for connecting DVD players.

There is wired and wireless internet access, although it seems to cost $10/day.

Lisa isn't very impressed, though. She says it's a fancy facade but an old hotel underneath.