Spare Change

I got a telephone call from Amtrak this morning telling me that one of the legs of my big train trip to Montreal for Worldcon had changed and that I'd need to have the ticket reissued. Concerned that this would break a connection, I asked for the details. Turns out that the first leg, Montreal-Schenectady, had changed train number from 68 to... 68? What? The agent seemed confused, too, but said that the train number had changed from 68 to 70 and then back to 68. Train 68 is what is printed on my ticket. The train times have not changed, so I should still be able to make the connection at SDY. The next time I happen to be near a staffed station -- which isn't likely to be soon, the nearest ones being San Jose and Oakland Jack London Square -- I will take the ticket and the reservation number and see if they actually have to print the ticket again.

Amtrak doesn't do ticketless travel the way the airlines do. You need the physical ticket to ride the train. If they change a train number or your compartment/car number for sleeping car travel, they have to re-issue the paper ticket, because that is all that the train crews have to work with.

Giants Lead NL West!

Well, okay, yes, we're tied with Arizona and Los Angeles with 1-0 records with 161 games to play. But no matter how the rest of the season goes, we can say were were in the lead at least once.

A pretty wild game, and completely unlike what we expected. Well, that's Giants Baseball for you; anything can happen.

Nearly Done

Forgot one thing -- cutting up large cards into small ones to make blanks for the audience members to fill out. We've finally exhausted the supply of old small cards, so I need to cut down some of the large ones.

Much of what I'm taking with me to Norwescon is stuff I won't need until I'm there, so my luggage is halfway packed already. But I'm still short the Anticipation/Worldcon info pack, which is waiting for me to come collect it at the Sunnyvale Post Office. I do hope I don't put my luggage over weight. My carry-ons are going to be very heavy as it is, what with two computers and some of the Match Game papers I don't think I can put in the checked back because papers are heavy.

I did remember to pick up the train tickets this afternoon when I went for a walk after lunch, so at least I won't be rushing to the train on Thursday afternoon without tickets.