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On the Road to Worldcon 76
Aug. 13th, 2018 11:02 pmWe are finally on our way to Worldcon 76. The auto shop in Reno called mid-morning to tell me that they'd finished the work on the minivan's air conditioning. I was hip-deep in Day Jobbe, though. Murphy's Law made it so that work that normally happens at the start of my day (5:30 AM PT) wasn't even ready to look at until about the time the call came from the shop in Reno. I got it done, though, and around Noon Lisa and I took the Rolling Stone into Reno, I paid a cool (ahem) $1400 for the repairs, and Lisa drove the Astro home behind me.
( Taking a Shine to Worldcon )
Between the 2-plus hour trip into Reno to collect the minivan and lots of Day Jobbe, it was quite late in the day before I could even start packing my personal luggage. Lisa, however, spent much of the afternoon loading the Astro with the Pile O' Stuff we'd been staging for the past few days. After I finally got my luggage packed and loaded, we buttoned up the property using the check-list we keep for this reason. (Having a written check-list leads to peace of mind because it reduces the number of forgotten things.)
Just before 6 PM, we left Fernley on our abbreviated Worldcon trip. Unlike most of our past few years' trips, this isn't a long one. In fact, I suggested it was more like a "ten-day weekend" than anything else.
We stopped in Sparks at the Iron Skillet for dinner, then headed for Sacramento. Lisa drove as we concluded our plans for where to spend tonight. I have an IHG offer for one night anywhere in the chain, and usually I try to use that on a higher-end property. However, the coupon is use-it-or-lose-it, and the "lose it" date is approaching, so we decided to spend tonight at the Holiday Inn Express in Sacramento where we've stayed before when visiting my sister. This proved to be a bit more challenging than I expected because when I'd first checked the room on the IHG app, it showed availability for the free night offer, but when I went back to book it, the app wouldn't let me actually book the room even though it said it was available. So I had to actually call IHG, and they sorted it out.
Somewhat to my surprise given that it's a free night, they upgraded our "standard room" to a mini-suite. Lisa said (and I agree) that she wishes we could have a room this nice for Worldcon. But aside from the one-bedroom apartment I had at the Place Louis Riel at ConAdian in 1994, getting a room this big and spacious at a Worldcon is not generally in my cards. Both of us wish that we'd been able to get away earlier so we could spend more time in the nice room.
There's no point in getting away early tomorrow morning because the daily commute into the Bay Area is hopelessly crowded. We're now in a good position tomorrow to go buy a few bits we left at home and (I hope) skirt the worst traffic to get to San Jose by mid afternoon tomorrow.
( Taking a Shine to Worldcon )
Between the 2-plus hour trip into Reno to collect the minivan and lots of Day Jobbe, it was quite late in the day before I could even start packing my personal luggage. Lisa, however, spent much of the afternoon loading the Astro with the Pile O' Stuff we'd been staging for the past few days. After I finally got my luggage packed and loaded, we buttoned up the property using the check-list we keep for this reason. (Having a written check-list leads to peace of mind because it reduces the number of forgotten things.)
Just before 6 PM, we left Fernley on our abbreviated Worldcon trip. Unlike most of our past few years' trips, this isn't a long one. In fact, I suggested it was more like a "ten-day weekend" than anything else.
We stopped in Sparks at the Iron Skillet for dinner, then headed for Sacramento. Lisa drove as we concluded our plans for where to spend tonight. I have an IHG offer for one night anywhere in the chain, and usually I try to use that on a higher-end property. However, the coupon is use-it-or-lose-it, and the "lose it" date is approaching, so we decided to spend tonight at the Holiday Inn Express in Sacramento where we've stayed before when visiting my sister. This proved to be a bit more challenging than I expected because when I'd first checked the room on the IHG app, it showed availability for the free night offer, but when I went back to book it, the app wouldn't let me actually book the room even though it said it was available. So I had to actually call IHG, and they sorted it out.
Somewhat to my surprise given that it's a free night, they upgraded our "standard room" to a mini-suite. Lisa said (and I agree) that she wishes we could have a room this nice for Worldcon. But aside from the one-bedroom apartment I had at the Place Louis Riel at ConAdian in 1994, getting a room this big and spacious at a Worldcon is not generally in my cards. Both of us wish that we'd been able to get away earlier so we could spend more time in the nice room.
There's no point in getting away early tomorrow morning because the daily commute into the Bay Area is hopelessly crowded. We're now in a good position tomorrow to go buy a few bits we left at home and (I hope) skirt the worst traffic to get to San Jose by mid afternoon tomorrow.
