Relatively Quiet Day at Worldcon
Aug. 8th, 2009 12:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeAfter the chaos of Thursday, Friday was my relatively quiet day, aside from chairing the WSFS Business Meeting. We got off from the hotel about ten minutes later than I'd hoped, although it did no real harm. The BM is at what is perceived as the "far end" of the Palais, although it's actually much closer to my hotel. We figured out that going around through the Chinatown entrance is faster than what looks like the direct route.
The Preliminary Business Meeting went much better than I thought it might. I had a bit of fun at the start of the meeting. After my introductory remarks (which alas took nearly ten minutes!), the very first item of business was the report of the WSFS Mark Protection Committee, which I chair. I had to yield the meeting chair to my deputy, Tim Illingworth. I said, "I have to change hats now," and took off my suit jacket and donned my WSFS captain's hat, which got the chuckle from the attendees I hoped it would before I moved from the Chair's position to the speakers' lectern to give my report. After delivering the report, I took off the WSFS hat and returned to the Chair.
There were some contentious issues before us, and personalities clashed, but outright war did not break out, and the members stayed within the legitimate bounds of decorum. I expect there will be some hard feelings on a couple of issues, and I'm unsure what the long-term reaction to the squashing by Objection to Consideration of the motion on Female Hugo Nominees will be.
After the Preliminary BM ended, I had no more program items for today, which meant I could relax a little bit. I went back to the room and changed out of my suit into my more comfortable WSFS polo shirt. Lisa and I went to a restaurant in the Palais that specializes in the cuisine of "New France," which is meant to evoke the days of the original French settlers. I had a lovely piece of steak in a peppercorn sauce while Lisa ordered the "Amerindian sampler plate." I think Lisa wishes that we'd simply traded plates, and I probably should have offered to do so.
After lunch, we went upstairs to the Fixed Functions area (Dealers, Art Show, etc.) and did a thorough job of seeing everything. I actually got to see the Art Show at less than a quick skim. We walked through the re-creation of Fan GoH Taral Wayne's apartment. We did a circuit of the fan tables and talked with everyone interested in talking. We gaped at GoH David Hartwell's amazing tie collection. We looked through the dealers room and Lisa bought a book and a t-shirt. I was happy to not feel rushed into doing whatever my next appointment was.
I'm grateful to Joni Dashoff for letting me use the printer in the Art Show to print a couple of e-mailed site selection ballots that I was asked to deliver. (The ballots were marked No Preference to avoid the potential objections to this, and I'd checked with the site selection administrator earlier about it.) I delivered those ballots, and then Lisa and I cast our own Worldcon ballots. We did our part to help defeat the nefarious forces of None of the Above.
Amazingly, we passed nearly the entire afternoon in the Exhibit Hall. I was busy being constantly button-holed by various people, but Lisa was happy to spend time with her friend from the Luna Project, whom she is quite impressed with.
We went looking for dinner by walking up to the Complex Desjardins -- the shopping center where the grocery store is located, a couple of blocks up the hill from our hotel. We finally got around to having poutine, ordering it from one of the food court vendors. Lisa looked at what I bought back to the table and said, "Are you sure you ordered the petite poutine?" and I assured her that yes, the large quantity of fries, cheese, and gravy was in fact the small portion of it. After dinner, Lisa shopped around the center but found little to attract her attention. We finished by getting more milk and cereal -- we'd gone through most of what we already had -- and heading back to the hotel, with a brief side trip to a bakery in Chinatown.
After coming back from dinner, I composed the report on the actions of today's BM, and then it was Party Time, as we walked to the Delta through the underground warrens again, helping another fan find his way to the hotel with the help of a friendly passing Klingon. At the Delta, we had to queue for express elevators that took members to the 5th and 28th floors, where the parties were.
We tried to visit as many parties as we could, but it was difficult to really enjoy ourselves, because things were just too crowded. Also, Lisa says that parties that are mostly full of people drinking lots of alcohol also tend to be full of people who are not nice to Kuma Bear, which makes both her and Kuma cross. We did, however, talk with James Bacon, who gave us yet more UK train-driver kit, which is very nice of him. We found the UK party decorations that are actually for us. James said, "When you're ready to leave, just take the train signs with you." Unfortunately, we went back down from the 28th to the 5th floor, forgot to get the signs, and were part-way back to our own hotel before I remembered this.
The wait for elevators to escape from the Party Zone was so long that we went to the stairs. Fortunately, the stairs are a valid departure route and don't lead to an alarmed emergency exit. The parties seemed to be full of lots of people enjoying themselves, but Lisa seemed a little stressed out and happy to be heading 'home' for the night.
We stopped at the convenience store in the Palais just before they closed to pick up some juice and small snacks. The clerk made Lisa very unhappy by locking the exit while we were still in the store. I told Lisa to unlock the door and let herself out while I paid for our stuff. I agree that it's dangerous for the store's main door to not have a push-to-open exit, and for the clerk to bolt the door like that.
Returning to the hotel, Lisa took a bath and I tried to do a little video editing of the Preliminary Business Meeting. Unfortunately, MovieMaker crashed part-way through doing it and as soon as I post this, I'm going to need to reboot the computer.
I hope to get to sleep before 2 AM and to get at least five hours sleep tonight. It's possible that rather than hanging around enjoying the convention this past afternoon, I should have taken a nap instead.
The Preliminary Business Meeting went much better than I thought it might. I had a bit of fun at the start of the meeting. After my introductory remarks (which alas took nearly ten minutes!), the very first item of business was the report of the WSFS Mark Protection Committee, which I chair. I had to yield the meeting chair to my deputy, Tim Illingworth. I said, "I have to change hats now," and took off my suit jacket and donned my WSFS captain's hat, which got the chuckle from the attendees I hoped it would before I moved from the Chair's position to the speakers' lectern to give my report. After delivering the report, I took off the WSFS hat and returned to the Chair.
There were some contentious issues before us, and personalities clashed, but outright war did not break out, and the members stayed within the legitimate bounds of decorum. I expect there will be some hard feelings on a couple of issues, and I'm unsure what the long-term reaction to the squashing by Objection to Consideration of the motion on Female Hugo Nominees will be.
After the Preliminary BM ended, I had no more program items for today, which meant I could relax a little bit. I went back to the room and changed out of my suit into my more comfortable WSFS polo shirt. Lisa and I went to a restaurant in the Palais that specializes in the cuisine of "New France," which is meant to evoke the days of the original French settlers. I had a lovely piece of steak in a peppercorn sauce while Lisa ordered the "Amerindian sampler plate." I think Lisa wishes that we'd simply traded plates, and I probably should have offered to do so.
After lunch, we went upstairs to the Fixed Functions area (Dealers, Art Show, etc.) and did a thorough job of seeing everything. I actually got to see the Art Show at less than a quick skim. We walked through the re-creation of Fan GoH Taral Wayne's apartment. We did a circuit of the fan tables and talked with everyone interested in talking. We gaped at GoH David Hartwell's amazing tie collection. We looked through the dealers room and Lisa bought a book and a t-shirt. I was happy to not feel rushed into doing whatever my next appointment was.
I'm grateful to Joni Dashoff for letting me use the printer in the Art Show to print a couple of e-mailed site selection ballots that I was asked to deliver. (The ballots were marked No Preference to avoid the potential objections to this, and I'd checked with the site selection administrator earlier about it.) I delivered those ballots, and then Lisa and I cast our own Worldcon ballots. We did our part to help defeat the nefarious forces of None of the Above.
Amazingly, we passed nearly the entire afternoon in the Exhibit Hall. I was busy being constantly button-holed by various people, but Lisa was happy to spend time with her friend from the Luna Project, whom she is quite impressed with.
We went looking for dinner by walking up to the Complex Desjardins -- the shopping center where the grocery store is located, a couple of blocks up the hill from our hotel. We finally got around to having poutine, ordering it from one of the food court vendors. Lisa looked at what I bought back to the table and said, "Are you sure you ordered the petite poutine?" and I assured her that yes, the large quantity of fries, cheese, and gravy was in fact the small portion of it. After dinner, Lisa shopped around the center but found little to attract her attention. We finished by getting more milk and cereal -- we'd gone through most of what we already had -- and heading back to the hotel, with a brief side trip to a bakery in Chinatown.
After coming back from dinner, I composed the report on the actions of today's BM, and then it was Party Time, as we walked to the Delta through the underground warrens again, helping another fan find his way to the hotel with the help of a friendly passing Klingon. At the Delta, we had to queue for express elevators that took members to the 5th and 28th floors, where the parties were.
We tried to visit as many parties as we could, but it was difficult to really enjoy ourselves, because things were just too crowded. Also, Lisa says that parties that are mostly full of people drinking lots of alcohol also tend to be full of people who are not nice to Kuma Bear, which makes both her and Kuma cross. We did, however, talk with James Bacon, who gave us yet more UK train-driver kit, which is very nice of him. We found the UK party decorations that are actually for us. James said, "When you're ready to leave, just take the train signs with you." Unfortunately, we went back down from the 28th to the 5th floor, forgot to get the signs, and were part-way back to our own hotel before I remembered this.
The wait for elevators to escape from the Party Zone was so long that we went to the stairs. Fortunately, the stairs are a valid departure route and don't lead to an alarmed emergency exit. The parties seemed to be full of lots of people enjoying themselves, but Lisa seemed a little stressed out and happy to be heading 'home' for the night.
We stopped at the convenience store in the Palais just before they closed to pick up some juice and small snacks. The clerk made Lisa very unhappy by locking the exit while we were still in the store. I told Lisa to unlock the door and let herself out while I paid for our stuff. I agree that it's dangerous for the store's main door to not have a push-to-open exit, and for the clerk to bolt the door like that.
Returning to the hotel, Lisa took a bath and I tried to do a little video editing of the Preliminary Business Meeting. Unfortunately, MovieMaker crashed part-way through doing it and as soon as I post this, I'm going to need to reboot the computer.
I hope to get to sleep before 2 AM and to get at least five hours sleep tonight. It's possible that rather than hanging around enjoying the convention this past afternoon, I should have taken a nap instead.
