Friday was a fun time, with much wandering and spending of cash. I once again lazied-out and ate at the buffet, this time with Lou, mostly because it was raining outside. When the dealer's room opened at noon, I did the obligatory run through, finding out that the place was a vasty maze- two rooms in truth, with a dividing wall that made it interesting to find your way around if you were the least bit tired/confused/whatever.

Therein, I: 1) Found Vicky Wyman WAS at the con, and comissioned a pic of Sorien in the Sorien-Sketchbook, paid for by the comission-that-never-was from the last time I saw her (Shit happens, and its no problem- I got the commission, just late. :) ), 2) Commissioned a second pic from her of my Siren/Harpy character concept Alaris, 3) passed the Frank Lloyd Wright sketchbook to susandeer for the next entry in the 'What Happens Next' kangaroo-lady sequence, 4) Talked to Mr. Wooten at the LittlePaw Graphics table about the commission that I paid for years ago from Terrie Smith, and basically gave a time limit on its completion, Talked to cuprohastes at the table of Jim Groat for a bit, 5) got a pair of little engraved shotglasses, mine with a hoofprint and one for Cupro with a dragon-profile, 6) Arranged for DarkNatasha to do a sketch today in the Sorien book, and 7) Bought a plush anteater. That last was because I had to. :)

The day went well after that, despite my legs hurting like blazes from the walking (I took breaks, no sweat). I went through the art show with sirocco_sahara and Steve Stackhouse, whom with Lou make up the people in my room- Once again my Vixen pic by Dark Natasha is up for auction as a print- I are famous!

Later, I got together with Cupro, Bombur, jalendragon, and Flynn for dinner- we ended up at the pricy little bar/resturant- Business casual in the resturant area, so we ended up in the bar... Ooo. I want resturants like THIS in the Twin Cities! We sat in soft leather lounge furniture, and had expensive-but-very-good food- Me and Cupro had the Sirloin sandwiches, Bom had the barbecue shrimp, and Jalena and Flynn had... Gah. I can't recall other than they had sandwiches...

Thereafter, we ended up at Kage's Story Hour, which ran TWO hours and was very enjoyable. And he didn't end on a melancholy point this time! I had to run off at that point to see if Vicky had called so I could pick up the sketchbook- she had, and I retrieved it posthaste.

On the way back to my room I finally ran into BustyBunny, chatting briefly before I headed back to the room; It was 10:30, and I was finally running down after having started the day at 7:30 or so.

But the day was not QUITE done- As I chatted with Steve and Sirocco and prepped for bed, hunterdpanther showed up at my doorstep with Pat and Ferin to say hi, and announce his arrival- We chatted, and he bestowed upon us candy unicorn-horns. :) Look out- he has dark-chocolate covered Espresso Beans...

I forgot to post this!

The TEA PARTY is from 5 PM til I can't stand it anymore, or the roomies wanna crash, and is in room #2109 at the Wyndam. There will be much tea, some coffee, and lots of cookies and chocolate. DOnations/Tips would DEFINITELY be appreciated. :)

See you there if you can make it!

As I write this I am WAY up in the are aboard the plane taking me to Philadelphia, and Anthrocon. It was... Interesting, at the airport...

As I mentioned in my previous post, our flight was changed from the USAir flight (Mesa Airlines was the subcarrier) to one on NWA. We checked our bags, and hit security; there is apparently an automatic flag if you are a transfer from another flight/airline, so we both got a little added attention... It'll be damn funny if they searched my luggage, especially when it came to re-closing the suitcase...

In any event, we got through with no troubles, just a routine thing. We proceeded to the gate (C4), and Lou went to get breakfast. I wasn't hungry, having eaten out with ataramos earlier. I got sat down, and about 10 minutes later they announced that our flight was now at gate G4... And Lou was still off getting food. So, I gathered our stuff together and headed to G4, knowing that I'd run into him.

I did, and after crossing ALL THE WAY across the terminal, we were finally at the right place. From there, things went FAST, and here I am.

I should never expect a smooth trip. You'd think I'd learn. (giggle) At least its not on the scale of the 'fun' that cuprohastes has experienced...

To add: We're here! I need to get styro cups for the tea party still, but I've most everything else.

Well. AC was a blast this year, and i met a fair number of people I’ve not met in RL before. I spent some time with Nemet from FurryMUCK, and he gave me a beer, A Dark called Hobgoblin from the UK. I reciprocated by getting him a margarita. :0

I got sketches in all three books, notably from the artists DarkNatasha, DCRabbit (BustyBunny on FurryMUCK), Piccolo (also on FM), Kyoht, Shou-Lung (ditto) and others. I reestablished myself as mostly carnivorous, eating mostly meat-stuff and french toast (breakfast!) during the Con.

The flight from Minneapolis was flawless, and we got in early... The flight back, however... First, the shuttle to the airport never got the the hotel. No biggie, I planned for extra time. So, we (Me and feezlekahn) took a cab, which was about the same cost. We get to the airport, go through Security (rude assholes. they don’t deserve ANY kind words), and hit the food court. So far, so good. The board lists the flight as on time, but the weather sucks and i note several canceled flights, mostly to Canadian cities.

We eat, then head to the gate. I futz on the laptop for a while, then, noting that there isn’t a plane on the ramp, I go ask what’s up. “Its still in the air” is the reply. Okay, once again no biggie. Lousy weather equals delays. A bit more time goes by, then the other shoe drops... The plane couldn’t land here due to the weather and was routed to Baltimore to refuel. Blah.

I decide that I’ll make the best of it, and drop the 10 bucks to use the airport wireless access. I futz a bit, and I’m online. I get to talk to folks, notably Cuprohastes, and time passes. LOTS of time.

Then, rather suddenly, BOOM. “Passengers on flight 1175 for Minneapolis, your flight is now at gate A12; please proceed there. This is halfway across the airport, naturally. I slap the laptop away, and we zip to the gate. We board about 10 minutes later, and all seems well, with a little delay for the luggage to be loaded.

On the plane, Finally. We’re on the way! ...Or so I thought.

We sat on the damn tarmac for 40 minutes, then got in the queue for takeoff. Right when we get to the head of the line, we get bumped back to the end. What the hell? We’re ALREADY delayed almost 4 frigging hours! 20 minutes and 6 planes later... we DO take off. As I type this, we’re about 15-20 minutes out of Philly International. Whee.

Final Tally: We were supposed to leave at 3:20 PM Eastern- We finally got home at 9:20 after the ride home from the airport. Blah.