Wednesday, August 12, 2009 3:40 Chicago Time
So, here we are on the way to nerd fest, gaming mecca…GEN CON!
It has not started out well, as FedEx ground has lost my badge and then gave me the run around on what had happened to it. Hopefully, the nice lady at Gen Con Customer Service did not lie to me when she said they could pull up the tracking number and re-print the badge when it shows I have never received it.
Other than that, trip seems to be going OK. We got out of the city in good time and 65 seems to be behaving. On top of that, badge pick-up and customer service are now open later, so we are not in as much of a rush thais year as opposed to last year when we missed closing by two minutes.
In the car are Lowell, Abe, myself, and Steve. We are approaching the jump off onto 231 to bypass the horror that has been 65 recently.
There are, of course, concerns about leaving work for two days and then a weekend, but it has been dead recently, so hopefully there will be fewer fires to put out when I get back!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 11:30 Indy Time
There was a slight traffic snafu in Hebron on 231, but we found 431, and followed that all the way to 65. After a tense phone call from my mom (my grandma fell on her walk, but she seems to be OK), we landed in Indy and managed to somehow stumble onto our hotel. After getting checked in and checking out the intense swankiness of the hotel, Lowell, Abe, and I headed over to the Hall while Steve went off to find parking. I got into the line at Customer Service, which actually started moving not long after I got into the line, but after another guy had gotten impatient and left. My shirt (“Sex, Drugs, and Dungeons & Dragons”) got laughs and started conversations with other people in line. Gamers unite!
Steve found us, picked up his badge in a no-line Will call (jerk) and then was able to hand off the folder of papers I had left in the car, including the FedEx log showing they lost my badge. The guy helping me when I got to the head of the line was SO nice and very helpful and very quickly confirmed my badge had not been delivered and hand printed a new one for me. WOHO!
While I was getting helped, I looked over and saw Steve et al talking to someone who looked vaguely familiar, so I waved, and he looked at me strangely. Walking over after I had my badge, I saw the nametag: Mike Merles, Steve’s boss for his freelance work at Wizards. And I was waving at him like an idiot. GAHHH!
He and Steve were touching bases and made plans to get a drink. We then wandered off and I got swag bags (puny this year) and then PF Chang’s for dinner. We had a lovely waitress and a wonderful dinner, including an accidental order of crab wontons. Leaving the restaurant we heard someone say “And speaking of Steve Townshend…” and turned to see Steve Schubert, Andy Collins, and James Wyatt, otherwise known as the power and brains behind most of the stuff Wizard’s of the Coast puts out. James even hugged me (probably remembering me from previous years and the Keith Baker attempted vehicular homicide incident). I confessed I had not been able to get my hands on the third book in his trilogy on Eberon, but he said that was OK and it was most likely on sale at the Wizard’s booth. A quick talk and it was back to the hotel room where costumes were unpacked, settling in done, alarms set, and games are being played. I am missing my kitten, but tomorrow holds the opening of the best four days in gaming!
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