An experiment, from Worldcon

[drwex]

Usually when I trip I post-mortem blog. I may try posting bits and pieces instead, when I can. Wireless in the hotel is craptastic but free. In the convention center it's pay so unknown quality. Thus probably morning and evening bits.

Drive was good, though longer than advertised. The "now you get to travel through Canadian farmland and small farm towns" bit was very unexpected. They're a bit more relaxed in their definition of highway than we are. Seeing signs next to swaths of the corn fields that looked a great deal like markers as to which GM-varieties they were growing in that swath was a bit startling.

Hotel is fine, Canadians are nice. Montreal is big and I don't know what, if any, of the city we'll get to see. Having to logistic the kids is a show-stopper for most things, like fireworks that don't start until 10P and require you to be there a couple hours in advance.

The con so far is OK. I sort of burned out on Worldcons a while back. We're doing this one because they claim to have enough programming to entertain the kids, because Gaiman is GoH, and because it's drive distance from where we live.

So far Pygment has done one programming item while I sat in the room with the sleeping kidlets. We saw Gaiman once, in the hallway with his minder. I was surprised he wasn't being fan-tailed but Pygment claims most people wouldn't recognize him anyway. His blog entry this AM identified the woman he was with as his con minder, which is an amusing but necessary thing.

I'm told the dealers' area is pretty much all books and almost all Canadian businesses. Apparently few US dealers could afford or manage to get their stock past Customs. I imagine we'll hear more about this from those on the running-the-con side of things.

On to Day 2...

Comments

[rmd.livejournal.com]

i'm pretty sure the I89 crossing is the only one that doesn't turn into a major canadian highway on the northern side.

[caulay.livejournal.com]

As a note on WiFi, there is free access on the main level of the convention center (the one with Reg, Art Show, Dealers, etc.). The network name is "Anticipation".

I was using it most of yesterday with no problem.

Thank you

[sweetmmeblue.livejournal.com]

That hour was really solid and exactly what I needed.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

(see note on free wireless. It's not *obvious* how to get it, but the "Anticipation" network is, in fact, free. A bit flaky and slow, but free.)

You're right about the dealers. Ben's running the dealers' room and had about 6 US dealers cancel at the last minute because of Customs and tax issues, plus many more who said right up front that they would not even try to cross the border. Most very small businesses run too close to the margin to pay tax ahead of time on everything they *might* sell. And jewelry is a nightmare from the Customs angle; every piece must be photographed and appraised, and the origin of every stone must be listed. Ben also had little luck getting connected with Canadian dealers who sell things other than books; the person who was supposed to handle that side of things had to drop out of con stuff. He worked very hard to get the dealers the con does have, I can attest to that.

BTW -- in the area around the hotel, there are several small parks for running kids, though supervision to keep them out of the streets would be required. For that matter, the very long corridor on the first floor of the Palais, when not crowded, says to me "turn 'em loose!"

I went to the Neil Gaiman's Q&A panel yesterday and he is quite charming. He did have a mob of fans following him, and today's autograph session is going to be a circus, in spite of all efforts taken for crowd control.

Figures

[drwex]

That'd be how Google sends us. Oh well.

Excellent tip

[drwex]

Thank you. Not sure when/if I'm going to bring the laptop to the CC but it's good to know.