ToasterWaffles

We started out with parking issues and rounded it out with timing issues. Over all the day that was supposed to be the best just ended up being “decent”. We did get some more stuff though, so that’s always fun! No pictures just yet Read the last section to find out why

Beforehand

We started out by showing up at Kevin’s place looking for a parking spot. We found a car (that nobody recognized) already there. Oh boy. So we took another spot and called a tow truck. Wah wah waaaaah. By the time we got back the car was gone. I’m pretty sure we ruined somebody’s day, but it wasn’t mine!

Walking the Floor

Once in the con we wandered around for a while and got some more schwag. Jess picked up a t-shirt at the Penny-Arcade booth. I picked up a more different t-shirt, a poster, some stickers, and a quick sketch from Gabe. w00t!

We wandered past the Gaia Online booth and picked up two wicked posters for $15. We went back to the Chris Sanders booth to see if he would do any sketches. He was pooped and turned us down — no biggie. We bought a sticker anyway for Jess’ car. Apparently he made them to put on his truck and decided to sell them at the con too. Good call!

Stargate Panel

Walking to room 20 we noticed a big commotion near the escalators that let out right in front of the door. Apparently after the Battlestar disaster the security people had figured out they should force people into a line ahead of time. The deal now was that you had to go back downstairs (via the escalator) and run down the floor then go back up some escalators and come back on the right side of the little ribbon barrier. Lame-o.

None the less we did make it to the room with enough time to get seats and enjoy the panel.

The MC was none other than “The Gate Technician”, Gary Jones. He’s the guy that’d yell “Unscheduled activation!” and such on SG-1, and always be slightly out of frame. This guy was a blast.

The first panel was SG-1 only. They had Christopher Judge (Teal’c) and a few writers. Eventually Cliff Simon (Ba’al) showed up as a surprise guest. After a few more minutes Robert Picardo (Richard Woosley) showed up too. This panel wasn’t too bad since Chris got along with everybody and stole a bit of the show from Gary. Of course, since Gary is always slightly out of frame, he took every chance he could to get your attention. Overall it was OK.

After 15 - 20 minutes they changed out to the Atlantis cast: Joe Flanigan (Lt. Colonel John Sheppard), Torri Higginson (Dr. Weir), David Hewlett (Rodney McKay), Rachel Luttrell (Teyla), and Paul McGillion (Dr. Beckett). This group got along well enough. Since they’ve only been together for two seasons on a relatively light show they didn’t seem to get along as well as some other panels did. They were still pretty funny. Overall it was OK.

Break

At this point we got phone reception again and found out that Ash wanted to bail. We took her back to her place, ran a few errands and headed back to the con.

The Floor & The Masquerade

By the time we got back it was a bit after 5pm. We puttered around for a while and ran in to my cousin Ricardo. With him in tow I decided to check out where I’d need to line up for the special photographers section of the masquerade. Looking through the program I discovered that there are special photographer tickets required. Oh snap! I ran as best I could through the crowd to find the desk where such tickets were distributed. Naturally I was hours too late. Damn. So, no masquerade photos this year. teh suxor.

Taking the positive approach: next year I’ll probably have a better lens, and a decent flash with a light softener of some sort — so I should get better photos! Yay good photos!

I did manage to get a few photos of some more Storm/Clone Troopers walking around.