Calgary Expo 2009

After a late night, I got up and got ready to hang out downstairs in the lobby yet again.
I was helping to get the guests onto shuttle to the Expo before heading over there myself.

The shuttles took a while to get everyone there, as the traffic to the Stampede Grounds was already pretty busy with attendees showing up early. (read: parents dropping off their geek spawn at the doors)
Eventually they all got there okay though.

I ended up showing up after the show had opened, which sort of put me at a disadvantage right away.
I was in charge of guests services (getting water, food, etc.. the same thing I normally do at the conventions) but by showing up late I didn't know who or where my helpers were at.
I immediately set out checking with the guests and letting them know that we'd be taking their lunch orders shortly.
When I came back around a few minutes later, I discovered that somebody had come by and started bringing drinks to them.
I then found the two guys who were working in the same area and we set out to take care of lunch.

Saturday was extremely busy. (Good for the show... not so good for me)
Food orders were taken but because there were so many people, they vendor started running out of food and was making substitutions.
This was okay with most of the guests, but of course you have those few who think more highly of themselves than they should. I smoothed over the problems as best I could and continued to carry on.

The day went by quickly, though.
I managed to get a picture with Liana K. again this year:

And talked to a few of the guests.
I wanted to get pictures of costumes (there were A LOT of them) but I just didn't have time.
No Slave Leia's this year that I saw, but quite a few female heroes (i.e. Wonder Woman, Huntress, Supergirl, etc...).
There was even a guy wearing a "Black Spider-man" costume. I didn't get any pictures and really... you should thank me for that. The costume was form-fitting and didn't leave a lot to the imagination. It took a lot of self-confidence to walk around all day wearing that.

Everybody seemed to be having a good time despite it being so crowded.

Near the end of the day, I was invited to dinner by Kandrix and Laurie, along with Mike Kunkle, Robyn & Terry, and Technogreek.
We went to dinner at The Keg and had.... steak. (I ate a lot of steak during this trip!)
It was actually much better than the one I had a couple nights earlier.
The conversation was lively.
Technogreek regaled us with a yarn that involved sleep-deprived trips, getting lost in Los Angeles, bullet-proof designer vests and parties on yachts.
Mike talked like a pirate throughout the meal and did an impersonation of Robyn which was quite hilarious.

Near our table was a couple who were celebrating their 23rd wedding anniversary.
Mike thought it would be a nice idea to sketch something for them, but since nobody had any paper he used a salad plate from the restaurant:

Robyn Moore (r) Mike Kunkle (l)
We also gave the couple an art book from the previous year and two tickets to the Expo for Sunday.
They seemed to appreciate it and had a good evening.

We stayed out until about 10:30 p.m. Terry had to get back to the hotel to try and finish some sketches, so we all paid our bill and left.

I was still wound up and couldn't sleep, but got into bed anyway.
I put in earplugs and covered my head with a pillow (as I typically do... don't ask. It's just a habit).
Around 1:00 a.m. I heard what sounded like an alarm.
I took out an earplug and listened. Sure enough it was an alarm. The fire alarm for the hotel.
I listened a little longer and thought to myself, "I don't hear any screaming or doors slamming. I'm not going to rush outside until I do" and laid back down.

I slept for about 2 hours and woke up.
I just couldn't sleep.
So I got dressed and went for a walk around the block at O'dark thirty in the morning and took a few pictures:
Proof that Canadians are nicer people
They said "please" even on their sign

This could've proven to be fun
or horribly, horribly wrong.
It was closed, so I guess I'll never know

I thought it might help me get tired, but the temperature was just about freezing and it only served to wake me up even more.

Sometime around 5:00 a.m. I walked to a 24-diner and had breakfast.
Then I sat in the lobby and read a book until I started getting sleepy again.

I went up to my room, laid down on the bed (fully clothed) and started to doze off... just as the alarm started going off. Oh well. No rest for the wicked, eh?
I stayed there for a bit as Kyle (my hotel roommate) got ready. Then we both went down to the lobby to head over to the convention.




Crap!
I really didn't mean to drag this out in so many posts but I keep running out of time.
I'll get back to this soon.
Rest assured, though. Nothing else exciting is happening my my life right now so you aren't missing anything.