Emerald City Comic Con - 2010

Another year, another comic convention here in the great metropolis of Seattle.

This show was the biggest ever, in terms of not only the guest list but also the sheer number of people who attended it.

There is just w-a-y to much to cover in this post, so I will simply touch on a few of the high-points of my weekend.

Friday morning started early... like 3:50 a.m. early!.... as I woke up 'cause I couldn't sleep anymore. I had to be up to catch a ride to Seattle so I could check into the hotel, then it was off to the airport to greet guests as they arrived.

I was at the airport with the Maimed Man from around 9:00 a.m. until 6:45 p.m.

We worked in tandem: he kept an eye on the flights and which baggage claim to meet them at, while I coordinated with the drivers outside and gave the guests their show packets. It was a great system and went very smoothly with both of us there.

We met a lot of the guests, including (but certainly not limited to) Erin Gray, Lou Ferrigno, and Leonard "Spock" Nimoy!

I also got to meet Terry Moore & his wife Robyn as they arrived. They remembered me and gave me hugs to say "hello".

It was a long day and very tiring, but after leaving to come back to the hotel we then went out to dinner with a bunch of the other ECCC volunteers.

Saturday morning, I got up early again and started taking my stuff over to the convention center so I didn't have to lug it there at the last minute.

It was about 6:30 a.m. when I walked up to registration and there was already a line of people waiting to get in. (The show didn't open until 10:00 and they still had 3-1/2 hours to go)

Then I got some breakfast at the Dragonfish with C. Burnham before going back to the convention center for the day.

People were still setting up their booths right until the time the doors were opened for the attendees.

I made my way around the show floor getting reacquainted with old friends and meeting a few new ones.

Then 10:00 rolled around and the people started pouring in.... literally!

Here's a pic of the crowd right before the doors opened:

And here's what it looked like on the inside just a few seconds after they opened:

There were three main places that people were making a beeline towards.

One was to get in line to meet Stan Lee.

Another to meet Leonard Nimoy.

And the third was at the opposite end of the building to meet Geoff Johns.

Those three areas quickly became a mass of bodies and chaos.

It took some wrangling, but eventually we got volunteers to manage those areas as best as possible.

As for the show floor, it was PACKED!

So much so that I had a difficult time getting around from place to place.

Still, I managed to weave through the crowd and make my way to the guests and bring them stuff they were asking for.

I ended up at the end of the day with blisters on two of my left toes and I was sore all over just maneuvering through the crowd and being on my feet all day.

Originally there was to be a "meet-and-greet" with Stan Lee right before the show opened for a few of us volunteers, but Stan got the the show floor too late for it to happen and then his line was overwhelming. I asked a couple of the promoters if there was even a chance of getting to see him, but it looked doubtful. So I gave up on my dream of getting to have my picture taken with him.*

I was busy the entire 8 hours of the show (not to mention being there a few hours early), but finally it was 6:00 and everybody was shooshed out for the evening.

A bunch of volunteers met up for dinner, but I went out with a friend and we met up with some of the comic writers from the show.

Along the way, I ran into Filip Sablik (the publisher at Top Cow) and Steve Rolston among others.

I was having a good time, but the evening began to catch up to me and I began to fade. So I bid them all a good night and headed back to my hotel room to try and sleep.

Sunday morning came and I got up later than I expected.

In fact, I had just enough time to take a quick shower before getting to the convention center and had to skip breakfast.

On my way, I was carrying an ice cooler on one shoulder and talking to my mom (who came for the show) with my other hand. The guy in front of me was nice enough to open the door and hold it for me so I could get in. It turned out to be none other than Joe Quesada! The Editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics!

I showed my mom and her husband around for a bit, and then I had to get busy as the doors were about to open again for the second day of the show.

Day two is always (THANKFULLY!!!) a bit slower, and I managed to meet a few new people and find out more about the books or art they were selling. I also was able to get a couple of sketches I'd been hoping to get this year and I picked up some new books to read.

The day went a lot easier with fewer attendees on the show floor, but my blisters from the day before began giving me trouble. I wrapped up each toe with a band-aid and continued to power on for the day.

As it drew closer to the end of the day, the crowds started to die down and people started to get their stuff ready to pack up.

Over the intercom speakers, they announced that this year's show was the biggest ever with over 14,000 people having attended it! (Although, I heard a little later that the number might have even been larger... so once I get the final total I'll let you all know)

The post-show dinner party took place across the street about an hour and a half later.

Hotness & I showed up a few minutes apart but mingled for a bit and then ended up sitting at different tables.

Since she works with the media guests, she tends to hang out with a lot of the volunteers from that group.

I am usually working with the comic book professionals, so I always end-up sitting with them at dinner and catching up.

After a couple of hours, they kicked us out of the resteraunt and sent us downstairs to hang out in the bar. Aaron Douglas (who was a guest at this and last year's shows) showed up and goofed off for a bit with all of us.

Then we headed out to another resteraunt for a few drinks and nibbles before settling down for the night.

We stayed at the hotel an extra night, so it was nice not having to rush home after staying out late the night before.

I got up Monday morning and had breakfast, then after Hotness woke up I took her to get something to eat.

There were a few guests in the hotel lobby when we got back and I got to speak with them and introduce them to Hotness.

Among them: Tim Bradstreet and Mark Texeira, both of whom Hotness has always enjoyed art they have done.

We finally headed back up to the room and packed up our stuff and made the drive back home.

It was a long, but very fun and eventful, weekend.

Much more so than last year's. (I was fighting off a cold last year, and by the end of the show I had no voice left and could barely walk anymore)

I'm resting up and looking forward to my trip to Calgary in a little over a month.

Lots of cool stuff happening then and I can't wait to tell you all about it.

* Oh yeah.

I had given up on ever meeting Stan Lee, when at about 3:30 in the afternoon on Saturday I got a text message that said: "Hustle your butt down to the photo booth right away!"

I got there and found out that I was going to get the chance to have my picture taken with Stan after all!

Unfortunately I didn't get to talk to him for very long, but I did get to shake his hand and tell him what an honor it was to meet a legend like himself. Then 3 seconds later, our picture was taken and I was out of there and back on the floor helping guests.

The photo printer broke down during the show and I was not able to get my picture before the convention ended. Luckily I know the photographer and will be getting it in the mail soon, though.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something "Blu"

With the wedding coming up shortly, things are beginning to take shape.
I made Hotness's bridal bouquet and I'm taking care of the music.
I also need to get some appetizers whipped up (I have the stuff for one, but still trying to decide on what the other will be), and I'm working on the decorations... although we aren't going crazy with that. Just something to make the place look more "wedding-like".

I have my suit all ready and Hotness picked up her dress last weekend, so those are out of the way.

This is our last weekend to "take it easy", as next weekend will begin the final hours to the event.
Friday night we have a wedding shower to go to. Saturday night is the ballet. Sunday I will be getting the chairs and dropping off the decorations. Monday I'll be getting the appetizers made and setting up the chairs and decorations I dropped off earlier. Tuesday will be... let's see... um....
Oh yeah! The actual wedding.

As the day approaches, we have been asked by different people, "What would we like to have as a wedding gift?"
Hotness and I have different opinions about this.
I feel that we really don't need anything, as we've been together for so long and already have the things we need. Plus, with the economy the way it is, I don't want people to feel they HAVE to spend money on us.
Hotness feels that if people would like to get presents, we should let them. Some people really want to express their happiness for us by getting us a gift, so we shouldn't stop them and make them feel unappreciated.
So we're basically leaving it up to the individual as to whether they want to buy a gift, but it's certainly not necessary.

Now, having said that, we received our first wedding gift in the mail on Friday.
It was from my good friend Imperfect and his wife.
They got us a Blu-ray disc player!

I've been on the fence about getting one.
I was perfectly happy with the DVD player we currently had and didn't see the need for spending more money to upgrade just yet. But on the other hand, I did have a nice, new HDTV that wasn't living up to it's full potential and with Blu-ray discs being released at lower prices than standard DVDs, it was beginning to sway me over.

I would've been happy to wait until our wedding day to open their present, but due to some packaging SNAFUs, we decided to open it early.
We opened the box and... TAA-DAA!!! A beautiful, Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray player was inside!
So yesterday, I made a trip down south to Fry's to pick up the HDMI cable (and a Blu-ray disc, 'cause... Heck! Why not?) as well as some LAN cable to connect it to the interwebs.

I got back home and proceeded to hook it all up.
There was an update for the firmware, so I took care of that right away and then afterwards I went about setting up the adjustments (i.e. video output, audio, brightness, on screen language, etc...).

Unfortunately, my surround sound DVD player did not have an HDMI input.
That would have been the best option. So instead, I had to use regular co-axial plugs.
But to be totally honest, I can't see that it makes a bunch of difference to my ears. My "home theater" isn't that big and my ears aren't that discerning when it comes to sound. So I'm happy it works.
I did have HDMI inputs on the TV, so I plugged the Blu-ray player directly into it.

Then I went and tried out a few standard DVDs to see if the picture quality was any better.
I noticed it was a bit sharper, but almost a bit "over compensating", so I'll have to tweak the settings a bit more (or just use the regular DVD player).

Then I put in the new disc I bought. I got "The Blue Man Group: How To Be A Megastar Live!"
This had special significance on a couple of levels.
First: Being our first "Blu-ray" disc, why not get the "Blue Man Group"?
And Second: This was the same concert tour I went to see with Imperfect a few years back, and since he got us the player it seemed appropriate.
This was by far a H-U-G-E difference in visual quality. I really didn't expect it to be, but I was amazed. Even Hotness said "Wow, that's really clear and what an amazing picture!".
So I'm totally glad to have it have it and especially happy that they got us such a nice gift.
Thank you both again!

In other news....
Nothing new to report in the job-search, although I hope to have something exciting to say in the not-to-distant future.

The Emerald City Comic Con is only a few weeks away. I'm excited and nervous at the same time for it to happen. There are so many cool new guests (Stan Lee, Leonard Nimoy) and awesome returning guests (Terry Moore, Whilce Portacio). It's also expected to be the BIGGEST show yet, which means there's going to be a LOT of hard work to do while it's happening.
Last year was a tough one, so hopefully this year we'll be better prepared. Hotness and I are sharing a hotel room for three nights (instead of two, like in previous years), so that'll help in not having to travel back right away after the second day of the show. We can relax one evening and take our time leaving on Monday.

Babysitting is still happening quite a bit and despite catching the occasional "bug" from the kids, has been a lot of fun. Being "Uncle Ferretnick" is a blast.

Well, that catches us up again for now.
I apologize for the sparse postings, but until something happens that's worth "blogging" about, I tend to just let things slide on here.
With the wedding and conventions coming up I should have more to talk about.

Ya'll be good now!

Wedding Planning

Well, back to the blog again.

After proposing and getting engaged almost a year ago, I tried to come up with ideas for the wedding (what to wear, where to have it, when to have it, etc...).
I wasn't met with resistance by Hotness, but rather benign indifference. Nothing seemed like a bad idea, but it all seemed like it could be taken care of later.
So after a few weeks of trying to come up with ideas, I gave up and put it on the back burner until she wanted to sit down together and plan for it.

Nothing, other than talking about going to Las Vegas, was ever really discussed.... until about 2 weeks ago.
That was when Hotness dropped her wedding plans on me. And only 1 month before she wanted to make them happen.

She thought I was upset at first, but really all it turned out to be was that I was totally unaware of what she wanted to do until that moment.
So in one fell swoop I got the lowdown on what she wanted to do and the steps she'd already taken to make them a reality.
I was a bit speechless.
I didn't know that she was planning ANYTHING, and now I'm having to rush around and get stuff together to make it happen in less than a month.

It's not all that bad though.
I got my outfit already picked out, and last Saturday we found a dress for her that not only looks great, but totally suits her.
So those two things are taken care of.
This afternoon, we'll be heading out to pick up the marriage license.

Other than that, we're planning a very small, intimate wedding.
So right now, we're in the process of trying to get invitations made up so we can get them sent out as soon as possible.

In fact, we're not even planning on a real reception for afterwards because we'll have so few people there.
The reception we want to have will be much more elaborate so that we can share it with all our friends. But right now, we're not even sure when that will be. Originally Hotness wanted to have it on the anniversary of when I proposed, but it turns out that that's on the weekend of the Emerald City Comic Con. I'm cool with that, but for some reason she says "no". Then in April, I'll be gone for Calgary Expo again.
So for right now, that event is up in the air until we can find a time (and a place) to have it.

In the meantime, I'm just kind of in a fog.
My birthday is coming up and we're sort of 'half-way' to the wedding, so everything just seems kind of surreal right now. I know things are going to happen, but they aren't happening "right now".

I'm kind of rambling, aren't I?
Yeah, okay. Onto other subjects...

I went and saw "Avatar" the other day.
It was in 3-D and I was afraid that I might get motion sickness (as I'm prone to do at movies lately), so I dosed up on Dramamine.
What an incredible movie. And the 3-D only made it better.
I think if I'm going to get a Blu-ray player in the near future, THIS will be the movie that tips the scales in favor of doing it.

What else? Hmmm...
Oh yeah!
I TOTALLY geeked out yesterday when I found out that Stan "The Man" Lee would be coming to ECCC this year!
I only have to real goals in life, and in the grand scheme of things they are within reason.
1) To meet and get a picture taken with Weird Al Yankovic
2) To meet and get a picture taken with Stan Lee.
Looks like I can cross one of those off my list real soon! (and if anybody can help make that first one a reality, please let me know!)

I'd like to say I have a whole bunch of other stuff to talk (or rather, "blog") about, but I don't.
No news on the job search other than I haven't heard back from anybody.
Nobody has called me to even set up an interview. I'm still sending out job apps and my resume, and all I'll hearing back is the sound of crickets chirping.
I'm not depressed, but it does get a bit discouraging after a while.

I'll probably have more to talk about after this weekend.
My birthday is coming up and on Sunday Hotness and I are going to the opera (our second one for the season).
I should have SOMETHING to talk about again by then.

It Takes Guts

One of the projects I've been trying to do, but never seemed to get around to, was replacing the 'guts' in the toilet in our bathroom.
It's not like it's a difficult job. I've done it before when we lived in Lynnwood and I did it at a friend's place when they had a leaky toilet.
So I knew what was involved, I just never took the time to start doing it.
Until today, that is.

I knew it was going to be a hot one outdoors today (right now, my computer weather widget says it is 90 degrees F).
I wanted to try and accomplish something, and figured an inside project would be much better than an outdoor one.

I moved the rack (for holding extra toilet paper, tissues, and various other items) that sat over the "throne", and started in.


Here's the old insides of the toilet. Kinda gross.

The toilet wasn't leaking, so it's not like there was a problem with that.
What was happening was that sometimes it took more than a couple of flushes to....
er... "get rid of the evidence", if you catch my meaning.

I figured a new set of parts would fix that and make life (especially mine) easier.

This is the valve and float that was in there originally.
It was just a matter of turning off the water and un-threading the nut under the tank. Then this whole assembly just came right out.

And here is the new valve and float. It's more of a one-piece unit and eliminates that tacky, black round 'balloon'-type float.

I put it in the tank. Adjusted the height for the water level. Threaded the nut on it. Then hooked up the water hose underneath.
Taa-daa!!
Just like new and now it flushes better.
No more "surprises" for the next unsuspecting customer.

Total amount of time doing the project: about 30 minutes.
"Why didn't I just do it sooner, if that's all the time it took?", I hear you asking.
I don't really know. Lazy I guess. At least it's done now.

---------------
Last evening, Hotness and I had dinner with Elwood and his wife at their place.
With the weather being so warm lately, I suggested maybe something to eat that didn't involve cooking.
He suggested a cold cut and cheese platter and I thought that sounded fantastic.
He also made a wonderful pasta and smoked salmon salad.
I made a couple of salsas (corn and verde) and some fixin's for mojitos and we were set.

After we ate, we sat around and talked for bit then we broke out my JLA Monoploly game.
I had gotten it as a gift almost 10 years ago, but had never played it.
Elwood got to take the 'virgin' role of the dice to break it in, and after that it was GAME ON!

Hotness was buying up everything she landed on and ended up winning the game when Elwood and his wife had to bankrupt after landing on one of her spots.
That left me and Hotness in the game, but I'd been having a bad run of obtaining anything useful so I defaulted.
(here I am, stuck in jail)
After that, it was time to go home.

Another fun evening with both of them. It's getting to be a habit.

*** Update 07/27/09 ***
I forgot to mention that we got a guided tour of the "Toy Story" studios while we were there.
It is a sight to behold in all it's geeky majesty.
If you have not had the fortune to see it for yourself, your life as a nerd is certainly lacking!
Seriously though, it's really impressive. He has a LOT of action figures (NOT dolls!) and I was amazed that he had them all displayed without having to rotate some of them into the room while others had to be in storage.

------------------------------
Today (aside from my toilet project earlier) I watered plants on my deck.
Here's how things are coming along in the ol' container garden area:

These are my cantaloupe vines.

Here is one of the two cantaloupes I'm growing.

Here's the other. This one is the larger of them.

I'm enjoying this warm weather (even though we could really use some rain soon), because these plants really dig it when it's warm. At this rate they should mature just nicely and be very tasty when they are fully ripe.

These are my cherry tomatoes, just starting to turn color finally.

And this is my Roma tomatoes (I have two of these plants growing)

Looking forward to making some homemade sauce with these!

(Add maybe even dry some of them in the sun for pizzas! Yum!)

-------------------------------
Finally, one last photo for you:

This was sent to me on my cel phone yesterday by Jedigeorge.

He took this at San Diego Comic Con.

This girl is dressed as Julie Martin from Terry Moore's comic "ECHO".

(Now scheduled to be a major motion picture, by the way!!!)

Rock on girl! Show the Terry Moore love at the convention!

Right now, Hotness and I are heading over to our neighbor's for pizza and TV.

And that's my weekend.

Hope you all had a good time as well.

Calgary Expo & Banff

Alright, I'll try to wrap this up 'cause it's really gone on longer than I had planned on.
Besides, I'm going to see "Star Trek" this Saturday and I want to be able to talk about that after I watch it.

Sooo....
Not much sleep on Saturday night so on Sunday I was running on fumes.
Thankfully the day was less crowded and therefore less busy.
I grabbed a few people who were volunteering and they were absolutely the best help I could've asked for!
They helped get the lunches out and on time without any problems. YAY!

Palindrome hooked me up and got me a chance to have my picture taken with Jewel Staite.
Thanks man! You're awesome!

I know I look like a dork... but hey, I got my picture with her. I'm a happy camper now.

I also got a few new self-portrait sketches at the show. You can check 'em out here, but here are the artists that drew them:
Sergio Aragones

Dave Johnson

Darwyn Cooke

Bryan Lee O'Malley

Heck! You can go check out all the new sketches I got here.

I went to the auction for the pieces that were in this year's Calgary Expo Artbook to bid on a couple of pieces I had my eyes on. One of them being the Terry Moore piece.
I lost the bid on the second picture I wanted, but after a brief and heated bidding war I won the piece that I really wanted by Terry!
here he is holding it after I won it

It's currently being framed at the moment and will be hanging on my wall soon!

The show wrapped up and everybody went out to a post-show dinner before making the trek out to Banff.

On the way to the lodge, I rode with the Seattle crew (minus Technogreek) and we told some of the most awful, tasteless jokes we could think of. It was good times.

After we got to the lobby to check into our rooms, the kid behind the counter noticed that Josh Ortega was wearing a "Gears of War" T-shirt and commented about it.
When Josh told him, "I'm the guy who wrote the story for that game", that kid practically lost control of all bodily functions.
Then Josh told him who everybody was and the kid geeked out hardcore.
He came up after his shift and hung out with the group that evening and was amazed that he was surrounded by a bunch of comic book professionals. He just kept saying "WOW!".

We went to Canmore on Monday and visited an Ammolite jewelry factory.


Then we had lunch at an incredible beer brewery, the Grizzly Paw. I didn't have any beer, but I did have their hand-crafted root beer which was super-duper!

Above the door of the pub was a warning sign to watch out for bears in town.

It wasn't a joke. The bears have started to get used to seeing people so they aren't afraid to wander around downtown looking for food. In fact ALL of the garbage cans were even bear-proofed to help deter them.
We didn't see any bears on our trip, though.

That evening I watched "Machine Girl" with a few of the guests and laughed our heads off with all the ultra-violent nonsense!

On Tuesday, we went into the town of Banff (for reals, this time).
Technogreek is badass!



It comes in cans?!?



I got dropped off to do some gift buying while others went on to ride the famous gondola.

It was snowing practically the whole time we were in Canmore / Banff and on Tuesday it was not safe to run the gondolas so nobody got to experience it that day.
Instead, they texted me and we met up at another pub for a bite to eat.

Then on to the candy store for... what else? CANDY!!!!

We walked around town some more and I bought a few things for Hotness, my mom, and my niece & nephew that day and then we all headed back to the lodge for a rest.

That evening EVERYBODY headed back into Canmore for dinner at the Grizzly Paw Brewery one more time.

I had an Alberta beef dip with a side of poutine. YUM YUM!
Don't be hatin' the cheesy, gravy goodness!

I also picked up some tasty BBQ sauce that they make there.

Back at the lodge afterwards, everybody was having a good time.
It was the last evening together, and nobody wanted to go to bed.

I played "Rock Band" and "Street Fighter" on the PS3 with a few of the guests.
At one point during a game, Frank Cho walked in wearing a bathrobe (from the room) and watched everybody play for a bit.
Then suddenly, and very non-descriptly, he pulled out a package from his robe pocket and asked "Smoked salmon, anyone?".
Everybody erupted in laughter at the weirdness of it, but Frank just stood there and said, "It's really good. Try some".

After that I went back to my room where a few of the guests were drawing in each other's sketchbooks. Also, Josh Ortega and Liana K. we debating just about ANYTHING that could be debated.
They talked (and drank and talked.....) ALL through the night and into the next day.
It was fun listening to them, but man was I pooped. And I had to catch a plane home that afternoon.

We stayed at the lodge for a while that day packing up.
Some of the folks who hadn't gotten to ride the gondola the day before went back into Banff one more time since it stopped snowing.

Finally we all headed back to Calgary to go to the airport and catch our flights back home.
I remembered to take Dramamine this time, so my airplane ride was just peachy.

We got into Seattle around 6:30 p.m. (local time).
Hotness picked me and couple of other guys up and then dropped me off at my car while she continued on to drop them off where they needed.

I got home. Unpacked most of my bags. Sat down to eat with Hotness.
During dinner, I started slumping over and could barely keep my eyes open.
I finished dinner and went right to bed. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow and I slept for 12 hours straight!

I took the remaining couple of days of the week off from work to so that I didn't have to "jump into the fray" as soon as I got back.
I paid some bills, ran errands and stuff like that.

It was an awesome time but I'm glad to be back home.
I'm already looking forward to going again next year (hopefully), though.




Well, I hope I didn't bore you to death and I'm sorry it took so long to post about the trip (and that it took so MANY posts to do it).

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.

I'm Back, But Not 100% Quite Yet

The trip up to Calgary was great fun.
Got a few new sketches, some books, met a lot of cool people, and ate a lot of good food.

I'm still trying to get in the 'swing of things', and I haven't been able to sit and type up my adventurous 8 days in the Great White North just yet.
I promise that I will (complete with pictures) soon. So please bear with me if you've been waiting patiently to hear about it.

In the meantime, please notice that I added a new link over to your right.
It's the one called "Literary works of art".
A friend from Calgary has a collection of artwork that he has been accumulating over the years from different artists of their interpretations of famous literary authors, characters, or books.
It's quite a big collection and very much worth taking a look at if you have a moment.

In the meantime, I'll try to catch up on sleep and get my pictures uploaded so they'll be ready to post on here.

Be back soon.....

Hanging Out And Staying Up Late

So I'm sitting in my room at 4:00 a. m. and there are 7 other people still hanging out in here with me.
It's the last day of "vacation" in Banff and nobody wants it to end so they aren't wanting to go to bed.

I'm looking forward to coming home (sort of) and blogging about my Calgary trip, but right now I'm just killing time listening to Josh Ortega talk (and talk and talk.....) while some of the artists are drawing in each others sketch books.
There's a Latin guitar CD playing in the background with a cover of the "Spider-Man" cartoon theme on one of the tracks.

I'd like to say to I want to go to bed, but really... I don't.
This is fun.
Hanging out in the room, listening to people in the comics business just be themselves without the typical convention type of conversation.

Well, hopefully I can sneak my sketchbook onto the table and get something while they're drawing.
We'll see........

Greetings From The "Other" West

Just a brief post to fill you all in on what's been happening.

Tuesday: flew out in the late afternoon with Technogreek from Sea-Tac headed for Calgary.
The flight went fine until closer to the Calgary airport. We hit some turbulence and I started getting queasy.
Made it off the plane and after a few hours of feeling nauseous, I started to feel better. Slept well and woke up the next day feeling much better.

Wednesday: A whole lot of nothin', really.
There were incidental things to do, but not a lot. Ate breakfast around noon. Ran some errands.
Looked over the convention schedule and made changes. That kind of stuff.

Thursday: Busier day. The rest of the Seattle crew came into Calgary around 1:30 p.m.
We all started stuffing badges, mounting signs, organizing exhibitor packets, framing art (for the art auction), etc....
That night we all went out to dinner at a steak restaurant. Yummy meat! I also had a pomegranate mojito. Woo!
Got back to the house (not staying at the hotel yet) around 2:00 a.m. Yikes!
Oh! Did I mention we had dinner with James Kyson Lee? Yeah. We did. He's a nice guy. Kind of "struts" as he walks. It's funny to watch.

Today: packed up my stuff as I am actually checking into the hotel today.
I'm also spending the day in the hotel lobby greeting guests (Oh.. like Jewel Staite, Terry Moore, Margot Kidder, Bruce Timm..... expecting to meet about 100 different guests as they check in)
I've got to give them their badges and program guide for the show.
I also have to get to a bank before they show up, as I'm starting to run out of my Canadian money I brought with me. I need to exchange the rest of my American cash.
On a side note; also hoping to hit a Tim Horton's this morning as well.

Anyway, I gotta wrap this up. Heading out to the hotel in a few minutes and I gotta give this laptop back to it's rightful owner.
I'll update again if time permits.

Leavin' On A Jet Plane

But I do know when I'll be back again.

I'm all packed (early for once, can you believe it?) and just waiting until I have to leave to catch my ride to the airport.
I'm charging up my phone batteries, loading up my iPod, grabbing books and stuff I want to get signed, and just enjoying the extra time off I have from work to do all of it.

This evening Technogreek & I are flying up to Calgary a few days early before the Expo.
We'll be joined by a few other Seattle volunteer alumni in a couple more days.

Last year's trip was hard work but a fun experience.
At least this year I'll be going into it with an idea of what to expect so I don't think it'll be too bad.
Plus I'll have the added bonus of seeing Terry Moore again! (Woo-hoo!)
Hopefully I'll be bringing back some cool new art. (And not just from him)
I'm also hoping to get my picture taken with Jewel Staite, since I wasn't able to at ECCC this year, so if that works out it'll be a nice addition to my wall.

So not really anything to blog about right at the moment.
Just letting you ya'll know that I'll be offline for a few days, but to expect lots of fun pictures and a convention report when I return.
If you read this and want to text me (and have my phone number), feel free.
I won't be answering any phone calls however.

In the meantime, be good to one another and GO OUTSIDE AND ENJOY THIS AWESOME SUNSHINE!!!!

Peace out.

Emerald City Comic Con - 2009 (Pt. 2)

So where did I leave off?
Oh yeah....

After making the rounds at Dragonfish and then going to our hotel room, I was pretty wiped out.
I figured sleep was only moments away and a good night's rest was about to happen.
That is, until I crawled into bed and started coughing. And coughing. And coughing.

I got up to go to the bathroom and blow my nose and cough, but I just couldn't stop.
I didn't actually get to sleep until after 1:00 a.m. Then I woke up coughing again around 4:30 a.m.
By the time Hotness and Ren woke up, I had been awake (and coughing) for a while.
They told me I didn't have to whisper anymore but my voice was gone. I couldn't talk above a whisper. Oh wonderful.

I didn't go for breakfast that morning, so I just grabbed a banana (potassium!) and headed over to the convention center. My mom was coming to the show early that day and I wanted to greet her and get her in as soon as she arrived.
Also we'd had some 'snags' with lunch delivery to the guests and I wanted to find out what the plan for the day was going to be. Turned out there wasn't one yet when I showed up.

I handed out a few miscellaneous comics to the people waiting in line to get in and then went and met my mom down in the lobby.
I showed her around until it was about 10:00 a.m. then left her to wander the floor while I attended to my duties.

I'm not going to go into great detail about Sunday, but it was not as pleasant a day as the second day usually is.
There were quite a few SNAFUs that prevented me from doing what I do properly, and it made me feel like I wasn't doing a good job.
Overall though, all the guests, attendees and exhibitors I spoke with had a great time and really love coming to Seattle for this show. So ultimately, things worked out well.

I didn't get around to see as many people as I had planned on doing, so I got only a couple of signatures. But I was able to add to my self-portrait sketchbook a little and I got a sweet piece of original art (which I haven't scanned yet, but will shortly). I also picked up a few new books and I got all three of the limited prints I had my heart set on getting. So I guess I can't complain.

Having been on my feet ALL DAY and talking (which further strained my cough-strained vocal chords), I was absolutely wiped out when the show ended.
I met up with Hotness and she was pretty much spent as well. Since she had to work the next day (which entails getting up early), we decided to skip the after-show festivities and go straight home.
From some of the pictures I've seen of the party, it figures that the one time we miss out on the dinner is the one time that the media guests actually went. *sigh!* Oh well.

I'm feeling much better and my feet don't ache as much, but my voice is still gone. It doesn't help that I talk on the phone all day at work, so it's not getting a chance to rest and heal.
I may not be singing any Ozzy tunes at the next Rock Band party any time soon at this rate.

Hotness, on the other hand is teetering on the verge of coming down with Con SARS. So she's taking it easy and hoping that rest will help to ward it off.
I'm still dosing up on echinacea, zinc and vitamin C just to give my system enough boost to get rid of this lingering cold.
I still have 2 weeks until I leave for Calgary and I don't want to sound like Rod Stewart.

So the show is over now and is just a memory.
I've got Calgary coming up, so I'll regale you with another con report soon.
In the meantime, I hope you are all well and if you made it to the show let me know.

Emerald City Comic Con - 2009

The show is over, I've rested up a bit, and I'm now ready to share.

It's a long post, folks. Better be prepared to read for a while.

Friday I got up early with Hotness and packed the car for the weekend.

She had to work a half-day, so I went into work with her until it was time to head into Seattle.

We got to Seattle and checked into the hotel.

Whoa! It was a sweet room and the service was great. Looking forward to staying here again.

I took surprisingly few pictures this year, but I wish I'd gotten some of the room.

The bathroom was H-U-G-E!

After unpacking, we met up with Steph before going to the convention center. While we were in the lobby I saw Filip Sablik (from Top Cow). He had just gotten in as well, so we decided to grab some lunch together.

We ate at the Daily Grill and had some really yummy food.

Then it was time to meet up with everyone at the convention center.

Quite a few of the volunteers had already gotten there and were busy stuffing a few give-away bags and organizing the registration area.

Hotness and went our separate ways about that point. She stayed to talk and catch up with some of the volunteers while I went in to check out the floor layout and get familiar with where everything was. I also wanted to see who was here and possibly give some of the gifts I had for guests if they were around.

As luck would have it, Brian Pulido was there setting up his booth. When he was here a couple years back, we'd talked about bands we were into and I told him about my collection of concert bootlegs.

So this year I made him copies of Black Sabbath w/ Ozzy from 1978, and w/ Ronnie James Dio from 1980. I also made a copy of a concert right before Van Halen's debut album and one of Aerosmith in 1990. (All of which our some of my favorites). I even found a few mp3s of a band called Beatallica and made up a CD of them for him to check out.

Lastly, I remembered that he and his wife really liked sushi so I printed up a list of restaurants near the convention center for him.

He was pleased as punch to receive all of the gifts and really surprised that I had even remembered talking about it.

That night a group of us wanted to get some drinks and then food (in that order).

We went to Von's for martinis. we were sitting at the table when I noticed Stephen Silver come in. He recognized me from Calgary last year, so I went up to say "hi" before he got a table.

When the waitress arrived it was a round of alcohol for everybody. Not having anything to eat really put the alcohol into my system quickly. When she came back and asked if we wanted anything else I ordered another drink, but I wasn't able to finish it as I was REALLY starting to feel it now. It was an absinthe, and man that stuff is strong!

I could only finish half of it before I knew I'd better quit or else face dire consequences.

We walked up the block and had dinner at the Daily Grill, where more people joined up in our group.

There was about 12 of us just sitting around eating and drinking and having a great time.

By the way, look at the size of this pot pie somebody ordered! It's freaking GINORMOUS!

It was getting late, so we all went back to our hotel rooms and sleep (as best as we could) for the convention the next day.

On our way to the room, four of us popped into Ruth's Chris Steakhouse to see who might be hanging around and we ran into Ted Naifeh and a friend.

He was hilarious and since Hotness was really hoping to meet him at the show, this was a geek moment for her.

--------------------------------------

On Saturday morning I met up and had breakfast with Chris B. at the Dragonfish.

Then went back to the hotel to gather up my stuff.

The show opened at 10:00 a.m. I got the the convention center around 8:30 and there was already a very large line waiting to get in.

We had a brief meeting (the guest service volunteers) and then went about waiting until the show began.

Guests started trickling in and I introduced myself to the new ones and reacquainted myself with the ones who'd been here before.

Some of them I had brought gifts for, so I wanted to make sure and give them to them before I got too busy and forgot.

I saw Colleen Coover and Paul Tobin who were very nice. I gave Paul a copy of an out of print Tom Jones CD, since we're both big fans, and told him how much I was enjoying his books. I hadn't read any of his stuff the prior year, so he was glad to hear that I since we last met.

Rob Liefeld was just getting settled in at his both, when I stopped by to say hello and leave a bag

of mini Snickers for him. I remembered that he was a big candy junky last time he was here, so he was really glad I had brought them for him.

Mike & Miriam were back and I brought them a copy of a U2 concert from Israel in 1997.

Next to them was Jim Mahfood. When I saw him in Calgary last year, I told him I'd get copies of some of the mashups I've collected to him. Taking a cue from this, I made my own version with over 100 different mashups and remixes. He was suitably impressed and I'm looking forward to hearing how he liked the music when he gets the chance.

I also met back up with Gene Ha and Stuart Immonen, who both remembered me from Calgary last year. Dan Brereton and his wife. Steve Rolston (who I remembered to bring Red Bull drinks for). Stephen Sadowski and partner. Jeff Parker. And quite a few others.

When 10:00 a.m. came around, the doors opened and the attendees poured in.

After that it was a blur of activity.

I'd like to tell you a lot of interesting stories while I was on the floor, but to be honest it went by really fast and I was extremely busy.

We had some trouble getting drinks in for the guests, so that was a hurdle that had to be jumped. Not to mention trying to get the lunch orders handed out and picked back up in time to get the guests their lunches. It was a busy, busy day.

When 6:00 p.m. came and the Saturday show was over, the guests headed out to do their own thing while the volunteers and staff went to do theirs.

Hotness was working with the media guests, so I really didn't get to see her much during the day.

She made some loose plans for us to have dinner with friends, and then possibly followed up with having drinks with the BSG guys if they made it out of their rooms for the night.

We had dinner at Daily Grill which was fantastic and followed it up with sushi and drinks at Dragonfish. The BSG guys never showed up, but many of the other volunteers made their way over to Dragonfish later in the evening so there were a few "pockets" of us scattered throughout the restaurant. I made my way among each of them seeing how their day went and so on.

A long day followed by a long evening, so we thought we'd go back to our room and sleep before Sunday rolled around.

And right about now, I realize this is getting extremely long-winded. So I'm going to cut it off here and I'll follow up with the second day of the show in another day or two.

Convention Time - Seattle Version

Well, this is it.
It's time once again for the Emerald City Comic Convention.

I'll be volunteering at the show, as will Hotness, so I'll be "off-the-grid" for the next few days.

Look for my report of the show, complete with pictures and hopefully a bunch of new art next week after I recover.

If you're coming out to the show, make sure to say "hi"when you're there.

Be back soon!......

Busy, Exciting Weekend

Wow!

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend full of fun.

I kicked it off Friday night by hanging out at my buddy Imperfect's place and playing with my niece and nephew. (Mostly my niece, though)

"Uncle Ferretnick dance with me. Uncle Ferretnick let's make a (pretend) cake. Uncle Ferretnick spin me around. Uncle Ferretnick read me a bedtime story."

We shared a pizza that I brought and although I didn't get to share the magic that is Wonder Woman with her, we had a lot of fun!

--------------

On Saturday, Hotness & I ran some errands which included picking up prezzies for George & Elwood for their combined birthday party Rockbandapalooza.

That was just all kinds of good time wrapped up in a big fluffy bow.... with cake!

Here are some random pics from the night:

I can't sing, so finding me willingly doing it is like finding a unicorn pissing rainbows on Feb. 29th*.

But sing I did, and not just one song but TWO!

I managed to belt out "War Pigs" and "N.I.B." both by Black Sabbath.

I think Ozzie would've said "Wh-wh-wh-what the bleedin' hell, mate? My head f***kin' hurts now!"

The birthday party was a blast, and both of the guys got a bunch of awesome gifts.

Hotness and I cut out sometime around 11:30 and headed home.

----------------------------

Then on Sunday we slept in late and woke up to snow. Again. In Spring. Yeesh!

We kind of stumbled around the house until close to noon, when we left to head into Lynnwood for the second volunteer meeting for this year's ECCC.

We got our job assignments, this year's volunteer T-shirt, stuffed a butt-load of 'give-away' bags and just hung the around the shop having a good time with each other.

Afterwards, some of the group took off for a fuel-injected overdrive movie-fest, while others of us went over to Red Robin for burgers and alcohol. (Mmmm... Bailey's shake)

There were 5 different groups of people celebrating their birthdays, and we seemed to be in the middle of all the cheering and yelling.

When we were all finished, everyone parted ways and Hotness & I drove south to Seattle to meet up with her brother (who is on his way back to Hawaii) and his lady friend.

They were waiting for us at Gasworks Park, which I've never been to before... even though I'm a native from here.

It was getting dark when we showed up, but I still managed to get a few pictures:

We hung out for a bit until it started getting too chilly, then we left them to go home.

On our way, we stopped in at Pomodoro to see one of the waitresses we know and show her Hotness's new engagement ring.

After that, it was finally time to go home.

And when we go there we hit the sack hard and slept harder.

*Whew!*

And now I'm coming down with a cold... yippee, just in time for the convention this weekend.

I'm dosing up on echinacea and vitamin C. I am determined to power through the rest of this week and be okay for the show. Time will tell.....

* This has become my new favorite saying for things that are extremely improbable.