Here is a screenshot of my full dalek model in lightwave

Classes started today at my university. The only class I've had so far is Intro to Music, and since I'm going to D'Argo Con (Dragon Con) tomorrow morning, I won't have any of the others until I return next week. Aside from that, all that I did today was work.

One of the two main hotels is supposed to have wireless internet access. The other merely has “high speed internet access”. Either way, there's a good chance I'll be able to post from the room, in which case you should expect to see daily reports on the con, starting Friday (unless there's a way we can post from Ray's dad's house, where we will be Thursday night) and ending Monday (when I have to come back).

Today we travelled to Atlanta for Dragon Con.

Departure: About town a quarter after 10 am. A caravan of four cars, eight people, and at least two video game systems. We were connected by radio and cellphone.

First Stop: Restroom break near Jellico Mountain around 12:30.

Second Stop: We ate lunch about 1:15pm at a Wendy's outside Knoxville. I bought some baseball caps.

Third Stop: Restroom break at a rest area between Knoxville and Chattanooga about 2:30.

Arrival: Got to Ray's dad's a little before 5:30pm. Just before it started storming. Maybe it'll be cooler than it was on the way down here.

It is 6:30 as I write this, and Ray's dad is grilling out. Later, I think we are planning to go downtown to get our registration over with. I'll have to post this when I get access to the internet.

It is now 9:26 am and people are starting to wake up, claim the showers and eat. Last night after my first post, we went to the host hotels around 10 and go through registration. Registration was … big. We waited in line upstairs to wait in line downstairs … to wait in line in the ballroom. Or at least everyone else did.

My brother and I didn't have to stand in line for the last bit, since he bought our tickets through ticketmaster. We pretty much filled out a form and walked up to the desk. Of course, we still had to wait around for everyone else to make it through the long, winding line, which took an hour and a half. That'll teach 'em to pre-register!

The Hyatt is pretty cool, especially the core elevators (glass pods with workings visible by visitors out in the lobby). They go up into the ceiling and down into the floor at the extremes. According to others, the Mariott Marquis (our hotel) is even better. I've seen pictures of the interior of the Hyatt, but not of the Mariott.

By the time we got back last night, I was too tired to hook up the laptop and write this entry, especially once I got out of the shower. Got in bed finally around 1. I will write a separate entry covering our further exploits for today later.

Day 2 began around 11am when we left Ray's dads. Once we got to the hotel, we proceeded to embark upon an epic quest to find parking, the valet parking being full. As it turns out, the front of my car is visible from my hotel room on the 23rd floor.

Finally we entered the con proper. The Marquis is, indeed, cooler than the Hyatt. It's like being inside a dragon's ribcage, appropriately enough. I took a few pictures, and then realized that James Marsters was walking past approximately ten feet away from me (being escorted to his panel). I tried to snap a pic, but my camera is somewhat slow to react at times, so he had gotten partway around an obstacle before it worked. Once the rest of the party joined us, we went to that panel. It was entertaining, as expected.

After that, we came back to the room for food and such, then hit the dealer's room and exhibitor's hall. I'm not new to meeting celebrities, but DragonCon has a higher percentage of those that I feel an attachment to: James Marsters, Peter Woodward, Bill Mumy, Robin Atkin Downes, etc.

Merchandise purchased so far: 1 copy of Phil Brucato's new game Deleria, signed. 1 pair of Ether Goggle type goggles.

Also saw part of a demo reel of White Wolf's new Vampire game at their exhibit. (I'm more interested in the fact that it uses the Half-life 2 Source Engine than the game itself, but it did look pretty cool.)

As we came back to the room after the dealer's room, who should pop into our elevator but Peter Woodward? He is apparently staying two floors below us.

My basic assessment of Dragon Con so far: too damned many people. But otherwise pretty cool. The entirety of Midsouth Con would probably be smaller than the audience that was at James Marsters' panel.

Update (circa 11:30pm): After bumming around the room not feeling energetic enough to go to the things that I had planned to go to, Chris and Jenna finally decided around 9 to go to the Buffy Horror Picture Show (sing along with “Once more with feeling”). I decided to go with them. (We were going to hit the pool, but decided to give it a miss for now.)

Once we walked over to the Hyatt, we discovered that there was a line directly in front of the doors. So we got in line. And waited. And waited. And waited. People were squeezing in close. People were walking both ways in the rest of the somewhat narrow hall where the line was located, so security kept telling us to move closer to the “wall” (doors). 45 minutes later, they decided to make a gap in the line a few people ahead of us, to unblock the doors. Con security, hotel security, and the Atlanta Police Department all gradually came into the area.

Finally, the line started moving. Then came the word: the room was full to capacity and we had to disperse. They told us they would run it again in 45 minutes so everyone could see it. We could go out or go in, but we couldn't stay (nevermind that the line would reform for the next showing.) So we dispersed and started walking towards the back of the line.

On top of that annoyance, a few moments later we turned around to see that they were letting people that had been standing behind us go into the room, since they apparently miscounted and had space after all. Needless to say, several of us were highly annoyed at this.

Jenna and Randy went to the con suite and to catch Bill Mumy's concert (which I was gonna go to, but having just gone to the Hyatt and returned disappointed, I no longer have the energy.)

I am up and ready for Day 3. Unfortunately, nobody else except Ray is up, and my first panel is not for another hour. :)

More later.

Randy and I just returned to the room. Jenna and I saw Peter Woodward's Conquest panel this morning, which was quite amusing. He repeated the bullriding demonstration that he gave last year which had us all choking with laughter, and his emphasis of the dirty words in his talk by pointedly pausing to watch the sign language interpreter's rendition was very funny.

After, we went to the Dealer's room, where she wanted to get some autographs. As we were standing in front of Stephen Furst's table, who should walk up behind us but TV's Claudia Christian. Apparently, she was added at the last second, possibly for today only (not sure).

The line getting more crushing, I decided to do some more shopping while Jenna got her signatures, but couldnt find anything I simply had to have in the Dealer's room. So I went to the Exhibitor's hall for awhile, with much the same result. Finally, I went over to the art show. Then Randy walked up as I was waiting on the elevator, and we went back to the room. Sat around for awhile, then I wanted some food, so we went to get some then hit the Dealer's room again.

Sigh. The only thing I've bought today is a camera strap and food. If anything, it seems like I'm less motivated to buy stuff here at Dragon Con than I usually am at MidSouth. Not because I don't want to, but just because I haven't found anything massively exciting. Of course, many of the companies whose products I want to check out don't seem to be here: Eden (Angel) and Mongoose (new B5 stuff), AEG (Stargate), and Spectrum (Cartoon Action Hour).

Stuff that I've been looking for: a Centauri hairpiece, a monocle, and a decent top hat. Have yet to see any of that for sale. I know I could probably buy all of it online, but it just seems wrong somehow. Perhaps I'll buy Orpheus, or Icehouse stuff.

Even the art show is not immune to this phenomenon. I've seen lots of artists whose names I've taken down (or cards/bookmarks grabbed), but only one piece I've actually bid on so far. There was another I would have bought a print of, but the original was the only thing I found (The Storyteller, by Stephanie Pui-mun Law).

Although I'm interested in seeing many of the guests, I have yet to get any autographs. On the other hand, the lines are insane. Guests spotted to date (in no particular order): Anthony Simcoe (D'argo/Farscape), Walter Koenig (Bester/B5), Mira Furlan (Delenn/B5), Stephen Furst (Vir/B5), Peter Woodward (Galen/Crusade), Tony Amendola (Bratac/SG1), Richard Hatch (Apollo/BSG), Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers), Bill Mumy (Lennier/B5), Noah Hathaway (Boxey/BSG), Danny Strong (Jonathan/Buffy), Tom Wilson (Biff/BttF), James Marsters (Spike/Buffy), Herbert Jefferson (Boomer/BSG), and Robin Atkin Downes (Byron/B5). Haven't seen Christopher Judge (Teal'c/SG1), Lani Tupu (Crais/Farscape), Andy Hallett (Lorne/Angel).

I haven't even been to comic artist's alley.

I dunno.

As I write this (in the text editor, since the wireless is off at a panel or something) it is raining outside. Got to watch the storm roll in over the last half hour or so. Got some hopefully useful pics of it. I've taken more pictures of the view out the window and the interior of the hotel than I have of the actual con.

Incidentally, I have to go back around noon Monday, so I won't be covering the entire con on here.

May go swimming later.

Nothing much new to report. Tomorrow is my last full day. Just got back from a too-expensive dinner in the Mariott's tacky sports-bar a little while ago, just in time to catch a firework show out the window (from the Stadium, we assume).

I went to the exhibit hall after I wrote my previous report, just to try to catch it before it closed. Didn't buy anything, but I got a demo of Zendo by the Looney Labs people just before the hall closed. My ennui about buying stuff is fading, but slowly.

Got an update on the situation with the non-existant Deleria CD. (The CDs weren't up to snuff, and are being redone.) Apparently the info is being placed on the Laughing Pan website for the time being.

Technically, this is day 4, but actually I'm still up from Day 3. This entry lists my event plans for tomorrow.

• 10 am - Life in the Village (Prisoner) or Uncovering a Parametric Universe (Art). Might actually give these a miss.

• 11:30 - Jaffa! (Sg1) or Overcoming Artist's Block. Probably go to the Jaffa! panel, though I'll feel guilty for skipping yet another art panel.

• 1 pm - Go to get lunch and visit dealer's area and such again.

• 2:30 - The Ambassador will see you now (B5) or Doctor Who: 40 years in the TARDIS. Most likely I will go to the B5 panel, as I've only see the B5 guests in passing so far.

• 4:00 - Egyptology and Anthropology SG-1 style. I'll probably have to leave early to give the art show one last pass (making sure I haven't been outbid and if I want anything else).

• 5:30 - The Man, the Mage, the Historian (Peter Woodward) or the Art Show. Most likely go to Peter's panel

I skipped the 10am panels and went to the Exhibit hall and art show again. Picked up Zendo and a print of The Storyteller by Stephanie Law, and someone at wizkids gave me a free clicky figure. Then I went to the Jaffa! panel with Christopher Judge and Tony Amendola. Chris is quite amusing.

Now I'm about to go retrieve money and lunch before I go to the B5 panel.