Weekend update/ AggieCon trip report

Friday:

Up at 4:15 am
Out of the house by 5 a.m.
In Anderson Texas by 7 to take pictures of the Grimes County Courthouse
Leave via FM149
FM 3090
FM 105 West
FM 390
Independence, Tx.
FM 390
Gay Hill, Tx.
FM 390
Longpoint Rd (passed by a place we stayed at as a B&B a long time ago.
FM 1948
LBJ Drive
????
Caldwell, Tx  : picked up some kolaches that turned out to be horrible
Not certain of the roads taken from here
College Station
Hullabaloo Diner for lunch
Hilton
Check in at AggieCon
A couple of panels
Pictures on campus
Dinner at a Mexican joint on Villa Maria

Saturday:

Breakfast in Iola, Tx, about 30 minutes from College Station
A couple of panels at the con
Dinner at Burger House in Bryan.  Disappointing.

Sunday:

Up for early departure
Breakfast in Navasota : Filling Station Diner and Cafe
Drive on home
Electrical work at the rental
Mowed the lawn

Weekend update - Aggiecon Trip Report

Friday:

Left the house bright and early so that I would have plenty of time to take wildflower pictures on the way up
Stopped at several places, but the day was overcast so the light wasn't great
Made it to the College Station Hilton and sat at the LoneStarCon3 table for a while
Checked in to the hotel, got a room on the top floor.
More sitting at the table
Dinner at J. Cody's Barbeque in Bryan.  Won't be back

Saturday

Breakfast at IHOP in College Station, won't be back.
More sitting at the table
Got George R. R. Martin's signature on my copy of "A Game of Thrones"
Dinner at Los Molcajetes in Bryan
Took traffic pictures on TX 47

Sunday

Breakfast at Kettle in Bryan, wanted to go to Hullaballoo Diner in Wellborn, but they don't open until 9 a.m.
More sitting at the table
Helped the Art Show tear down and brought their clamps home for use with LSC3
Drove home in less than 2 hours.  Traffic was moving

Weekend update - AggieCon weekend

Friday:

Up bright and early to head to College Station for AggieCon
Took the scenic route and took lots of bluebonnet pictures

Got to Aggiecon, got the badge, wandered around the Art Show and in various panels
Got a call from La Quinta telling me they'd oversold the hotel and were putting me up for the night at Super 8 on their dime. w00t!
Dinner at Los Nortenos, except they'd gone out of business, so it was at Pappa Perez' instead. Disappointing.

Saturday:

Breakfast at ihop
More panels at AggieCon
Chatted with AD about borrowing their panels and steel.
A few photos of the campus for K.
Dinner at Hullabaloo Diner in Wellborn - good stuff
Arrived home around 8:30 p.m.

Sunday:

Pen turning
NCAA basketball Men's and Women's
Dinner with the in-laws

Aggiecon 42 - Don't Panic - a summary

This weekend was the 42 edition of Aggiecon and it was my 29th consecutive time to go to the con.  It was held at the College Station Hilton.  Not my favorite place for the con, but while the MSC is under construction, it'll have to do.

I left for the con bright and early Friday morning, as is my tradition.  This year, I skipped breakfast.  There were a couple of cafes on the way to College Station that I was going to try instead of grabbing donuts from Shipley's.  Up 45 and onto the Beltway, zooming around Houston without too much traffic.  Zigging off onto 290 and zagging onto Hwy 6.

At this point, the bluebonnets and other flowers starting showing up, so I stopped a couple of times to take pictures.  Here are a few of the images I captured:

I drove on up to Navasota and found the place I wanted to try for breakfast, but it was closed.  The next stop was Wellborn for the Hullabaloo Diner, but they were closed, too.  So, I ended up skipping breakfast, and lunch, for the day.

I made it on in to CS and the con hotel.  I got my badge and then checked into the hotel.  I then caught the tail end of the "Don't Panic" panel, which was the welcome to AggieCon panel.  I chilled in the reading nook for a while with Elizabeth Moon's "Kings of the North", occasionally chatting with folks who stopped by.

Around 3, I dropped into "Have all good ideas been done?" where it was the unanimous consensus that the answer was "no."  The next panel was "Steampunk Jewelry" where they discussed where to get gears, glue types, resins, molds, silicone, etc.  An informative panel.

Time for a little more reading and then off to dinner at Los Nortenos with Bill P.  Back to the hotel afterwards for a brief respite before hitting the "Texas in 2013" party.  Then to bed.

Up early and off to the Kettle for breakfast, some more reading and then some panels.  First of the day was a reading by Matthew Bey and then the "Airship GOH" panel.

The third panel was "How to get started selling your artwork" where I chimed in with a few tidbits.  A couple hours break for some more reading of "Kings of the North" and then off to listen to Kim Kofmel read a couple of stories.

Double Dave's for dinner, "Sucker Punch" at the local theatre, a couple of parties and then off to bed again.

Up early Sunday morning and on the road back to Houston.  Overall, a much better con than last year's
 and probably the most panels I've been to in a long time.

Weekend update

Friday:

Up at the normal time to head off to College Station for Aggiecon.
Stopped a couple of times along the way to try for pictures of the wildflowers.  I think I got one or two that are half-decent.
I'd hoped to get breakfast in Waller or Wellborn, but neither of the places were open when I drove by.  The Wellborn place didn't open up until 11 am.
Dinner was at Los Nortenos with Bill P.

Saturday:

Breakfast at Kettle
Aggiecon
Dinner at DoubleDave's

Sunday

Up early to head home as no panels interested me
Brunch at Birra Poretti's
NCAA basketball
Folded flyers for Armadillocon Art Show
Put some polyurethane on the Art Show box
Did some preliminary filtering of the wildflower pictures I took over the weekend.

More info on Aggiecon will follow, hopefully tonight.

Aggiecon 40

I've gone to this convention since 1984, I think. Most of the past years I've flown this convention solo. This year both K. and I made it. It was our first convention together in a number of years. We also brought several friends from Friendswood with us.

It was a weak convention, and appears to have some life-threatening wounds, but it still can be saved. It will take a lot of education of Cepheid members to save the con. There is plenty of knowledge in the ranks of former Cepheids. There was a Cepheid Muster during the con, but since I was never a Cepheid, I can't report on what was said/not said.

The panels were weak. There was about 1.5 tracks worth of programming. It shut down at 7 pm on Friday and had very little going on late Saturday.

The guest list was very limited. They did a very poor job with the guest, I think. The main media guest was probably wondering why she came, although the friend we brought up with us was interested in listening to her.

The dealer's room was a vast wasteland with not a book dealer to be seen. The middle of the dealer's room was used for gaming tables. Willie may have missed his first Aggiecon ever.

The Art Show was good by Aggiecon standards. I think sales were relatively good. There were actually some I thought of purchasing.

I would really like for former students to take over running the con. That doesn't accomplish a goal of educating new conrunners, but it would keep the con running. It might also make the con tougher to run since it might not be possible to use the MSC as the venue.

I will continue to go to Aggiecon as long as they hold it. It is my main excuse to go back to A&M at least once a year. It's an opportunity to see vast fields of bluebonnets and to eat at Los Nortenos.

I wish they'd quit selling only black t-shirts. It's been a long time since I've wanted to buy an Aggiecon t-shirt. Maybe 15 years?

K. came up with an idea for a website that I might try to implement. The below pictures are part of the inspiration:

Aggie football

We got outscored in the first game of the season. Unfortunately, I did not manage to listen to the game. I though it was on 950AM, but when I went to that station, it had the Texas Tech game.

We'll get 'em this week.

beat the hell outta the Lobos!

Aggiecon 39

I've been going to this con since, I think, #14. Definitely since #15. So, I was determined to go, even with my twisted ankle.

In fact, it's probably better that I was limited in mobility than not. If I'd been more mobile, I would likely have been more disappointed in the con, overall.

The number of panels that were of interest was small. The number of author guests was small. That was probably a fallout from inviting someone to be Guest of Honor and then uninviting them. A number of folks heard about it and decided not to make the trip to College Station.

I spent most of my time behind the F.A.C.T. table, "helping" the Siros brothers. I got some reading done and a bunch of visiting, too. Given that I paid for a hotel room and entry into the con, it was a fiscally irresponsible weekend if you consider the number of panels I attended (3). I did not compound the issue by buying stuff in the Dealer's Room. This was my first con ever where I did not buy something in either the Art Show or the Dealer's Room. Amazing.

The Art Show was an interesting study in censorship this year. According to rumor, the Texas A&M Board of Regents was having their occasional meeting in the MSC this weekend. The MSC, wishing to avoid a confrontation with the Regents, told the art show folks to cover up any visible "naughty bits". They did so, under a bit of protest, with blue tape. A large number of con attendees subsequently taped over their own naughty bits with blue tape in protest.

I heard a rumor that the con chair's husband had did of an aneurysm recently. That would certainly adversely affect the planning for the con. The con seemed to be run fairly well over the weekend.

I hope they learn a lot from this one, because I'm actually considering not going in the future. It's the only guaranteed time during the year that I make it back to my alma mater. And I really enjoy going to College Station. It's a nice drive and a nice town. I need to additional incentive of a con to get me off the dime and get up there.