Gencon 2011

[SirFozzie]

Heh: Weird fact: I've never seen a shower (no tub, instead a glassed in standing shower) with three shower heads (the normal shower head and two set in the wall)

[SirFozzie]

holy shit.. avoid will call.. line stretches OUT the door past the old exhibit hall

[SirFozzie]

For the people showing up for the auction, this is the tentative schedule:

http://livegameauctions.com/2011/2011Schedule.png

(would post it as an image but it breaks the forum format)

[cubboyroy1826]

Thanks Fozzie what room is the auction located in?

[SirFozzie]

according to the GenCon book, 130-133

[SirFozzie]

Up early, time to head over to the VIG lounge to get my supersize swag bag and get ready to head into the Dealer's Hall early

[SirFozzie]

So, finished my first (expensive) run:

Picked up the new Blood Bowl Card/Board Game (played a demo, and it's really fun.. supports 2-4 players on the box, but you can easily make it a six player game.), bunch of Battletech, Shadowrun, etcetera

Definitely want to find you guys for a round of Blood Bowl etcetera at some point.

[SirFozzie]

Question: Anyone up to catching an Indy Indians game tommorrow or saturday?

[sterlingice]

I might be game for the Indians. I think I'd prefer Friday to Saturday but I haven't put much thought into it.

SI

[sterlingice]

So anyone doing anything crazy or getting together today? I'm kindof shooting to go tomorrow and wouldn't mind meeting up for a bit but I can adjust those plans if they don't fit others' plans

SI

[SirFozzie]

I was thinking about seeing some of the, ahem, late night entertainment tonight or tommorrow, but meh.. not anything huge.

[sterlingice]

Ok, I'm heading out and should be there by 11 (need to make a stop along the way). I'm all for at least getting together, even if just for a few minutes and going "hey, everyone" this afternoon on the show floor. I may be texting a couple of you if I haven't heard anything just to see if there's any interest

SI

[CrimsonFox]

Mustang is a BIDDING MACHINE!

[sterlingice]

The biggest reason I wish I had gone on a day other than a Sunday was to watch that auction.

I really enjoyed walking around on the floor today but ran out of stuff to do a couple of hours in and was just kindof exploring at that point. If I had gone and maybe played in some Magic booster draft and jumped into an RPG, I could easily see filling up a full day and then some.

SI

[SirFozzie]

wish we had met up, I dunno what to do with the Magic and YGO boosters that were in the VIG Swag bag

[sterlingice]

I don't know much about YGO but I did stand in line to have a card made. Actually, I asked the guy in front of me if I could use his image- he had a cardboard cutout of the most interesting man in the world (from the Dos Equis ad) so I now have a YGO card with the most interesting man in the world

SI

[CrimsonFox]

Didn't meet anyone except Mustang. Cool guy. First actual FO person I've met. Not at all a scary freak.

Re: Auction. I'm so sick of auctions now heh. worked way too much at it. Actually got to auctioneer on Thursday morning and the superfast Saturday morning. Was a blast. Most of the other time I worked in the store.

[SirFozzie]

you might have been one of the guys there when I popped in around 11:30 on Saturday, CF.

Yeah, next year we'll need to make concrete plans.

BTW, finishing review of JW Marriott:

5 star looks, 2 star result, but 5 star people.

In the four and a half days I've been here I've had the following list of issues:

A) The TV went out hotel-wide, and my TV did not come back when the rest of the hotel did..

B) The iHome combination alarm clock/ipod holder needed maintenance to fix, as the clock had somehow got on the wrong time, and they actually put the ability to change the clock behind a "lock" that you need a screwdriver to get off.

C) I put in a thursday wake up call at 7:30 through the TV system. They never called, and I nearly missed the bonus hour of the dealer's hall. (Because I was till trying to find out how to change the clock in B before calling Maintenance)

D) The toilet was constantly running for hours and hours on end, requiring a maintenance call to fix.

E) The wireless phone from the room next door was swapped with mine (so I had 2227's phone, and I had 2229)

F) The $15/day internet on signed me off their network every five minutes, redirecting me to the login page, and making me reenter my passcode.

The people were great, they were at my room within 10-15 minutes of each issue, and they gave me a $15 credit, and for the internet issue, two free days of the service. However, no matter how great they were , I didn't want to call them any more by the end. I did put in a request at the main desk to thank them for being so prompt and nice.. but I did want to also say that the number of issues I faced was not acceptable.

[CrimsonFox]

I think I was done auctioning at 11 so I was either taking a break or more likely I was up on the podium writing for the other auctioneer.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

you might have been one of the guys there when I popped in around 11:30 on Saturday, CF.

Yeah, next year we'll need to make concrete plans.

BTW, finishing review of JW Marriott:

5 star looks, 2 star result, but 5 star people.

In the four and a half days I've been here I've had the following list of issues:

A) The TV went out hotel-wide, and my TV did not come back when the rest of the hotel did..

B) The iHome combination alarm clock/ipod holder needed maintenance to fix, as the clock had somehow got on the wrong time, and they actually put the ability to change the clock behind a "lock" that you need a screwdriver to get off.

C) I put in a thursday wake up call at 7:30 through the TV system. They never called, and I nearly missed the bonus hour of the dealer's hall. (Because I was till trying to find out how to change the clock in B before calling Maintenance)

D) The toilet was constantly running for hours and hours on end, requiring a maintenance call to fix.

E) The wireless phone from the room next door was swapped with mine (so I had 2227's phone, and I had 2229)

F) The $15/day internet on signed me off their network every five minutes, redirecting me to the login page, and making me reenter my passcode.

The people were great, they were at my room within 10-15 minutes of each issue, and they gave me a $15 credit, and for the internet issue, two free days of the service. However, no matter how great they were , I didn't want to call them any more by the end. I did put in a request at the main desk to thank them for being so prompt and nice.. but I did want to also say that the number of issues I faced was not acceptable.

wow that's horrible! and that hotel is brand new. What a shitty deal! Luckily I was in the embassy. free breakfast

[sterlingice]

I was curious if this was representative of the hotel and it sounds more like you got the lemon room, Foz. Trip Advisor has 74 ratings and all are 3-5 with 56 at 5 and a 97% approval rating. Usually with the cost of the hotel being what it is there, you'll get a lot more sour ratings due to higher expectations but it looks like you just got the short straw

SI

[SirFozzie]

Yeah, the GenCon Hotel thread (which I posted my review to) was prett ymuch positive, although they also had some good points (no ice machine on each floor, you either had to go to the "ice room" on the 2nd floor or call At Your Service to send a guy with a bag of ice.)

http://community.gencon.com/forums/t/27316.aspx

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

Mustang is a BIDDING MACHINE!

*L*

Actually I was pretty reserved this year.

Hey.. this guy look familiar (the guy to the right holding up the boards). This wasn't my video.. just one I found. Although I think I was directly behind this guy because he pans way left and then way right and you don't see me and I was on that side of the room. Funny thing is the Which Witch game they were talking about at the end I won.

[Mustang]

Bah. Didn't get a chance to meet up with anyone other than Crimson. Although, I didn't know it was him, my first introduction to him was me winning a bid and him holding up a stuff bird saying 'You get a caw. CAW CAW!"

Auction sucked up all my time this year save for Friday night and I had a horrible headache so, didn't text anyone. Actually went to bed way early.

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

In the four and a half days I've been here I've had the following list of issues:

I don't think you were alone, I heard several people talking about issues. One hotel even had the water shut off for 6 hours due to street maintenance one day.

[SirFozzie]

Yeah, one of the biggest con weeks around, and they're doing major resurfacing downtown. What's 36,000 people to traffic patterns anyway :P

[Grammaticus]

I was at the JW Marriott. Everything was okay, no issues. I didn't stay in the room much though. The TV was always working. I don't like the AC being motion sensor activated. It made the room too hot when I got back. It also made it a little too warm over night.

It's funny how the cheaper hotels all offer free WiFi and the more expensive ones charge about $15 / day.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by Mustang

*L*

Actually I was pretty reserved this year.

Hey.. this guy look familiar (the guy to the right holding up the boards). This wasn't my video.. just one I found. Although I think I was directly behind this guy because he pans way left and then way right and you don't see me and I was on that side of the room. Funny thing is the Which Witch game they were talking about at the end I won.

heh yeah that was me during a writing shift and lucky me I picked vintage game shift complete with vintage fucking dust in tthem. I swear that stuff was acting like cocaine. I was so out of it by the end of that shift.

I really never wanna see piles of "stuff" again

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by Grammaticus

I was at the JW Marriott. Everything was okay, no issues. I didn't stay in the room much though. The TV was always working. I don't like the AC being motion sensor activated. It made the room too hot when I got back. It also made it a little too warm over night.

It's funny how the cheaper hotels all offer free WiFi and the more expensive ones charge about $15 / day.

I noticed that! The courtyard FREE, the marriot lobby FREE. MY Hotel (Embassy) not a chance :P

[sachmo71]

i enjoyed the courtyard. it's attached to the JW.