Finally back online after the weekend spent at Conjecture and being home sick from work yesterday.

I feigned illness on Thursday at work so I could call out sick on Friday, since I'll get my vacation time when I leave but not my sick time. Right after work I headed down to darrelx's to help load the Art Show panels, but halfway there was told they were done and to just head over to the hotel. Once they made it there we loaded the panels into the Art Show space but decided to leave them until morning, so galtine1 and jbriggs and Mr. Shirt and I had dinner in the hotel restaurant, Panini's. After that I headed home, putzed around online, and packed.

Friday morning I got up and, of course, was running late. In fact, there was a pool going as to how late I'd be, but I tricked them all - I put my own bet in at 9:30 when Glen said I didn't need to be there until 10:00, so I showed up on time to spite them all. Nyeh. (For the record, galtine1 won the pool. I hate her so.) There were already many helping hands, so the panels were up and we got all the artwork hung.

It was a pretty good Art Show this year, even if about 2/3 the size of last year's (we were in the same hotel, but they decided to move things around and the Art Show ended up in a smaller room). There were about 22 panels of artwork, and by the end of it the show made a total of about $2200, and I ended up with 6 pieces and still came in under $100 (I'll post pictures soon).

At lunchtime minotaurs, who was working Registration all weekend with glittercat13, and I went to lunch near the hotel. Later in the afternoon I sat on a panel with galtine1 about how to throw a room party. That night a bunch of us ended up gaming (paranoyd was running the Game Room), including a rousing game of Cosmic Encounter where tinyhand threatened to make paranoyd spend the night on the couch, so minotaurs and I headed to Pick Up Stix in Hillcrest to grab dinner (which they screwed up, so we had to circle back halfway back to the hotel).

I stayed at the hotel Friday night, and the room was so dry I ended up with a sore throat by the time I woke up Saturday morning, which started the downward spiral of whatever I caught (probably from adventdragon, who had it last week around the house). I worked most of the day in the Art Show, although I was pressed to sit in on a panel about accessorizing your costume at noon when I had hoped to bow out (turns out I wasn't the only panelist who tried to skip!). Ended up grabbing lunch at Panini's, who finally figured out what con geeks eat and had a $10 "everything included" easy eats menu, which was a damned good idea (especially considering I found the Con Suite to be a tad lacking this year, not only because the budget got slashed, but also because the staff running it were rather, er, inexperienced).

When the Art Show closed I ran home quick with adventdragon and ben_raccoon to get my costume (which I'd forgotten) and to do some food shopping for the SDQSF party that night. On the way back to the hotel Quincy called to wish me a happy birthday, but we could only talk for a minute as he didn't have a calling card yet. Got back to the hotel, changed, and emcee'd the Masquerade, which is always fun for me. (Only 6 entrants, but they were all good and the audience had a good time, especially since Jim Hay was doing his chocolate trivia, too).

The room party was fun, and once again I was praised for having "real food" (fruit, veggies, a meat and cheese tray, and Snapple teas instead of chocolate, chips and soda like most every other room party). I also bought myself a Lilo & Stitch birthday cake for myself, 'cause I am teh geek. We had a big swell of folks at the beginning, then they all kind of trickled out and we ended up with a nice relaxed chatty party, punctuated by viewings of "Rejected," "Sorority Girls from Hell," "Happy Tree Friends" and "Masturbation," as per tradition. :) After stopping by a few of the other parties as it was getting late (and the mundanes the hotel accidentally put on the party floor complained), I finally kicked everyone out around 2:30 a.m.

I was also pleased that a few folks remembered my birthday. adventdragon got me the first season of "Drawn Together" on DVD, and he put it in a pretty pretty princess bag (which was doubly nice of him since he was mad at me for reneging on my offer to let him crash in my room over another out-of-town guest, which I shouldn't have done, but I am teh st00pid sometimes). darrelx was going to sell me a beautiful small bowl he crafted in his woodshop, but when he was told it was my birthday he just gave it to me. I finally got ben_raccoon to give me a print of a winged man he drew. Bill got me some of my favorite Trader Joe's chocolate (Chocolate Enigmas... Mmmm...) and a neat book, "Saving Face: How to Lie, Fake, and Maneuver Your Way Out of Life's Most Awkward Situations," teaching one valuable ways to cover calling out the wrong name during sex, arriving at a party without a gift, or how to pass by your co-workers multiple times during the day without having to say "hello" every time. I was amused. :)

Sunday I cleaned and packed up the room (thanks to minotaurs and adventdragon helping me), and then headed down to the Art Show, which closed at noon. Then we pulled the artwork, piled them according to buyer, and I headed down to the auction. We had 4 pieces go to auction (all by Theresa Mather), and I had much fun being the auctioneer again. I grabbed a quick lunch at Panini's (again) with tinyhand, paranoyd and adventdragon, then helped Glen finish out the Art Show, package up the artwork, and load the panels into the trailer to take back to darrelx's. Once folks got back we had a dead dog party in the Con Suite, but after I had a slice of pizza I realized that I couldn't put off the cold I knew was coming, so I headed home and almost immediately went to bed.

I woke up Monday morning and was quite stuffy and sniffly and achy and bleargh, so I called out sick. Quincy called in the morning so we got to talk, and it sounds like he's having a wonderful time with his barkada, and I can't wait to see pictures. He heads to Guam next week to see his folks, then here to San Diego. I got some more sleep, but eventually got up, watched some "Drawn Together," vegged out in front of the TV most of the day, and got to bed early.

I'm still a little sniffly and achy today, but well enough to come in and get some stuff done at work (only 9 more days to go, after all).

The highlight of the morning so far has been following up on a complaint about the Hampton Inn I filed. When Q and I stayed there a few weekends ago, their internet access was down the whole weekend, but they kept telling me, "They're working on it - try again in an hour." On top of that the room smelled, but I didn't get the impression the front desk staff was very proactive about this stuff, and I didn't want to change rooms anyway, so we endured. When I got back, though, I figured, hey, I'm a silver level member, I should complain, so I did, and the manager had left me a message over the weekend, so I called him back, and they're sending me a free couple of nights. (See, urban_bohemian? It does pay to whine!)

Not much this week. Today is my folks anniversary (got to remember to call Mom and see how she's doing - it would have been 47 years today), and I'm skipping out of the LYC Executive Committee meeting, gaming Wednesday, dinner with Yudi Thursday, and the Conzilla open staff meeting on Sunday, plus trying to get things done at work since I only have until next Friday.

And yet, I just posted an update to my LJ. Hmmm... ;)