Comic-Con International 2010 - San Diego, CA
 

All right, people, it's that time again! Some of the NF people and I will be returning to San Diego in under two weeks from now to have many adventures at the convention. This will mark my fifth consecutive year in a row at the con. I'm going to try to post as much of what happened at the con as I can each day, and I'm sure Cass, t, Howard, BBF, and anyone else that will be there will share the experiences this year. I'm leaving on the 17th for CA, and I'll be in San Diego from July 20-26.. If anyone else is going to be going, please post here. :)

Wish I were but I've been subjected to a life story over the past couple of years which has been "Where am I going and why am I in this handbasket?" I lived near San Diego as a kid and would love nothing more than to visit again, but perhaps another year.

That is so cool to live there as a kid. I was stationed there between 92 and 95. I miss it terribly, even though I am a 5 and a half hour drive away (AZ). Were you there (or near there) when PSA 182 went down?:'(

To the others - y'all know I am going to be there - I am bringing Cass with me.:blooevil:

Obviously you already know I'm coming (fingers crossed). First time I came back in '08 was a great experience, a real eye-opener, and hopefully this time'll be more of the same. Looking forward to meeting up with everyone. :)

Nope. The family moved out here in 1965 after our dad passed away and we've been here since. As a kid I lived in Escondido for roughly three years.

I was just curious. Escondido is pretty (I liked it). San Diego was one of the greatest places I have ever been stationed in my Navy career (which was shortlived after a major injury).:frankiesmile:

I'll be going, naturally!

Just how I'll be going about it is a wild card, since for those of us going off on single day passes, we have to register for every day separately beforehand instead of all at once this time. :edmad:

I'll get there one of these years... There are times when I hate living on the east coast. And being poor.

-Marty :goo:

For those who may not know, I'm stopping at Howard's place for six days, then we're driving from there to San Diego for the Con. My flight is leaving at 9:15 AM tomorrow morning; I'll be awake all night, in the hope that I'll sleep better on the plane. Unconscious is the best way to fly. :P After a layover in Detroit, I'll be landing in Phoenix around 1:15 PM local time, then spend about three hours poking around the area until Howard gets off work and picks me up. Hopefully I won't get lost in the meantime. :bloocross: After that, the fun begins. :blooevil: Y'all can expect plenty of pics after the trip, as usual, both on my profile page and in my dA gallery. Going to be a long vacation for me, but it'll definitely be worth it. Only a few set plans at present; mostly we'll play it by ear and see what comes up. :bloogrin:

It's now a little after 6:00 AM; time to get going. Wish me luck. ;)

Bon Voyage, see you in about a week. :D

Safe flight, Cass and Howard.:)

I will be flying to Southern CA later in the afternoon. This time around, I'm not leaving early in the morning. I will be heading for San Diego via train Tuesday, expected to be there after 12pm. We're getting closer! :bloogrin:

Cass is here with me, and we are taking a little roadtrip around AZ.

I want to thank you guys for the well wishes and we hope to see y'all at the Con next week. Play it safe people!:frankiesmile:

It's hot here. :cheesegrin: The flight went well, and including a few shots from the airports I picked up 81 pics. The sunsets here are fantastic, as are the landscapes and plant life. More to say later; we're heading out to play in a moment. :bloogrin:

I'll be there again this year. I'll be there from Midday Wednesday to late Sunday evening if anyone is interested in meeting up like we did last year.

Yay, Con time again. :P I look forward to all of your guys' posts about what an awesome time you're having, and I hope everyone has a safe trip.:bloocross: Have fun!

In case any of you are interested, one of the guys I met at Anime Expo just might pull a little Rickroll on the "Godhatesfags" protest on Thursday if he gets the chance.

I should almost be in California at the time of this reply, but due to a short delay, I had no way of going to my second flight to Orange County. Still stuck in Houston for 3 hrs and dealing with severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall. I'm also ending up heading to Ontario (not Canada), the next closest airport. I am scheduled to fly at 9:15pm CDT. We shall see.

My camera can record short videos. If he'd like to be immortalized on YouTube, tell me where to be and when to be there. :blooevil: :bendy:

Sounds like what happened to me on my flight home last year. Best of luck to you, dude.

Howard and I spent much of yesterday on the road. Among our stops was a place called Tombstone. There's an awful lot I could write about that place and about many of the other things I've seen thus far in Arizona but I'm barely awake enough to type this, let alone a full travelogue. I racked up nearly 200 pics before my camera's battery ran out; some will be posted eventually, but here's one now that was kind of interesting:

http://vejur.deviantart.com/#/d2u92ty

Hmmm... :bloocross:

Dunno if it's related, but Mark Evanier says that a group called the Westboro Baptist Church will be at the Manchester Hyatt to protest Al Gore's appearance there Thursday (presumably because of his infidelity issue, but the group had planned this protest before that happened) and then make their way to the convention center to--as Mark tells it--just get some camera time for themselves when the TV stations cover the convention.

To get everyone into a further Comic Con state of mind, here is the annual Foxtrot CC related strip.

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ocomicscom.gif

Same group as the loonies that Cartman414 mentioned. Think of them as a sideshow. :weirded:

Howard and I are heading out to see the Arizona Crater shortly, to be followed by a barbeque later in the day. Turns out that the temperature varies widely in various parts of the state, although nothing below 90, except at night in a few spots. We encountered a few thunderstorms yesterday, and plenty of lightning. Heck of a light show. :bloogrin:

I did arrive at the Ontario airport. Unfortunately, my luggage did not. It went to the other airport, the one I was going to go. I will be picking it up soon.

Well, it's good to hear that you're there in one piece, and I trust you've acquired your luggage since then.

Yep, I did receive the luggage. So I am definitely a happy person. :yeah:

Hooray.

For me it's one more of day of work, then a day of final preparations and then I'll depart on Wednesday morning to the wild wild west.

We went to the Arizona Crater today. Pretty impressive. Long drive both ways but definitely worth it. After that we went to the house of one of Howard's friends where, after some suspicions were dispelled, two dogs competed for my attention. 8D After that was a big meal of ribs, followed by a round of Wii-based bowling. I'm astonished that I did as well as I did. It continues to be distressingly hot but I'm managing well enough. More distressing were the four episodes of Johnny Test that we sat through. Sheesh, that show is as bad as everyone has said. 8D

I have been a resident of AZ for a long time and never been to the Meteor Crator until yesterday. And yes, JT is horrible to watch, but it was the only thing on while we ate our ribs. "Lost Clause" will be airing on the "Christmas in July" event on CN.:bloogrin:

If anybody plans on going to the beach in the next day or so, be careful. There are rip current conditions from Encinitas to Imperial Beach.

Longhorn beetle:

http://vejur.deviantart.com/#/d2ucw01

Arizona meteor crater:

http://vejur.deviantart.com/#/d2ucydd

Enjoy. :)

Those are some really great shot there, dude. :)

Last night, I played a board game with several friends, and some of us pulled out our Droid phones and tried to take as many photos using the Google Goggles application to search for things. Today and tonight, I will be going out to see a film, eat out, and play video games with some friends. After that, I will need to hit the hay earlier, because I will need to be up to get ready to leave for San Diego (will be taking a Metrolink train at 8:27am, the next one isn't until after 1pm, and then stop in Anaheim and go on an Amtrak train to SD at the 10am hour).

All right, folks, I am officially in lovely San Diego right now. I made it through without any hassle. BBF's last plane was delayed and he had to get on another plane, so his arrival will be a little late, but he did last inform me on FB that he was boarding so that's great. I also did receive the Bloo costume (thank you, Sparky!). :)

I am just about to turn in for the night, as I have a flight to catch at 9:30AM tomorrow.

If all goes according to plan, I should be touching down in San Diego (Via Washington D.C) at about 3:30 PST.

Now Maestro a little traveling music if you please...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UCrXJWvPuw

Lentil and sausage soup:

http://vejur.deviantart.com/#/d2uh9w1

From an Italian place Howard and I hit the other night. We ate rather well. ;D

We plan on leaving Arizona around 5:30 AM PDT Thursday morning and arriving in San Diego sometime in the early afternoon. Once there we'll register, pick up supplies, and get settled in our respective hotels. Not yet sure what happens after that, but I'll figure out something. See y'all soon! :bloogrin:

I have been in SD for a couple hours now, I would have posted sooner but first I wanted to get something to eat, second I can't get the Wi-Fi working in my room and third....Top Chef was on.

Been in SD since late on Tuesday, took three flights: an hour from Newcastle to Heathrow (stopped in a hotel for the night), 8 hours from Heathrow to Chicago, then about 4 hours from Chicago to SD (was delayed because the tail flaps on the original plane were dodgy, takeoff was aborted, was put on to a new plane). Been hanging out, bowling and shopping with ORD since.

Great to have you back in the USA, t! 8-)

Today, got up really early (after 7am, that's likely to be the norm throughout my time in San Diego), and there was light rain/drizzle in San Diego...which usually, no precipitation falls during the summer. It was another day that it failed to reach 70F, not really complaining at all, though the breeze made me wish I had a jacket at times. 8D I went to get my Starbucks Frappuccino, then BBF and I went to eat breakfast at a restaurant at the Seaport Village. Then we headed for a trolley ride to the San Diego State University area to at the Aztec Center and played three rounds of bowling, all three which I lost, though the last one was competitive. Still enjoyed it, though. Once we were done with that, we were on the trolley, I swore there was a guy sitting on the same trolley that looked a bit like Phil LaMarr to me. When Phil responded to my response on how I saw a look-a-like, he said on his Twitter page, "Look-a-like? I don't think so. Probably just one of my army of clon-droids I use for security & convenience." 8D We went to the Westfield Horton Plaza, picked up several things, got deserts, and just looked around. Later in the afternoon, I got my badge and this year, they're actually giving out those famous WB/Warner Bros. bags during the picking up of badges. There are 11 designs. I went to the floor, I went to the Uglydolls booth and picked up some stuff. I did go by the Cartoon Network booth. I didn't recognize anyone there, though it's good that they have a booth again. I also picked up one of the Google Android mascot (Android is a smartphone competitor to Apple's iPhone, RIM BlackBerry Palm OS, Windows Mobile, etc.) figures. I did run into one of my Facebook friends today. Long day, but I really was satisfied with how it turned out. I'm sure I will see a lot more familiar faces tomorrow and in the coming days. :bloogrin:

You have no idea how much it pleases me to hear this; it hasn't reached below 80F in Arizona since February. I've drank enough liquid to fill a small lake. :bloocross:

Final night here. Howard and I decided to cap this part of my vacation with a trip to the Outback Steak House, where we ate a ridiculous amount of food and could barely move by the time we were done. Gluttony is fun. :bloocross: It's been one hell of a good time out here, hanging out with Howard and seeing things I've never seen before. I'd definitely like to visit this state again. Anyway, I'll be turning in for the night soon; we've got a long drive coming up tomorrow. ;)

Day two, I ended up waking up before 7am. I went to get a frappuccino, a bagel, and a banana. I went to Sails Pavilion and was attempting to meet Tom Kane again (didn't see him at one of the autograph tables, maybe it was delayed or re-scheduled) and actor Stephen Tobolowsky (Groundhog Day). I did later on meet Tobolowsky, really nice guy, and I did get a photo of him. I did see a few friends that are part of the Artists Gallery area in the afternoon hours. I had lunch in the Gaslamp District. I ended up getting too much food. 8D I was not able to finish all the chicken strips, fries, and mozzarella sticks. I went to pick up another one of those Google Android mascot figures, but they were sold out until tomorrow. I then went to meet voice actor Steve Blum again at the Sails Pavilion. Finally, I went to see an Adventures in Voice Acting panel, featuring Yuri Lowenthal and a few others. Before I got off the trolley, I did briefly see iceberg210. Took me a bit to notice it was him on the trolley. 8D

Overall, not a bad Thursday, considering that panel-wise, this would probably be the slowest. It was also another day where I believed for a second I saw two different voice-over actors (regardless if they're actually attending or not this year). Maurice LaMarche and Keith Ferguson were the ones I were thinking when I saw a few faces from a distance, but a few features made me think "definitely not them". 8D Anyhoo, we gotta meet at some point. I believe we'll definitely be present for Worst Cartoons ever tomorrow evening.

Edit: And I'm 2011 ready; I went ahead and pre-registered. It's $105, up $5. They're also selling single-day memberships.