Comic-Con International 2008 - San Diego, CA

[One Radical Dude]

For those that are expect me in action with the Bloo costume this year, I'm afraid that realistically, it's going to be extremely difficult to bring it this year. For one reason, I will be traveling to San Diego via Amtrak. Second, Rid won't be joining me this time. Finally, Sparky and Government Man won't have room (I completely understand). On the upside, I would save some cash, since I wouldn't be shipping anything.

Edit: Okay, back to "undecided". I'll make a decision before I go to CA.

[Cassini90125]

There's a one and a half page article about the Con in the new issue of TV Guide. Not overly informative but it's there.

[One Radical Dude]

All righty. I'm bringing it back, baby. The costume will need to be worked on again, though. The only place I could find that would be able to ship something as large as what I have is by going to Pak Mail (it's to be shipped via FedEx). They wanted $250+ for shipment and work on the packaging (I was not willing to pay that much). The best deal they were able to get me was $175, so I went ahead and paid for it.

[Sparky]

Guess I'll be the one to mention it...

Got word from CN today that they are planning to have a camera at the Con and someone doing interviews with fans. They want to snag us, at least ORD, who will have his Bloo costume, and me, who will have the Mac costume (with just a brown wig this time) for interviews. Assuming this doesn't fall through, when I find out where these interviews will appear I'll pass that info along.

[Lynnie]

Wow, that is so totally awesome! I hope it happens. That would be so cool, both for you guys to be a part of it, and for the rest of us to see you on TV! I hope we're given a time too when it will air if they do it.

Wow, just wow! I'm awe struck! I have nothing else to say other than I'm so excited for you guys.

[taranchula]

Awesomeness.

(If this in fact is a happening, don't let your new found fame go to your heads.)

[cartman414]

Kind of ironic to see a Coco smiley to follow the words "go to your heads".

Anyways, this sounds interesting, if potentially embarassing if I get in the crossfire.

[bloonuggets]

Have fun without me, and if you see a girl dressed as Alice in Wonderland, that'd be Brianna, she of When Curiosity Met Insanity fame...

[Sparky]

Okay, hope I don't regret posting this publicly...But if I can help someone out that'd be cool.

We have an extra room booked for the Con that I'm going to be canceling, either today or over the weekend (I think we have until Monday to do so). It's at the Comfort Inn Gaslamp, one bed but with a rollaway, from the 22nd to the morning of the 28th (you could drop some nights if you don't need them). I've never transferred a hotel room to someone else before but I know it can be done. The person who takes it will need a credit card; you may have to give me that info to make a transfer. I'll call the hotel and ask them what they need if someone takes me up on this.

If anyone wants this room either PM me or email me if you're not a forum member. Of course this won't help anyone who doesn't already have Comic-Con tickets... Anyways we always book a backup room because I don't trust Travel Planners.

edit: The room is no longer available.

[Cassini90125]

And so the adventure begins...

My flight took off from Hartford at 6:20 AM Eastern time, ten minutes later than scheduled. That was the fault of the weather. Other than that the trip was uneventful; I proceeded to Cinncinati, changed planes, and it was onward to San Diego. There was some minor turbulance on the second flight but nothing serious. They fed us rather well, too, albeit for an extra charge. I paid, and to kill time I slept as much as possible. More like dozing or napping, at best; kind of hard to sleep on a swaying and rocking plane. Eventually we landed at 10:15 Pacific time, a few minutes ahead of schedule I might add, and after recovering my luggage and taking a few minutes to unwind I got a cab and headed for the Comfort Inn Gaslamp. The driver was a talkative fellow but he had a thick accent so conversation was difficult; I think I got about one word out of every four. Ten minutes later I arrived at the CIG, which, honestly, was a letdown, at first; it's nowhere near as nice as the Marriott, where I stayed last year. But it's livable, and likable after you get used to it, which didn't take long. So I settled in, relaxed for a bit, and after that I headed out for supplies. Supplies come from Ralph's supermarket. All good non-Con things come from Ralph's. Stars, I love that store. Anyway, I shopped, picked up some sandwich materials and a few toiletries I'd forgotten to pack, and then it's back to the hotel where I found ORD checking in and Taranchula standing nearby. Nice to see y'all again, guys. We parted company at that point to take care of various things (my stuff being mostly Sims-related ). I probably should have taken a nap; aside from a little dozing on the plane I'd been awake for roughly 24 hours at that time and it was beginning to wear me down. Eh, whatever. I'm on vacation, I'll sleep later. Taranchula knocked on my door a little later; he and ORD and BlueBottleFlyer are going to the mall, do I want to come? A few minutes later we're all heading for the mall, a five-story, open-air structure packed with restaurants, specialty shops, and a Hot Topic. Yeah, we stopped there; had to see the Cheese stuff in person, y'know. Place gives me the heebie-jeebies. We hit a few other stores and after that we were off to the Marriott to join Sparky and Government Man, a ten-minute walk that took much, much longer than ten minutes, but I'll let someone else explain about that.
Spoiler Below

Do not listen to ORD when he says "This way" or "I know where we're going".

Eventually we found the Marriott and made our way to Sparky and GM's room and a little while later we all headed downstairs to one of the hotel's restaurants for dinner. I had the fish and chips. Then it was back to Sparky's room for a little idle conversation, a little relaxing, and a little planning. It was getting late by then so the four of us headed back to the CIG, pausing long enough in our travels for a very long train to get out of our way. We parted company and headed to our respective rooms where I checked in here briefly and finally collapsed, exhausted, having not slept for over 36 hours. It had been a very long day, but a very good long day, too.

That was Tuesday. Today is Wednesday, and so far I've gone out for a sandwich and typed this post. Later on the entire lot of us will converge on the Convention Center to register and get our badges. In the meantime I'll try to keep myself entertained. Shouldn't be too hard.

For the record, I'll eventually be posting some pics of the trip on my profile page. Nothing there right now; when I upload them I'll mention it here.