Kowabunga

Saturday night was my high school reunion. The turnout, for me, was a bit of a disappointment. This was the reunion for the Class of '77 McLane Highlanders. All told, there were about a hundred people in attendance, including spouses. A lot of people that I was looking forward to seeing were distinctly absent. Of those who were there, I knew that Eric Cruthlow and Tommie Nellon would be there mainly because I called Eric the week before.

Reunion Attendees

Eric and Tommie were both pipers and I was a drummer in the McLane Pipers and Dancers. Rob Lowder, another drummer from the Pipe Band, and Cathy Van Stone, one of the Dancers were there as well. It was darn good to see all of them and meet their spouses (Eric's wife was unable to make it.) There were a number of others from the Pipers and Dancers I was looking forward to seeing who were not there, some of them are still here in Fresno.

(left to right: Rob Lowder, Todd Hansen, Cathy Van Stone, Tommie Nellon, Eric Crutchlow)

I suspect that the low turnout was predominantly due to the high price of the tickets: $89 a month in advance and $99 at the door. That means if you bring your spouse (I brought Sue with me) you are talking $200. Then drinks are on top of that. Not everyone can afford to drop that kind of change for an evening out, especially since gas is still in the $3 per gallon range. The high price made me think twice about going, but we came as it was an opportunity for our daughter Anna to get to spend time with her grand parents.

The reunion was run by Great Reunions. Just a guess, but I suspect that that had something to do with the big ticket price. There was also a professional photographer who made CDs of her work available at the end of the evening at $20 a pop.

For the friends from those days who were there, it was darn great to get to see them again and catch up. Rob races sprint cars and teaches art. Who'd have thought?

Surprisingly, I am not the only member of the Class of '77 with a two year old.

I really had hoped to run into some pf the other Pipers and Dancers, especially Laura, Jann, Tanya, Steve, and Brian. It would have also been great to see Bill Smith, Ron Long, David Minasian and a few others from those days.

McLane Pipers and Dancers

The current generation of Pipers and Dancers performed for us, and we were darn glad to see them. You see, it sounds like the program is in jeopardy. They need new instruments and uniforms, The reunion had a pass the hat to raise some funding for the program as well as another at risk program, the Highlander Project which has been putting the year books on the web. I don't know how much was raised, but I know it was a pretty penny.

One thing that is coming out of this is I pulled the Pipers and Dancers who were there aside and had a chat about the possibility of organizing a Pipers and Dancers Reunion for All Years. And I do mean all years. Something that would be an opportunity to get them all together, friends, families, band teachers, and so on. Since every class overlapped with four other years, there is a long chain of Pipers and Dancers who are connected through their participation with this unique program at McLane. We all forged great friendships during those years. I was already thinking of this when before we hit the reunion and was glad that those of us there were all in favor of it. Eric said he will put up a website for it, and we're going to do some research to start contacting folks. Should be fun. More on that later.

The McLane Pipers and Dancers, the kids that are in it now, are just like we were. Good kids interested in music and dancing and having a good time. They put on a great performance for us and we all cheered them on. It was great having them perform for us.

C.L. McLane High School McLane Pipers and Dancers Reunion

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Yesterday my wife, daughter and I went to the Minnesota State Fair. We did our usual thing of driving to the shuttle lot by the Mall of America and headed up on the shuttle bus. This year we bought tickets in advance, and darn glad we did as the lines to buy tickets at the gate were about 30 minutes long.

Our first stop was the All-You-Can-Drink Milk Barn then sought a place to sit and eat lunch as it was 12:30. Yes, we got a late start. Unfortunately, the first place we stopped to eat did not have the deep-fried chocolate covered sushi on a stick.

After lunch, and a second shot at the Milk Barn, we began our quest for fun, which isn't very difficult.

First stop was the AM1280 patriot booth, where the NARN was broadcasting live. Ed and Mitch were on deck and working the audience. Somehow they managed to pick the one Moonbat in the crowd for a long diatribe which was entertainingly laughable. It's amazing how gullible some people are. Until you realize that they are the same ones that have accepted Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth as gospel.

We then ducked around the Horticulture building seeking a snack and found the apiary display and honey ice cream. Beekeeping is something that interests me so we picked up some info and a dish of ice cream. IN the Horticulture building there were a number of displays on prairie development as well as agriculture and gardening.

From there we strolled down one of the main drags looking, and finding cheese curds and one of Sue's favorite radio stations. No, not Air America, but one of those FM Rock and Roll stations. Sue was after the freebies. They didn't know where to find the deep-fried chocolate covered sushi on a stick.

We stopped by the Norm Coleman booth and filled out a survey and chatted with the volunteers and getting directions to the GOP booth. They also didn't know where to find the deep-fried chocolate covered sushi on a stick.

Eventually we meandered into the GOP where Sue and Anna kicked back and relaxed while I filled out the straw poll and then bought some chocolate chop cookies at Sweet Martha's next door. Talk about a big bucket of cookies. Good too. We spent a chunk of time chatting with some folks in the GOP booth and eating a few cookies, before heading over to the livestock barns to see the sheep, cows, horse and other critters.

Still no sign of the elusive deep-fried chocolate covered sushi on a stick.

There we met some folks that breed alpacas, something I am interested in getting into and took some cow quizzes.

After that, it was back to the Milk Barn and then over to the "Miracle of Birth" barn where they have newly hatched chicks, and newborns of all types, including piglets, sheep and cows. A very interesting display and worth touring through.

By this time it was time to head home as we were beat. We decided two things for next year: take a couple of days off and go during the week and spend two days at the fair. There just isn't enough time to see it all in one day.

Oh, yeah, we also walked by the Al Frankenstein booth.

Maybe next year we'll find the deep-fried chocolate covered sushi on a stick.

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Minnesota State Fair GOP Coleman Franken Frank-N-Furter

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Today was the Tax Cut Coalition Rally at the Minnesota State Capitol, and I am very glad I headed up early as there was a competing event on the Capital Mall sponsored by the Sierra Club. When I arrived, there were already about a hundred people at the State Capitol for the rally. That was the tip of the iceberg.

By the time the rally actually started, the gathering crowd hit some 5,000 people in size, greatly dwarfing the "Global Warming" rally that was held a few hundred feet away.

Two cohorts from the Townhall Meetup made an appearance. After a bit of chit-chat with Mark and Linda, I drifted off to pursue some additional photo ops.

There was quite a bit of signage, many of which were quite novel in their statements; some poked fun at Al gore, while others were blunt and to the point on taxation.

The list of speakers was extensive, and included several Minnesota State Reps including Mark Buesgens, Mary Liz Holberg, Marty Seifert and a couple of others, followed by Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann and Congressman John Kline, then, last but not least, Jason Lewis of KLTK and the main driving force for the Tax Cut coalition and this rally. And yes, there were several speakers from various allied organizations.

With the Sierra Club pushing its "Global Warming" alarmist agenda within hearing range of the sound system, much fun was poked at them, all of it was good natured.

The running theme of the event was the need for cutting taxes in Minnesota, and reducing state spending, which is destined to bloom by over $3 BILLION in new spending during the next biennium budget. This includes spending the $2 BILLION surplus plus over $800 MILLION in new confiscation, er, taxes.

Although Pawlenty has pledged to veto new taxes, it is clear that he will need the help of all Minnesotans in contacting their State Reps and Senators in order to assure that his vetoes will be sustained.

All in all, it was a great deal of fun and I am very glad I went. Next time, I'll have a real digital video camera instead of relying on my digital camera, which I managed to fill up the memory card in the middle of the rally. I didn't have enough memory to shoot even one picture of the "Global Warming" rally.

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Tax Cut Coalition Tax Cut Rally Minnesota Jason Lewis Sierra Club Global Warming

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The IKV Rakehell hosted a “Day of Honor” celebration, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the original broadcast of the Star Trek episode “Errand of Mercy.” This is the first episode to feature the Klingon empire, with John Colicos as the first major Klingon, Kor, and Victor Lundin as Kor’s aide.

Although the original broadcast took place on March 23rd, it was decided that the event would be hosted during MiniCon, as one of the Rakehellers already had a room at the con which could be used for the event.

Ten members of the Rakehell made an appearance at the event, some in uniform, others not. Many friends of the Empire stopped in and paid their respects and toasted the Empire.

Part of the plan was to watch the episode, however, due to technical difficulties, we ended up moving to the next room where that hosting party had a projection system, and the episode was watched by a horde of fans, both Klin and otherwise. We cheered for Kor and the Klingons and hissed the Feddies.

It was a fun evening to sit around drinking Blood Wine and socializing. Hopefully, this will become more of an annual event for the local KAG members.

Day Of Honor Errand Of Mercy Kor KAG Klingon Star Trek

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What a day..I just got home from spending the late afternoon and evening at th Dakota County Fair. This is the first year I have been able to make it out there, and I had a good time down there.

There was a demonstration of early fire fighting techniques...we're talking late 19th century equipment; this was held in the Heritage Village at the Fair. The village even has an old fashion soda fountain and a post office, as well as talks on history.

The Army and related Guard units had various displays, including a rock climbing wall, an APC, a couple of humvees and the main section of a Huey Cobra gunship. Very cool.

This was followed by wandering around and chatting with various people, including Pat Garofalo, the State Rep for district 36B at the GOP booth.

County Fairs are so much fun to go to...hadn't been to one in a long time, although I have made it to the Minnesota State Fair the last couple of years. If you haven't been to a county fair in a while, look one up and go. They are a lot of fun. The one thing I didn't get is the friends I was with commenting on it being crowded. Being from California, where the county fairs I have been to are about the size of the State Fair here, I guess it is all kind of relative.

Not much more to say...just a busy day between work and fun. Tomorrow will be a different story...

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I arrived at Starring Lake Park in Eden Prairie for the AM 1280 "The Patriot" picnic and live broadcast at around 10:30 a.m. The weather was about as perfect as you could hope for; sunny, warm, with just enough breeze to keep people from overheating.

The Patriot began their day early with a live broadcast of The Taxpayers League and David Strom. Strom was gleefully enjoying a cigar during the broadcast, despite the smoking ban in effect at the park.

One of the hot button topics discussed by Strom was the recent report that funds from the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, a charitable organization to help poor children and Alzheimer's patients was diverted to fund Air America. It looks as though this outrage is being ignored by the "main stream media" and once again left to Talk Radio and Bloggers to report on this serious allegation.

Strom had on the air with him Cheri Yecke, who has announced plans to run for the House of Representatives in Mark Kennedy's district, which sounds like a good plan to me as Kennedy has announced plans to run for the U.S. Senate. This looks to be a good win-win scenario, as both are highly qualified people. The 2006 mid-terms are shaping up into something that should be quite a load of fun.

Yecke supports smaller government and individual rights. She also proclaimed "I love my country." I can't vote for her, as I am in a different district, however, she sounds pretty darn good to me.

She also pointed out the Senator Durbin's recent tirade on the Senate floor about Guantanamo Bay has had a demoralizing effect on our troops.

At noon, the Northern Alliance Radio Network took the microphones, and continued the discourse on the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, now defunct, and the diverting of its funds to support Air America. They also mentioned that many non-profit organizations, some with partnership arrangements with a non-profit I will not name here for a very specific reason (however, next time you see me, you can ask) have purchased large amounts of advertising air time on Air America stations. You've got to ask yourself, do you want your pledge dollars going to support Air America?

This prompted me to mention to the NARN as well as David Strom that anyone pledging to aforementioned unnamed non-profit can designate the Tax Payers League (it's a 501(c)3 so it qualifies) as the recipient of their pledge dollars. Strom liked the idea.

During the second segment, Congressman Mark Kennedy joined the NARN and discussed a number of issues, including focus on the Roberts nomination to the Supreme Court. IN reference to Ted Kennedy's litmus test for judicial appointments, Kennedy said, "...it's because he wants them to be legislatures, he thinks it's some kind of an election for some kind of a super legislator. These aren't legislators, these are judges..."

NARN with Mark Kennedy.

NARN with Mark Kennedy.

Okay, I admit it, I need to read the manual on my digital camera. I have no idea how I got the darn thing to shoot video for me, but it did. I didn't even know I was recording when Kennedy made that statement.

As for the picnic itself, I'd say there was around 500 people present (glad I got there early as parking was challenging later), the food was darn good, featuring a pulled-chicken BBQ sandwiches, potato salad, chips and cookies, all provided by the Patriot, and plenty of give-away items, including frisbees. A good time was had by all, and I certainly hope this becomes an annual event. My thanks and many kudos to AM1280, the Patriot for hosting this event.

This is me with Congressman Mark Kennedy.

Patriot Water is helping to raise money to support our troops. They are giving 20% of their profits to send packages to our service men and women serving overseas.

The line for food. Another reason I am glad I got there early.

Later in the day, the crowd has thinned out some.

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It was a very hot and humid day for going out to the Wings of the North Air Expo in Eden Prairie, however, I made the effort anyway, and it was well worth the effort. Not like it was really that great an effort.

Please note, getting good pictures was at times difficult as people tended to hang around the aircraft, as they were not roped off. On the flip side, it's far better than no pics at all.

Where aircraft are concerned the B-17 Flying Fortress was the star of the expo, with rides being offered at $400 per person, which is more than a bit out of my price range right now. It would be worth it, though. I tried to catch the announcements, and it sounded like expo announcer said that there are only twelve of these incredible aircraft left in flying condition.

Here is a series of shots of the B-17, Yankee Lady.

Preparing for take-off.

Preparing for takeoff with T-6 Texan coming in for landing. I thought this one looked rather cool.

Close-up of nose art.

Left side of fuselage.

Right side of fuselage.

The co-star of the event was the B-25, Miss Mitchell. she is a local favorite based out of St. Paul, Minnesota, and is part of the Commemorative Air Force.. Rides on her were offered at $295, which is still out of my price range. Maybe next year.

The B-25, Miss Mitchell.

Close-up of nose art.

Mission markings.

Here is the B-25 coming in for a landing.

One plane that brought back memories for me is the F-86 Sabre. There used to be one in a park across the street from where I lived in Madera. It was cool to see on here today. The F-86 Sabre was the champion of the Korean War, and ruled the skies during its heyday in the '50s.

This Spitfire was one of the cooler fighter planes on display.

Not to mention this P-51 Mustang, dubbed "Little Horse."

There was also this Grumman Wildcat.

And a number of T-6 Texans.

T-6 Texan coming in for a landing.

T-6 Texan on runway.

There were quite a few other aircraft there, from helicopters to jets, biplanes and seaplanes. Not all of them were up in the air flying, at least not while I was at the show. Also, there was a World War II re-enactment area, with a variety of military hardware and uniforms to check out.

Also in attendance were many of the members of VMF-214, the Black Sheep Squadron of World War II fame, as well as several cast members from the '70s TV series, a number of Pearl Harbor survivors, and several combat aces from various eras. Oh, yeah, B-24 pilot, and former U.S. Senator George McGovern.

It was a fun day, and somehow I managed to get a few good pics out of the day. Something to put on the calendar next year, and maybe with a bit of better planning will get some friends out there as well.

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Comet Hale-Bopp delighted the skies this past spring, with a wonderful light show enjoyed by people both near and far.

These photos was taken by that mighty warrior Kestrel, Wild Woman of the North, from her parents backyard in Maine.

Below are photos taken by the Kilted One, Scotty MacKlingon (hey, that's me).

Taken on the evening of April 5th, 1997, from Fremont Peak, south of San Juan Betista, using Fujochrome 1600 and an f2 50mm lens. Exposure time, long enough.

copyright 1997 Todd C. Hansen and Vera Maheu, respectively, all rights reserved
photos by Todd C. Hansen, Vera Maheu

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Although somewhat sparsely attended this year, StarQuest put on another great show. Guests in attendance were MacDudes Bob May (the Robot from "Lost In Space") and Herb Jefferson Jr. (Boomer of "BattleStar Galactica") for a second year, Claudia Christian (Ivanova of "Babylon 5"), Chase Masterson (Leeta of "Deep Space 9"), Max Grodenchek (Rom of "Deep Space 9"), Lolita Fatjo (writer for Star Trek) and Victor Brandt (actor, guest appearance on ST:TOS "Way To Eden").

The guest speakers and panels ran throughout the weekend, along with some favorite fan events, meet the guests, Masquerade, Zocalo, hospitality suite and Zocalo, making this a fun weekend for all that attended.

Bob May MacDude and Victor Brandt both took the stage on Friday, entertaining the early con attendees, talking about their experiences with the film/tv industry and stage. Bob spoke highly of his memories of Gene Roddenberry based on his experiences with the series "The Lieutenant", a series Roddenberry produced before "Star Trek". Bob also gave us his insight on the differences in work style between Roddenberry and Irwin Allen (producer of "Lost in Space" and many other series in the sixties). Bob described Allen as a producers producer and Roddenberry as an actors producer, sighting that Roddenberry would often sit down and casually chat with many of the actors working for him, and inquire on how they are doing, are they enjoying working on the project, and so on.

At poolside that evening, Clan MacDude hosted the Second Annual StarQuest Bonnie Knee Competition. The judges, all Lady members of the Clan, were blind folded and the contestants, dressed either in Kilts or swim trunks, were paraded past the judges, who then checked out the quality of the knees presented before them. The spectators, hooting and howling, cheered the competition on. After the judges finished their deliberations, they selected Gunny MacDude as this year's winner.

The Masquerade on Saturday was a tremendous event, with costumes from Babylon 5, Star Wars, and even FanBoy, looking for a Super Hero to be a sidekick for, with the audience chanting "Fan Boy" to cheer him on his quest.

Sunday also saw the BIG EVENT. Fannish Family Feud. The Clan MacDude competed in this competition of "Family Feud" style trivia, and not only outperformed the competition, but won every round in against every competitor. The McDaddies gave the MacDudes a run for their money, especially with the survey question "Name an Anime Series shown in the US". The other teams, both comprised of Feddie Ship crews in their jammies (teams comprised of members from the Reliant and Golden Eagle), just could not withstand the shear force of knowledge of the MacDudes. Name a Favorite Fan Foodchocolate? Survey says: Number 1! No, Haggis was not on the list.

Mara's bar ran the hospitality suite through out the weekend, and was the main Klingon presence at the con. Mara and her crew know how to run a good con party. The many other parties during the run of the con maintained a happy means for people to gather, meander, and socialize in the night, and otherwise party hard.

All in all, it was a bloody good time.

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WonderCon, Oakland, California, April 2000
Richard Hatch presented his Battlestar Galactica trailer, and spoke of his on going efforts to attain the rights to revive the series in film. The trailer is spectacular, with great CGI special effects, and footage of many of the surviving original cast members. It also contains the last footage of the late John Colicos as Baltar. Richard went on to say that he has enough footage of Baltar for a complete scene for the film.

The KSD in conjunction with the Poultry Liberation Organization, atteneded an opening weekend showing of Chicken Run, the new movie from the producers of wallace and Grommet. This is a must see film, and be sure to take lots of chicken pies with you.

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This was billed as the BIG event for Star Trek and it was. Most of the cast members from all four incarnations of Star Trek, the cast of Babylon 5, and many actors who have appeared as guest stars on these and many other shows and films from Lost In Space to Batman to Space: Above and Beyond were in attendance.

KAG's Ring of Fire Fleet was well represented at this event with many members from the Southern California ships volunteering their time and energies to help staff the security force of the con (along with members from several California "Feddie" ships). Some of these folks, like Paul Anthony, even had a paid membership, and was happily (at least we were happy) pressed into service helping guard the stage and doing some grunt details with the Stranglehold crew in setting up the Saturday evening banquet.

Some of the highlights were stage appearances of the crews of the four Trek shows and Babylon 5, stage appearances of the "Guests of Trek and SF", and Stars of many other shows including Richard Hatch of Battlestar Galactica, Bob May (Robbie the Robot) of Lost In Space, Paul Marco of Plan 9 fame, and many others.

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Some of the Stranglehold crew (K'Han and his lovely consort, the infamous "Tribble Cups", Kahlee), along with Scotty MacKlingon of the Kahlua, did double duty and inducted Richard Hatch and Lady Sophie (author of the Klingon Sex Manual) into the Clan MacDude. The newly inducted MacDudes were then surrounded by a swarm of Klingons to everyone's delight. The Klingons, having so much fun, then proceeded to take Paul Marco prisoner.

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Victor Lundin, one of the first actors to portray a Klingon (as Kor's aide in Errand of Mercy) was also in attendance with his co-star from Robinson Crusoe on Mars, Paul Mantee (Paul was Crusoe and Victor played Friday). Kahlee and C'Hani of the Stranglehold found the leader of the Klingon High Council to be most entertaining.

The Fantasticon auction was well attended and they auctioned of Koloth's headpiece and teeth to Klaatu for large sums of money. Scotty picked up a piece of artwork of some of the Bab 5 stars that had been autographed by them and the artist.

One of the funnest highlights of the con after-hours was Saturday night in the bar when many of the staffers took over several tables and partied down, and even sang a rousing round of "What do You Do With a Drunken Warrior", which was found to be most entertaining by most of the other patrons (including, I found out later, members of road crew and band members of Alabama).

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After the con was over, Connie Pocquette, who headed up the security/volunteer group, threw her staff a party in the staff suite, which was attended by many of her staffers and had guest appearances by Chase Masterson, Victor Lundin and Tereza Campbell.

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Over all, the con was a great time (even if I was too busy working to see any of the fun stuff) and on the personal side, I made several new good friends, especially Bo and Gail Maxwell who flew out from England with friends Laura and Harvey the Hedgehog, and Victor Lundin.

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KAG Raids Macy's San Jose

Crews of the IKV Black Dagger and IKV Kahlua put together a spur of the moment raiding party and invaded the Valley Fair Macy's when it was learned that Michael Dorn would be there promoting a Klingon Watch and signing autographs. Dorn, who signed autographs for all who attended and bought a watch (it was strictly a promotional appearance), agreed to be photographed with the uniformed Klingons in attendence (no feddies allowed). After that, Dorn left the stage to head for his next destination, Macy's at Union Square in San Francisco.

With the combined strength of the raiders still intact, we proceeded to walk thru the mall, visiting several shops and terrorizing many a human who couldn't cope with the notion that Klingons do indeed shop. We then lunched at a most unlikely place, Fresh Choice, and watched the terrans kringe in fear as we pawed our way down the salad bar looking for meat (and not finding any).

Lunch was followed by a second trek though the mall, more window shopping, and frantic terrans making way. Kudos to all who attended, especially our non-uniformed support personnel (with cameras in hand).

Ring of Fire Fleet Invades KQED

KQED was pleased to receive the help of KAG's Ring of Fire Fleet and the Black Fleet Space Pirates during their recent pledge drive. The members of these two (friendly) rivals joined forces for this operation, and between them fielded some thirty members coming as far away as San Jose in the South Bay and Concord in the East Bay (long drives!). This was the first major event in the bay area since the forming of the new ships in the Ring of Fire Fleet, and it was an overwhelming success. Kudos go to Boqtor (Ken Howard) for doing the bulk of the organizing.

First Ever Clan MacDude Beach Party

Some sixty oddly clad scots invaded Bonny Doon Beach, north if Santa Cruz on March 16th to celebrate what ever in a fashion only they could understand. Tartan and Hawaiian print was the cloth of the day, and the guest of honor, Porky I, in awe of the occassion exclaimed "Oink! Oink!" The Patriarch of the Clan had a brief ceremony, explaining a few interesting bits of MacDude lore, and indoctrinated many new members into the Clan.

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A kite that was being flown was used as target practice for the MacDude gerbilator team, and not once did a can of fizzbeer hit the mark. After the gerbilator target practice, a rousing round of fizzbeer was played by many of those present, with Carole MacDude serving as pitcher. Larry MacDude made a most impressive performance using a doouble-headed battle axe as his fizzbat, cleaving the can of fizzbeer in two. The Patriarch demonstrated his own skill (and why he is the Patriarch) by sending a can flying over Carole's head, spraying her with fizzbeer.

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Later the surfboards were broken out for the caber toss, a most impressive event that drew spectators from other parts of the beach (as in wondering who these nuts are). Participants from the mightiest of MacDudes to the smallest participated in this two round event. The Patriarch set the mark to beat with his mighty throws at the beginning of each round, and many had mighty throws and scored style points even though not surpassing the Patriarchs throw. Until towards the end when a woad covered MacDude named John gave his last toss of the caber, and beat the Patriarch's mark by a wee bit of wool.

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The last major event of the day was the bonny knee contest. The four judges determined that a kilt was not neccessary, just bare them knees. With blindfolds in place the judges proceeded to check out the knees of all fifteen contestants. It seemed that they enjoyed the event as much as the guys they were judging and the gathered throng of spectators. Five contestants were selected for a second round of judging, and the judges gleefully accepted bribes to enhance one's score (hey, worked for me).

It was a great day for a beach party, and this first gathering of the clan was an overwhelming success. There were many new faces, and people came from as far away as Sacramento and Los Angeles, with one impressive visitor from Stockholm. Check out the MacDude website for more news at www.macdude.org.

Waldenbooks Sci-Fi Day

This was a small book signing event that was also open to local SF fan clubs to come down and enjoy the day, pass out club fliers and just have a good ol' time at the mall. Heidi, the store manager who coordinated this event, is herself a member of the Golden Gate (Feddie ship from San Francisco).

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Many bay area KAG members participated in this event, with members from all the bay area ships in attendance. Kaos even did a little shopping and recruiting in one of the malls stores (Hot Topics, I believe), and the whole crew added color to the malls food court where we chowed done and terrorized the humans.

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Arriving in San Jose the day before the big event, ConJose, I checked into my hotel then sought out the registration desk and picked up my membership packet. As there wouldn't be much to do this day (Wednesday) I decided to wander around downtown and see what was in walking distance, especially important places like the Tied House. Strolling into the Waldenbooks by the hotel, I ran into Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, doing a spur of the moment book signing. Turns out they traveled in from Maine by train.

Having coerced Sara and Gene to join me downtown for dinner, we checked out the one party that was going on, two doors down from my room. I called the front desk and requested a room change to a non-party floor. With some effort, they complied. I had, after all, made my reservation back in February and was specific about not being in the party zone. I moved; then we went to join the party. This being the first party, it was a little low key, but fun, never the less. They even made ice cream. On the spot. Using liquid nitrogen. I could just imagine the voice of Uncle Red saying "Now, don't try this at home" and "if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy". But no duct tape. The ice cream froze in record time and was doled out to any takers.

I decided to crash early, which was sensible as I had been up since 5AM Minnesota time.

Thursday, since the con opened in the afternoon (registration was well under way), so people were hanging around the convention center, socializing and waiting to make a first pass at the dealers room. I heard my name. Turning, I saw it was Mark Tiedeman flagging me down. Mark is a writer from Missouri whom I met at MiniCon the year before through another friend, Pegg Kerr. Mark and Carol were, of course, waiting for the dealers room to open. Mark was going to check in at his publisher's table and see when he should be available for them. Me, I had looked for his books shortly after meeting at MiniCon, unsuccessfully, and figured now was a good opportunity to pick them up. When the dealer's room opened, he lead the way to the table where his books were, where I bought them and he signed them for me. Now, the fun part, reading them.

After that, I was able to spend a goodly amount of time catching up with my friends that I hadn't seen since I "upgraded" to Minnesota (I'm a Silicon Valley transplant). This, in turn, was followed by lot's of partying in the evening.

192k JPEG Mike Wilson, Mary Boyle, Gene Paxton

104k JPEG Sara Bruce

The hotel was set up that one could wander from floor to floor to hit all of the parties. And in the night time, this is where you would be most likely to run into the most action.

I have to give kudos' to the Glasgow 2005 bid party (they won...Interaction). They had a wide selection of single malt scotches (second only to Larry MacDude) and was THE hotspot all weekend.

183k JPEG Gene, the Party Animal

Across the hall from the Glasgow crowd was the con suite, where soft drinks and conversation could be had. Conversation was easy as it was a little more low key (quieter) than most of the other parties. You could also find a place to sit. And score some chocolate.

128k JPEG Sue and Barry

Moving down a level, there was the bid party from the night before, serving up a variety of mad scientist concoctions. Further down was the Japan 2007 bid party, a welcome sight to see, especially since they were serving saki and plum wine. :-)

It seemed as though there was a different party on every level, and this, was very nearly true, all the way down to the 10th floor.

Friday, daytime, I hit some writer's panels, which was one of the main objectives for my being there, then hooked up with the Klingons for dinner at Gordon Biersch, skipping out on the Patrick Stewart appearance. Given a choice between listening to P.S. or drinking with the local Klingons, well, no offence Patrick, but hanging with friends at the local watering hole wins out every time. We were loud, we were boisterous, we eat and drank lots, and we tipped well. Who could complain?

I also managed to see the Libertarian Futurist Society's Awards Ceremony, where Donald Kingsbury received the Prometheus Award for Best Novel, "Psychohistorical Crisis".

123k JPEG Donald Kingsbury

If Thursday's party scene was good, then Friday's was better, as we started off at Mara's Bar, hang out of the Ring of Fire Fleet, then proceeded upward. Once again, to the Glasgow Bid Party, this time switching to Aquavit (Scotch still available) and meandered (stumbled?) down from floor to floor, party to party, eventually ending back at Mara's. The Klingons were in full force, many of whom I hadn't seen since my migration to the Mid-West, and a few new faces to boot. And the blood wine (whose blood DID they use, anyway?) flowed freely, and reports have it that some 7 gallons was consumed that night.

What WorldCon would be complete without Hall Costumes:

113k JPEG Mad Scientists

136k JPEG Mike and Mary

Saturday was another great party day, but I did something a little wacky and had dinner with the Libertarians. Good group and reconnected with Hugh, one of the locals whom I also hadn't seen in sometime.

This time, we were smart. We took the elevator all the way to the top BEFORE the post-masquerade rush (dinner with the Libertarians didn't break up until midway through the masquerade). Back on the 20th floor, it was good times again, as we snagged some good brews and some chair space for friendly conversation and a plethora of good (bad?) Scottish/Kilt jokes. How that got started, no one knows, but I did finish it ;-)

Meandering down, I have to give special note to the LA in 2006 Bid Party, by far the best this night. They had two suites in operation, and although we only hit one side this night, it was a good one. The one we hit had the Space Cadet Weapons Instructor demonstrating all the new fire power available to the trainees, from ping-pong ball launchers to full auto nerf cannons capable of making mincemeat out of alien invaders (no bugs here!). Of course, this guy wasn't exactly sure what to make of a couple of wise cracking Klingons and a mad Scot (no relation to madcow).

Sunday was, during the daytime, a relatively quiet time, as there were only a couple of panels I was interested in, and they were in competition with the San Jose Tapestry in Talent Art show. Guess where I went, albeit not in costume.

I did do a personal comparison of what was available at the ConJose Art Show, and Tapestry, and the San Jose event certainly didn't have a sculpting exhibition.

126k JPEG

Evening time was back to party central, and once again the wise got to the top floor BEFORE the mad elevator rush, and worked our way down. After first finishing off what was left of the Scotch. Even Agent T (Cassandra's dog, Tillie) got into the act whenever a tankard was left within reach.

200k JPEG Agent T and Klingons

177k JPEG

At this point, I've pretty much covered all of the party high points, at least the ones I made it to. All in all, a good time was had by all.

Posted by Sqotty at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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