Memories of
Notacon 6
April 16-19, 2009

My alarm went off at 7:30 a.m.  Joe was already up.  After hitting the snooze twice, I was out of bed.  We expected A.J. to be at our house about 9:00, so I didn't have to hurry.  We left the house by 9:25 but had one stop to make before leaving T.C.

We made our regular stop at McDonald's in Reed City for ice cream cones and iced tea, etc.  Lunch was at Wendy's in Portland.  Another ice cream cone at Friendly's in Toledo ... this time black raspberry.  I think our van automatically stops there each trip.

I crocheted almost the whole way down making a lot of little purses or pouches to be used as cell phone cases, etc.  Some were done at home over the past couple weeks.  I don't think any 2 are exactly alike.

After a couple wrong turns in "downtown" Cleveland, we arrived at the hotel at 5:30.  About 7:00, we had dinner across the street at Juji's, a small restaurant w/ a variety of pita sandwiches.  Also on the menu was hummus, tabouli, and falafel.  Joe had fish and chips.  A.J. had a reuben.  I had a Sheesh Tawook ... grilled marinated chicken w/ garlic sauce and cucumbers on pita ... w/ lettuce and tomato added ... the way the waitress likes it.  The food was good, but a little spicy for us.

We returned to the hotel in time to watch part (most?) of the free preview of presentations.  Altho we had read over the list on the Notacon site, and I printed it out for Joe, this gave us a better idea of what is to come.

There is sometimes over 30 wi-fi connections listed from our room, but none of them are strong enough to use.  Even the Notacon one is only 2 bars or not there at all.  There is an ethernet cable next to the bed, but I'm afraid if I hook up to it, we'll be charged extra.

I charged my camera battery.

Warning - As the weekend goes on, you may find changes on previous entries.

We brought along stuff to make hot cereal in the room.  Oops, no spoons.

Today started at 11 a.m. w/ Opening Ceremonies starring Paul.  Jodie stood quietly by his side.  Jim was to her left and spoke about speaker introductions.  The design on the podium is actually one of this yr's t-shirts folded over cardboard and held up w/ brown duct tape.  We will add one to our collection soon ... bringing our total to 9 ... one each of all the "official" designs.  During yrs 1-3, there were 2 designs each yr.  During yrs 4-6, there was 1 each.

Lunch was at Subway ... where we found plastic spoons.  During that break, I took this pic out the window from our 9th floor room.  Lake Erie is in the background, but it's almost impossible to see even tho it's close by.  It's been a bit hazy.

So far, we've learned about

We stopped in at "Whose Slide is it Anyway?" but didn't stay.  We waited til 11 for the musical program but didn't stay long at that either.

Throughout the day, we ran into sev people from T.C.

All the food in the Con Suite was gone by 7 p.m. unlike last yr when there was always food available.  Last yr, the Notacon committee supplied the food.  This yr, the hotel insists on providing all of it, and nothing can be brought in from outside.

Even tho we have all our Notacon t-shirts along, it's been too chilly to go w/out a jacket or other shirt over them ... inside and out.

I charged my phone battery after it about died.  Don't just love all these battery operated gadgets.  NOT!

We had our hot cereal for breakfast in the room this a.m.

There's water in the hotel basement.

We believe our window is a "regular" one on left end of 9th floor next to the different looking window.

Today we learned about

A.J. bought a lock pick set.

Dinner was at Subway again because very few places near here are open Saturday afternoon.  We walked many blocks to get there.  On the way back, we saw the Goodyear blimp flying over the hotel.  It looks like there's a stadium of some kind around the corner and down the street.  It was a nice walk.  It was about 70 degrees outside.  We also noticed some manhole covers made by East Jordan Iron Works (about an hr from home).

Block Party starts at 9:30 and goes on for hours.  More info on that will appear tmw because it won't be over til then, and we'll know at Closing Ceremonies who won the various categories.  We all get to vote on the entries in each category.  I have entered a photograph.

It's 4:12 a.m., and I just crawled into bed.  The Block Party was great fun, but now I'm really tired.  A.J. is already asleep, altho he wasn't in bed yet when we came back to the room the 1st time.  I needed my laptop to vote on the various entries in the Block Party competitions.  My photo entry rec'd some favorable comments.  We'll find out in a few hrs how much they really liked it.

During one of the Block Party breaks, Jodie took us for a tour of their rooms.  They were on the top floor almost directly above ours in the picture above, but on the rounded part that is barely visible on the left end of the building.  They have the "Presidential suite" w/ 2 baths including a huge tub in one of them, a king-size bed, living room furniture and a dining room table.  This was one of the perks for being in charge of Notacon.  Of course, as usual, they shared their rooms w/ other Notacon staff members.  The building is triangle shaped which is why that end is curved.

Morning came too early.  Before Closing Ceremonies, there was a brain-storming session and awarding of Block Party prizes.  No, my picture didn't win.  But we gave high scores to several of the winners.  Prizes included t-shirts, books, electronics and cash.  One prize was the power supply that didn't work in one of the machines.  It was fine, but not powerful enough for what it was supposed to do.  It was won by a guy who was going home by plane.  He didn't take it w/ him.  Can you imagine what security would have thought of a metal box w/ lots of wires coming out of it?

Another interesting (strange?) thing that happened during the Block Party ... a text file entry crashed Vista.

At Closing Ceremonies, Paul & Jodie reported stats for the con:

We decided to check out of the Wyndham and move over to the Days Inn for one night.  It's about 45 minutes closer to home.  It's a lot cheaper, too.  And we wanted to spend a little more time w/ Jodie & Paul.  12 of us went to My Friends Restaurant for food.  That was the biggest problem at the hotel.  As I said before, no food was out in the Con Suite after about 7 p.m., and, I assume, there was none put out on Sun or at least less than on Fri and Sat.  After food, a few of us went back to Jodie & Paul's.  I had printed out an ancestors chart for Jodie and had a couple other things for her.  She still had my Christmas present, so we made the exchange.  Since it had been a long weekend for everyone, we didn't stay long.

Just after 9 a.m., we left Cleveland.  Instead of coming straight home, we stopped in Coldwater to make reservations at a motel for the square dance there on Fri and Sat.  We have varied interests.  A.J. was impressed that there's more to Coldwater than the Super 8 and Meijer store.  He had gone along w/ his Dad for work last year.  Dinner was at the Steak 'n Shake on Alpine in Grand Rapids.

It rained most of the day, and it was chilly.  By the time we reached Cadillac, there was snow mixed in, and it was starting to turn the ground white in a few bare places.  That was particularly sad since it was more than 70 degrees on Saturday.