Reasons to come home early from Smofcon.

[debgeisler]

(1) Have breakfast early this morning with favorite aunt.

(2) Miss all traffic near the Meadowlands northbound.

(3) Mike.

(4) Absolutely *NO* traffic slow-downs *anywhere* on route (including in NYC).

(5) Mike.

(6) Get laundry done (well, workin' on it).

(7) Mike is making wondrous tortilla soup. He first made this for me one night when I was tired, cold, and didn't want to have anything to do with fast food. "What would you like for dinner," I asked, calling from Boston as I left work. "What would you say to hot chicken tortilla soup, with lots of cilantro, topped with lime, more cilantro, sour cream, and cheese?" "I would say that I'm very glad I married you."

(8) And, did I mention, Mike?

Was *great* to see everybody. Panels went well. Meetings went well. Inquisition format was well received (although there was some discussion about questions - we read 'em as we got 'em, and that upset a couple of people). Two really wonderful dinners. And many good friends.

Finestkind.

Comments

[frandowdsofa.livejournal.com]

Dem's GOOD reasons.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I do so wish cilantro didn't taste like dish soap to me, because the way people for whom it doesn't do that go on about how good it tastes, I feel like I'm missing out [wry g].

But you've got some good reasons going there, I must say.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I wish I could have come to SMOFCon, but considering the state of my health right now, it was just as well that I didn't.

Have you gotten the messages from me and Cheryl about TheHugoAwards.org? We're concerned that we've fallen afoul of your spam filter.

[debgeisler.livejournal.com]

Rut row. No, I haven't gotten your messages. I'm wondering if there is a word in the messages that is triggering my spam filter?

Can't access the filter from home. Will look at it when I get to the office. Sorry!

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Thought that might be the case. We were just letting you know that we're ready to do the domain migration, so you need to move the pointers to the new hosting site, per our earlier exchange of messages.

[debgeisler.livejournal.com]

Found it. Apparently, the spam filter gacked at "Laughing Squid." This is not useful, and I've white listed the phrase, you, and Cheryl.

I'll be sending her a note this afternoon, once I'm done with prepping my class. This week...*sigh* Last week of classes. Smofcon is inevitably at an awkward time.

[jcbemis.livejournal.com]

I had wondered why the sudden departure. maybe we'll have more time to talk when I come up this winter (brrrr)

[debgeisler.livejournal.com]

I'd been battling (and failing) quite a bit of pain on Saturday. So I decided not to inflict myself on folks much longer...just to hit the road, come home, and be with Mike.

That neck thing isn't going away soon. Combined with a migraine...it was not a good synergy.

Hope to see you next month or in February!

[alycon.livejournal.com]

I think part of the upset was that the pre-convention explanation

( http://philadelphiasmofcon.blogspot.com/p/inquisitions.html )

of the new approach to the Inquisition lead to expectations that some of the questions would be moderated. In particular, this part lead me to expect some moderation:

"Difficult Questions - some people ask questions that need to be answered, but some questions are posed in such a way to put the presenters on the defensive and makes the audience uncomfortable ("Jane, you ignorant slut!"). We want to see difficult questions posed and answered politely."

[debgeisler.livejournal.com]

Yeah. The problem was that the question as written had citations and quotes - which were not apparent to the audience when listening to it.

In retrospect, we should have rephrased it, and left out the particularly damning quote (which had a citation to a con report).

20-20 hindsight.