This was a good con. I tried to take a relaxed approach to everything, starting with packing–no dress up clothes for the evening parties, no kilts and their associated gear. Unlike last year, I did not drive to the con. mia_mcdavid drove there from home in the afternoon, but road construction has made downtown rush hour driving much worse than usual, and I have never been fond of it. A little checking on Metro Transit‘s web site told me I could take the light rail to the Mall of America, and then change to a bus that would take me close to the hotel. This worked perfectly, and we had only one car to park at the hotel.

We both spent quite a bit of time working for the convention as “Badgers”–checking to see that people entering the convention area had badges to identify themselves as members. There was not a lot of programming that interested us, so this was a way to contribute during the daytime hours. Several of our friends from colgaffneyis were also working the con, though in rather more exalted positions.

Friday night I saw a T-Shirt that was new to me: It read

∫₁₀¹³2x dx

So I did the integral in my head (I have not lost all my calculus) and announced the result (69). The wearer replied: “That’s right, and you weren’t embarrassed to say it!”

I listened to concerts by Riverfolk, 3 Pints Gone, and Rève du Faun all whom I had heard last year. I also heard The Dregs for the first time. I think 3 Pints Gone was my favorite, but I enjoyed Rève du Faun‘s filk about the history of Minicon again.

I am not really keen on films and similar things at cons, but Mia and I did stop by one party room where they were showing episodes from the original Twilight Zone. We saw most of To Serve Man. Once again, one of the classics lived up to its reputation :-)>

We paid a visit to Tom on our way home. Despite brutal heat, we decided to take him for a walk around Lake Harriet rather than deal with the distractions of Southdale or some other mall. A good call, the weather changed in the middle of the walk and it really was quite pleasant.