Samuel Conway's Journal

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An idea for artists drawing in sketchbooks
ARTISTS: Did you ever take a sketchbook from someone at a convention, only to have that person vanish on you and leave you holding a sketchbook?

ART-FANS: Did you ever leave a sketchbook with an artist at a convention, only to get distracted or waylaid and been unable to return for your book before the artist left?

I had a brainstorm, or perhaps a mild aneurysm which regardless left me with the following idea to pass along to artists:

1) Collect from the US Post Office a stack of Priority Mail Tyvek envelopes and bring them with you to the convention.

2) When someone hands you a sketchbook, hand that person a marker and an envelope, with the following instruction: "Write your name and address on that envelope and put a $5 bill inside. You'll get it back when you come to pick up your sketchbook."

When the person returns for his book, you simply give him the envelope as well. He can keep his sketchbook in it, or he can give it (and the $5 bill) to another artist.

If the person does not return for his book, you put the book into the envelope, use the $5 to purchase Priority Mail postage, and hand it to the mail carrier.

Eh? Eh?

Airport shuttle discounts for Anthrocon attendees!

Supershuttle will provide service for Anthrocon Convention attendees at the discounted rate of $19 one way, and $34 round trip from the Pittsburgh International Airport to the downtown hotels. To arrange service, book online at http://www.supershuttle.com or call 1-800-BlueVan (258-3826) You will need to put in the discount code of M6TJJ to receive the roundtrip discount offered to your group. When you arrive at Pittsburgh International Airport take the tram to the landside section of the airport, lower level, baggage claim area near the car rental counters. You will see the SuperShuttle desk. Someone is there to help you from 9 AM – midnight daily. After hours, use the kiosk to get your SuperShuttle boarding pass.

Hurry, Mr. Obama!
If you're going to reform the healthcare system, please do it soon!

Some of you are aware that I've been undergoing some physical therapy for a bizarre injury that the rest of you will hear about in a month. My health insurer is Aetna, and it is one of those HMO-looking policies.

( Read if you're interested in why I am rooting for Barack. )

Health care reform. My audacity of hope.

Newest Supersponsors!
Each year Anthrocon puts the name of everyone who contributes to our Con Book into a hat, from which we draw one artist and one writer. The lucky draw-ees receive complimentary upgrades to Supersponsor, as our thanks for lending their creative talents to our humble effort. This year we included a third drawing for those who entered our "Get Abducted" promotions challenge.

Congratulations are in store for Alexandre and Kilre, our Con Book winners, and to TommiCat, winner of the promotions challenge!

Don't call my cel phone.
Just don't. I mean it.

If you have the number, you've no doubt been told that my cel phone is for emergencies and calls that I am expecting ONLY. Period. No exceptions*. When that phone rings, it had goddamn well better be someone who is lost or has an urgent need for help, or is offering information that the lack of which will lead to my or someone else's imminent death*. I do not use my cel phone for casual communication. If you call my phone just because you want to say hi, you'll be on my shit list until you're in a nursing home.

That message didn't get out to everyone.

Today, my cel phone rang while I was trying to eat my lunch. I ran outside and breathlessly answered, wondering if my father had suffered a stroke or if the Lawrence Convention Center had exploded or if my best friend had been kidnapped by Al Qaeda (in which case he's only allowed to call me if he's scheduled to be beheaded within the next 8 hours). The call went exactly like this:

Voice: "Hi! I'm (some salesman). I got your number from one of my colleagues. I'd like to discuss (how I can milk you and/or Anthrocon for money)."

Me: "Pardon me, but who gave you this number?"

Voice: "One of my colleagues who has done business with you!"

Me: "And his name?"

Voice: "Well, let's see..."

Me: "Because before sunset tonight he's going to watch his children being burned alive in front of his eyes. Now give me his name."

Do you think that was maybe too harsh?

* Anthrocon's guests of honor are exempt from this rule. If you are not an Anthrocon guest of honor and you call me, I will peel your skin off and feed it to ducks.

Normandy

In just two days, my fine French friends

unblue and

kefen covered some 500 miles of territory, killed 8 bottles of wine, slept for 10 hours out of 48, and still managed to accomplish everything I set out to do in my all-too-brief weekend trip to France:

1) I got to stand on the beach where the Allies launched the greatest -- and most devastating -- amphibious landing in history.

2) I visited the graves of the 5 crewmen who died when the B-17 manned by my friend Paul (who survived and spent the remainder of the war in Stalag 17B).

3) I got to see a 1000-year-old comic book.

More pictures and more details here, and someday if I get the gumption I'll add the tale to my web page. Right now I'm beat and just wanna go to bed!

Courtyard by Marriot available for Anthrocon starting May 12!
Thanks to my superior negotiating skills, which involved a lot of sobbing and pleading and making up stories about impending morbidity, we have been able to secure a block of rooms at the Courtyard by Marriott. Starting May 12 you will be able to reserve a room there at a rate of $119 per night. As with the other hotels a one-night room and tax charge will be assessed when the reservation is made, but just think -- you don't have to pay for that night when you check out. It's already paid for! Information will be posted at anthrocon.org once everything is ready to go.

Over there
US Airways special: Roundtrip to Paris for $399.

Reward for giving up seat on an overbooked flight last year: $300 voucher.

Mix well, and you get a weekend trip to Paris for $99.

See you Monday.

On wine, and the giving thereof to your humble servant.
People have taken to giving me bottles of wine as gifts at conventions. Now, it would be dreadfully rude of me to turn my nose up at a present, since a present is a gesture of affection and/or respect, and to dismiss such a gesture would be an ungentlemanly act. I have not figured out, however, what I should do when someone gives me a type of wine that I do not like, or a bottle of wine that a keen eye can tell has gone past its prime, or someone who gives me a bottle that I cannot drink before I leave and that I cannot take onto an aircraft. Far too often I find myself in the position we've all been in when our sweet Aunt Millie has given us a godawful pair of socks with green mushrooms and red puppies on them. "Oh, my! They're wonderful! I can't wait to wear them! Oh, thank you so much!!" Ugh. :(

Now, I do not want to say, "Don't give me any wine." It is so flattering to me when someone gives me a bottle because I always accept it in the spirit that it is given, and I am both humbled and moved that someone would think enough of me to want to give me something nice. Besides, I like wine! So I present now a list of what I look for in wine, so that neither of us has to be made to feel uncomfortable at a time when both of us should be feeling delightfully warm and fuzzy -- and, in the most preferred of circumstances, somewhat lightheaded and ever so slightly slurring our words.
( The Uncle Kage Guide to his Favorite Potables )
Of course, the easiest thing to do is not to lug a bottle around, particularly one that I might not be able to drink, which is a gift well-received but unable to be enjoyed. Instead, please feel free to buy me a drink at the con itself. I'm more than happy to accept! Maybe then I'll buy you a drink. Then we can buy each other a drink. The someone can come by and buy us both a drink. Then we can start all over again.

"Why is your arm in a sling?"
1) Gotta arrested over the weekend for public intoxication and the cops were too rough slapping the cuffs on.

2) Involved in barroom brawl with other patron who claimed that the Atlanta Braves could whup the Phillies.

3) Threw out first pitch at local minor league game and threw out shoulder at the same time.

4) Performing Richard the Third this weekend and wanted to get into character.

5) Full-contact badminton injury.

6) What sling?

7) Arm-wrestled boss for raise. Lost.

8) Attempted one-armed pushups like I used to do when I was 19.

9) Furpile got out of control.

10) It's between me and the goat. Don't ask.

(All of these answers have been offered up to curious coworkers this morning.)

Harry's outta here.
I never liked baseball much. In fact, I rather loathe sports in general. But anyone who grew up in Philadelphia in the last 40 years knew the voice of Harry Kalas, who died suddenly yesterday. He was the broadcast voice of the Philadelphia Phillies, and had been for as long as I can remember. His trademark "It's outta here!" when a player hit a home run has become a part of Philadelphia culture.

Never liked baseball. Even so, it's sad to lose something so familiar.

Owie.
Home now, and thanks for the well-wishes.

I had a dead suprascapular nerve. I could not move my left shoulder much. No, we do not know what caused it. We are still working on that. The most critical thing was to wake the nerve up again.

From the "be careful what you wish for" file: The surgery appears to have been successful. The nerve seems to be fully awake now. And boy, is it pissed.

Ouchies. :(

EDIT: Pain pills are called "Roxicodone". And damned if they aren't bright pink!

Emo-by-Proxy: Someone else does the cutting.
Going in for surgery today. I got jealous of 2 the Ranting Gryphon's heart story so I figured I needed to Keep Up With The Featherhead.

No worries. You'll get the full story in July.

I-Con, Long Island, NY
So tomorrow I'm off to I-Con in New York. I still get a kick out of seeing my picture on their web page right alongside real actual luminaries.

I'll be doing a Story Hour on Saturday from 12:30 to 1:30. If you want to go, best get there early. The room only seats 60.

Bill Holbrook is gonna be there, too. *Squee*! I jes' LUVS that man!

Also gonna be a Roxikat and a Gideon and a buncha other furry folks.

Duffy's Cut
In 1832, the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad hired a crew of 57 newly-arrived Irish immigrants to build the tracks that would eventually become the Main Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Led by a man named Duffy, they were deployed to a rugged stretch known as "Duffy's Cut." History writes that a cholera epidemic swept through the work camp and very quickly killed every one of the men working there. The railroad, which viewed Irish labor as a consumable commodity, simply piled the men's bodies in a pit beside the right-of-way, buried them and quickly forgot about them, not even bothering to contact their families back in Ireland.

Through the years a number of questions have arisen. Why did so many men die so quickly? Why was there no medical assistance for them? Why did the railroad apparently try to cover up the tragedy? Why is there no marker on the grave or any official record of its location?

Could it have anything to do with the fact that the people living in that area were primarily Welsh Protestants who had an intense dislike for Irish Catholics?

People have been fascinated with the mystery of Duffy's Cut for years, and at last it looks like it is about to be solved. In a wooded area near the railroad, within a stone's throw of my house, dozens of human remains have been discovered. A bit skeevey, I must say, to hear that they're digging up skulls in your neighborhood. The site is being investigated by historians from Immaculata University, who may very soon find out if fifty-seven men who died on a lonely construction project in the Pennsylvania wilderness 177 years ago were killed by a virulent disease or by the hatred and distrust of their fellow Man.

More information here.

Bah! Kids today!
You're telling me that 80% of you didn't remember this classic gem?

Where did you first hear it?
Poll #1367501
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

"Pipe Full O'Fun Kit" No. 7.

View Answers

VHF/Network Affiliate
21 (11.9%)

UHF
14 (7.9%)

Cartoon Network
9 (5.1%)

VHS/DVD
4 (2.3%)

I don't understand what it means.
129 (72.9%)