Started my trip to Comic Con a few hours later than planned. Eventually made it to San Diego around noon. Then after finding a trolley station (I found the second one on my list, the first one seemed closed down for construction or something). Then of course I wasted time waiting for the right trolley to get me to the convention. Finally I got into the convention around 2pm totally missing the one panel I actually wanted to see for Thursday. I spent most of my day at the convention wandering around reminding myself of the lay of the land and running errands for some folks back in LA. I also picked up a few things for myself, again competing my Sean "Cheeks" Galloway sketchbook collection. He has a new one each year but unfortunately last year I limited myself to buy one thing, and sadly it didn't make the cut. On another positive note, while Cheeks was sketching, the spidey villain, rhino in one of my new sketchbooks, I was able to meet Eric Robles, creator and writer for Nickelodeons Fanboy & Chumm Chumm. I talked to him for a bit about animation and the upcoming season, he gave me a sticker. I should have gotten a picture with him, but I figured I would save pictures when I had a partner in crime with me to take the photo, also so i wouldn't have to rely on the kindness of geeky strangers.
I headed back to the car to go to the hotel for a bit. I ended up waiting for about 45 minutes for the correct trolley line, watching 3 orange line trolleys go by. I decided to have a go at an adventure and I hopped on the next orange trolley and after two trolley changes I made it back to the car. Strangely enough at least one person at each stop I got of at asked me for help with the trolley system. Seems after one day knave the downtown San Diego trolley system figured out.
Got to the car and realized I forgot the paper that I wrote the address to the hotel on at home. Luckily I had the idea of using my iPads email cache to save my ass. I accessed my gmail account and even though I didn't have Internet to get updated emails I had looked at the email with the info recently and it still had the text and even images saved in the memory. Then I was off to the hotel. The parking lot was confusing as he'll but after circling the entire complex I finally found my way out of there. While trying to follow the gps, the machine could not decipher fast enough the turns that I needed to make in time for me to actually make them. I got turned around missing my exit at least twice. One time I pulled into a mall, with restaurants surrounding it, to turn around. I got to a stop light and while leaning forward to check to see if anyone was crossing before I turned I accidentally leaned on the horn with my forearm. I don't use the horn often so it totally caught me off guard. I literally "laid on the horn". I must have startled some people outside as well, because for a bit i didnt even realize it was my honking, also there was no reason that I should have honked especially for the duration that I had it pressed. Yeesh.
Get to the hotel. Turns out that orbitz.com doesn't guarantee a two bed room, when you order one. I noticed this a few months back while looking at my itinerary. I called the hotel to make sure and they said it was fine and that I would have a two bed room. I get here and they have a one bed room for me. When I started to explain/complain they claimed there was no note about my call. They were able to give me another two bed room though the only ones they had left were smoking rooms. Surprisingly it isn't that bad. Since my first year at the con the rooms have been somewhat similar though the distance from the convention this year really diminished the price. But it seems just as good as the other places, if not surprisingly better. There's no rotten egg smell like the "ritzy" place in '09, I think last years was annoying because we were the absolute last shuttle stop. But at least this year there is a supposed continental breakfast in the mornings. They even give ya free wifi, though the connection is slow as molasses and my laptop doesn't want to connect. (Another reason there aren't any pictures posted)
After emptying the car into the room, claiming my bed, and filling the mini fridge in the room with drinks I headed back to the con area.
Got back to the con area around 830, wandered a bit checking out some outside attractions that I will have to check out during the day (to get a better view). Sat in on the end of a "comics on comics" panel which was comedians/writers talking about comics. It was almost like a discussion by the panel mildly catering to a small almost sad audience. They did make me laugh a few times though. One trolley trip later I'm near the car in the shopping plaza, and decide to finally get some food (since you can't call your first meal "breakfast" if its past 10pm) and end up going to the bar at applebee's. Happy hour 9 to close! Booyah! Cheaper drafts and $5 apps. 2beers and cheeseburger sliders later I successfully make it back to the hotel with no problems. Thats bout it for tonight. Watching tv shows on my laptop. Livin the hotel life. Should have picked up snacks...
I figure I will give long winded rambling breakdowns of the day at the cons. Then once I get home and get a chance I will post the pictures with funny or explanatory captions.
-eD
[9am 7/22 edit] internet was flaky last night, so was unable to post this. but you get an update...
Continental breakfast almost always lackluster. I snagged a croissant, a danish, and a cup of oj. They also had bread for toast, donuts, just ran out of hard boiled eggs, and it seemed like they had a Belgium waffle maker but i didn't care to deal with that this morning. Also got a text from Dave early this morning saying he missed his flight and was trying to figure it out. I haven't heard anything from him since so I imagine that he was able to get on a plane and could not contact me to let me know when he would be arriving with the schedule shift. Another late start to the con, though most random stuff is taken care of, hotel aquirred, trolley system figured out, roads around trolley station figured out, leaning towards another applebees happy hour dinner...
