And the entire con :/

This stuff sounds fantastically interesting. I am fantastically envious of everyone who gets to go.

[1] (Overused pun carefully not made.)

My own schedule...

Thursday... Book release party for GoH Elisabeth Vonarburg.
Friday... Helping Kathryn with ML's party in whatever capacitor I can.
Saturday... Ninja duty for someone's masquerade presentation. I apparently have this reputation for reliability.
Sunday... Volunteer work.

Excellent! Now to persuade Krugman to attend the Mike Ford panel...

Don't know exactly. I imagine there will be info at registration. Possibly as simple as writing your name on a clipboard.

The basic idea of these kaffeeklatsch-type events, run by larger conventions for the last ten or fifteen years, is that the number of seats are usually limited to something like ten or twelve, so people can be guaranteed a chance to have actual conversations with writers, artists, and editors they're particularly interested in. Teresa and I are generally happy to do these, although this is the first time (I think) that a Worldcon has scheduled separate kaffeeklatsches for the two of us. (Teresa has already laid claim to one of the seats at mine, so if you want to catch us both at once, that's the one to go for.)

I don't know what occasioned him coming to Worldcon, but if it was someone from Anticipation inviting him, that was a brilliant stroke. Certainly he's made his fondness for SF clear on several occasions in the last couple of years.

I did invite him to the Tor party on Thursday night...

Teresa was scheduled for a Thu 1900 panel "The World is Large and Strange;" will she not be making it to that one?

Also, is the Tor party closed invite?

Sadly, I think the earliest we would conceivably get on the road is 8 AM. :(

What day is it? Did I miss that party again this year? Damn.

Wander aimlessly, looking for someone I know and getting hungrier and hungrier. Eat something, then immediately run into a whole lot of people who are starving.

Oh, that panel I wanted to go to is right...rats, it's just ending.

Sigh.

Talk a lot with friends and strangers. Wander aimlessly some more.

Maybe I'll try to do better this year. We'll see how I do.

So much to do...so little time...so many things I want to do at Worldcon this year!

Le sigh (of happiness)!

Instead I stayed up past 2 AM last night, looking through the PDF for panels that sounded interesting. Too much stuff overlapping on Thursday.

I think somebody owes me a better seen-at-party photo. Patrick took a photo of me last year, eating a Xopher truffle. The truffle was excellent but the photo is terrible -- I look like like my head is melting down into my collar, due to the combination of the heat (remember the heat?) and truffle-eating jaw position. And there's chocolate on my thumb.

*This photo is now my representation on Wikipedia.*

I realize that many, many people in the world have worse problems. But I'd like to think that it's a solvable problem.

I trust you'll get no resistance.

A very late night, since the Making Light party is on Friday.

#13, Skwid: "Is the Tor party closed invite?" Not really. Basically, it's a private party and we don't list it on the party board, but pretty much anyone who knows people there is welcome. Until we decide they aren't. As the old joke goes, we reserve the right to serve refuse to anybody. The Tor party does tend to be incredibly crowded, at least until around midnight.

Skwid also asks about the 7PM panel that Teresa is listed as being on. Regrettably, yes, she's bailing on that. We generally tell convention programmers not to put us on panels during the dinner hour, since taking writers out for meals is one of the reasons editors go to cons. In the case of this Worldcon, either we forgot or they did. But either way, we have a Thursday-evening commitment that precludes panels at 7PM.

Now I understand what meant about how the non-ML parties will pail in comparison.

(The Wikipedia snapshot of me, taken by David Dyer-Bennet at the Mike Ford memorial event a few years ago, is okay; it's just a bit out of date.)

So glad to hear this. Especially since I didn't already have anything I wanted to attend in that time slot.

Thanks for the clarification, Patrick. I would be rather surprised if the oversight were on y'all's end...there seem to have been...more than a few issues with Programming, this year. Meh.

As an example, at a recent event I attended where noise levels at different parts of the event were a known concern, a loud group took it upon itself to relocate from its designated and approved location, and the volunteer framework failed to identify and resolve the problem. As a result, that event space might not be available to us next year, which is truly tragic.

These things happen, but that recent experience makes me particularly wary with regards to such glitches.

(I am now hoping I can hold up my end of the conversation without sounding like a numpty.)

And I do indeed expect to be at the Hugo Losers party, on the basis of prior probability (if nothing else)!

(They call me "Party Maven". It seems... inappropriate, since I don't know much about parties and generally prefer small quiet social gatherings. But I volunteered to help, and that's what they put me on.)

I'm on five programming items, ranging from a filk concert on Thursday afternoon (eek!) to helping kids make sock puppets on Friday evening (uh... interesting) to a discussion of realism in near-future SF on Sunday morning (I think I disagree with some of the premises of the topic as described in the program guide). I'll be going to the ML party, of course.

"Cameras do not love me!"

What's a Burn event, by the way?

Contrary to the published schedule, I will NOT be moderating "Is French SF Sexier?" Thursday at 7 PM. I begged off.

This news should come as a relief to all who appreciate either French SF or sexiness.

Title: First Contact: Finding Other Civilizations
Description: How do we get (back) out into space? How do we find other intelligent life? What do we say when we get there?
All Participants: Bill Higgins, David Clements, Eric Choi, Michael Sestak, Paul Abell, Kim Binsted

Title: Tall Technical Tales
Description: True, humourous and occasionally educational stories from the front lines of science. Just what should you do if you swallow Liquid Nitrogen? Listen to our panel's stories, then share your own.
All Participants: Bill Higgins, Chuck Walther, David Clements, Mark Olson

Title: Tales of Super Science: Making the Unworkable Work
Description: Astounding Tales of Super Science: making the unworkable work.
All Participants: Alice Bentley, Bill Higgins, Keith Kato, Mark Olson, Pat Lundrigan

Title: How Antimatter Became a Plaything of Science Fiction
Description: Antimatter, a bizarre family of particles first discovered by physicists in the 1930s, eventually became commonplace in science fiction stories. We trace the path from science to fiction, which passes through astronomy and the study of meteorites before arriving at John Campbell, Robert Heinlein, and Jack Williamson.
All Participants: Bill Higgins

[Be aware that this antimatter talk is a late addition that is NOT LISTED IN THE PUBLISHED PROGRAM. If you know anybody with an interest in this topic, kindly spread the word.]

Title: A Century of Atom Smashing
Description: Ernest Rutherford, the first atom smasher, won a Nobel prize for his work at McGill University in Montreal. We discuss his work, what he did and what it led to.
All Participants: Bill Higgins, Laurel Anne Hill, Stephen R. Cooper

Heh.

Somebody must have installed a Serge protector on that line of discussion . . .

I'm pining for my salad days when I had (a) more free time and (b) more expendable monies

these years I only make one con a year (ARISIA) and that one I am usually being Officious In Some Capacity.

But I really did like going to them. Besides the programming ("wait, there were panels to see?") there are the people (Wordcon: party where you renew annual acquaintance with 5,000+ of your most intimate friends -- at least 10% of you haven't met yet )

Like a lot of people in Fandom (Service Mark registered), though, I seldom get to see much of the programming, because I'd be working as a functionary of some sort, unless forcibly dragged off to be off-duty (Which I the only way that I actually managed to meet Andre Norton, Ann McCaffrey and pat McKillup) -- but being re-assigned at the last minute from something else was how I managed to finally meet Judith Merrill and Ursula LeGuin -- else the conventions they were at would all have gone by with my working other areas)_

PS wrt the Mike panel: she asked me to pass on that she still has the bibliography in hostable condition; absent a host, she'll be willing to mail it to anyone interested.

My one convention a year is ArmadilloCon, which is August 14-16 this year.

I may well have my camera with me. As a person who generally hates being photographed, myself (I'm working on that), I try to be very conscious of other people's desire to not be caught on film. (Though sometime people end up in the background by accident.) I am also reasonable good at not taking unflattering photos.

(Is it still the largest annual convention in the country run entirely by unsalaried volunteers? It was at one point.)

Otakon. If the use of hired temps to supplement Registration takes them out of the running, just go back 8 years. Even then it was still many times the size of Worldcon, as I personally observed after being a gofer at the 98 Worldcon and the 2001 Otakon (in the same space, but Otakon used the whole Baltimore convention center, and has spilled over into additional venues in at least one recent year!)

Is coffee as easy to find up there as it is in the US (although probably not as easily as in the state of Washington)?

The reason I ask is because, when I fly there this coming Thursday, it'll have been a long day and, as soon as I've checked out, I'll hop into a rental car and drive 200 miles east, to Québec City.

(But room parties tend to be too crowded for good pictures.)

Basically, while it's possible to find mediocre food and drink in Montreal, it takes more work than in most places. It's not that it's full of world-class cuisine like Paris or New York; it's that the average quality of the routine food and drink on offer--in unpreposessing coffee shops, bakeries, neighborhood restaurants--is impressively high.

Incidentally, if you like really good tea, the Camellia Sinensis Tea House is just a few blocks away, and it's a mind-blowingly good combination tea store and sit-down restaurant. I got hooked on them when Jo Walton brought some of their Darjeeling to New York; it was so good that I've been ordering it via their web site ever since.

Ooooh! Now that sounds like it needs an expedition!

That's even if you don't think Timmie's is acceptable.

§Which may mean I'm envying Mexico City gloomily, but it's the thought that's important.

I've posted my schedule at my own site -- basically if you're into anime or manga, I'm there, and I get to ask my fellow workshop members questions about their history together on Friday night. Considering that some have known each other since I was in middle school, it should be interesting. I may open by asking everyone for a Judith Merril impression.

And even before that, how about the Cost of Trip Problem, which could be solved by improving the Income Problem?

I don't know if that's changed, but I suspect not.

I figured you out to be given the warning.....

My experience with driving in Montreal is that the drivers expect that you know what you're doing, and where you're going -- and while they do follow closer than in many other places, they also often seem to be more capable as well.

I'd expect that the "better know what you're doing/where you're going" comes across quite badly if you don't, however.

TexAnne, my email is the same. Even my cellphone is the same.

I'm getting all excited. But now I have to make chocolates!

But for your family. it's all tax deductible grist for the writer's mill, and a setting of scene for paranormal romance twixt Montreal and Quebec City....

How do you know?

Wolfe and Montcalm, reincarnated, vying for the hand of a Parti Quebecois sublieutenant? What's not to like?

A question for people in the Montréal area or who've been there since 2004...

Is coffee as easy to find up there as it is in the US (although probably not as easily as in the state of Washington)?

Good coffee is trivially easy to find in Montreal, as is good food. Of course, this is my hometown, so I think everything here is wonderful and it's the best place ever. I'm glad Patrick said it first, so you won't think it's just talking up my city.

I would love to be at Making Lumiere on the Friday, although it seems unlikely that anyone there will know who I am. I'm not exactly a well-known Fluorospherian (Fluorospheroid?). Anything I can bring? Since I live here, I at least won't have to schlep it in a suitcase.

Cheryl: du cidre de glace, si ça te dérange pas?

Ça ne me dérange pas de tout! As-tu une marque préférée?

So if you don't see a street name, look up further.

What DO you do when you've swallowed liquid nitrogen?

I hope never to find out.

My freshman physics professor, Darwin J. Mead, was renowned among students for his nitrogen-drinking stunt. But as far as I know he never swallowed. His expectorations were impressive, though.

(One guy allegedly found out. Here is one of many, many places on the Web his story appears.

Would that be in the same class of denial as "didn't inhale" ;)

Montreal, on the other hand, seriously rocks. So maybe you're not just being a local chauvinist.

Regarding Montreal traffic, Teresa--the actual automobile driver in the Nielsen Hayden co-prosperity sphere--rates Montreal as significantly less challenging than Rome, Boston, or New York. Definitely more aggressive than your average Canadian city, which is kind of like saying "hardest-driving gangbanger in the third-grade Montessori class."

Also possibly of interest to the Fluorosphere, there appears to be a respectably sized pub crawl taking shape over on LJ. Looks promising!

It'd have to be; as Cally says, they have street signs in Montreal!

Paula@81: I've been in Montreal around the last two Labor Days; the drivers did not strike me as being as vicious as Bostonians.
Serge@83: not just on that route. We left Niagara heading for Torcon at ~10pm on a Tuesday -- midweek, light traffic, right? Wrong. Dense and fast. Apparently that area is getting very built up, but even so that traffic was one of the most unnerving I've driven in. Going on up the lake, at the same time a week later, was easy in my post-Worldcon down.

U.S. Terror Arrests Spur Warnings: Officials are increasingly worried about U.S. extremists who travel abroad for terror training.

They must have heard about Bill Higgins and that anti-matter panel.

Cheryl @ 88... People will know you if you identify yourself. And if you bring in that delectable cider.

It comes in 200ml bottles, but it's so sweet about 30mls is a serving. Do you have a suggestion as to quantity? I've been to the Making Lumiere page, but I don't see how many are expected.

As to driving in Montreal - it's my normal; the other drivers follow the rules I expect them to follow, so I'm probably not a good judge. I certainly prefer it to driving in Toronto, where drivers seem to pay attention to what's in the square meter in front of their car and nothing else; or Philadelphia, where drivers seem to be paying attention to that quarter that fell somewhere under the back seat...

I did have a friend visit who was disconcerted by the streetlights. He was accustomed to the type that hang out over the intersections, whereas downtown Montreal will mostly have the kind that sit on top of a pole at the corner, so he kept blowing red lights and not noticing. Luckily, no accidents occurred, but he did get stopped.

She's free to email me, though. AgentMtl at yahoo.com is my address; I'm only online during the weekday, I'm afraid.

I have a car; I'm still settling up my schedule for the week, but I'll probably be able to run some errands ahead of time.

No right on red on the island of Montreal, BTW. Also, it's useful to know the cardinal directions: NEWS == NEOS. Ouest == West is the only one with a different initial. The others are Sud, Nord, Est.

Even the very plainest SAQs [provincial liquor store] usually have ice cider. There are four grades of liquor store, ranging from convenience oriented ones that have a basic selection and long hours, to ones with a massive selection albeit shorter hours.

There are all sorts of fascinating Quebecois alcoholic beverages. L'Orleane makes a variety of fruit cordials, including blackcurrant [cassis], cloudberry, and ground cherry [amour en cage/cerise du terre]. The SAQ website implies they stock Amelanchier sp. cordial, as well as strawberry, raspberry, mixed berries, elderberry [if I've translated sureau blanc correctly], rhubarb, plum, and wild cherry. Sortilege is interesting if you like maple--it's a mixture of Canadian rye whisky and maple syrup. It's similar to Drambuie.

Colin Hinz and I will be running the evening fan lounge. We'd like to encourage the fluorospherians to come check it out [and the daytime lounge in the Palais]. We'll be open 7pm--late, Thursday onwards, suite 2811 in the Delta.

We're also having a reception to honour the fan fund delegates 4--6pm Thursday, Delta, suite 2811. I hope to see lots of you there. [The fan funds being CUFF, DUFF, and TAFF.]

BTW, has anyone taken note that Anticipation overlaps Les FrancoFolies, one of Montreal's music festivals? Like the Jazz Festival, many concerts are free. And they encourage you to buy beer and drink it in the closed-off streets. (It funds the festival.)

Looking forward to meeting some of you, and re-meeting some others.

Put your ML handle in the comment thread unless it's really blindingly obvious who you are from your LJ handle. Or even then.

The main STM website, English version:
http://www.stm.info/English/a-somm.htm

Info on the STM tourist card:
http://www.stm.info/English/info/a-cartet.htm

Tous Azimuts is probably my favourite tool on that site. From the front page, click 'Plan my trip', then 'Tous Azimuts'. Put in your departure point and destination, and voila! it tells you the bus/metro/train(s) you need to take to get there. I use it constantly to get around town.

It's integrated with Google, too, if you prefer that interface.

I'll be on site by the opening ceremonies, but sadly I'll miss the Mike Ford panel. I'd like to second the request for some kind Fluorospherian to record it for posterity.

To those I met for the first time at Denvention: I am terrible with names and faces, even with Making Light And Faces for a cheat sheet. It generally takes me about two or three times before the association cements. So I may need a reintroduction. Please forgive!

*Nothing like hitting "Preview" and then forgetting to hit "Post" until the next day to make one feel silly.

I'm going to be there without my business, and I might just leave the magic circle of the convention and do a little sight-seeing.

I enjoyed the Museum of Fine Arts, but found the science museum really disappointing. The Botanic Gardens are lovely, and quite large. If you're like me, and don't know a lot about plants, take someone like Jon Singer along. Heck, take Singer anyway!

Although I'm sure it'll fade once I'm there, I've just taken a look at the 104 page program guide, and all I can thinking "Uh... too much information, head 'splody!"

OTOH, it might meet your criteria for 'book' ;)

I don't know when he's going; we'll figure that out after we arrive Wednesday evening. The idea of offering some kind of guided tour hadn't crossed our minds, but Interested Persons can drop me a line at dh.botgarden.2009@GrandFenwick.net and I will Make Inquiries.

P.S. To any who might be concerned by the apparent blithe disregard shown by the presence of an email address out where spammer scrapers can apparently seize it, fret not.