Assorted comments...

[mr-teem.livejournal.com]

I wrote in my own journal about the fun I had at Arisia this year but I wanted to drop a shortish note here about my impressions of how the convention ran for me.

( Assorted positive comments... )

But to pick one nit, the badges were awful! Black on dark brownish grey? Please! Have pity on forgetful geeks with failing eyes. (I know who this is. Damn. I met her last year. Wait, wait, what does her badge say? Casual glance. Casual glance. NO! I can't read it!) Terrible loss of face occurred. More than once. Someone had to point out to me that my real name actually was on the badge somewhere.

poetry "contest"

[fraterrisus]

okay, all you poetry-writin' freaks out there... give us your best shot: summarize Arisia in a haiku. you don't have to stick to the 5-7-5 form but it should be an accepted form of haiku (intentionally left vague, since i never remember the others).

no prizes for the winners. :)

Park Plaza Pirates?

[bobquasit.livejournal.com]

For reasons that I don't want to go into right now I basically missed the con, for the first time ever (I've been to every Arisia, and the first one was my first con experience). Words really cannot express how disappointed I am. Nonetheless, I did manage to be there for seven of the eight panels I was assigned - I drove in from Rhode Island each day for just long enough.

Okay, better not let myself whine too much. But there is one thing I have to ask: Did anyone else have wierd problems with the Park Plaza this year? When I went to check in, I had enough free on my debit card to pay for the two rooms I had reserved. But apparently they wanted a large amount more to be free on the card for security deposit purposes. So the guy behind the desk told me that in addition to paying for both rooms in full, I needed to give him $600 in cash immediately!

Now, the second of the two rooms was for a friend, and I didn't absolutely have to pay for it. She'd offered to pay for it herself, but I owed her from last year. Nonetheless, I asked if I could just put MY room on the card, and she could pay for her own room and security deposit when she came in. The clerk said that was acceptable, but I would still need to give him $600 in cash right away. I was kind of shocked, and showed it. Plese note, I remained polite! But the clerk started going on and on about the fine print in the Arisia contract.

As it happens, we'd brought $1,000 of emergency money just in case (like I said, I've been to every Arisia, so I know how things can go wrong), so I ran out to the car to get $600 from my spouse. Ran back to the desk, and the clerk I'd been speaking to was gone. So I checked in through a different clerk, and guess what? She never asked for $600 cash! I paid for one room on the card and the other with cash, but apart from an extra $150 or so that she took on on my card by accident (I'll be credited with the balance in 7 business days) there was no extra charge beyond room costs.

Now, I do think that I was still overcharged, because I think she charged me the same rate for both rooms even though they were supposed to be different. The whole check-in confused the hell out of me. But that $600 thing freaked me out.

Other than that, from what little I saw of it the Park Plaza continues its downward spiral. Pubic hairs on the towels in our room, a "bathroom" without a toilet (!) , another bathroom with a "shower" so small that you literally had to stand sideways (and set up so that the entire floor was inevitably swimming in water afterwards), incredible amounts of paint peeling off the walls in one of the stairwells (I only hope it wasn't lead paint)...on the plus side, apparently the creme brulee from room service was fantastic (it's the only dessert they actually make there).

Great job on the Green Room, those meatballs were great (grinder rolls would have been nice, though).

The con itself seemed wonderful, from what little I saw of it; thanks. Or rather, THANKS. I'd use the largest font possible (you guys deserve it), but then I'd have to LJ-cut. :-S

(no subject)

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

We had a lot of fun at Arisia this year.

Con Report.

Random Arisian Impressions

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

Wow, that was Really Good Programming. I was struck by how many different things I wanted to see this time, causing almost Worldcon levels of indecision. :)

Also I have to give props to the program people for finding me excellent panels to be on with little time to spare after my questionaire went walkabout.

The Dresden Dolls concert was amazing.

Mechanical thingies in the art show were Way Cool.

Two minor critiques:

Scheduling the Tom Smith concert against Tim Powers' GoH speech was unfortunate. Indecision is one thing, but I almost sprained something. :)

Masquerade broadcast to rooms ended up missing a lot of stuff.

And a suggestion for next year: add a smoking con suite, like they do at Darkover, or at least a smoking lounge? ( Here's why )

Thanks to everyone who worked on it, you guys give great con.

Mer