Philcon

[mamadeb]

This was fun.



We took the Chinatown bus again - even if we owned a car, it would have been a cheaper ride, given how much parking cost. This required some logistics, as we also had to take all our food for the weekend. When we went to Boston, we could factor in a Friday morning trip to Brookline, but the kosher neighborhood was too far for that. So. One very large suitcase packed with clothing, meds, arm brace, books, religious paraphenialia, rechargers plus wine, challah and disposables. One insulated bag with chicken, meatloaf, cheese and salads (all carefully wrapped) and a large freezer pak. My backpack, with two bags of knitting, a book and lunch (deli roll, carrots and clementines), Jonathan's backpack with whatever he took. My purse.

Getting to the bus was interesting. jonbaker was already nervous from a somewhat late start and for other reasons that wouldn't be resolved until Saturday night, and we'd never been to this particular bus before. The car service driver kept asking question we'd already answered (usually with, "We don't know.") And then one got angry and the other got angry and the next thing we knew, we were standing on the sidewalk with our luggage. Note that this is our usual car service, but not one of our usual drivers. As we got out, Jonathan still fuming, we met a friend from shul, who asked if she could help. As she didn't have a car available, she couldn't drive us to Chinatown, but she did give us the number of a different car service, who picked up up and got us to the place in plenty of time.

After that, it was easy. The seats were small, but Jonathan took an aisle seat so we weren't quite so cramped. I not only had my knitting - I had a literature course on my mp3 player. This is the second course I've bought from this company, The Teaching Company, and it's been very nice - it's just perfect for when I'm cooking dinner, for example, but it worked for the bus trip, too, although I wouldn't want to listen while doing nothing else.

We got a cab to the hotel and settled into a larger room than we'd expected. However, as we were hosting the Shabbos dinner, that worked out well. We even had a little couch.

Unfortunately,the Dealer's Room opened after Shabbos started, so we couldn't start stacks then. We had dinner with batshua (who is adorable). zsero, boroparkpyro, leofwyne(who is very sweet) and a friend of Jonathan's brother, and then there was the convention.

We seemed to attend mostly filk programming, although I did go to a panel on "Is Science Fiction Moving to the Right"? (Not really. Just that until recently we didn't hear the leftwing voices, something I kinda question. Also, most sf is really apolitical. And Brits think we're all reactionary.)

Otherwise - we resolved the issue on Saturday night nicely, we bought books and art and filk cds, we met and talked to a lot of people and it was fun.

Took another Chinatown bus back to NYC, and got home in time to eat a dinner of con leftovers (heated up. I cannot tell you how much one misses hot food at cons) and watch tv and unpack.

I'm so used to leaving Thursday night and getting hime Monday afternoon that this felt short.

Comments

[boroparkpyro.livejournal.com]

i was sort of disappointed that the panels i went to never ended up talking about exactly what they were supposed to. is that normal for cons?

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Some moderators (mabfan for one) can keep a panel more or less on topic, but, yes, drift is pretty much the norm.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I cannot tell you how much one misses hot food at cons.
Have you thought about bringing those self-heating meals from La Briute for Saturday night?
(I totally hear you on the cold food thing; I've been debating bringing some of these for my next con. They're a little pricey, but sometimes just having hot food is worth it.)

Sounds like a fun con. Glad you had a good time.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

We're afraid of La Briutes - they're half salt, and we both have blood pressure issues.

I've been thinking of finding a George Foreman-type grill with removeable plates (so that I can toivel them, and maybe use the same machine for meat and dairy) to take with us. Grilled cheese sandwiches on Saturday night - yum.

[cellio]

A small crockpot could also be useful.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Those would be less useful for a weekend trip, since we don't eat cholent. They'd be good for a longer stay, though.

[krings-keep.livejournal.com]

uummm - I understand most of what you have been saying but cholent? Translation please?

I gather you are talking about having kosher food at the con,, too bad kosher restaurants don't ship. (or would shipping make the food tref?)

I'm just a mashugana shik-sa from Rochester, NY.
*grin*

Katheryne

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

Cholent: Sabbath stew. Cooking is forbidden on the Sabbath, so these are prepared Friday afternoon before dark, and kept at a low temperature (around 200F)until lunch the following day. Hence, the crockpot. These are usually meat, beans and barley, but there are regional and family variations. This way we can have something warm for lunch.

There are companies that do ship kosher food to hotel rooms (they just need to be well-wrapped) but it would still be cold.

[cellio]

Oh right; I forgot you don't do cholent. (Barbecue chicken works well in a crock pot, BTW -- in fact, I think I do that more often than stews. But I don't know how much liquid is too much for you.)

The other appliance I use a lot on Shabbat is an electric hot-plate. That works well for drier food (like roasted chicken).

[batshua]

I'm adorable? Whee!

It was great to meet you! IY"H, I'll see you at Lunacon.