Potlatch II'm sure I don't know half the people who come to my house. Indeed, from all I hear, I shouldn't like to. Friday, February 25, 2000
I took the whole day off today. I needed that morning time to get ready for the con! I sorted out the rubber stamp and badge stuff, and I packed my own clothing. Around noon I drove over to Jane's house and helped for a bit in loading up the van with all the hospitality suite supplies and equipment. Jane decided that I should go ahead to the hotel and get the keys, so we'd be able to unload in an expeditious manner. Checking in at the front desk took a long time. Who'd have thought they'd be so busy (or disorganized) at noon on a Friday? At first they tried to check me into one of the corner rooms (for my personal room), but I knew that such rooms were supposed to be reserved for committee members. Committee members don't get special rooms as a perk for working on the convention -- they do it so that these rooms (a bit larger than most) can be made available for use by the convention, for the writers' workshops or other special events. This year we'll be having two room parties in Jane's corner room. I was in the con suite after that, receiving cart load after cart load of soda, beer, wine, chips, candy, fruit, veggies, knives, cutting boards, platters, cups, napkins.... I took my best stab at arranging all this sensibly, but I figured Jane would have her ideas about the best disposition. One drawback of the suite this year -- we are on the second floor, facing the interior courtyard, where the swimming pool is. Local ordinance means that the windows facing on to this courtyard are sealed! So we can expect to be warm and stuffy. Across the hall, we have another two rooms. One is the smoking room, and the other is a spare, for whatever purpose we think of.
After we got things going in the suite, I ran down to the first floor and started getting the toy room organized. Registration takes place here, too. The toy space is a new feature to Potlatch this year, with badge decoration (rubber stamps, collage materials, random stuff), construction toys (zolo, bonz, toobers and zots), and the hit of the convention, Glenn Hackney's K'nex. This system took over about half the room, thrilling and exciting the con members. I know I had to leave the hotel three times this day: I had to go back to my house for the oh-so-carefully-packed box of rubber stamp stuff (I combined this with an ice-buying excursion); some other trip that I've repressed; and a trip to buy banquet permits. This was something that occurred to me around six o'clock, and I whispered in Jane's ear, "What about the banquet permits?" She'd forgotten, too! So I decided to brave the bureaucracy of the state liquor control board and go to the liquor store. I filled out three forms, one for each day of the con, and brought them back and posted them proudly on the wall in the con suite. I kept seeing more friends and familiar faces. I didn't have too much time to chat, though! During the con, the universe collapses into the three rooms that are hospitality. It's a regular round: pick up trash, put out food, ice down the beverages, repeat. I chat with people and say hello, especially if I don't recognize them.
Jack arrived about mid-evening, after driving down from Bellingham. I had to go meet him in the lobby, because I hadn't put his name down on the room, and he didn't just come and find me in the hospitality suite. We ended up eating dinner in the hotel restaurant, with Jack Beslanowich and Martin. Jack ended up ordering for me, which I didn't mind. But I was amused when, after our appetizer arrived, he started cutting the mozzarella squares on the plate in front of me. "I feel like you are cutting my food for me," I laughed. I was sorry when Jack sputtered, "I'll never do that again!" I was only teasing him! Jack and Jack had lots of tech topics to discuss. Martin and I traded looks across the table. It was good to sit down! I was already getting tired. After dinner I returned to work in hospitality. Jack had fun in the smoking room, even getting out a cigar! It's a good crew in there, but the smoke is tough on my eyes, even with the window open and the hepa-filter going on high. When it was almost midnight, I was feeling tired, so I went looking for Jane. She wasn't in the main con suite, nor in the smoking room, nor in the Wiscon room party down the hall (great cheese theme, and a blow-up holstein cow). Finally I looked in the third hospitality room. Someone was lying on the bed, but I couldn't tell if it was Jane. I walked to the other side, and inadvertantly woke her up (for it was indeed Jane). The sudden waking made her a bit cross, understandably. I felt bad! But she hadn't told me of her plan to take a nap. After she composed herself, I took Jack off to bed.
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