back in the game.

[mandolin]

Okay. Said this before elsewhere, but I am not allowed near LiveJournal anymore in the midst of the Mood Swing Morning of Doom. I'm fine, I just tend to get worked up over really petty things.

Switching over to topics of NOT failing: Now that Southwest and BWI have settled things, I have finally booked a room and plane tickets for G2008. Also, since the G2008 forum is having severe issues I'll throw the offer out here - if anybody needs a roommate, contact me and brooklynx. We've got space for a third.

Still need to:

1) Figure out what to do about carry-ons. Most importantly, how to get Carmine there safely. Not sure if mailing him is the best option, but even if they let me carry him on I can only imagine if they make me stow him under the seat/overhead and he goes crunch courtesy of somebody's feet/luggage.

2) Find out if the hotel rooms have safes. This will impact any decision to take the laptop with me. Didn't take it to G2007 because there was none and I learned years ago that you can't always trust housekeeping. (Okay, the culprit in the Econo Lodge incident was not the brightest crayon in the box and this is no Econo Lodge, but still.) They DO and apparently are big enough to store a laptop. Now I... need to figure out if I can bring the laptop. I want to because I think it's the only way I'm going to finish a con report for the first time since 2003.

3) Find out about food/etc in the immediate area. Preferably stuff within safe walking distance so I don't wind up dragging Greg Wiseman six blocks to find a pharmacy in New York again. (Yeah, that was '03 but I still look back on that and feel bad about it. Nobody else knew where it was.)

4) Figure out the rest of the to-do list because this is way too short.

5) Get lunch because hey, it's noon. Well, that was easy.

Comments

[wonderseal.livejournal.com]

Since you`re alredy going to be in the midwest, and chicago`s only five hours away...you should come visit me! 8D (ps- i should get brownie points for typing this on a french keyboard...and not looking down)

[weirdweb.livejournal.com]

Hahaha - only if I can make it. Between the con and trying to figure out how to visit my stepsister if she's actually home, it'd be kind of tough to squeeze it in. Not getting into Midway til 4:30 on Thursday. But I'll try to see what I can do!

(And yes, you should.)

[y2hecate.livejournal.com]

What sort of issues are you having with the Gathering forum? I'm admin over there at the moment, and I'm having trouble even getting into the pages, let alone the control panel to approve/deny new applicants/spam accounts. Thought it was just some bad days server-side or something, but apparently not.
I can't really mess with the files, but I can talk with those who can. Lemme know what it's doing (or not doing) for you, and hopefully we can figure something out.

[brooklynx.livejournal.com]

It's hard to say what the exact problem is for sure, but I suspect part of the code is fouled up somewhere. I've notice that it will time-out after 120 seconds when trying to look at the forum, member list or even just trying to log in to maybe even make a post. Or at times, it takes a while to even load up the forum.

Here's an example of the time out line I get:

Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 120 seconds exceeded in \\NAWINFS04\home\users\web\b2908\rh.gathering\phpBB2\db\msaccess.php on line 176


Something that might help out a little for the possible log-in in problem is going through and deleting the non-posting "members," that are spam bots in some cases. When I was helping Guan try and clean up the AMGC forums, we ran into thousands of these.

[y2hecate.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I get the same error. And I've been trying to go through and delete said spam accounts, but if I can't get in, I can't delete. :/ I wish I could just go down the user list and check off all that I wanted to delete, but this version only has where you look up and delete one user at a time. So.. takes a looong time. Gathering staff's currently discussing options.

[brooklynx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's how it was for me when dealing the AMGC forum mess. Of course Guan could put together a command string and delete a large batch at once. :/

Well, hopefully they can figure out something.

[indigoangelcat.livejournal.com]

ROFL, you sound like me trying to get things together for AC... MAN I WISH THEY WERE TWO SEPARATE WEEKENDS!!! >.< Love that show!

[jennies.livejournal.com]

I would advise packing Carmine in your carry-on, snugly-wrapped up with your clothes. Make sure said carry-on is tightly-packed (i.e. jostling/repositioning/vert-to-horz-shift doesn't cause anything to move), so that the mechanics of lifting the bag into x-ray machines and the overhead bin don't make things shift around. He'll be well-padded with clothes, which do a great job of absorbing impacts - kind of like custom-fit foam and better than foam peanuts. Then get on the plane, load the bag into an empty bin, and chill. As long as your bag isn't physically hanging out of the bin, it's not gonna get smashed, and people are NOT such a$$h0l4s that they'll forcibly ram, bash, and bang your bag whilst loading their own carry on (the bins are not insulated, so it may SOUND like this is what is happening, but it is NOT - that sort of behavior can get you kicked off a plane). Trust me, I've packed and stowed bone china, hand-blown glass, and fragile camera lenses this way, traveling cross-country and overseas, and even the flights where it looked like my check-in bags had been through a knife fight and mugging afterwards, my CARRY-ON bag was fine.

If you're bringing your laptop, that's the bag to stow under the seat in front of you. It's small, and with how the under-the-seat life vests are stowed, you'll have no one's feet to worry about but your own. (And, hey, you can always tuck it between you and the wall if you've a window seat. Generally no one notices/cares, and it frees the kick-worries.)


As for food, where's the hotel? If you're off the Magnificent Mile, you simply MUST go to Gino's East - and if not, they deliver. (Chicago deep dish made with cornmeal crusts = TASTY) Also in the area is Uno's (the original), Duo's (Uno's we-need-more-space shop literally half a block away), Rainforest Cafe, a turkish den by said RC, Billy Goat's (good for burgers and steaks and etc), a Hard Rock Cafe, etc. If you're further up north (closer to Midway than O'Hare), then there's still a Rainforest Cafe and some other eats at and around the Winfield mall. Also, tons of places deliver, esp. to con hotels.

....You know, I have at least one Chicago travel book. It has maps and bus/el schedules and restaurant guides and such in it. I should loan it to you. Drop me a line re: your schedule for the next few weeks, and if our paths aren't gonna cross on a weekend, I could always drop by after work or even *gasp* mail it to you. :3

[mtgat]

Hey, are you still looking for people to pack into your room? I am trying to decide if I want to stay there or try the commute.

[weirdweb.livejournal.com]

YES! The G2008 forum is allergic to me-- it died again when I went to check this weekend and only just popped up again. But yeah, so far it's just me and Shaun.

I'm going to be up til nearly 2 am my time anyway because that's when my folks' flight is now getting in. I'll e-mail you.