The Black Bunny: Dragon*Con 2010

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Dragon*Con 2010 - Wednesday

Dragon*Con 2010 was exhausting; fun, but exhausting. Even getting there one day earlier than normal didn’t seem to lessen any of the insanity of the weekend.

We headed up to Atlanta on Wednesday this year. Usually, we head up on Thursday morning. Over the past few years, it seemed the Thursday load-in at the hotel was so crazy and crowded we decided to try it a day early.

Before heading out, we had to make one stop. Jesse had to get a haircut. He was prepping to do his Les Grossman at Dragon*Con and he was going all the way. All he had left was the haircut and he only trusted his regular barber.

After the shock of seeing Jesse with only half-a-head of hair, we ran by Chick-fil-a for breakfast. By the way, the ‘we’ consisted of me, Darrell, Jesse and Kyle.

We arrived at the Marriott by 10:30a; about the same time as Donna & Harris – good timing! We were all checked-in and to our rooms by 11a. Darrell and I, along with Donna and Harris were given rooms on the 9th floor. Jesse, Kyle and Josh had to settle for the 8th floor. Donna and Harris had been given the last double on the 9th.

Once the luggage, two carts worth, made it to the room, it was time to start unpacking. I am very particular when setting up my room at D*C. First, all unnecessary hotel items are stowed in the top of the closet. This includes but is not limited to coffee makers and accessories, glasses, bibles, room menu’s, tourist books, and the not-complimentary $5 dollar bottle of water. Once that is done, it is time to rearrange. We need a bar, a place for ice and drinks, a snack area and the important laptop space. This is usually trial and error. This was our second year in the Marriott so it moved quicker this year than last year.

Once the room was settled, it was time to do a little visiting and determine what we were going to do for dinner. We decided on Meehan’s for dinner. Meehan's is a newish Irish Pub one block up and two blocks over on Peachtree Street. At dinner I found a kindred spirit in Harris – we both love salt and vinegar chips so, of course, we had to order the homemade ones on the menu! They were good but I could have stood a little more vinegar on mine. Over all dinner was good. Darrell loved the salmon and my salad was delicious (I felt guilty about the chips).

After dinner, we wandered back to the Marriott and adjourned to the empty Pulse Loft. This is one of my favorite places during the convention. It gives one a unique view of one of the busiest floors in the Marriott during D*C. It was actually kind of creepy to see how empty it was on Wednesday night.