shark bytes

Boskone
I didn't see everyone I wanted to see, or get enough time with the folks I did see, but that always happens. Setup on Thursday was enhanced by the wise overlordship of fluffcthulhu; the weather was pleasantly lacking in precipitation, though it was still really cold; food options near the hotel are still not all that abundant, but between the con suite and staff den there were pretty good options for "refueling stop" food. I'm still happy with the hotel's physical layout (the bar/seating area in the lobby is a big win) but I'm looking forward to more food options and better function space next year when the currently-in-progress buildout is complete. Food highlight of the con: dim sum in Chinatown with mnemex and drcpunk.

I didn't get to a whole lot of panels, but those I did were lots of fun. orzelc managed to top Charlie Stross, Karl Schroeder, and Tobias Buckell without even trying; David Weber had some great stories of Jim Baen; the "is this the year for e-books" panel was pretty well distributed across viewpoints, though it dipped into a round of the Eternal Copyright Flamewar there for a bit as well. I did a fair amount of gaming, including many games of Race for the Galaxy. I got to the Tor party, and contrary to my expectations it wasn't wall-to-wall people, so I could actually move, and have conversations, and so on. Unlike some people I didn't wind up with a copy of Cory Doctorow's upcoming book, though I did buy Noreascon I on a Stick. (I bought the cheaper version with the LPs; my sometimes-officemate has both a turntable and an interest in several of the authors on the recording.)

Chad's post also mentions the "graying of Boskone". I'm not absolutely sure that the total attendance is aging quite that quickly; it's my impression that there are a fair number of YA readers attending. (Bruce Covillle as the Special Guest this year would presumably have raised that number, also.) I do think there's a bit of a demographic hole caused by Boskone's years in the wilderness[1], exacerbated by Arisia and Anime Boston drawing in potential Boskone attendees who may not have the time, money, and/or energy for multiple conventions within weeks of each other.

Life in general
It continues, as these things do. The TV's broken, the weather's been doing the traditional New England "wait 10 minutes and it'll be different" dance, and last weekend we got some always-delectable Kelly's Roast Beef in conjunction[2] with a visit to the Natick Mall Collection and then the nearby REI for their climbing wall. (That was for hr_macgirl, not for me. Heights? DO NOT WANT.)

Upcoming conventions: Minicon (N) Readercon (Y) ... and a New (to me)! Exciting! convention
Sadly, no Minicon for me this year (again), much as I'd like to be there. However, I am going to be at Readercon (as usual) in July.

Now, the new! exciting! bit: I'm going to Penguicon in April! SF! Games! Computers! A list of "Nifty Guests" that includes several very nifty folks on my flist! Three hours in Newark Liberty International on the way out, because that was the only way to get the cheap fare without getting to BOS for an 0600 (DO NOT WANT) flight! Okay, that last one's not too exciting. I certainly hope it's not as exciting as my last connection in EWR. The last time I flew through EWR, there was a minor power problem.

As a bonus, the following Monday is a holiday in Massachusetts[3], so I get a recovery day afterwards and can sleep in unlike all the folks living in less enlightened states.

( footnotes )

Work: goes well, though busy. RSI continues to be a pain, so the ice packs are getting plenty of use.

Baseball: the Mariners are losing to the Athletics, badly. I can't even be too happy about the Indians winning, since it meant the Red Sox had to lose. At least it's the Seattle feed rather than the Oakland feed.

Home: no comment; I don't want to jinx anything.

EDIT: the Yankees lost, so that's something to be happy about.