Home, footsore, exhausted

[altivo]

More hours fursuiting at once than ever before, more hours spent
standing in hallways and lobbies talking with friends (because this
hotel offers damned few convenient chairs or benches in public areas.)

Cold weather with cold enough winds that I was chilled outside while
wearing a fursuit!

Scored an Argos badge from Jim Groat, will scan and post soon. Also a
cute plush wuffie for my mate, and a very fluffed up fox hand puppet
for myself. Foxfeather's design for the con t-shirt is awesome.

Mixed reports for the hotel. Rooms are nice, no elevator failures
(perhaps because gophers helped to manage the traffic flow this year)
and all the staff with whom I had contact were courteous and helpful.
Parking was a disaster. I don't think they have enough parking space
for one car per guest room, let alone three or four plus day
attendees. Stairwells were open and usable to avoid the elevator
crunch, a room on the fursuit floors (1-5) was available to me when I
arrived on Friday without any delay. Not enough seating in public
areas of the hotel, people sitting on floors all over. Con Suite was
on the 16th floor, reachable only by overloaded elevators or climbing
the stairs all the way? (That's hopeless, folks.) Art show space,
dealer space, and large group presentation space all seemed better
easier to access (but that may be subjective opinion.) Stairwells are
all sheet metal and extremely noisy, with little or no soundproofing.
Our room was right across the hall from one, with herds of elephants
clomping up and down until two or three in the morning.

Restaurant opportunities in the immediate vicinity are disappointing
to say the least. Lots of four and five dollar sign restaurants within
short walking distance. Things more likely to fit the average furry
budget were farther away, requiring long hikes in the cold wind or
giving up a hard won parking space in order to drive a couple of
miles. (This is very, very bad in my opinion.)

A minor glitch that was rather disappointing: The plastic keycards
issued had custom artwork and logo on them for MFF. This was a really
nice touch. Not being able to have the card disabled and returned to
the guest as a souvenir was disappointing, though. They won't be
reusing these, I was told they will be shredded. Having furry art on
the card instead of babes in bikinis (as at the Hyatt) was nice, but
it would have been even nicer to be able to keep the card.

Lots of photos taken of Argos and Steed, should be available before
too long. Very little writing got done, I may have to bail on the NaNo
for this year, but haven't decided yet. As I found in 2005, finishing
a fursuit and working on the NaNo in the same month seem to be
mutually exclusive.

Comments

[miktar.livejournal.com]

Odd, we kept all our room cards. I'll post you mine, if you'd like it. ^^

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, then we can chalk that up to inconsistent communication to or between hotel staff. I asked and was told no. It's all right, the art wasn't that exciting to me, but the idea was a good one. I disliked the junky photos that the Hyatt used on their cards.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

If the flights were not too expensive I'd have joined you. It sounded like a lot of fun. I spent the weekend eating too much junk food, and playing on EVE. Was boring in comparison. Still, there is always next year. :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It would have been great to have you here, but I certainly understand. The modest increase in cost from last year to this was off-putting to me and I don't have to travel so far. The economy here and everywhere else is looking bad enough for these things to matter more now.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

Maybe I can go cargo class next time. :D

[altivo.livejournal.com]

LOL! There was a skit like that in the Variety show. All in mime, one fur begs the airline employee for a cheaper rate and ultimately ends up squeezed into a plastic flight kennel and shipped to Alaska as cargo. It was funny, but disturbingly close to the truth for me. I gave up commercial flights completely after a couple of experiences nearly that bad.

I can confirm the fact that bariki was here though. I actually saw and hugged him once, though I don't know where he went after that.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

I would have been fine with cargo class myself. Even that would be preferred to my current status which is at home :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Except that in the cargo hold you don't get air pressure, oxygen, or heating. Not good even for the poor dogs and cats they do that to. It's amazing that more of them don't come out of that treatment with severe damage or even dead.

[hrrunka]

I thought most (if not all) cargo/baggage space in jet airliners was pressurised. It'd certainly make sense from a design point of view. Some holds are temperature controlled, and all holds should get some ventilation. They really shouldn't put live animals in a hold if it's not going to stay relatively comfortable. Temperature changes during loading and un-loading are another matter, and being shut in the dark for the duration isn't going to be fun, either.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Things may have changed since I last looked into it, and it depends on the route and airplane model just what they might do I suppose. But when I last looked into shipping animals by air, they wouldn't guarantee me either a heated or a pressurized cargo hold. The animals were not shipped that way. In recent years, the US airlines have tried to change their policies so as to refuse live animal shipments and that caused a ruckus too because baby poultry are often sent through the mail. It's an old tradition, and the airlines were trying to get out of handling them, which would have done severe damage to the small poultry industry here. So far, the postal service has managed to hold off the airlines on that.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

Hey, at least your weekend was more exciting than mine ]:8D

I spent the weekend mostly drinking and staring at my screen... But that is about the maximum for my mental capabilities anyway.

And I agree, would have been great to be able to join there. I haven't seen _any_ of my friends for... Is it three weeks now? No, three and a half. Oh, well. Maybe someone will remember me some day and say hi. :P

[schnee.livejournal.com]

It could just so have happened that you, in a truly unfortunately coincidence, lost your card... :)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It could. But I don't operate that way, and I asked instead. Sounds like I asked the wrong person. Not a big deal in any case.

Off-top is my specialty :P

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

More hours fursuiting at once than ever before, more hours spent
standing in hallways and lobbies talking with friends (because this
hotel offers damned few convenient chairs or benches in public areas.)

You know, I've noticed in general this country seems to have a serious shortage of places for people to sit in public. Around here, several park benches have been removed in the past couple of months. Also, various places like Walmart and a local bookstore have cut their places for the patrons to sit in half. One wonders if there's any kind of gain from thiis, or just more agitated people with something else to complain about.

Re: Off-top is my specialty :P

[soanos.livejournal.com]

Heh. Probably to divert the attention away from the quality of the rest of the services... :P
Not sure why the amount has been in a decline, maybe vandalism? To promote health? Who knows.
Perhaps Walmart and the bookstore thing that a sitting customer is not a shopping customer and
therefore spends way too much time before deciding what he/she wants to buy. :D

I certainly sit way too much so I like standing up sometimes.
It is different if you have to do that for many hours straight tho.
Especially in a fursuit. :P

Re: Off-top is my specialty :P

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

<>Heh. Probably to divert the attention away from the quality of the rest of the services... :P

Possibly, people are constantly distracting themselves from real issues with such things...

Not sure why the amount has been in a decline, maybe vandalism?

Well, one was vandalized, but it had been that way for almost 4 years before anything was done.

To promote health?

LOL Yeah, right. If there's not a way to make money off it, health is the furthest thing from anybody's decision to remove or fix anything.

Perhaps Walmart and the bookstore thing that a sitting customer is not a shopping customer and
therefore spends way too much time before deciding what he/she wants to buy. :D

Possible, and certainly the best guess I've thought of... ut if you look into it, a person in a hurry is just as likely to leave if they can't focus on their shopping as anything else. I can't tell you how many businesses have lost my business because of something along these lines.

I certainly sit way too much so I like standing up sometimes.

*scratches head* I've almost forgotten wat that feels like- it's rare on any given day I sit for more than an hour straight. Today I'll walk about 5 hours total... when I was homeless, 6 to 8 was the norm. I'm lucky I rarely get cramps...

Re: Off-top is my specialty :P

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It's a trend in public places where people complain about "vagrants" and "homeless" and I agree it's short-sighted and narrow minded.

My suspicion in the case of hotel lobbies in relatively ritzy suburbs though is that they actually had furniture. There are little nooks all along the wall areas where benches or chairs should sit. I think they probably removed them in advance of the con's arrival to "discourage traffic obstruction" or something like that. The Hyatt started doing the same thing last year and it was irritating to say the least. The elevator lobbies on each floor in the Hyatt have seating areas with sofas and occasional chairs. These make nice roomy relax and chat areas, but in 2007 they removed all the furniture from those areas before the con started.

Re: Off-top is my specialty :P

[gabrielhorse.livejournal.com]

*nods* I can understand if a homeless person is sleeping there in broad daylight, but humans need sleep no matter what their economic situation. I say, after 11 PM, a homeless person should be allowed to sleep anywhere that's not private property. As someone who came within a nosehair of living in a tent myself, I can appreciate how scarce land that is not labelled "private" property is- you practically have to sleep under a rock, in a hole or on someone's couch.

[marzolan.livejournal.com]

Awww... I hope you won't drop the story completely. I'm very interested to hear what happens on the little fishing trip.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

I think it is time for The Final Crunch!

You cam do it! *cheers*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Certainly if I were going to do it, all this week would be a crunch, and perhaps too much so. At the moment it isn't flowing easily, which is normal when you are sitting around the half way point and plot elements aren't yet congealed. You feel as if you'll never get all the details in and even if you do, it will take so long that the reader will have gotten bored and abandoned you.

[soanos.livejournal.com]

*Massages the sore horsiehooves gently and wraps 'Tivo in a blanket*

I hope the hoofsore passes soon. I am sure getting some rest wouldn't hurt either. :)

Glad to hear you haf a good time, and sorry to hear about poor dining arrangements. Sounds like they didn't have much of am arranged buffet there for guests to enjoy. Might have alleviated the food situation a bit and reduced the need to hunt.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

The convention itself provides a certain amount of snacks and beverages that are included in the registration/membership fee. Unfortunately, the layout of this hotel forced the main distribution point for those to be located on the top floor, and elevator traffic was just too nasty to make that workable. They also had "limited occupancy" for the suite they used up there, so people couldn't hang around and socialize. I've never been a big user of the con suite facility, because generally I try not to eat the sorts of things they offer, but still it's an important function that got really short shrift this year.

With a sponsoring membership you also get one catered buffet luncheon on Saturday that's always quite nice. This year it wasn't quite as luxurious as when presented at the Hyatt, but it was good enough. I'd have preferred more salads and veggie offerings, frankly, and that was something they didn't skimp at the old hotel.

As for the restaurant situation, well that's a function of geography and city planning rather than the direct fault of the con organizers. The town of Wheeling has concentrated a slew of overpriced restaurants right there on Milwaukee Avenue, while the less expensive chains and fast food places are scattered on Dundee Avenue and Lake-Cook Road, farther away from the hotel and not so easily accessible. The former con site at the Hyatt is located right across the road from a huge, sprawling shopping mall that had a much more diverse selection of eating places within just a mile or so.

[aureth.livejournal.com]

Honestly, we were spoiled at the Hyatt with the restaurant situation. I'm a huge fan of the Hyatt, and hated to leave it...It was the hotel that I moved the convention to when I was chairman in 2002. The area around it is fantastic for eating and shopping opportunities, because it is the largest mall in northern Illinois.

Most of our other choices for a hotel are, in fact, worse as far as restaurants go. A lot of big hotels with big function space are just out in the middle of nowhere (like the Arlington Park Sheraton where we started Midwest Furfest), or are in Rosemont where there is O'Hare, and little else.

By the way, I remember seeing you very briefly this weekend...sorry I had no time to stop and chat. I did very little except deal with art show crisis after crisis this weekend. :(

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I saw you outside the art show space on Saturday morning, but you were on the phone. I can sympathize. It's the old "Hug a musician, they never get to dance" situation.

The art show was superb though, and laid out nicely. Obviously a little more space helps make it easier to see things and navigate through a crowd. Thanks for doing a great job. :)

I can understand that we had outgrown the Hyatt to some extent and perhaps outstayed our welcome too. However, between the parking, restaurant, and con suite difficulties of this site, I'd much rather be back at the Hyatt with whatever limitations it had.

[zachary-geminus.livejournal.com]

We had thought about keeping the cards but honestly, yeah, they were nice, but what the hell am I going to do with them other than stick them in a drawer for the next 20 years?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It was a nice touch, and unexpected.

From all the hints I'm hearing, it's no wonder I didn't see much of you. I suspect you had a much better time than I did, and not in public spaces of the hotel... ;p

[felder.livejournal.com]

It sounds like a good con to attend hon. one of these days we have to get to meet RL. *sigh*

well for us, roll on FC 09 ;) this old nag's sooo looking forward to it, and don't forget at Sunday at 10am, the Ungulates panel is on, hosted by said old nag ;)

glad you had a good time hon!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It would have been nice to see you here, but I certainly understand that not many folks can get to all the meets. Unfortunately this one is the only one I go to because I dislike travel and really hate commercial airlines, dating back to well before the TSA nonsense.

[iceleopard.livejournal.com]

It was great to see ya pony! Glad you could make it this year, and Im glad you hear you had a great time :) We the staff strive to make your con experience as memorable as possible, and try to make your stay at the hotel as comfortable as possible. I to regret ther lack of services (restaurants, stores, shops, conveniences in the immeduiate area, withing reasonable alking distance. Without a local who knows the area or public transportation, it can be discouraging. I experience the exact same thing when I go to FC, so I can empathize.

Hotel room keys, although not expressly stated, I do belive could be kept as souvenirs from the con. Since this is our first con in a new hotel, their value can only increase in value :) (shameless Frankin mint plug).

It was a fun year, with a few challenges, and more than enough wrinkles to work out for next year. Hopefully we can strive to make your next con with us an even bigger and better one!


*nickers*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It was nice seeing you briefly both out of suit and as Eclipse (who looks great.)

Yes, others have told me that they got to keep the keys, but the hotel staffer at the front desk of whom I asked the question Sunday told me no, they must be returned. So mixed communications somewhere...

Staff did a great job dealing with many obstacles this year, and aside from the stupid fire alarm and parking issues, and the inaccessibility of the con suite, it was a good experience. I'm afraid I'm not at all convinced that this hotel is an improvement on the Hyatt, though. The negatives are large.

[(Anonymous)]

Whinnyhi.

Well I had a great time and finding it hard to go back to civilian life. Was great seeing Eclipse in suit even if for only a moment out of suit myself. You are such a whiner, Tivo. Grin. Of course our web server is broken but oh well, it kinda works although this letter may not get posted because.

Steed and Imperator

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*clicks* There, it's posted.

Yeah, I've got a touch of PCD and possibly some con crud myself. Don't think I've ever experienced either one before. The group photos after the parade are up at Dexcat's site.

[t-h-squirrel.livejournal.com]

Hope your hooves get better from all of the trotting about.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

If they'd been hooves I might be better already. It was the wolf paws that did it. ;p

[t-h-squirrel.livejournal.com]

Oh.