Friday's Con Report

We got up early Friday and arrived in plenty of time in Portland. In fact, we were early enough that our room wasn't ready, so we scooted over to the con where we discovered... registration wasn't ready either. So we killed a little time, got checked in and registered, played phone tag with my daughter, finally made a connection, and while I was dazzling folks in my first panel, Shaharazahd and my daughter got to spend a pleasant hour over some killer ribs in the restaurant.
The first panel was Masked Vigilantes, with Lou Anders and Carl Cook, both properly unserious and great panelists. Lou in particular had some great anecdotes. After, I slid back over to the restaurant and saved my loved ones from over-consumption of pork products by bravely leaping into the fray and gobbling down the remaining ribs. Yeah meat!
Hugs and goodbyes, and another panel, this one on Alternate History and Fantasy, admirably hosted by Mary Hobson, who as always was well-organized, thoughtful, and fun. Cats to be herded other than myself included Alma Alexander, Robin Hobb, and John Alexander. After Robin and I agreed that it was funny that we live 5 miles apart, but can only get together at a con 100 miles away. KC Ball was in the audience, and came up after to say hi, and then we were swept helplessly into the orbit of Camille Alexis, who lodged us in the bar for a couple of hours of wonderfully hilarious conversation, with a steasily rotating cast of interseting people. Dinner was at der Rhinelander, a Portland landmark, where we enjoyed jagerschnitzel and german beer. We made a quick sweep of the parties, and made it an early night, but not before stopping back at the dance to spend a few minutes with Nisi Shawl.