skipping San Diego

Hotel reservations for San Diego Comic-Con opened up today. I briefly tried getting on the reservation site from work, but I couldn’t get through, and gave up. I just checked from home, and the only hotel they have left is about 7 miles from the convention center. So, I think, between that, and not being about to get a four-day pass, I’m going to skip the con this year. It’ll be weird, not being there. And I’m definitely going to have to come up with some other plan for a summer vacation, otherwise I think I’ll probably crack by August.

San Diego four-day passes sold out

I saw this mentioned on a couple of blogs today. San Diego four-day passes are already sold out! I was thinking about buying one a couple of weeks ago, but I figured I didn’t need to be in a hurry or anything. It’s the hotel rooms that are usually the big problem, so I was going to wait until I’d figured that out before I bought my pass. Oops. I can still buy four individual one-day passes, but now I’m wondering if I should even go. Without the four-day pass, I can’t get into preview night, so that’s one thing already shot down. And I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to pick up the passes on Wednesday night, so I’d be stuck in the general chaos on Thursday morning, waiting in an undoubtedly long line. (And I’m assuming that I could pick up all four passes on Thursday, but I’m not sure about that.)

Hotel reservations open up next week, and, by the look of things, it’s probably unlikely that I’d get a decent room anywhere close to the convention center. I was hoping that the recession might put a dent in the ballooning of SDCC, at least to the extent that I could buy a four-day pass in late March, and get a hotel room at, say, the Embassy Suites, for a decent price, but it’s not looking like that’s going to happen.

Well, I’ve been going to the con for ten years now, so maybe it’s time to take a year off. I’m not sure what else I’d want to do for a summer vacation though. Maybe Tech Ed? What’s Los Angeles like in May? And does a programming conference count as a vacation?

WonderCon and Comic-Con

I won’t be going to WonderCon this year, but it looks like it’ll be a lot of fun. Drats. Hopefully, I’ll be able to go next year.

Meanwhile, I am hoping to go to San Diego Comic-Con again this year. Hotel reservations open up on March 19, which is about a month later than last year. I’m not sure why. The hotel situation last year was crazy. I’m hoping things will be a little easier to deal with this year, due to the recession. Not that I’m in any way happy about that, but if nothing else good comes out of all this economic turmoil, maybe, at least, it’ll be a little easier to get a hotel room in San Diego! Honestly, if the hotel situation is out of control, and I can’t get a good room at a decent rate, I might have to skip San Diego. I’ve been going for more than ten years now, but if I have to miss it, oh well.

random 2008 lists

Here are a few random lists, of books & comics I read, and movies I saw, in 2008. I don’t suppose I have any good reason for posting these. I was just kind of bored with the Rose Bowl, so I started making lists. I’m not bothering to list anything I read or saw, but didn’t really enjoy, so you can assume that all these books/comics/movies are recommended to anyone who might have tastes similar to my own.

books I read in 2008:
1. Well of Lost Plots – Jasper Fforde
2. The Millionaires – Brad Meltzer
3. Zero Game – Meltzer
4. Areas of my Expertise – John Hodgman
5. Something Rotten – Fforde
6. Diamond Age – Neal Stephenson
7. Interesting Times – Terry Pratchett
8. The Last Lecture – Randy Pausch
9. Idea Mapping – Jamie Nast
10. Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay – Michael Chabon
11. Old Man’s War – John Scalzi
12. Death Masks – Jim Butcher
13. Bood Rites – Butcher
14. With No One as Witness – Elizabeth George
15. Certain Justice – P. D. James
16. A Taste for Death – James
17. Spirit House – Christopher G. Moore
18. Tales of Beedle the Bard – J K Rowling

some comics I read:
1. Coraline – Neil Gaiman / P Craig Russell
2. 21 Down – Gray / Palmiotti / Saiz
3. Teen Titans: Titans Around the World
4. Shadowpact
5. Fell – Warren Ellis / Ben Templesmith
6. a bunch of Hellboy and BPRD comics
7. Invincible (Vol 1-4, I think)
8. Kid Eternity – Grant Morrison / Duncan Fegredo
9. Challengers of the Unknown – Loeb / Sale

movies i remember seeing:
1. There Will Be Blood
2. Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
3. Stargate: Ark of Truth
4. Stargate: Continuum
5. Battlestar Galactica: Razor
6. Dark Knight
7. Hellboy 2
8. Iron Man
9. X-Files: I Want to Believe
10. Batman: Gotham Knight
11. Wall-E
12. Gone Baby Gone
13. No Country for Old Men