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May 4, 2008
Tequilacon 2008 - Friday
Friday night I had a 6:15 flight to Philly. As I was through security by 5 p.m. I thought I'd start my mini vacation by having a beer. And then a shot of tequila and then another beer. I did this while sharing a table with a blond gal (a chemist) who was on her way to Denver to take a mini vacation of her own.
The plane boarded on time (by the way, USAirways, despite the assurance that using my USAirways Mastercard to pay for tickets would get me on the plane faster, I still boarded in zone 4) and we were up and soaring in a manner that suggested we'd hit Philly early or at least on time. To celebrate I ordered two beers from the flight attendant. The flight was great and, aside from the person sitting in one of the seats near me that kept farting every 90 seconds (take a shit before you board people!) problem-free. [Oh, I should probably mention that an infant, one seat behind me and in the next row, squalled the whole flight. About half-way into the flight I realize he'd been squalling the whole almost nonstop but that I hadn't paid him too much mind. And then I wondered if crying babies don't bother me because I'm a father or if it was something else. Maybe the four beers and the shot.]
It took me longer to get to the hotel from the airport than it took me to get to Philly from Columbus. Part of this was due to the fact I have tremendous patience and part was due to the fact I'm an idiotic traveler. None of it had to do with alcohol as it all wore off during the wait. Without droning on too much just let me say that the Liberty Shuttle does not pick up people at the same place the hotel shuttles make collections.
I'd given New York City Watchdog a call after check-in and he told me that he and some other bloggers (none of whom I'd ever met) were at the Sheraton.
I'll point out for the people who have never been to Philly that the roads are a little f*cked up. At least in the Center City area. To save some virtual ink I won't say much more other than in my walk to the Sheraton I crossed the street several blocks from the hotel in order to take a direct line to it. As I walked closer I found that the street crossing actually took me a block too far to one side and I had to cross back even though it was clear when I initially crossed that without that first crossing I'd have passed it on the opposite side. I'm sure this doesn't make sense as you read it but as I briefly mentioned the "challenging walk" I'd had from my hotel a well-dressed Sheraton managerial-type said, "You sort of had to triple back, didn't you."
The NYC Watchdog had told me the group was in the restaurant so I went there first. I noticed a room with 14 or so people right next to the hostess station and asked her, "Do you know anythings about the clowns in there?" She didn't but said I could stick my head in. So I did.
I opened the door, stepped in, and things got quiet. I looked at NYCWD, pointed in recognition and called him by his first name. I gave Avitable a point and mentioned him by his name and made the same gesture/verbalization toward Miss Britt and Hilly. My thought was that since I'd just had NYCWD on the phone he might be expecting me and might have told some others that I was on my way.
As it was somebody, I think Midnight Cliff, looked up and asked, "And who are you?"
"I'm Delmer," I said. Not because I have Cher-syndrome, that is I don't think I'm deserving of a one-word-name identity, but because I thought it would be enough. Very few people find themselves in the position of having to wonder "But which 'Delmer' are you." And these people should have seen the Tequilacon Roster and at least recognized the name; how many Delmer's could they be waiting for?
What I didn't realize was that this group of bloggers had been making a bit of noise and had been threatened with getting tossed out of the restaurant. When I stuck my head in they thought I was a bouncer (and a very self-confident one as this was a mean-looking group of people).
A second or two later my obvious harmlessness won them over and Karl welcomed me to Tequilacon.
[My apologies for the lack of links and the abrupt ending. I'm at Philly airport and we board in about 10 minutes. I'm out of time. Yes, this is posted as Saturday's entry, but I'm writing it Sunday night.]
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Posted by delmer at May 4, 2008 4:12 AM