hellziggy

Northwest Airlines can go fuck themselves and the goddamn horse they rode in on!!!

( Nice long rant about NWA, and how I came to be at the airport all night instead of flying out at 1am. )

But, until then, I was having a totally awesome time!!
LJ & podcast peeps that I got to meet for the very first time in person: Brian Ibbott & his lovely wife Tina, Tabz (aka sl_podcast), spellwight, Evo Terra & his wife Sheila, Jack Mangan, Len Peralta, Philippa Ballentine, Tee Morris, and I know I'm forgetting people (Hey, it's 3:15 am. Of course I'm forgetting people!!!) And not meeting him for the first time, but also there was johnboze. I also hung out with scubagrrl the whole time, of course, and we hung out with cajones a lot. It was a weird surreal twist because unlike the way it usually is with him, this time he didn't know anyone except me, and I was the one who knew a ton of people and was introducing him!
Brian is super awesome in person.

And there was also much JoCo this weekend.
JoCo hug count: at least 5 6. I saw him here at the airport about an hour and change ago. I accused him of stalking me. :)
Beers JoCo bought me: 1.
Checks written to JoCo by me for merch: 1.
Checks written to JoCo by me that he ripped up: 1. Bought the PAX DVD and he wouldn't let me pay for it!

And the concert: Awesome!!! When we got in right as the doors opened, JoCo was kind of overwhelmed at his merch table getting it set up so I asked if I needed a merch minion. He was mostly hanging out so I just ran the credit cards while he signed things for people.
During the concert I took many many pictures. Fewer of Jonathan than all the others because I have so many with better lighting and cooler looking stage.
After the concert said goodbye. Didn't expect to see him again. But today after walking scubagrrl & cajones to catch their cab to the airport I was headed back to Quark's bar and saw him sitting at the Space Quest bar by himself. He waved so I joined him and we chatted a while. Then people started gathering by us, and he left for the Star Trek ride with Len. That's the last I saw of him. I assume he survived the Borg attack...


Arg. Very tired now. I'll write more about the NME & stuff tomorrow when I'm in the comfort of my own home!

My Twitter feed is full of people already in Vegas, or busy packing for Vegas!

Looks like a lot of people are flying in tomorrow. If I was going to any NME panels that would make sense for me, but since I'm mostly going for the concert and to meet people Thursday is good enough. :)

But now that it is only a day and a half away I'm starting to get pretty excited!

And Bad Wolf is nice and quiet again so I'll survive the flight. I just need to figure out what movies I want to bring to watch on the flight, and also in the airport when I get in. I'll be hanging out there for about 2.5 to 3 hours waiting for scubagrrl's flight and then we'll head to the time share to check in.

As the trip grows closer I'm realizing just how ironic it is that I'm going to my first NME right at the time in my life when I listen to the fewest podcasts I ever have since starting to listen. That's mostly just a side effect of not having a 40 hour a week desk job. My commute is about 10 minutes shorter and that's about the only time I have to listen.

Even though hellbob won't be able to join me - :( - I'm going out to Vegas in August! I'll be going for the New Media Expo. I'll be doing the free Exhibit Hall and Keynotes Only registration. Since I don't actually do any podcasting, it would be silly to do the full conference registration at $349!
It's gonna be so cool to meet all these people that I know just through podcasts and the internets!
If any of you on my flist are going to be there *looks towards Phoenix* be sure to let me know so we can meet!

But the BEST part of this trip?
The Coverville 500 Concert!
I'll finally meet Brian Ibbott in person after 3 years of email correspondence & keeping his song database for him. The concert he's going to have was the deciding factor in me going out there.
To celebrate episode 500 of Coverville he's hosting a concert of some of the favorite artists who have been played on his show: Richard Cheese, Jonathan Coulton, and Chance. Also, there will be a singer named Natalie Gelman who I haven't really heard. w00t! You know I loves me some JoCo. And Chance does the most awesome cover of Kelis' Milkshake ever!
If you are going to the NME and want to go to the concert, tickets will go on sale on June 1st. It's at a venue down by the MGM, so it's an easy monorail ride down from the Hilton. Only $20!