[BLOG] The Great American Road Trip: QuakeCon ‘09
This really was not a road trip because I spent less than one hour in the car both ways.
This edition is rather late considering this years QuakeCon ended on the 16th of August, however, I crammed enough party into 3 days that once I returned I had an ear infection that only a shot in the butt and some nasty medicine could fix. Those of you who do not know, QuakeCon is the largest LAN party in North American where several thousand gamers from around the world come together to hangout, party, play games, and see up coming games. This years Con was moved back to the Gaylord Texan, ya go ahead, from being some place in downtown Dallas. Being that I have not spent a night in the Gaylord after living in Texas for over 10 years I made sure I went to Con this year, for the room and to finally go since its always within an hour of my house.
So after getting registered I found a place to crash with my friend who booked two rooms for a whole mess of people that were going to be there from the area, and two people from up North some place. Getting time off from work to go to another LAN right after EXPO was no problem, “Hey boss I ain’t gonna be here, peace.†When the day came I ran home from work as fast as my skinny bleach white legs could take me because I needed to pack up all of my LAN gear ASAP to get down there in hopes that BYOC, bring your own computer, registration had already opened and I could get a spot next to my friends; yes I have some. It only took me 45 minutes after getting the car packed to actually be headed in the right direction, needed some last minute items from the bank, P-Town boys know how to make it rain. Arriving at the Gaylord is pretty uneventful for me because I have been there a few times but to most new comers it’s impressive because it’s a massive building that contains several indoor pools, restaurants, convention halls, and all inward facing balconies. This hotel also runs an indoor ice sculpture park during the winter.
Where I parked made me feel like an idiot because I parked where the regular hotel guest do but I had to walk to the other side of the hotel to get to the convention center to acquire a room key and then return to the front where the room was all with my bag on my shoulder. Once I staked out which bed I would most likely be sharing that weekend, if I slept, I chilled for a bit before I headed out to registration to get inside to see all the goodies that were suppose to be laid before my feet. I quickly made my rounds, slowing to laugh at the Shelby that was to be raffled later because I had seen one beat by a Ferrari on the way there, I found how little was actually there and found myself bored that afternoon at an alarming rate. Surely walking through the BYOC tables would remedy that issue, wrong. There were only a dozen or less cases that I felt were unique or truly interesting: dry ice rig, tool chest case, briefcase bomb case, a mountain mod, a grill with monitor mounted to the lid, and a mini-keg case. Searching for the cases of QuakeCon yields an article with 20 pictures of computers that were solely on the ends of tables, the Lego case is a gimmie…honestly do something more original.
Leaving the main convention hall utterly bored and needing something I went about searching for my friends waiting in the BYOC line hoping it would open soon. I stood around, shot the bull, and punched the line volleyball a bit. Since nothing else to do I figured I should grab the camera and start getting some shots before everything was really packed. After 4 pictures the camera started to complain about the memory card being full….fail, I forgot to pull the 16MB in the camera out and put my SD card in……still waiting for my friend to post his pictures. Jump forward a few hours and BYOC opened after midnight so I grabbed my gear and got in line. Once I got into the hall I set up and was quickly flanked by a man and his child whom I spent some getting to know since they were going to be so close to my baby for the next few days. The rest of the night was a blur of horse play and fun, making jokes to kid about his sister I used to date. That night I was lucky enough to get a bed by myself.
I awoke the next day to find one of the girls actually made it in some time after I did last night, 5 AM, and she was ready to go grab some food to try and fill her stomach with. Laughing at her trying to eat a donut while I scarfed my sub did not make her feel any better. The high point of Friday for me was finally meeting someone I had spent some time talking to on twitter, sctx. I met him kind of late in the afternoon and he said that they were going to grab a good spot in line for Pancake Theatre and I was welcome to join if I wanted, um someone else do the work for a good spot hellz yes. Some where in the day I went and got a pulled port sandvich which was worth the 20 dollars the meal cost. I meandered on over to the line for the movie that night about 5 minutes before it started and sctx and his group were first in line so we got fairly decent seats, as in right behind the people hosting the theatre. The movie was Lord of The Rings: Fellowship, eh ok not really what I wanted to spend my time doing but I was bored. Although I was quickly sssshhheeddd by one of the host because “I was being too loud and they couldn’t hear themselves.†What no one does that to _k and gets away with it so I bailed. Later on when I was working bag check he happened to be walking through and I yelled at him about it and he introduced himself and said sorry he really appreciates that I was getting into the event but not really since I was so close, he told me to come back another time and heckle from the back seats.
This brings me to a specific person; DJGINN I think is how you spell it. This is a guy who runs the volunteers at Con and everyone just calls him GIN. I spent the most time talking to him late the first night when I was walking around looking for some people I knew, they call him GIN for a reason because I quickly found some of it on my shoes standing close to him. He is a really cool and nice guy as long as you help out some while you are there, besides being a fairly funny drunk.
Saturday I spent sleeping and hanging around a few events on the main and AMD stage when they were giving away items, I never got anything because I could not standing in the middle of a bunch of smelly fat dudes for more than a few minutes. Late Saturday was also when we killed the power grid for Grapevine causing a brown out in the Gaylord and a blackout for the city. This was also when I spent the most time gaming, QuakeLive, while rocking out to some random music and watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The only other excitement for the whole weekend was having a great pan seared Salmon on a bed of sweet corn tamales.
Although I spent most of the weekend bored and puzzled why so many there spent most of their time playing video games instead of having fun I really enjoyed myself and look forward to next year. Things like a ham sandwich being thrown at you from a balcony, being sssshhheeddd at Pancake Theatre, coming around a corner with a hat, sunglasses, and bandana to be greeted with an “oh that kid scared my wtfâ€, and an old lady blowing me a kiss of course make me want to go back. However, I was the only person from Icrontic this year so I AM going to go as Icrontic Press next year and have VIP access.
I am issuing a slap in the face with a large trout to anyone who doesn’t come next year that is within 500 miles of me. Honestly it’s not that far and if we all split a room its really cheap, plus I went from Texas to Detroit by myself in a car grow up people. I’m bored.
This edition is rather late considering this years QuakeCon ended on the 16th of August, however, I crammed enough party into 3 days that once I returned I had an ear infection that only a shot in the butt and some nasty medicine could fix. Those of you who do not know, QuakeCon is the largest LAN party in North American where several thousand gamers from around the world come together to hangout, party, play games, and see up coming games. This years Con was moved back to the Gaylord Texan, ya go ahead, from being some place in downtown Dallas. Being that I have not spent a night in the Gaylord after living in Texas for over 10 years I made sure I went to Con this year, for the room and to finally go since its always within an hour of my house.
So after getting registered I found a place to crash with my friend who booked two rooms for a whole mess of people that were going to be there from the area, and two people from up North some place. Getting time off from work to go to another LAN right after EXPO was no problem, “Hey boss I ain’t gonna be here, peace.†When the day came I ran home from work as fast as my skinny bleach white legs could take me because I needed to pack up all of my LAN gear ASAP to get down there in hopes that BYOC, bring your own computer, registration had already opened and I could get a spot next to my friends; yes I have some. It only took me 45 minutes after getting the car packed to actually be headed in the right direction, needed some last minute items from the bank, P-Town boys know how to make it rain. Arriving at the Gaylord is pretty uneventful for me because I have been there a few times but to most new comers it’s impressive because it’s a massive building that contains several indoor pools, restaurants, convention halls, and all inward facing balconies. This hotel also runs an indoor ice sculpture park during the winter.
Where I parked made me feel like an idiot because I parked where the regular hotel guest do but I had to walk to the other side of the hotel to get to the convention center to acquire a room key and then return to the front where the room was all with my bag on my shoulder. Once I staked out which bed I would most likely be sharing that weekend, if I slept, I chilled for a bit before I headed out to registration to get inside to see all the goodies that were suppose to be laid before my feet. I quickly made my rounds, slowing to laugh at the Shelby that was to be raffled later because I had seen one beat by a Ferrari on the way there, I found how little was actually there and found myself bored that afternoon at an alarming rate. Surely walking through the BYOC tables would remedy that issue, wrong. There were only a dozen or less cases that I felt were unique or truly interesting: dry ice rig, tool chest case, briefcase bomb case, a mountain mod, a grill with monitor mounted to the lid, and a mini-keg case. Searching for the cases of QuakeCon yields an article with 20 pictures of computers that were solely on the ends of tables, the Lego case is a gimmie…honestly do something more original.
Leaving the main convention hall utterly bored and needing something I went about searching for my friends waiting in the BYOC line hoping it would open soon. I stood around, shot the bull, and punched the line volleyball a bit. Since nothing else to do I figured I should grab the camera and start getting some shots before everything was really packed. After 4 pictures the camera started to complain about the memory card being full….fail, I forgot to pull the 16MB in the camera out and put my SD card in……still waiting for my friend to post his pictures. Jump forward a few hours and BYOC opened after midnight so I grabbed my gear and got in line. Once I got into the hall I set up and was quickly flanked by a man and his child whom I spent some getting to know since they were going to be so close to my baby for the next few days. The rest of the night was a blur of horse play and fun, making jokes to kid about his sister I used to date. That night I was lucky enough to get a bed by myself.
I awoke the next day to find one of the girls actually made it in some time after I did last night, 5 AM, and she was ready to go grab some food to try and fill her stomach with. Laughing at her trying to eat a donut while I scarfed my sub did not make her feel any better. The high point of Friday for me was finally meeting someone I had spent some time talking to on twitter, sctx. I met him kind of late in the afternoon and he said that they were going to grab a good spot in line for Pancake Theatre and I was welcome to join if I wanted, um someone else do the work for a good spot hellz yes. Some where in the day I went and got a pulled port sandvich which was worth the 20 dollars the meal cost. I meandered on over to the line for the movie that night about 5 minutes before it started and sctx and his group were first in line so we got fairly decent seats, as in right behind the people hosting the theatre. The movie was Lord of The Rings: Fellowship, eh ok not really what I wanted to spend my time doing but I was bored. Although I was quickly sssshhheeddd by one of the host because “I was being too loud and they couldn’t hear themselves.†What no one does that to _k and gets away with it so I bailed. Later on when I was working bag check he happened to be walking through and I yelled at him about it and he introduced himself and said sorry he really appreciates that I was getting into the event but not really since I was so close, he told me to come back another time and heckle from the back seats.
This brings me to a specific person; DJGINN I think is how you spell it. This is a guy who runs the volunteers at Con and everyone just calls him GIN. I spent the most time talking to him late the first night when I was walking around looking for some people I knew, they call him GIN for a reason because I quickly found some of it on my shoes standing close to him. He is a really cool and nice guy as long as you help out some while you are there, besides being a fairly funny drunk.
Saturday I spent sleeping and hanging around a few events on the main and AMD stage when they were giving away items, I never got anything because I could not standing in the middle of a bunch of smelly fat dudes for more than a few minutes. Late Saturday was also when we killed the power grid for Grapevine causing a brown out in the Gaylord and a blackout for the city. This was also when I spent the most time gaming, QuakeLive, while rocking out to some random music and watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The only other excitement for the whole weekend was having a great pan seared Salmon on a bed of sweet corn tamales.
Although I spent most of the weekend bored and puzzled why so many there spent most of their time playing video games instead of having fun I really enjoyed myself and look forward to next year. Things like a ham sandwich being thrown at you from a balcony, being sssshhheeddd at Pancake Theatre, coming around a corner with a hat, sunglasses, and bandana to be greeted with an “oh that kid scared my wtfâ€, and an old lady blowing me a kiss of course make me want to go back. However, I was the only person from Icrontic this year so I AM going to go as Icrontic Press next year and have VIP access.
I am issuing a slap in the face with a large trout to anyone who doesn’t come next year that is within 500 miles of me. Honestly it’s not that far and if we all split a room its really cheap, plus I went from Texas to Detroit by myself in a car grow up people. I’m bored.
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