Big Apple Con 2006: Greg's journal - Friday (#2)
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greg
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Big Apple Con 2006: Greg's journal - Friday (#2)
Friday, March 31, 2006
Technically, Friday began at midnight which was still "Thursday night" in our minds because Brian and I were still on California and Arkansas time, respectively. We headed up to the room on the 11th floor of the Hotel Pennsylvania and chatted and watched TV until about 3:00am, which was more like 2am for me in "Arkansas time" and only midnight in Brian's "California time". Our room included a king-size bed, instead of the double we expected, so at least one thing went "right" as far as the hotel was concerned. Unfortunately, the bonus of a king bed was immediately offset by the fact that the air conditioning did not work. We discovered this during the hours of TV and chatting, while the room did not cool at all. Luckily, the window opened six inches, so we traded our stuffy air for the cool noisy air swirling above the busy street below. The last thing I remember before sleeping was making Brian laugh when I sang along with the whole theme song of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" right before the sleep timer switched the TV off.
Around 10am, Chris G. called and asked if we wanted to go to breakfast. I told him that we just woke up when the phone rang so it would be a while before we were ready to go out. Chris was in town with his signficant other, Kristie, and they headed on to breakfast. We got a call from Craig (dellamorte) that he was at the hotel, so he dropped his bags in the room, and the three of us headed out for some lunch. A couple of blocks from the hotel was Pizza Town II, a corner spot for a couple of slices. We got a call from John (svair) that he was setting up for the convention and needed some of the things that we took to the room the night before.
John was able to put the Valiant fans who he knew were coming to the convention onto the Valiant Tribute Guest List, which gave us daily access to the convention with a free wristband. We passed the maid on the way down to the convention, and she asked if we were staying or checking out. I told her that we would be in the room until Monday and that we didn't need anything cleaned except to trade for new towels. At 1:00pm, the convention opened, and fans started streaming into the building. The Valiant area was right where everyone bought their tickets, but Friday was somewhat empty with only a few creators, so I think a lot of people passed by quickly on their way up the escalator to the dealer, celebrity, and artist alley areas.
Mike Cavallero, Hannibal King, and Rodney Ramos were among the first artists to arrive in the Valiant area. After a while among the empty tables, Rodney could be heard singing about being in "The Twilight Zone". Michael Carbonaro (a.k.a. Neat Stuff Collectibles) donated several longboxes of Valiant books to be handed out for free at the convention. I believe a few choice books were found in those boxes, but I only took a copy of Bloodshot Yearbook in the hopes of having Mike Bair do his special sketch on the back. Unfortunately, Mr. Bair wasn't able to attend.
After a while at the convention, I headed back up to the room to grab my bag and camera. When I got to the hallway where our room was, I noticed that the maid was talking to an older man in front of our door. She pointed at me when she saw me, and it turned out that the man had just been assigned to our room and given keys. I told him that we weren't planning to check out until Monday, and he seemed more frustrated than surprised. He asked me to go back down to the reception desk with him and see if we could straighten the whole thing out. I grabbed the printout that Brian had been given which showed the prices and showed our departure date as Monday.
At the reception desk, I learned that the man's name was Mr. Wilson, the hotel had check us out at noon, they had checked Mr. Wilson into our room, and that Mr. Wilson's credit card was on file for the room. Three hotel employees conversed and determined that since Brian didn't pay by noon, we must have intended to check out. This was the first mention of "noon" as the required payment time. We had checked in at about 7:00pm on Thursday night, so we figured a similar time on Friday would be a good time to pay for Friday night's stay. I told them we had no intention of leaving until Monday, because we were staying for all of the days on the printout they had made for us.
In order to guarantee that this problem didn't occur again, I put my credit card on file with the hotel, and Mr. Wilson's credit card followed him to whatever room he was assigned. However, Mr. Wilson was adamant that they guarantee him that his card wouldn't be double-charged for two rooms, but the receptionist told him that she was busy with me and that one of the other employees would help him at another computer. It was pretty rude, and I felt sorry for Mr. Wilson since he didn't ask to be put in the wrong room to begin with. This was the third indication that the hotel was poorly managed, because I consider "no air conditioning" to be the second, and the original invoice of $100 extra per night to be the first.
So it's 2006, and the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York uses a credit card imprint machine from the 1960s. You know, the old version that looks like a large stapler that makes the purple letters and numbers on whatever paper they press in there. Though I put my card on file, I was assured that my card would not be charged anything until we checked out, and that I could even pay cash then instead if I wanted to.
With the potential disaster of the hotel room managed, I headed back into the convention to tell Brian and Craig what almost happened to the room. I'm sure our bags would have been moved to the storage area in the basement if they had been found in the room after we supposedly "checked out", and the hotel was completely booked according to the reception desk.
I met Mark (wrunow), Neil (slym2none), Sean (ValiantOCD), Bill (mrwoogieman), Trent (TColli) and his wife. Before long, Chris S. (Knightt), Justin (architect), and Frank (jedimarley) arrived from Philadelphia. We found out that one of Justin's bags was missing, which contained the Magnus&Nexus signed books, two sets of the Unity Diamond Trades, and the X-O Manowar lithographs advertised on Newsarama. The bag was put on the wrong plane in Denver and sent to Tampa Bay instead of Philadelphia (where Justin had arrived on Thursday).
Among the celebrities (or semi-celebrities) at the convention were the guy who played Chewbacca, the gal who plays Elvira, Margot Kidder, George Romero, a couple of girls from Playboy, including Jerri Manthey from Survivor, the guy who was Parker Lewis (can't lose), famous zombies or zombie-killers, and also a couple of Asian models/actresses who dressed provocatively and happened to be positioned strategically on the second floor against a glass wall and upwardly visible from the Valiant area.
It was common knowledge that anyone could glimpse what the girls were (or weren't) wearing by standing under the Valiant Reunion banner and looking up. I guess you could say it was a popular spot. I saw evidence later in the evening that Brian had personally met the two gals, courtesy of Craig, though I'm still unclear whether the photo opportunity cost him $5 or $7. An autographed Polaroid is somewhere among the souvenirs that Brian was able to take from the convention.
Justin had asked Jerri Manthey if she would personalize a copy of Playboy to him with "To Justin, thanks for the herpes!" She had laughed and agreed to do it for half price, but Justin didn't have the cash on hand at the time and when he went back to have her sign, she must have reconsidered because she wrote something about "Good Clean Fun" instead. I'm guessing she didn't want the magazine to end up as the basis for a story in the National Enquirer, not because of the herpes, but because she would have to admit to being at a comic book convention.
At the end of the convention day, I headed with Justin, Frank, and Chris S. over to put their bags in their room at the New Yorker on 34th and 8th. We headed down to the hotel bar, were joined by at least six other guys listed above, and also Zack (daydreamscomics) and Dinesh (dino) had arrived. Eleven of us chatted a while and started our lists of "best quotes taken out of context". The first victim was Brian, who managed to say something funny almost by the minute. ("Scoot over, I have to get in behind you" being among the best.)
We eventually ventured across the street to a T.G.I.Friday's for a bite to eat. Our group of eleven was seated in a space for about eight, and I believe Sean's chair was on the edge of the top stair. I think T.G.I.Friday's might have been financially liable if he had toppled over, but I guess Sean decided not to risk death for dollars. I switched from drinking Diet Coke to Mountain Dew, so I was pretty alert when I watched seven or eight guys yelling toward a cell phone that connected to three different parts of the country over a five minute period. I'm not sure it wasn't in the early hours of Saturday morning by the time those calls were made, so I'll end my Friday report with eleven of us sitting at a table in Friday's at midnight.
Technically, Friday began at midnight which was still "Thursday night" in our minds because Brian and I were still on California and Arkansas time, respectively. We headed up to the room on the 11th floor of the Hotel Pennsylvania and chatted and watched TV until about 3:00am, which was more like 2am for me in "Arkansas time" and only midnight in Brian's "California time". Our room included a king-size bed, instead of the double we expected, so at least one thing went "right" as far as the hotel was concerned. Unfortunately, the bonus of a king bed was immediately offset by the fact that the air conditioning did not work. We discovered this during the hours of TV and chatting, while the room did not cool at all. Luckily, the window opened six inches, so we traded our stuffy air for the cool noisy air swirling above the busy street below. The last thing I remember before sleeping was making Brian laugh when I sang along with the whole theme song of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" right before the sleep timer switched the TV off.
Around 10am, Chris G. called and asked if we wanted to go to breakfast. I told him that we just woke up when the phone rang so it would be a while before we were ready to go out. Chris was in town with his signficant other, Kristie, and they headed on to breakfast. We got a call from Craig (dellamorte) that he was at the hotel, so he dropped his bags in the room, and the three of us headed out for some lunch. A couple of blocks from the hotel was Pizza Town II, a corner spot for a couple of slices. We got a call from John (svair) that he was setting up for the convention and needed some of the things that we took to the room the night before.
John was able to put the Valiant fans who he knew were coming to the convention onto the Valiant Tribute Guest List, which gave us daily access to the convention with a free wristband. We passed the maid on the way down to the convention, and she asked if we were staying or checking out. I told her that we would be in the room until Monday and that we didn't need anything cleaned except to trade for new towels. At 1:00pm, the convention opened, and fans started streaming into the building. The Valiant area was right where everyone bought their tickets, but Friday was somewhat empty with only a few creators, so I think a lot of people passed by quickly on their way up the escalator to the dealer, celebrity, and artist alley areas.
Mike Cavallero, Hannibal King, and Rodney Ramos were among the first artists to arrive in the Valiant area. After a while among the empty tables, Rodney could be heard singing about being in "The Twilight Zone". Michael Carbonaro (a.k.a. Neat Stuff Collectibles) donated several longboxes of Valiant books to be handed out for free at the convention. I believe a few choice books were found in those boxes, but I only took a copy of Bloodshot Yearbook in the hopes of having Mike Bair do his special sketch on the back. Unfortunately, Mr. Bair wasn't able to attend.
After a while at the convention, I headed back up to the room to grab my bag and camera. When I got to the hallway where our room was, I noticed that the maid was talking to an older man in front of our door. She pointed at me when she saw me, and it turned out that the man had just been assigned to our room and given keys. I told him that we weren't planning to check out until Monday, and he seemed more frustrated than surprised. He asked me to go back down to the reception desk with him and see if we could straighten the whole thing out. I grabbed the printout that Brian had been given which showed the prices and showed our departure date as Monday.
At the reception desk, I learned that the man's name was Mr. Wilson, the hotel had check us out at noon, they had checked Mr. Wilson into our room, and that Mr. Wilson's credit card was on file for the room. Three hotel employees conversed and determined that since Brian didn't pay by noon, we must have intended to check out. This was the first mention of "noon" as the required payment time. We had checked in at about 7:00pm on Thursday night, so we figured a similar time on Friday would be a good time to pay for Friday night's stay. I told them we had no intention of leaving until Monday, because we were staying for all of the days on the printout they had made for us.
In order to guarantee that this problem didn't occur again, I put my credit card on file with the hotel, and Mr. Wilson's credit card followed him to whatever room he was assigned. However, Mr. Wilson was adamant that they guarantee him that his card wouldn't be double-charged for two rooms, but the receptionist told him that she was busy with me and that one of the other employees would help him at another computer. It was pretty rude, and I felt sorry for Mr. Wilson since he didn't ask to be put in the wrong room to begin with. This was the third indication that the hotel was poorly managed, because I consider "no air conditioning" to be the second, and the original invoice of $100 extra per night to be the first.
So it's 2006, and the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York uses a credit card imprint machine from the 1960s. You know, the old version that looks like a large stapler that makes the purple letters and numbers on whatever paper they press in there. Though I put my card on file, I was assured that my card would not be charged anything until we checked out, and that I could even pay cash then instead if I wanted to.
With the potential disaster of the hotel room managed, I headed back into the convention to tell Brian and Craig what almost happened to the room. I'm sure our bags would have been moved to the storage area in the basement if they had been found in the room after we supposedly "checked out", and the hotel was completely booked according to the reception desk.
I met Mark (wrunow), Neil (slym2none), Sean (ValiantOCD), Bill (mrwoogieman), Trent (TColli) and his wife. Before long, Chris S. (Knightt), Justin (architect), and Frank (jedimarley) arrived from Philadelphia. We found out that one of Justin's bags was missing, which contained the Magnus&Nexus signed books, two sets of the Unity Diamond Trades, and the X-O Manowar lithographs advertised on Newsarama. The bag was put on the wrong plane in Denver and sent to Tampa Bay instead of Philadelphia (where Justin had arrived on Thursday).
Among the celebrities (or semi-celebrities) at the convention were the guy who played Chewbacca, the gal who plays Elvira, Margot Kidder, George Romero, a couple of girls from Playboy, including Jerri Manthey from Survivor, the guy who was Parker Lewis (can't lose), famous zombies or zombie-killers, and also a couple of Asian models/actresses who dressed provocatively and happened to be positioned strategically on the second floor against a glass wall and upwardly visible from the Valiant area.
It was common knowledge that anyone could glimpse what the girls were (or weren't) wearing by standing under the Valiant Reunion banner and looking up. I guess you could say it was a popular spot. I saw evidence later in the evening that Brian had personally met the two gals, courtesy of Craig, though I'm still unclear whether the photo opportunity cost him $5 or $7. An autographed Polaroid is somewhere among the souvenirs that Brian was able to take from the convention.
Justin had asked Jerri Manthey if she would personalize a copy of Playboy to him with "To Justin, thanks for the herpes!" She had laughed and agreed to do it for half price, but Justin didn't have the cash on hand at the time and when he went back to have her sign, she must have reconsidered because she wrote something about "Good Clean Fun" instead. I'm guessing she didn't want the magazine to end up as the basis for a story in the National Enquirer, not because of the herpes, but because she would have to admit to being at a comic book convention.
At the end of the convention day, I headed with Justin, Frank, and Chris S. over to put their bags in their room at the New Yorker on 34th and 8th. We headed down to the hotel bar, were joined by at least six other guys listed above, and also Zack (daydreamscomics) and Dinesh (dino) had arrived. Eleven of us chatted a while and started our lists of "best quotes taken out of context". The first victim was Brian, who managed to say something funny almost by the minute. ("Scoot over, I have to get in behind you" being among the best.)
We eventually ventured across the street to a T.G.I.Friday's for a bite to eat. Our group of eleven was seated in a space for about eight, and I believe Sean's chair was on the edge of the top stair. I think T.G.I.Friday's might have been financially liable if he had toppled over, but I guess Sean decided not to risk death for dollars. I switched from drinking Diet Coke to Mountain Dew, so I was pretty alert when I watched seven or eight guys yelling toward a cell phone that connected to three different parts of the country over a five minute period. I'm not sure it wasn't in the early hours of Saturday morning by the time those calls were made, so I'll end my Friday report with eleven of us sitting at a table in Friday's at midnight.
Last edited by greg on Wed Apr 05, 2006 2:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
I was not along with the Crew when they went over to TGI Friday's. I SHOULD have stayed because mrwoogieman was there and I hardly got to spend any drinking time with him. I regret that.
I was called by Janet Jackson and we went to this place called 'Otto's Shrunken Head'. Had a few drinks, got sloshed, BSed, went to Subway for a bite to eat, went out seperate ways, called it a night. Only thing is, I remember saying goodbye and then it flash forwards to me laying down on my bed in the room.
Must have had too many of those 'zombie drinks' at Otto's.
I was called by Janet Jackson and we went to this place called 'Otto's Shrunken Head'. Had a few drinks, got sloshed, BSed, went to Subway for a bite to eat, went out seperate ways, called it a night. Only thing is, I remember saying goodbye and then it flash forwards to me laying down on my bed in the room.
Must have had too many of those 'zombie drinks' at Otto's.
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slym2none
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Knightt wrote:I was not along with the Crew when they went over to TGI Friday's. I SHOULD have stayed because mrwoogieman was there and I hardly got to spend any drinking time with him. I regret that.
I was called by Janet Jackson and we went to this place called 'Otto's Shrunken Head'. Had a few drinks, got sloshed, BSed, went to Subway for a bite to eat, went out seperate ways, called it a night. Only thing is, I remember saying goodbye and then it flash forwards to me laying down on my bed in the room.
Must have had too many of those 'zombie drinks' at Otto's.
-slym
Some people spend their whole lives believing in fairy tales, usually because they don't want to give up the fabulous prizes.
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slym2none
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And there it is, folks.......Greg wrote:Justin had asked Jerri Manthey if she would personalize a copy of Playboy to him with "To Justin, thanks for the herpes!" She had laughed and agreed to do it for half price, but Justin didn't have the cash on hand at the time and when he went back to have her sign, she must have reconsidered because she wrote something about "Good Clean Fun" instead. I'm guessing she didn't want the magazine to end up as the basis for a story in the National Enquirer, not because of the herpes, but because she would have to admit to being at a comic book convention.
-slym
Some people spend their whole lives believing in fairy tales, usually because they don't want to give up the fabulous prizes.
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mrwoogieman
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Hey don't sweat it Chris! I only had one beer at the hotel bar and a coke at TGIF, so I was BORING! Zombie drinks sounds like much more fun. I left my wild drunken days behind with my twenties!Knightt wrote:I was not along with the Crew when they went over to TGI Friday's. I SHOULD have stayed because mrwoogieman was there and I hardly got to spend any drinking time with him. I regret that.
I was called by Janet Jackson and we went to this place called 'Otto's Shrunken Head'. Had a few drinks, got sloshed, BSed, went to Subway for a bite to eat, went out seperate ways, called it a night. Only thing is, I remember saying goodbye and then it flash forwards to me laying down on my bed in the room.
Must have had too many of those 'zombie drinks' at Otto's.
The guys at TGIF did get to hear about the one time I was punched by a NYC street vendor when I was wearing my jean jacket upside down and wandering around in a stupor about a dozen years ago....
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Vault-Keeper
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slym2none
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So THAT'S why John didn't hang out with us at night...svair wrote:You mean Cassandra?Vault-Keeper wrote:Anyone wake up in the morning with Elvira?
-slym (joking, svair.... just joking)
Some people spend their whole lives believing in fairy tales, usually because they don't want to give up the fabulous prizes.
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greg
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Be on the lookout for the early details of Saturday morning to find out a little about what you did in the "missing hours" of your memory.Knightt wrote:Only thing is, I remember saying goodbye and then it flash forwards to me laying down on my bed in the room.
Must have had too many of those 'zombie drinks' at Otto's.
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svair
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Hey Chrisgreg wrote:Be on the lookout for the early details of Saturday morning to find out a little about what you did in the "missing hours" of your memory.Knightt wrote:Only thing is, I remember saying goodbye and then it flash forwards to me laying down on my bed in the room.
Must have had too many of those 'zombie drinks' at Otto's.
I'll be calling Janet to confirm your details!..
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slym2none
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greg wrote:Be on the lookout for the early details of Saturday morning to find out a little about what you did in the "missing hours" of your memory.Knightt wrote:Only thing is, I remember saying goodbye and then it flash forwards to me laying down on my bed in the room.
Must have had too many of those 'zombie drinks' at Otto's.
-slym
Some people spend their whole lives believing in fairy tales, usually because they don't want to give up the fabulous prizes.
WHAT ? I would say 'fill me in' but I know SOMEBODY would come up with a 'I already did'.greg wrote:Be on the lookout for the early details of Saturday morning to find out a little about what you did in the "missing hours" of your memory.Knightt wrote:Only thing is, I remember saying goodbye and then it flash forwards to me laying down on my bed in the room.
Must have had too many of those 'zombie drinks' at Otto's.
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slym2none
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My sig was changed as well, and Brian has his best one as his "location!"architect wrote:Hence the change of my signature. I have about 10 different ones recorded on my phone. I will make sure Dellamorte gets those.and started our lists of "best quotes taken out of context".
-justin
-slym (can't wait to see what Del does)
Some people spend their whole lives believing in fairy tales, usually because they don't want to give up the fabulous prizes.
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betterthanezra
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I had NOTHING to do with the change of my "location" that was ALL Greg.slym2none wrote:My sig was changed as well, and Brian has his best one as his "location!"architect wrote:Hence the change of my signature. I have about 10 different ones recorded on my phone. I will make sure Dellamorte gets those.and started our lists of "best quotes taken out of context".
-justin
-slym (can't wait to see what Del does)
-Brian (couldn't believe it when I saw it)
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