grail's daily photo log

Okay, San Diego Comic-Con, Day 1.

I think I'll just hit the interesting spots and clean it all up later.  I'm exhausted.

Maddy and I arrived at 9:00 and parked in the joint Convention Center/PetCo Park parking structure.  The line for entry (opens at 10:00) was a giant snake, as usually.  Maddy and I head over to the Mariott for their famous buffet breakfast.  Delicious.

We head over to the CC, and completely bypass the line.  One of the perks about being a long-time attendee is picking up the tricks of the trade.  They let the line in about 9:30, but it's a trick.  The line head upstairs and is stacked up on the huge outdoor patio.  I estimiate that the upstairs line is anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 people long by 10:00.  When they open the floor, they let that line in, but open the front as well.  Security does their best to direct walk-ups to the line for the first 15 minutes or so, but by 10:30, it's walk in the front and right onto the dealer floor, no waiting.  It's the only way to do it.

We spent Thursday with friends, wandering through the 55 rows (about 3000 vendors) of booths, stalls, and pavillions of all sizes.  I picked up my pre-ordered items from Gentle Giant and Sideshow, and went to the 'Is that a sword in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?' panel.  It was a writing combat in a fantasy setting discussion, and was pretty good.  The big name was Robert Jordan (of the Wheel of Time series, in case you've never heard of him).  He was a bit pompus, but knowledgable about his medium.  The best one on the panel was Jim Butcher, who writes the Harry Dresden novels.  He was witty and very approachable.  It was a well spent 90 minutes.

I managed to get  a few autographs on Thursday, and took a few photos (check them out in my San Diego Comic Con section).

The floor closed at 7:00, and we headed for home.

Man, do my feet hurt.