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Archive for November, 2010
The Vegas Vacation Part I: NeonCon & The Tropicana
22 years ago
by Tom
in Conventions
So how did I wind up in Vegas? I’ll make this part straight to the point:
- Wasabi Anime appeared at Gen Con this year.
- Instead of a Wasabi Anime table in the dealers room, we opted to let the Mint Chocolate Chippies promote during the convention.
- Gamers, it seems, love Mary & Pepper Mint (and pin up models in general.)
- The Mint Chocolate Chippies got invited to appear at NeonCon via the convention’s staff that Mary and Pepper met while attending Gen Con.
- NeonCon learned that the Mint Chocolate Chippies are managed by Green Mustard Entertainment… the company that owns Wasabi Anime.
- Looking to expand their programming, NeonCon then invited Wasabi Anime to be guests. Tentacle Chris and I also got scheduled to appear.
Thus: Vegas.
And this photo:
Each year, Shannon and I plan a trip for our anniversary (mid-November) to go someplace that we’ve never been to together. So we decided to extend being in Las Vegas for NeonCon in order to go see the Grand Canyon. So our anniversaries to date have been
2008 – Key West, Florida
2009 – Baltimore, Maryland (by way of Washington, DC)
2010 – Grand Canyon, Arizona (by way of Las Vegas, NV)
NeonCon very much reminded me of Ancient City Con (a convention Wasabi Anime appeared at this year in Jacksonville, Florida.) It’s a smaller event, but full of a lot of people dedicated to having fun in their geekdom. One of the best things about NeonCon, quite obviously, was the location: The Tropicana in Las Vegas. The resort is just finishing up a MAJOR renovation and the entire place had that new-yet-retro feel to it. Certain parts of it weren’t done yet (such as the swimming pool renovation and The Las Vegas Mob Experience) so I’d be interested to see how it looks the next time I return.
The hotel and the convention both made for great experiences. You can see all the photos on Wasabi Photoshoots by clicking here, but none of the photos is as epic as this one I took of Tentacle Chris while we walked down to The Strip to grab lunch at Del Taco:
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thanksgiving, Hiking Recovery, and the recent Blank Blogness
1Good morning!
As I write this, I have just finished catching up on reading all the articles that accumulated on my Google Reader. I didn’t have much idle time while in Las Vegas for reading, so it got pretty backed up. Fun fact: Google Reader stops counting at one thousand and tells you that you have (1000+) articles in your queue at that point. Thus, I have no idea how much I really read just now. It was a lot, though. Trust me.
The point of that little nugget of news was to serve as a lead in with my excuse for not having written about my Vegas vacation adventures yet. Once I got back in town from my trip I was physically a mess. That walk into the Grand Canyon had some residual pain that lasted for DAYS. Couple that with a lot going on at the office (day job) and a mountain of housework that needed to be done (including laundry and unpacking) and you begin to see that the real world got in the way of my Interwebz interaction.
DAMN YOUS REAL WORLD!!!
Here we are, though, back in the saddle. Me writing my nonsense and whimsy while three of four of you read it.
(According to Google Analytics there are hundreds of you… but I prefer to think that there are less than ten readers out there. It makes for less pressure with my gramar and tipos.)
So let’s get back on track, shall we?
First off: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Yes, I know it was last Thursday. I got all the texts and emails and Facebook messages and I didn’t get to respond to a single one. My Thanksgiving day was spent on the road for about five hours. I hopped in the Mustang and headed south on Turkey Day for this epic meal:
If you’re thinking “that looks like a meal from a retirement home” then you are correct. If you’re thinking “that looks like a good home cooked meal” then you have some pretty distorted culinary standards.
Two years ago, my grandfather passed away shortly after Thanksgiving. My grandmother now lives by herself in the retirement home they moved to together in South Florida. This year I opted to drive down and spend the afternoon with her. I was joined by my aunt and uncle (who live local to the area) and I even picked up my mom (who also lives south of me) and brought her along. I can’t even begin to describe how excited my loving old Polish grandmother was to see me. Seriously. She was ecstatic and it made me feel that we were both getting a great Thanksgiving as a result… regardless of the food.
Sometimes all it takes to make family happy is driving the hundreds of miles to just “be there.” Someday some of my other relatives may figure that out. 
Review: Dune
1NOTE: In my never ending quest to play with more social networking toys, I stumbled upon a site called Goodreads. It keeps track of books you read and, when you write reviews, allows you to automatically publish them directly to your blog. Pretty cool. I finished Dune last weekend and I thought I’d use it as a test post. If all goes well, this will be a clever way for me to write some reviews of the large number of books I’ve been reading lately. Stay tuned.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I recently realized that there are a numbers of “standard” books that, as a bona fide geek, I somehow missed. Dune was one of those books. Sure, I saw the eighties-tastic movie eons ago like everyone else, but I barely remembered a thing about it.
With that in mind, I decided to see if Dune was all hype (as sometimes happens in literature linked to popular fandoms) or a legitimately good read. I’m happy to report that it is the latter. Dune’s pulls off the political intrigue of interstellar royalty with a compelling narrative. The characters are vivid in their actions and words and you’re left questioning, all the way to the end, whether Paul will live or die as part of his role in it all (since either outcome serves the greater purpose.)
I couldn’t help but wonder if this clever mix of politics, royal houses and science fiction is what George Lucas was attempting to achieve (and failed) with the Star Wars prequels. Dune makes for a great space opera… Jar Jar not included!
Flickr Friday: I’m (not) on a Boat!
1
I occasionally update new photos (and old ones that I scan) on my Flickr account. In doing so, I get to revisit a lot of photos I’ve taken while travelling. Each Friday, I plan on posting a photo that I think is interesting. Maybe you’ll think so, too.
Fun fact: I live near some pretty neat-o local museums. One such place is the Navy UDT-Seal Museum in Ft. Pierce, Florida. Outside of the main museum building (which is on the beach) are a number of boats and vehicles on display outside.
Flickr Friday: Spelling FAIL at the County Fair
3
I occasionally update new photos (and old ones that I scan) on my Flickr account. In doing so, I get to revisit a lot of photos I’ve taken while travelling. Each Friday, I plan on posting a photo that I think is interesting. Maybe you’ll think so, too.
Taken at the 2007 Indian River County Fair in Vero Beach, Florida. Maybe that’s a new spelling I’m not familiar with…
Tom Croom’s BirthdayCon 2010: Dinosaur World (and you’re invited!)
6I’m a sucker for tourist attractions. Many of my blog posts and photos tell the story of my strange fascination with places ranging from the cheesy (South of the Border) to the historical (Route 66) all around the world. The great state of Florida is home to some of the most colorful cheese ball attractions known to man… and for my birthday this year, I’m going to go to one of them.
And you’re all invited.
That’s right: I’m inviting the Internet to join me and celebrate my birthday in a couple of weeks. My friends and I will be at DINOSAUR WORLD in Plant City, Florida on Saturday, December 4th. We plan on meeting out front at noon. Admission into the epically awesome experience is $12.75 plus tax for adults.
You can RSVP in Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=103165059755490
If you RSVP and show up, we’ll abuse the resources of Wasabi Anime to make official BirthdayCon 2010 laminates… complete with a dinosaur on it. (You will have to provide your own lanyard.)
BIRTHDAY GIFTS ARE NOT REQUIRED… but if you really want to get me something, here’s a list of stuff I could use. (You may want to run it by shannon@greenmustard.com to avoid duplicates.
BOOKS (Hardcovers only,,, I don’t collect/read paperbooks. Yes, I’m a book snob.)
- Dune (Frank Herbert)
- Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
- It’s Superman! (Tom De Haven)
- The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
- Stranger in a Strange Land (Robert A. Heinlein)
- Cat’s Cradle (Kurt Vonnegut)
- Animal Farm (George Orwell)
- Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1: The Complete and Authoritative Edition
- If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor (Bruce Campbell)
BLU-RAY MOVIES (DVD is sooooo 2008.)
- Avatar (Three-Disc Extended Collector’s Edition + BD-Live)
- Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
- Kick-Ass (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)
- Iron Man 2 (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)
- The Goonies (25th Anniversary Edition)
- Ponyo (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
- Ghost in the Shell 2.0
- Akira
- The Ultimate Matrix Collection
TRANSFORMERS (All of these items are not easy to find…)
- Beast Wars Basic Optimus Primal
- Generation 1 Action Master Optimus Prime
- Generation 1 Orion Pax and Barrelroller
- Generation 1 Star Convoy
- Generation 2 Combat Hero Optimus Prime
- Generation 2 Go-Bot Optimus Prime
- Hard Heroes: Cyclonus Bust (12th in series)
- Hard Heroes: Devastator Bust (8th in series)
- Hard Heroes: Jazz Bust (12th in series)
- Hard Heroes: Megatron Bust (2nd in series)
- Hard Heroes: Optimus Prime Bust (1st in series)
- Hard Heroes: Shockwave Bust (11th in series)
- Hard Heroes: Ultra Magnus Bust (12th in series)
- Hybrid Style Optimus Prime
- Machine Wars Optimus Prime
- Revoltech Convoy
- Transformers Energon: Optimus Prime
EASY TO DO AND ALWAYS APPRECIATED
- iTunes gift card (so I can continue to watch Doctor Who)
- Best Buy gift card
Yesterday was the single greatest test of my endurance in my entire life (serious)
5I can remember being really exhausted at various times in my life. The moment that always sticks most firmly in my memory was the first time I was told to run laps in full pads during football practice in high school right after I started playing on the team. All exercise related activity up until that point had been fun: going to the beach, playing soccer on a public league, skateboarding, etc. Running on a high school football team was (in the mind of fourteen year old me) serious business.
After doing my laps, my body was mentally and physically done. Standing up hurt. Breathing hurt. Trying to move hurt.
Since then, I’ve had similar moments working out at the gym, exercising with a personal trainer, and other physical related activities. High school football was the first, though, so it’s the one I remember the most distinctly.
THAT was nothing compared to what I endured yesterday.
I have a mental defect install by my parents at a young age that makes be believe that I can do ANYTHING if I put my mind to it. I still believe that, but yesterday was the first time that my body had to remind me that there’s only so much I can force it to do via the aforementioned brain induced anomaly.
I walked twelve miles to take this photo:
That’s Shannon and I in the Grand Canyon. Note: IN the Grand Canyon. That river behind us? That’s the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The area we’re standing on (called Plateau Point) is six miles down from the southern rim. It’s nice and warm down there and the view is amazing. (Expect dozens of photos in a later post.)
The walk back is six miles worth of uphill terrain (think “very rocky staircase”) where you eventually return to an environment of snow and eighteen degree weather. During the last two miles of the hike back up the canyon my body finally gave up. The overwhelming exhaustion had my physically drained to a point where I could only walk for five minutes and then have to rest for five minutes. It was excruciating. With less than half a mile left to go, my wife (who runs 5ks and half-marathons for fun) went ahead to the top of the rim and bought me some coffee. The caffiene and sugar helped.
Upon making it back to the resort, I couldn’t stand. I started shaking from exhaustion and the cold. I could type on a barrage of adjectives and metaphors for the pain I felt last night and none of them – NONE of them – could do justice to how I felt. My mind was yelling at my body to move: stand, walk, shift around. It wouldn’t respond. I have never felt that helpless in my entire life. Seriously.
I didn’t leave the bed. Shannon, being an angel, went and got food for us and brought it to the room. After downing pizza with a lot of salt on it, I passed out. I woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat and feeling fatigued beyond belief.
This morning, as I type this, I can walk again… but I am thankful that my day will be spent sitting in a car for four hours and then sitting on a plane for four hours.
File this under “one of those stories Tom will tell over and over until the day he dies.” My trip to the Grand Canyon will live on as one of the most distinct moments in my life… and it was EPIC.
