I Go To DragonCon, take 2

DragonCon. I'm back. One of the following things may be a sign of the apocalypse: I'm at a convention with 30,000 attendees already checked in & 40k+ expected still to come, a hurricane is on the way; and a major earthquake occurred somewhere in the world. Here's hoping for safe resolutions to all three events.Today was Armory set-up day, wherein we the volunteers, under the direction of those with the knoweldge, took boxes, crates and bags of weapnry and put them onto the displays. And then more items arrived that needed to be to put on displays. And then we got MORE items. In between deliveries we built more displays,  lost things inside boxes, lost boxes, and found or worked around all the lost things. As is the way of such projects.More than once I heard words to make any Borders sort alumni reading this smile: "Who has the rubber mallet?" The tradition lives.I'm no longer the newest of the new volunteers.  One of this year's group of brilliant, prqcrical, efficient peeps is putting together a fine logistics plan for smoothing out the procedural bumps for future Armory expeditions. Photographic records. Numbering & labeling inventory and display materials. Etc.Here are some pictures to give you all a glimpse at the two rooms of the exhibit coming together. Bang weapons room first, and then pointy-slicey weapons.There's obviously a bit of work remainingto be done, not to mention some tidying up to do. All will be done before we open the exhibit Friday at 10 AM. There will be more & prettier pics, I promise. I definitely need to get detail pics of things like the Kevlar vests and the Really Big Sword. And I need to see if any of the knowledgeable folk can tell me more about stun guns, because research of course.Thursday is mostly a preview day for the convention, but when we emerged from the Armory it was clear the party has already begun. Waldo and Dr Who in the elevator, a big Pikachu running down one of the upper floors of the Hyatt, Silver Surfer spotted on the Armory level (the quietest, least crowded zone of the con, and yet far from unpopulated) and--my favorites-- Captain America doing karaoke to "Let The Bodies Fall" at the diner where we ate supper, and Stig hanging out in the Hyatt lobby.  Here be those two pics. No judging on quality. They're snaps, not art.Tomorrow the crush begins in earnest, and there will be panels. Writing panels and fun panels, and if I'm feeling super-brave, a visit to the vendor area. It's in its own expo building. IT takes up two full floors. Yeah. One panel I'm hoping to attend: The Jim Butcher/Todd Mccaffrey Hour.  It's later in the evening, and I can't handle standing in line for long, but it's worth checking out. Stay tuned for more silliness soon.Oh, and here's the obligatory "my stuff" section of the post.