Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Last Wednesday

(Now with pictures!)
Wednesday was the day I switched hotels to the conference approved hotel, although it wasn't the conference hotel. In retrospect I could have just stayed where I was and all that but, the contrast of a busy street overlooking hotel where you step onto the sidewalk into swarms of people to the JW Marriott where once inside you felt you might be in a bubble, was kind of interesting. And considering the mayhem that was the lobby at the San Francisco Marriott (where the RWA conference, plus some management conference, and a good number of airlines crew, as well as some of the union folks, to say nothing of your regular smattering of tourists) - I was quite happy to stay elsewhere. (Yes, I'm sure the rooms at SFM were lovely and tranquil.)
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I registered fairly early in the morning (free books) and then stationed myself - knitting visibly - in the Starbucks where I was meeting some fellow Ravelers. My plan worked as Knitterary immediately said, "Are you one of the Ravelers?" and then Yarnagogo and Twistedandwarped arrived too. So, Yarnagogo took us first to Artfibers. You head up a windy staircase, lined with knitting drawings and then - cones and cones of yarn. (If you want smaller amounts, they will wind you a ball. They also ship - which may be very dangerous information.) They also have a whole giant setup for yarn tasting, should you want to swatch up a bit.
So, deciding that special, San Francicso yarn, was just what I needed, I did manage to restrain myself to two cones. (What? There was a lot of pretty and shiny in there.) (PS. Poking around their website, they sell undyed yarn to. You're welcome.)
After that we went to Imaginknit, which had some gorgeous yarns also. I wandered about stroking the pretties until I discovered they had a yarn named after me, it was even spelled correctly, and it was on sale! So, grabbed two balls of that and discovered they had the other yarn named after me, the one that's spelled wrong (Dear Fibre Co, I kid becuase I love.)
This led to quite a discussion with Kurt, who worked there and had even put up a sign declaring the Terra to be his pick. So, I grabbed a skein of that too. And maybe found a skein of Nature Cotton.
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Then Yarnagogo took us to the "best burrito place in San Francisco" where we were treated to yummy veggie burritos. After that, we headed back to the SFM.
I dropped my yarn back at my hotel before wandering back for the Literacy signing. Having heard stories in the past, I decided to be in line crazy early. I had narrowed the list down to people I really had to get to, and then bonus people. Some (Nora Roberts, Suzanne Brockmann) either didn't have their newest release at the signing, or I already had it all because I get twitchy, and/or I already had signed books from them. (I did not buy anything released the week prior to the signing, but that was about as restrained as I get, bookwise).
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Chatted in line with various folks before they opened up the doors and we swarmed in.
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I made a beeline for Marjorie M. Liu such that the poor woman was still seating herself as I rushed up and said something like," Hi! IalreadyreadTheIronHuntanditwasreallygoodandIloveyourblogandnowIneedTheWildRoadandcouldyou-
signitplease?" She did.
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I wandered past the Suzanne Brockmann line and talked to the author's mom (who I had met in Atlanta, I'm a little stalker not a big stalker, and I did re-introduce myself.) And I talked to some authors, telling them that I had their books, but was a big fan. They were all very gracious. (In fact Roxanne St. Claire signed a bookmark for me.) I told Anne Stuart I had met her at Cherry Con and she gave me a Dogs and Goddesses bumper sticker. Lisa Gardner's daughter was helping her sign (aw!).
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I got the anthology with Cindy Gerard's latest. I got Cindy Dee's latest - a new suspense series (yay!). I fawned politely over Christine Feehan. Some folks who had lines I decided to not pressure whoever was already there talking to them. So, I was pretty restrained on the purchase front (for me) and I was done in a reasonable amount of time.
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Food: Chai, Banana bread, Vegetable burrito, jicama salad, chile rellenos, tostadas, strawberry marguerita.