lionkingcmsl | MFF Saturday

Of course, it is behind the cut

First, I have remembered something about Friday night.

quickcasey introduced me to his artist friend Lou. Casey is writing and Lou is drawing a new web comic that will hit KeenSpace very shortly. Be sure to look for it.

I got a sneak peak at the original art work and offered some observations. Being Casey is a railfur that works for a railroad. the comic is going to be centered on railroading. Also Budd RDC's will be prevelant in the story, or at least so far, they picked my brain on the details of a Budd, and as, many of you know, I deal with them on a daily basis.

Saturday
Being I was dead tired, I slept through Casey's early morning alarm for the Greymuzzle breakfast. I hadn't planned to attend, but me sleeping through an alarm is very unusual. As I had stated before, I didn't get much sleep on the train out and I was wiped.

I got up and made some coffee using the room single serving coffee maker. Note to self: Next year, not only bring the very delicious Wawa Vanilla Creme coffee and filters, pack a coffee pot. I miss "My Wawa" 's coffee.

I then called

the_gneech and

benbear to see if they were up for breakfast. It seems I woke them up at 9:00. Sorry guys. They agreed to get ready and join me for breakfast downstairs at the hotel's lobby restaurant. While I was waiting for the knock on my door to tell me they were ready (they were in the next room over), I started reading some of the information in the con packets. I discovered something horrifying; the tax rate on restaurants in Schaumburg is 10.25%!! So if you order a meal that costs you $10, it'll cost you $1.03 in taxes. I also found out, later, that there was an ad, in the con book, stating if you mentioned the ad you got 10% off anything you ordered, with a few exceptions, like liquor.

After breakfast I headed down to the dealers room and got set up for the day. Not that hard, as all I had to do was put my "hanging" lion over the easel and bring out the reg forms, which I only gave a few out.

I also found a dealer that was selling Folkmanis puppets and I succumbed to the dark side and bought a ferret puppet. :=3

I had been wanting one ever since last year when I saw one, and played with it, at Washington Union Station on my trip out to MFF.

The day was pretty much a blur with me talking about the Cape May Fur Meet, the CMSL and things in general.

Many thanks to the people who stopped by to chat: Vakkotaur, Spiked Punch, Swift Fox & Sil, Rama Lion, Graveyard Greg, Plonq & Atara, and many too numerous to mention. BTW, Icefox, Graveyard Greg says to pay attention to name badges when you're talking with someone. Apparently you were talking with him and didn't realize it. I asked if he saw your name badge and he replied in the affirmative. I took him to task for not asking you if you were you. He said that he didn't want to look silly if you were not who he thought it was.

One fur that sticks out in my mind, though I never did get his name, was a fellow rail fur that works for Conrail (yes, it still exists), as an engineer out of Detroit. I think we talked shop for at least 15 minutes or so, much to the annoyance/bemusement of the dealer next to me; Bar-1 I believe.

I think I gave out more timetables for the RR than I did flyers for my meet. I sure hope people who picked them up didn't think the full color brochures were for the CMFM. I also realized that I could've brought some RR calendars for 2005 and sold them at a small profit for me. ;=3

After the dealer's room closed I went wandering around and met some of the people I had been looking for. The Gneech had asked me to join him and Mammallamadevil for dinner. I replied I would and we had to go upstairs to get ready.

As we were getting ready to head back downstairs someone said that the elevators were not working. I thought this was odd and heard a buzzer sounding somewhere below us, through the elevator shafts.

I knew where the stairs were that led directly to the lobby and we headed that way. Please note that there were no alarms on our, the 4th, floor, nor were any heard as we passed by the 3rd floor door.

As we exited the stairs the buzzers were loud and clear and there were xenon strobes going off. I thought it might be a drill or false alarm, as I knew that this was a fire alarm going off. I've had 9 years as a fire fighter and 6 years as an EMT. There was no smell of smoke and everybody was heading out the door quickly, but not in a panic. It was then someone told us to evacuate the building as this was a fire alarm and they were trying to locate the source.

One note from someone who has been in the "Devil's Den": The furs handled, from what I saw, the alarm very well. No panic, no objections about being forced out to the damp, chilly, night. There was no chaos. There were plenty of concerned people, but no mob scene.

It was at this time that furs knew how to defuse a tense situation and have some fun. A couple of fursuiters, (they weren't cold) decided to play and stood in front of one of the spotlights that lit the front of the hotel. Instant shadow macros! I found Uncle Kage sipping his wine and told him that now he has to top it. He was concerned that he might be the cause of the alarm, as he had ordered sauteed scallops. He was correct, I found out later, he dinner had caught fire and set off the alarm.

Two fire trucks arrived to much cheering and a line of fursuiters lining the driveway. ;=3

I wonder what was going through those firefighters' heads when they heard and saw what was waiting for them at the Hyatt. One truck left, after a bit, with sirens blaring. It seems they had another call. The other truck left a bit later to much cheering and applause. We then were allowed back into the hotel, much to the relief to those that did not have the proper clothing on for the night air.

I must note however that the Hyatt has to expand, or check, its alarm system. If a fire alarm is sounded on a lower floor then all floors above that one should have their alarms go off as well. This was not the case on the 4th and 3rd floors. In fact people said there were other people looking out from their rooms unaware that the alarms had sounded.

After that bit of excitement it was off to dinner with Tyger Cowboy and friends. As the Gneech has mentioned, I rode with him, Bauske and Bauske's friend Ben to the Old Country Buffet.

At dinner, and later, Bauske found out how insane I can be in real life. I started singing weird songs while waiting in line to eat. They were also treated to how much this lion can eat, though I did hold down to a reasonable amount of food.

Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and while going up with the Gneech to get out of our coats I discovered something, I had left my room "key" with my badges. I didn't want to wear the badges to dinner, so I took them off, forgetting that my key was in with my official con badge. Silly lion.

We headed down one floor, using the stairs, to Jim Groat's cartooning panel. I'm not much of an artist, but I found it informational. I also loved the teasing Jim gave the Gneech. Yes John, you are that good.

After the panel we went back upstairs, to see if Casey was in, he wassn't before, so I could ditch my coat and grab my badges. Fortunately he was.

We then headed downstairs to the lobby and had our own little get together with a bunch of good friends. some I 've already met, and some new faces.

There was a bit of concern when some of the group noticed that someone on the 4th floor, on the meeting room balcony, was very interested in us and kept taking pictures. This was reported to security and I was later informed that the problem was rectified.

After a very swell time there I decided to head to the room and crash.

As I was waiting for the elevator Mammallamadevil came up to me and said I had the right idea and she was also headed to bed. The following conversation occurred:

Me: Kerry, were are your shoes?
MLD: I didn't wear any down.
Me. Yes, you did.
MLD; No I didn't. They're still in my room.
Me: Kerry, I remember you wearing shoes in the lobby.
MLD. No, I didn't, but I'll check anyway.
Me (laughing): Fine. No one ever listens to the lion.
She got off on the 3rd floor. I continued to my floor, knowing full right well that she had worn them to the lobby.

The next morning she apologized and said I was right. I just smiled and repeated what I had said before, "No one ever listens to the lion."

At that point, Saturday night, I just collapsed in bed and went to sleep after talking to Casey for a bit. It was after 1:00a when I did so.

Next up Sunday.