ConFusion Report

Friday of ConFusion, I tracked down and retreived the Penguicon storage room key from the person who had requested it from me and not responded to my entreaties. I also answered a half-dozen people approaching me to ask about Penguicon, usually by directing them to the person to whom I was delegating the matter. Even so, they tended to return to me after talking to that person, and telling me what was determined. I have no problem with this, because more communication = good.

I did a panel about "your first convention". I felt a little bit bad, because the audience asked questions about Penguicon, and we were not at Penguicon. As always, there were one or two newcomers who introduced themselves and show great promise. *tents fingers* Oh yes, yessssssss, great promise.

I stayed in the room got at the Red Roof Inn. Saturday morning I got up early to run all kinds of errands.

(1) Shop for decaf and regular coffee beans, milk, half-and-half, and soy milk for the Coffee With Cory Doctorow (who has become vegan so he needs soy. Apparently he's not on the Atkins diet any more). I had to buy the whole, unground beans the same day so they would be fresh-roasted.

(2) Stop by the storage cube in Farmington for supplies for the pre-reg table. The access code didn't work and they told me they were cutting the lock that day. I paid the overdue out of my own pocket, because I was sleep-deprived and didn't think to use the Penguicon debit card. I excavated the cube and never found the money lock-box buried in there.

(3) Pick up in Canton.

I handed in my coffee receipts to . She had a key to Concierge that needed to be re-magnetized, and then she gave it to me. Then I staffed the Penguicon pre-reg table.

I played a game of Agricola that ran way late, ate an overpriced meal at the hotel bar to save time, and dashed to Coffee With Cory Doctorow. But when I arrived, the key needed to be re-magnetized again! A ConFusion staffer was there with another key. It also needed to be re-magnetized. So we ended up getting into Concierge late after all.

Then I realized there was no sink in there, and the hotel provided no dishes such as mugs. I realized this was not like other Coffees With the Guest of Honor, because they were not providing coffee to which I would merely add Capuccinnos. Fortunately I brought my electric vacuum press to make a whole pot of coffee. helped me as a coffee minion, grinding the beans, dispensing the brewed coffee, and cleaning. We got cups from Consuite and filled the press and some of the cups with water to use as a water supply.

In my rush, I lifted my brand new espresso machine from its bag, and its carafe fell off the tray and onto the Concierge tile floor where it smashed into a hundred shards of glass. The hotel swept up. I used my stainless steel IKEA espresso shot cup and saucer.

It takes a long time to make espresso drinks. The only way I could serve everyone is if I didn't wait for the steam to vent before refilling with water. In preparation for a reckless plan, I put the espresso machine in the metal "sink with a drain but no water" (SWADBNW) that was in the counter. I did something that one should not do. Instead of venting the steam for a few minutes through the wand... I removed the filter basket. The steam escaped all at once and splattered the SWADBNW with grounds. I was not burned, and proceeded to make more espresso. We got the attendees all served with coffee before the event ended.

Cory Doctorow was awesome. He came over afterward and wanted to see what he generously called my "rig". A $45 single-spout Krups, covered in an explosion of wet coffee grounds, its carafe smashed. Eric McGlohon described it to me this week as "not a real coffee maker". But it gives me beverages that make me consistently happy, and I love it. I told Cory I don't like to take espresso so seriously as to drain the fun out of it.

Cory was extremely kind and praised the quality of what I had made for him. I got to tell him about working for Steve Eley and PodDisc.com. I see fabbers, desktop duplicators, and other robot-based garage businesses as the way of the future. I've got the disc pod, has the automated embroidery machine, Tim has the computer-guided milling plotter, and so forth.

enjoyed the convention scene tremendously and made many friends. Human DNS Server, mission accomplished.

I dropped her off in Canton after midnight, then drove back to the Red Roof Inn in Troy.

Sunday I was too tired to think. What happened Sunday? Cory Doctorow came by the Penguicon pre-reg table. What did I say to him? I was not collected. Went to dinner. Gave the registrations and about $200 to our treasurer. Made sure to gather all the stuff I had brought to the convention. Went back for stuff I forgot, and in so doing locked myself out of my car. Was rescued. Went home, slept.

Great convention. Well, of course it was. Some lessons to take home from this con report is no matter how many obstacles, no matter how sub-optimally you solve them, a convention is going to be awesome, if for no other reason than the people you spend time with. That's why relaxicons are fun. I am not saying the con was poorly run, not at all. The problems were all the ones you see here. I did not have even one problem caused by the ConFusion convention committee.

The lesson to take home is that when you do work, it needs to be adequately planned and far enough in advance. Many of you have said frequently, "but, the convention weekend is always fun, so what's the problem with the disorganization?" And as an attendee you are right to think so. It's not your problem. The problem is for the conrunners. It comes in various costs: financial, stress, missed opportunities, strained friendships. These are not necessary. It will be fine if you start doing your Penguicon work now. Tell the rest of the concom that it's getting done so (1) there is no duplication of effort and (2) you don't have A thinking B is doing it and B thinks A is doing it.

But the weekend is always fun for the attendees. Those three days, in that hotel, are a sacred off-limits space, and should never be infringed upon by exposing attendees to insider politics.

Comments

sheryl67 on Jan. 31, 2009 5:06 PM

That is a very important lesson. Just talking to one another about progress and communicating if you can't do your job anymore. There is no shame in asking for help. There is no shame in quiting if real life has become too complicated. I think that some people, once they commit to things, have a very difficult time with admitting these things...maybe even to themselves.

netmouse on Jan. 31, 2009 5:37 PM

I'm sorry I didn't think to remind Tammy that that room has no sink and she would need to provide you with cups and water. The room *does* have a sink, it's in a back room that was open when they let us into the room Friday, but must have gotten locked in between. I will have to talk to Brendan about getting access to the sink added to our contract, because the room is not terribly useful with no sink/running water. We also need to strategize to keep the room open all weekend so people don't have to have keys to get in for events. We underprogrammed the room this year.

I'm really sorry to hear your carafe got broken and you had all that stress. Will that be expensive to replace?

matt-arnold on Jan. 31, 2009 8:06 PM

It did not previously occur to me that it could be purchased without the machine. When the carafe broke from my last machine, I just never replaced it. I was really glad to finally have a carafe again with the new machine.

I have now done some searching online, and it looks like it will cost less than $10 for a universal glass espresso carafe with no lid. It's $15 for the same model, a Krups XS1505 Espresso Carafe which has a hinged lid, but I don't think it is important to have a lid. I'll keep an eye out in thrift stores.

netmouse on Feb. 12, 2009 9:39 PM

"It did not previously occur to me that it could be purchased without the machine. When the carafe broke from my last machine, I just never replaced it. I was really glad to finally have a carafe again with the new machine."

Every so often you say something like this and remind me that you do as well as you do without ever having been taught how the world works.

Yes, manufacturers will often replace parts that get broken. Especially likely ones that frequently break before the rest of the machine, such as a glass caraff. Let me know when you find or get one, and we will reimburse you for it.

rbradakis on Jan. 31, 2009 5:53 PM

I also enjoyed the coffee. First coffee I'd had in some time, and it was delightful. Thanks!

And also, YES! Time to talk about Penguicon. I'm working on ramping up my excitement again, but even without it, I'm completely onboard with moving things forward quickly, to make less stress later.

matt-arnold on Jan. 31, 2009 8:21 PM

Randy,

Check out the Fat Man's comment on my homepage announcement about Fat Man and Circuit Girl! Also, Circuit Girl (Jeri Ellsworth) just followed @Penguicon on Twitter. SQUEE

High-five from one Convention Chair to another!

stormgren on Jan. 31, 2009 9:29 PM

FM & CG will be at Notacon this year as well.

Will Penguicon have a presence there, out of curiosity?

rbradakis on Jan. 31, 2009 10:11 PM

So high-fiving you right now!

habibekindheart on Jan. 31, 2009 6:39 PM

I did have fun :) If you need any help with Penguicon, let me know.

Robots are fun...but I love doing some things by hand. Robots (as of yet) can't exactly duplicate the look of homemade. I should set my sights on either robots that do everything else so that *I* can spend my time making homemade objects (for when everything crashes, as is inevitable in my dystopic view) or teaching machines inconsistency in manufacturing as a plus that makes the completed product individual and unique :) (works best for yarn. Embroidery...notsomuch)

users on Feb. 1, 2009 1:52 PM

Is this...hey-baby?!?! :)

habibekindheart on Feb. 1, 2009 5:08 PM

hahaha it is!

druidsfire on Jan. 31, 2009 7:32 PM

Y'know, having seen you a half-billion times over the weekend, I do have to say that I never saw you acting stressed out or anything anytime I saw you. Always cool, calm, and seemingly collected. So at least to an outsider, you appeared on top of things, and this is very important for someone who deals with the public.

Well done, Matt.

matt-arnold on Feb. 13, 2009 4:37 AM

You know, I have to ask... if you saw me, did I see you? Who are you, druidsfire?

danieljhogan on (None)