On the road again: Balticon, day 2

The degree to which this hotel's bandwidth sucks is hard to overstate. I ran a quick test and was not able to sustain a whole 5KBps--about a fifth of last night's horrible performance. I suspect the deluge of e-dependent fans has pushed the place's Internet connection to the brink, over the edge, and down to the ground in a fiery mass.

I actually managed to get six hours of sleep last night, which left me feeling rather refreshed for most of the day. I hope to get even more tonight.

On the drive downtown for lunch, we noticed some firefighters on an overpass and then an empty stretch of interstate--something you never see in Baltimore. A bit further along, we saw a long stretch of police cars by the side of the road, each pointed out, a policeperson in front of it. They were all there, it turns out, for the funeral of a fellow officer who was killed in the line of duty. I found it a sobering and moving sight.

My friend, Griffin, is a cop in San Francisco. He and all his fellow officers in cities and towns around America do a job that is rough, that few want to do, and that is sure to scar them. That job also kills some of them, as this funeral reminded me. We don't appreciate them enough.

Lunch was at Cafe Hon, a local institution with standard, tasty diner fare. After enjoying an egg salad sandwich there, I strolled down to one of my favorite quirky bookshops, Atomic Books. Its slogan, "Literary Finds for Mutated Minds," sums it up nicely. I didn't intend to buy anything, but I found one book I had to have, and from there it was all downhill. Suffice to say the car will be riding lower on the drive home.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a local ice cream shop, Uncle Wiggly's (love the name), for some locally made Taharka Brothers ice cream. It was excellent, definitely some of the better flavors I've sampled anywhere. Who knew Baltimore had national-caliber ice cream?

After several hours dedicated to registering, roaming the con a bit, working, and running into and talking with some friends, we headed to dinner at Pazo, one of Chef Cindy Wolf's restaurants. The food, mostly Spanish, mostly small plates, was delicious and flavorful--as always.

We've now put up posters all over the hotel for the two charity events I'm doing (the Liars Panel and the Mr. Poor Choices comedy show), and I'm headed back to work. A full day.

On the road again: Balticon, day 3

Morning came way before I was ready for it, but I got out of bed anyway and spent a half hour on the hotel's treadmill. I discovered that with the right distraction--in this case the Daniel Craig version of Casino Royale playing on a TV channel I could get--the time on the treadmill just vanishes.

I'm way past ready for the next Bond film.

Work, shower, work, and then off for lunch to a place I try to visit yearly in Baltimore: Cafe Hon. The food is good but not great, but I still love the joint because it's just such a great little diner.

We then walked through a few shops in the area. Two are worthy of mention.

The first is Squidfire, which in addition to having one of the best shop names ever also offers some amazingly cool t-shirts and hoodies.

The other was perennial favorite, Atomic Books, where once again I bought nothing despite wanting to own more than half the stuff in the place. I think I'm afraid to buy one thing lest I unleash a flood of expensive purchases.

After a little more work, I headed to my first offical con function: a reading. I expected no one to show up, but to my pleasant surprise I ended the session with ten people in the audience--and only two came with me. I read from Children No More and talked about upcoming books, etc.

Dinner was at the same place I go every Friday night of Balticon: Cindy Wolf's Charleston. The food was, as always, perfectly executed--until the desserts. Once again, those, while decent, fell short of the rest of the meal. The service quality has also slipped considerably there, something I hope they address in the future.

I'm working on the show now--and, yes, it's only about 22 hours away as I write this. Plenty of time. I hope.

Actually, I'm quite terrified that I'll blow it, because I should have cast it in concrete weeks ago, but so it goes; shoulda, woulda, coulda, etc. I will do my best, and I'll hope I can make folks laugh until they hurt.

Back to it I go.

On the road again: Balticon, day 2

I slept a bit over seven hours last night, and though I didn't awaken feeling a hundred percent healthy and rested, the sleep did help. After some work, we headed out to the Hampden area, which I mentioned in last year's Balticon entries, and lunch at Cafe Hon. The food was, as always, tasty diner-style fare, and the atmosphere was as funky as ever.

We spent a little time walking among the shops and stopping at Atomic Pop and Atomic Books, where I dropped some money on some seriously odd books. As I also said before, I love both shops. I had to leave them early, however, because as a phone call from the concom reminded me, I was due back at the con.

After registering, I walked the dealer's room, signed some books, and was happy to see a stack of One Jump Ahead paperbacks on Larry Smith's table. Go, Larry!

I then headed to a panel on Medicine in SF. The crowd was small, maybe a dozen folks, and only three of the four panelists showed up, but we had a lively and, to the best of my ability to tell, interesting discussion. After a grocery store run and some more work, I changed and returned to the con for opening ceremonies. After they introduced the main guests of honor--Connie Willis and John Jude Palencar were the writer and artist headliners--Naomi Novik, last year's Compton Crook winner, presented me with the award plaque. (I assume the concom will give me the check later; if not, I'm not too bashful to remind them.) The audience treated me nicely, and it was a very touching time for me.

A few minutes later, as the opening ceremonies were winding down, we headed to my favorite Baltimore restaurant, Chef Cindy Wolf's Charleston. Four of us enjoyed an excellent dinner; all of my dishes were, as always there, flavorful and perfectly executed. Because we couldn't start until after 9:00, we were, of course, running late, but that was okay; I'd planned for that.

What I didn't plan for was the over an hour we wasted as the freeway narrowed to one lane and all of the traffic funneled toward an area jammed with police cars whose lights were flashing. We were convinced something terrible had happened.

Nope. Someone in the Maryland government had decided to have the cops stop all cars and perform sobriety checks, then pass out anti-drinking leaflets. Here's how the test worked:

Cop: "Hi. We're the Maryland State Police, and we're performing sobriety tests to catch drunken drivers. Is that you?"

Me: "No. I don't even drink."

Cop: (handing me a leaflet) "Okay then. Have a good night."

Wow, do I feel safer. I understand that the officer might have been able to smell alcohol on my breath, but seriously: if you're going to waste an hour of my time, at least do something that might possibly be useful.

Needless to say, for the rest of our ride our car full of non-drinkers was awash in negative emotions that ranged from annoyance to full anger. I didn't mouth off to the cop, however, because I'm sure he didn't choose to be doing this particular job.

Despite that ending, it was a good day, and I'm grateful for the award and the nice treatment by the con folks.

Balticon, day 1: Big Balti, little con for me

I worked late last night, as usual, but I then slept for almost eight glorious hours, more than the previous two nights combined. I awoke not fully recharged but no longer on empty, and definitely more than a little energetic. Excellent.

Today we were at the con only long enough to register; the rest of the day Baltimore was the star.

We spent much of the afternoon wandering along 36th street, which is in Hampden and is a pleasure to walk. Lunch was at Cafe Hon, which as you can see is fun both outside and in.


The giant pink flamingo is a great touch. Of course, I'd love this place just for the soda fountain even if it had no other virtues. Fortunately, its virtues are many, including classic and better than average diner fare, a great atmosphere, a funky little shop in the corner, and a nice staff. Catch it if you're in the area.

As in any such area, not all shops are to my taste. The one that featured scores of little painted shells tripped my weird meter the wrong way, not because of the concept, which I liked, but because the paintings weren't odd enough.

On the other hand, I can't recommend too highly Atomic Books. It makes me happy to see an independent bookstore with such a strange and varied selection. From art books to counter-culture manifestos to odd sorts of porn, from graphic novels to John Waters material, this place covers a very broad range of strange and fun material. I suspect something in it will offend most shoppers, which I consider a good thing.

I do wish they carried One Jump Ahead, of course, but I turned too shy to ask them to do so. I suspect they would have passed, so I would also have had to deal with rejection, but I probably should have tried. Ah, well, maybe they'll read this and take pity on me. (That particular approach never worked with girls, and I don't expect it to work with booksellers, but I thought I'd give it a try.)

Did I mention a small cardboard box by the door with odd free comics and the handwritten legend, "Because we love you". This place rocks.

And so does its new (at least to me) sister store, Atomic Pop. Down the street and around the corner from the original, this one specializes in strange toys (most of them Japanese), design books, and other related goodies. I picked up several fascinating volumes here, including picture books of street art from Japan and Iceland.

Who could resist such treats?

For dinner tonight we hit one of my favorite restaurants in this part of the country, Cindy Wolf's Charleston. If you haven't eaten here and are anywhere nearby, make a reservation now. The food tonight was, as always, perfectly prepared and wonderful. My friends, Jennie and Kyle, and I enjoyed many courses, a great cheese selection, and very good service. We even managed a few minutes with the chef herself, who was gracious and charming. I want a cookbook from her, and she said one is in the early stages.

I still have work to do, and posting picture-laden entries is more time-consuming than I had realized. I must put the Web weasel on the job and see if she can make this simpler for me.

Tomorrow, the con itself, including a reading I expect no one who is not already a friend will attend, and then to Kyle's for the UFC pay-per-view.

And writing and work, of course, always those.