...My love, my love, my love, love is chemical.

Continuing with Part 4 of my four-part Pacific Media Expo report. pmx was in November, so I'm only eleven weeks behind realtime. (Other installments: part 1, part 2, part 3.)

( One indicator I've been watching, with regards to a convention's health, is how the costumers seem to feel about the convention. )

My conclusion is that the costumers still go to PMX and have a good time.

( This is what worries me about AniZona's future, by the way. )

General announcement: I'm looking for someone willing to ride out with me to AniZona on Thursday night 2009-04-09 and help represent animelosangeles at the convention. It'll be an easy gig, we're just sitting at a table during the day, no PB&J room. Inquire if interested.

Ghosts are a perennial problem at anime conventions. ( I think the problem is related to the perceived value of the convention... )

I like this convention (PMX). They're doing something different from the other conventions. I'd like them to thrive. Will I be back at the next Pacific Media Expo? Oh yes. They've announced their dates. I've got my hotel room reserved. Mark your calendars, it starts on 2009-11-06. And pre-registration is open now.

Footnote: The Day the Music Died. Groundhog Day, fifty years ago, after performing their "Winter Dance Party" show in Clear Lake, Iowa, three musicians got into a small plane on a snowy night with a pilot who wasn't instrument-qualified. Want to hear more about them, that night, their music and their legacy? (Scroll down to "Bop Street" to listen.) If you've got broadband, you could do worse than to tune into KFAI.org from time to time. But do it soon, they only archive the shows for two weeks.

There comes a time for everybody when true love comes your way. There comes a time for everybody

Interlude. What happened between the convention at the beginning of November and the other one at the end?

( There was this cosplay picnic in Santa Monica (right)... )

( We spent Saturday night at the LAX Marriott, our convention hotel... )

Year 6 is going to be easier to organize, as far as the use of the hotel itself goes -- almost everyone on next year's team was at this year's convention, and we all have a feel for how the hotel works. More on that later, when I catch up to January.

Then the next day I got on a plane for Indianapolis again. Did you know that MSP has mailboxes in the terminal (right)? So does Denver. At Indy's old airport (the one I flew into last time) they have them in the baggage claim area. I forgot to look when I got to Indy this time, so I don't have a report on their mailbox situation, but I continue to be annoyed that neither SNA or LAX airports have mail drop boxes. Clearly it's not because of a TSA edict!

While we were in Indy, we had dinner one night at a German restaurant called The Rathskeller. One thing I thought was very civilized was the basket of warm bread they brought: it included big soft pretzels (left). Very nice.

( At home, I have a very large glass mug... )

Why was I back in Indianapolis? Oh, you know, the usual. To hang out with some other engineers. Real engineers, actually -- Ellen Taylor's an Electrical Engineer, for example. (She's getting married in the spring. Don't tell her what I'm getting her as a wedding present, okay?) You can see that Ellen has something in common with colleency -- keeping a "Razor" scooter at the office so she can scoot down the halls (right), just as Colleen did when she worked with me.

And no traveling story would be complete without me finding a place for a chorizo burrito, would it? Mary Jo and I flew in and out of the new Indianapolis airport. The new terminal is laid out with a big mall-like zone up front, before you get through the security checkpoints. And I found tortillas and chorizo and so forth at Qdoba. (left)

Next: Loscon!