GenCon

I don't know what to make of GenCon this year. I dislike our hotel, and there are too many people milling around for me to be comfortable spending lots of time in the convention center. It turns out that I have far less tolerance for hordes of people than I used to. Sadly, I discovered this while in the middle of Gamer Shopping Mecca (also known as the Exhibit Hall at GenCon). All of a sudden, I had just Had Enough(tm). Apparently the panic attack was more obvious than I thought, since Jeff rubbed my back on the way out-- very unusual, since Jeff rarely touches me outside of goodbye hugs and the traditional GenCon tickle fights. I don't know if my reaction to the crowd is a side effect of long-term stress, or just the headache I woke up with and can't seem to shake, or if I'm heading into a hermit phase. I plan to try again later when the crowd is smaller and the headache is gone, and see how much of a difference there is.

The hotel is pretty and historical, which held my interest for about 15 minutes. Then my practical side kicked in. The room is smaller than what we usually end up with, so unless I am sitting on my bed I feel like I'm in the way all the time. The free wireless is probably more than sufficient for an average number of business travelers who check their email a couple times a day, but is wildly overloaded with geeks who are online nearly constantly. It's south of the convention center while all of the hotels with events in them are north, so pretty much everything is a hike-- not a bad hike, just a couple of extra blocks. But enough to make it inconvenient.

Update: I tried the Exhibit Hall again on Saturday without the headache, and it was much better. I didn't start getting panicky about the crowds until I was trying to make my way back to the hotel.

GenCon

I don't know what to make of GenCon this year. I dislike our hotel, and there are too many people milling around for me to be comfortable spending lots of time in the convention center. It turns out that I have far less tolerance for hordes of people than I used to. Sadly, I discovered this while in the middle of Gamer Shopping Mecca (also known as the Exhibit Hall at GenCon). All of a sudden, I had just Had Enough(tm). Apparently the panic attack was more obvious than I thought, since Jeff rubbed my back on the way out-- very unusual, since Jeff rarely touches me outside of goodbye hugs and the traditional GenCon tickle fights. I don't know if my reaction to the crowd is a side effect of long-term stress, or just the headache I woke up with and can't seem to shake, or if I'm heading into a hermit phase. I plan to try again later when the crowd is smaller and the headache is gone, and see how much of a difference there is.

The hotel is pretty and historical, which held my interest for about 15 minutes. Then my practical side kicked in. The room is smaller than what we usually end up with, so unless I am sitting on my bed I feel like I'm in the way all the time. The free wireless is probably more than sufficient for an average number of business travelers who check their email a couple times a day, but is wildly overloaded with geeks who are online nearly constantly. It's south of the convention center while all of the hotels with events in them are north, so pretty much everything is a hike-- not a bad hike, just a couple of extra blocks. But enough to make it inconvenient.

Update: I tried the Exhibit Hall again on Saturday without the headache, and it was much better. I didn't start getting panicky about the crowds until I was trying to make my way back to the hotel.