Thursday Cat and Hackers

I rose early at 6, showered and all that, and then headed down to the lobby for breakfast. There, I found a slightly better-than-industrial complementary breakfast. The place was busy; I ate and then wrote until about 10ish and closed the breakfast. I published the blog, read my email, and updated my transactions in Quicken. I paid some of my bills and checked to see if they had cleared.

Boring, I know. Today was a work-like day, starting with registration at 4:30, followed by dinner with Cat at Junior’s in Manhattan’s theater district. I returned to my room (which would not be made up until after 4), wrote a card to Mom Wild, and worked on some church paperwork. I was in my room until near noon.

I took my Strand Bookstore red bag, put my laptop and other items I might use at the convention, and headed out. I mailed the card (one for Deborah, too, and Dondrea and Z got one written a bit later). Despite the modern email-everything world we live in, a physical card is still something special when sent by snail mail.

I wandered to Fresh Meadows on the other side of the highway, using the underpass, and soon was looking at local joints for lunch. I decided that pizza was low risk. I asked the clerk what was good, and he was at a loss. The cook showed me two plain pizzas, and I decided they were good as-is, with just cheese. I tried a slice with a can of Diet Pepsi for less than $10. Two Brothers Pizza (since 1963) was an old-school NY pizza place where the cook and customers would discuss their annual ticket sales, likely for baseball. I learned that the cook had been doing this since 1982, and we talked about dough and how he has to change his plans based on temperature and humidity. He showed me that he was keeping dough in small containers to keep it cool today.

With enough lunch in me, the pizza was more filling than I expected. I continued walking and walked the circle that is set in the middle of the Fresh Meadows apartments. I found a Starbucks, got an iced coffee, and it was hot and humid. There were no seats remaining inside (the AC was fantastic), and I went outside and got a table with some shade. I looked at the local real estate with prices 30% higher than Beaverton, and some just insane for mansions and whole apartment buildings.

I worked more on my novel and found myself in tears as one of the characters ended its story. I have not written a story like this, and there is some emotion attached to it. I hope it is good. I also have some rewrites to make that story work better.

It was hot, and my laptop was getting warm. I headed back to the hotel, unloaded my bag, and just grabbed my printed ticket for the 2600 Hope_16 conference. I walked back to the bus stop and soon took a short bus trip to St. John’s University.

I had tried this on Wednesday and was comfortable with the trip and walk. I did miss the Q Kosher shop and a pickle shop (!?) on my last visit. Soon I saw a truck unloading, and as often happens at gaming conventions, I noticed that things were behind. I helped unload a bit. Because of my balance issue from the brain surgery removing my balance in my left ear, I try to avoid walking and not seeing the horizon, so carrying and moving are no longer something I do much. I helped out a bit, holding doors open and pushing some things.

I met a few folks like me waiting for badges. Lindsey and Anton got me my badge, and soon I was talking to many first-time convention attendees. I would not tap phones, but instead wrote out my information. I am going analog and have a hand-written plan for the first two days of the conference.

It was nice to hang out for a while, but soon it was time to head to Manhattan again. I found the correct bus, waited only ten minutes, and got a seat. The bus was full, but not packed, by the time we reached the E Train. I was headed to the western part of the island, and that meant I needed a different train. I learned from Cat that the F Train is good too, and it’s only a few blocks away. I took the wrong way out of the subway and ended up a block from F.

I walked around the area. I was an hour early. I found a few places had changed names and saw that Chess, a favorite musical that deals with the Cold War, represented as the game of chess, is being brought back in October. I will have to make a quick visit for that with Deborah. More to come on that.

Cat and I had a lovely dinner with too much food. We both had the pastrami Reuben sandwich and shared a cheesecake covered in strawberries. Sort of a mix of pie and cheesecake–a caloric disaster. Our waiter was terrific and helped us pick these items.

Cat and I caught up; it has been more than a year since we last met. I shared pictures from Iceland and Deborah and me at various waterfalls and sites in Reykjavik. Cat will visit the West Coast this Friday. Next, she is off to Oregon with her sister and brother-in-law to see the Smiths. We might connect there.

It was great to connect, and we rode the F Train back until Cat’s stop. I then continued on to East, where I even connected with my bus late and found my way back to Queens and Fresh Meadows. I walked back to the hotel and all was fine. I was soon asleep. I woke up, feeling jet-lagged, which suggested it was too early to sleep. I looked at my retirement plans for a while, but I was sleepy again after midnight, and I eventually fell asleep before 1. The morning and my alarm seemed too early when it went off on Friday morning.

While I was on the train and bus, I did connect to the Zoom Theology Pub in Oregon, and my friend in Oregon got to see me bounce around in NY. I spoke a few times during the meeting and continued for a while after arriving at my hotel room.

Thanks for reading.