Another Week Abroad

Last trip of the year, I promised my wife.

I left last Monday (the 4th) and took the red-eye to Toronto, arriving in Washington in the mid morning after no sleep on the plane, sitting next to the guy on the plane with the meatiest persistent cough and of course he wore no mask… however, I seem to have evaded bodily invasion by the Phlegmish Army. A quick nap and then I walked down the street to a Peruvian restaurant for some excellent arroz con pollo, and then got some snacks and gargles at the Safeway. Poll workers still out asking people if they had voted. Despite the nap I was so tired I was falling asleep in the middle of rehearsing my talk. The next morning I got up, saw the headline… in the hotel breakfast room someone got up and muted the TV. That’s all I’m going to say about that for now. 

Georgetown University runs a shuttle bus for its students and staff from the Rosslyn Metro Station to its main campus, which is nice because no form of public transportation runs close. Hotel shuttle to the metro station meant a quicker trip, and less sweat as it was 26 or 27 degrees the whole time I was in Washington. 

(photo: Brant Guillory, who drove a long way to attend)

My presentation went all right, for some reason it was longer than when I had practiced so not as much time left for questions as I had thought. I’m still not very happy with my skills as a public speaker, not much improvement after over 40 years. But I was privileged to hear some very good ones at this conference, in between spasms of Imposter Syndrome. And, I was awarded the title of “Official United States Army Mad Scientist” for my efforts, and I’m very proud to hang the proclamation of same on my wall!

Game Night was fun, lots of things running simultaneously including some guys playing We Are Coming, Nineveh. I brought several things but in the end taught someone Guerrilla Checkers, who liked it. 

(photo: Brant Guillory)

Anyway, it was a very good conference, pretty much exactly as promised and it was great to see not just people I hadn’t seen in years, but also to meet some new folks and possibly make some contributions to some other things that are going on. I had to leave a little bit early the next day in order to get out to Dulles Airport for my flight. I think Reagan Airport next time, if there is a next time… a lot faster to get to, though I am grateful the metro runs out to Dulles now (the first time I left from there, there was no metro, just an occasional bus). 

I got to Vancouver via Denver, and got into the hotel where Bottoscon was being held a bit after midnight. The con was great too, the largest one yet at over 140 attendees… I taught Guerrilla Checkers to another new person, and got in plays of O Canada with Roger Leroux and Ian Weir. I discussed component production for this with Kerry Anderson and I think I will be putting it up for print-and-play as well as physical production early in 2025; the game is pretty well cooked and just needs to look a bit better.