Westercon 65

I spent most of the weekend at Westercon 65 in a hotel out by the airport. I can't remember the last Westercon I went to, but I think the last one I spent significant time at was Westercon 54 in Portland, where I hung out the whole time in the bar with Lucius Shepard.

Anyway, I went to this one because spikeiowa asked me to help out with the London in 2014 party. On Friday I picked up a couple of 1/6th barrel kegs of beer from Uber Tavern, then picked Spike up at Harborview Medical Center, where she'd visited Stu Shiffman. We ate lunch in Belltown, then headed to the convention hotel and began the process for setting up for that night's party. kproche and bovil were co-hosting the party as part of their campaign for next year's Westercon in Sacramento. The party went very well, I thought. I was the bartender, and I had a really good time pouring beer and wine, hiding out in my little bartender cubbyhole (the bathroom pictured above) but still seeing just about everybody who came to the event. The party was relatively small, and I didn't have to work my ass off like the London in 2014 bartenders at Renovation did.

We didn't finish off even those small kegs, and Kevin and Andy asked me if I'd pour the rest of the beer and wine at the This Is an Ordinary Hotel Room party for Westercon 66 the next night in the same suite. Sure thing. I was helped by voidampersand, but most of the action was out by Kevin's Thin-bot -- a robot he built to mix cocktails. It's an amazing device that is of course fascinating to geeks. A huge hit with the crowd. Therefore we *still* did not kill either keg, although we got close on the amber ale. (The other beer was an IPA.) On the other hand, because I was Crew, Kevin let me run the Thin-bot myself, using the touch screen interface that he'd also written himself. Very cool!

Other than the two parties, I visited the dealers room and the art show and occasionally manned the London in 2014 table. I talked a lot with John Hertz, and visited with my homeys, Jerry and Suzle. It was a very low key convention for me, except for the parties, and it was nice to spend a lot of time with Spike and Tom and Kevin and Andy and John, chewing the fat and smoffing. I hope to make it to Sacramento next year, just because Kevin and Andy should put on a good show. Two Westercons in a row? It's hard to imagine, but it actually sounds like fun. I've already bought my membership.


Kevin and the Thin-bot