I'll give you all a brief (well, I'll try to be brief) update on the first day in San Diego. I know you're interested.
My JetBlue flight from JFK was delayed almost an hour because of computer problems. The pilot comes on and says "Everyone's got a computer, right? We all got computers. Well, so does the plane. And it's not working. So, we need to replace ours before we take off. Should take about 40 minutes." What...did they have Windows Vista set up? Anyway, we finally take off and I sleep after zero sleep the night before. On my flight was good friends Heidi MacDonald (The Beat) and Ben McCool. Along with John Nee, Brian Wood and NYC bud Patrick Garrigan.
Upon arriving, the lovely Elsa (my "showmance" from the Selena Forever tour back in 2000) picked me up at the airport. Then took me to the grocery store and came back to my hotel to chill with me as I record Episode 209 of my podcast, Comic News Insider, long distance. Joe's still in NYC, so we did it via my cell. I'm staying at the J Street Inn with Tony Lee. He booked it and stayed before. It's right across from the convention center. It got a lot of bad reviews as it's low income housing/hostel style joint. But, our room is fine. It comes with fridge and microwave and yes....our own bathroom. So there! And it's cheap as a motherfucker.
We picked up Cassaday later and head to our annual dining destination, In 'N Out Burger. Delicious! After that, back to the hotel to chill and work a bit. Lots of interview/panel organization for me and my roving reporter, Maria Bernal-Silva. Who's that you ask? Well, she was part of a now defunct podcast called Girls Gone Geek with the Podango Network a couple of years back. I stumbled upon the show and we got in touch because she was their resident comic book/sci-fi/gamer girl. We never met but would drop a line on occasion. I hit her up this year to see if she'd be interested in covering panels/interviews for me as a CNI roving reporter. She enthusiastically agreed! I'm very thankful to Maria for doing this as there is just so much to cover.
After a bit of work, we head over to Ben Templesmith's pre-SDCC chill party. It was supposed to be a chill night, and was, but we still ended up out late. I did get to chat with many a folk at the party and set up a few interviews for the week. As I was hoping. Cass and I pop over to the Hyatt where some MILRAF (Mother I'd Like to Run Away From) starts chatting us up. She asks us why we're here and Cass says he's got this podcast. So I pick up that line and say, "Yeah, I draw X-Men." It was funny as we tried to remember each other's history of meeting, work, etc.
We found a 24 hour place to eat that we had no idea about the previous years. Thanks to Lorelei, Templesmith's wife, for pointing this out to us.
All in all, GREAT day and great start. I always like getting to San Diego Comic-Con on Tuesday as it's the "calm before the storm". Today, the nerds will descend upon this city and you will see things you can't un-see. I'm going to work a bit more and then start the day out. First interview is with Felicia Day!
Stay tuned as I'll try to blog a bit throughout the show. I'll try to do it daily, but wouldn't count on it. Also, will try pictures as well, but again...no promises. Follow me on twitter for my star fucking and name dropping updates!
BRING ON THE NERDS!
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