Transit, dangerous appearel, and a tale of Pete.

Okay, I promised I'd write about VCON, and I have several topics lined up, but let's start with a warmup.

I've but a fair bit of effort into my halloween costume this year. Big credit to my father in law, Paul, and uncle... uh.. in law.. Mark.. is that a thing, uncle-in-law? and my fellow Optimist, Peter Gobbee. I lack in power tools.

Anyway, with all this fuss, I thought I'd get as much mileage out of the thing as I could. So it seemed like a fun idea to wear it to VCON. It's not huge and bulky, but for SOME reason, my wife thought it would be a bad idea to wear it on the bus. I won't leak much more about the costume, as I still want to surprise people who may read this, but suffice to say, for public safety, I agreed not to wear it during my trip from Pitt Meadows to VCON, 2 hours by bus and skytrain, near Burrard station.

Volunteer editor Adam Zilliax came though, porting the dangerous bits of the costume, as well as the books and other stuff I was going to setup at VCON. Thanks again Adam!

Dangerous bits aside, I wore much of the costume on transit, earning some odd looks here and there. And outside the Burrard station, from people on an open-top tour bus.

In the course of 3 days, I took 3 round trips, totaling well over 15 hours of travel time, once you include an extra hour I had to wait at Coquitlam Station at midnight, waiting for the next bus, and my sunday detour on the way home to meet up with Grace Endo at GF strong.

Highlights include my first trip across the new Pitt River bridge sunday evening, (whoopie, the day before it officially opened!.... whoopie.) and my first ride of the fairly new Canada Line train. Picture the skytrain, 30% wider, and ... clean. I mean, the skytrain isn't generally FILTHY, but the Canada line train was Star-Trek Federation clean. And it ran smooth and quiet, like the skytrain used to.

In the process, I did a lot of wheeling on new and 'hostile' terrain. From Burrard station to VCON was mostly downhill, which made for challenging but manageable trips back to the station in the evenings. Waterfront was downhill form VCON, but quite a bit further.

The low point of the transit adventures was the one day I took the 160 bus from Coquitlam to Burrard. The website said it was a shade faster than the skytrain.. and it was.. a shade.. but the stop-go action didn't help my pain situation. Worse though was the trip through East Hastings. You hear about the homeless situation there, you see it on TV, but seeing it for real really hits ya. Oddly, I felt a little like a tourist. "Oh, look at that hotel, I've seen it on the news a lot!" "Oh, that place is a notorious dive! I saw it on the news a lot!" "Oh, I saw that on the news, and that, and.."

In a related story, last wednesday on the way home, Michelle and I stopped at the 7-11 I used to work at to pick a few things up. I stayed in the van, since I wasn't needed, and it's a huge hassle to get out. In front of the store, near the doors sat Pete.

Pete's a homeless guy who's been in Maple Ridge for ages, though he's been seen quite far off. That was before he was in a wheelchair though. There's rumor and 'truth' about Pete. I've spoken with him a couple times. He's VERY quiet, and not super sociable, but he's friendly, and by all accounts, a harmless fellow. He's been pulled off the streets many times, and somehow always finds his way back. Conventional wisdom is that he refuses to stay where they stick him, but the rumors around him as so thick, it's hard to say.

At any rate, I sat in the van, watching people go around him and avoid him, mostly. A few said a few words to him, and he replied. I couldn't hear what was said. He never started a discussion with anyone, never bothered anyone. Michelle eventually came out, and leaned over to Pete, offering him something- what I later learnt to be a slice of 7-11 pizza. He seemed to take a little time to understand. He accepted it, and nodded. As we pulled out, Pete was munching away at it, seemingly oblivious to the world. What does he think about? Why has he been out there so long?

Alright, that ended up depressing...! Next time: Meet the vendors!

If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire…

Last day of VCON, I'm heading out, rollin' down to waterfront station. On the way, I pass the big convention centre.

I spot a freaky looking cop car. "Polizei" on the side. I ask a couple girls taking pictures of each other in front of it. "Is that German, or Russian, or?"

"German, I think." By now, I'd spotted several more of these 'German police cars' (The real thing doesn't look as funky as these ones did) along the road, as well as a "LuftPost" van or some such. All around, signage on buildings was covered up with German variants. Set crew moved tables, and a "crew only" catering table sat nearby. I wheelied over cables, around random bits of movie-set junk, trying to play it cool while I tried to look for clues.

Finally, I imposed a little, when I saw a couple actors/extras sitting down to munch an early dinner sandwich. My eye was drawn to the redhead sitting at the end for some reason. "Hey, alright, I'll bite. What is this, can ya leak a little info?"

She smiles, "The A-Team movie!" El Oh El. I had heard rumors about an A-team movie, but I certainly didn't expect to stumble onto the set. "We're in 'Stockholm' next."

Half a block later, I ran into a gal who WANTED to be an extra, as she's a big fan of Liam Neeson (Hannibal). The directions she gave me were totally wrong... Maybe she was bitter for not being able to be an extra, or maybe her sense of direction cost her the gig somehow. Either way, I pity da foo.

It was a strange side-event in my VCON weekend.

I plan to be blogging a lot about the con over my next few entries, but the short version is: It was great. Crazy nerdy fun, sold a heap of both Lifehack and Watching Yute, got great feedback, and have already set myself up for next year. I'm still recovering sleep. Next post: Day 1, part 1.

Officially ON for VCON!- and corrections galore...

Just a note.. my last post had the wrong dates and place. Wheee! I are smart. It's actually the 3rd to 5th in SURREY. Oy. How'd I get it so messed up?

Anyway, a couple people mentioned they might wanna go and say hi, then I scared em off by telling them how much I'm paying to get in. That $50 was for the full 3 days...!

The daily rates go from $13 for a kid on sunday, to the most expensive being $35 for an adult on saturday. http://www.vcon.ca/registration.htm for details.

FraidyCat , LionHeart and the 12 step program

The other day two 16-year-old korean students came to stay for 3 weeks. The school board keeps em pretty busy most days, (mostly on touristy type things) and michelle seems intent on doing things with them on the days off... because there isn't much else for them to do.
Yesterday, then both found some toys- my nephew's scooter, a skipping rope, and a hula-hoop... (which is actually Ping and Radar's magnetic 'health hoop'.. wtf...) and then went out into the front area, and played. Yeek. Ladies, we have tv and vid games, and you're outside being randomly active? SICK SICK SICK!

Ah, I have to assign them 'minor-protecting-codenames'. Well, I don't know them that well yet, (and in the course of 3 weeks, I probably won't know them TOO much better, as their english is a bare minimum) so I'll be lazy and categorize them by one defining event.
I let my cat Leela jump up on my lap as she often does, and I wet to go introduce them to her. One of the girls FREAKED RIGHT OUT. I'd seen this kind of thing before, but it was because of a dog. (and it was a GUY, who screamed like a 12 year old girl whenever our dog came into view.) So, for the next 3 weeks, when the girls are awake and home, I'll try to keep Leela outside. In this weather, that's not such a bad thing, but when she comes back in, she demands attention. Lots.
So codenames? FraidyCat and LionHeart. Not that LH was eager to embrace Leela, but compared to FC's reaction... yeah. It's kinda sad.. Leela's the meekest little thing. (At least when humans are concerned)

We're going to attempt a couple Kimchi recipes. We never bothered with Radar, since she had already been in the country for a year and a half, and she was swept up in the kitchen chaos that Ping created.. so we didn't worry. Wish us luck.

Slightly less recent news- Caitlin is walking!! Not much mind you, she still sees crawling as far more efficient, even when carrying something. (her one handed, one-knee, one-foot crawl is hilarious, with an empty energy drink can under her arm like a football...) Her record walking so far is 12 steps. She only stopped because she reached her destination; the toybox. I think it was mainly an exercise in laziness. When I put her down, she was standing. She wanted to go to the toybox, and knew she had to stand to get at the toys. I'm sure she debated in her mind for a while about what was easier- WALKING over there, (what a pain in the ***! Walking! Sheesh!) or getting down to the ground, to crawl over, then having to get back up. Walking won.
Usually when we try to get her to walk, she won't, or takes one step before decided it's dumb and inefficient. He best walking is done for no particular reason, with no prompting, and with no camera around.
Oh yeah, she LOVES FC and LH. They like Caitlin quite a bit too, though I try not to let Caitlin bug them TOO much. FC and LH aren't here to babysit afterall.


AND.... Last moment Lifehack news- I'm still waiting on the first hardcover copy. The other shop in Maple Ridge that I was hoping to put some copies in officially said yes, and I had an unintentionally good day for local promoting yesterday.
As for those 2 shops and I going to the Vancouver Sci-fi convention- that's still up in the air, but I have identified which of the fellows would be leading the charge. He's out camping, so I didn't get to talk to him yesterday, but I did get come productive talk with the comic shop guy. So, the waiting game continues.
Before I ask people if they want copies for my big order, I still have to approve the hardcover copy, and settle the sci-fi con thing.

Local order time is quickly approaching! Hardcover first copy-

-Has just been ordered. 10 days processing, then shipping. Assuming it looks good, I'll then be taking orders for hard and softcover copies of the 2nd edition! Remember, you locals will save big on shipping be ordering through me when I do my big order.. that is, you wont pay ANY shipping.

I'm kinda rushing myself so that I'll have a small stock on hand for the Vancouver Sci-Fi convention. I'm also going to be ordering a couple posters for the con- specifically updated versions of these 2:
Alisia Glow (Text updated from this version to reflect the new shorter title)
Regan's ZombieKiller Illustrated cover (Lower left barcode thing changed a bit)
I'm gonna get em in 20"x30" for display/sale. If anyone else local wants a copy of one of those, or any of my posters available, order though me NOW to make me eat the shipping cost for ya!


Lemmie rant about costs of some of those nonsense...

Gripe#1- shipping to Canada-
Lifehack 2nd edition softcover is $19.95
Shipping that book to canada: almost another $26. And THAT is why I have my stuff shipped to the US and a fraction of the cost, then get my wife to bring them back on her next trip across. Even after gas, it's a big saving.
This is also why I wanna order a bunk batch for anyone local who wants a copy. (That, and then you don't have to deal with paypal, or online shopping, or waiting for the shipment)

Gripe #2-
Retail markup-
For world distro, there's a markup applied for the 'end' retailers, which means the physical store you would order them through, or buy from. (Not that barns and noble or any big store is ordering my stuff- they don't even know I'm out there unless a customer asks for lifehack)
The retail price of the hardcover Lifehack is 39.95. About HALF of that is the retail markup! I had heard 30% was a typical cut for a store, which I can understand... but 50%? Yeek. I WAS hoping to retail the hardcover for 29.95- which I can still do for copies I'm selling locally myself, but yeesh. 39.95... Who's gonna pay that? Well, it's a good thing there's the softcover for $19.95. Much more reasonable and competitive. Thanks to some changes to the guts of the publisher, I can get the price that low, about 7 bucks cheaper than the first edition. The 2nd edition softcover is the version I plan to promote, the hardcover is mainly for a handful of 'collectors'.

EXCITING NUDES!

Er, I mean news.

I may have mentioned before that the 2nd edition of Lifehack will probably be carried in a comic book store, and a games (board games, pen & dice games, etc) store. I was in the games store yesterday, and got yapping.
It turns out that the fellow that runs the games store, and the fellow that runs the comic store, might be sharing a table at the Vancouver Sci-Fi convention. which happens in october. I mentioned that I'd considered going to a convention before to sell the first edition of lifehack, but the cost of setting up, coupled with the lameness of having a table with one product... well, I never could find someone to share a table with..
I was quietly fishing for an invite, and I got it. (Subject to comic book guy's approval, and them actually deciding in concrete that they ARE going.)
... but it sounds good! I might see if I can bring a couple posters along. I only have a couple "in stock", and they're my personal posters... so I might just bring those along to decorate the table.. OR, if the guys go for it, I might have a few printed up just for the occasion.

Ah, by the way, fedex says the first copy of the 2nd edition will arrive (at our PO box south of the border) on the 15th. The cost in shipping is just horrific to Canada, I'm afraid. That's why I like to order a bit of a stockpile, save on bulk shipping, and sell locally from that pile, instead of referring people to the website. - and for the customer, it's instant gratification, instead of waiting for delivery. Anyway, I'm not sure when I'll be able to get it in my hands, but yeah.. on the 15th, the ball's in my court again.

I have no idea how many I want to order.. how many books does one sell at a convention? (especially if you're an unknown... the last name PICARD might catch a few eyes at a sci-fi convention though.. heh.) I don't expect to sell many in Pitt Meadows, since it IS the same story as the first edition, (even if it's more polished, better formatted, and has some new content..) the typical reader isn't going to want the same story again. Maple ridge has been under marketed though, and Coquitlam is next for me to invade....

...but that's kinda off in the future, and doesn't help me decide how many to get now..


In other news, in the livingroom, my nephew, aka fireball (red hair, too much energy) is currently playing mario kart advance on my gameboy, because despite my tidy little collection of games, he refuses to play anything that isn't vehicle based. He's obsessed with cars. I tried to show him contra, figuring the shotting giant monsters and blowing things up (WITH MASSIVE CHEATS, TOO!) would appeal to a 9 year old.

"Is there any vehicles?"
"No, but take a look at.."

And he was off in the corner looking for remnants of his hotwheel collection. What kind of 9 year old boy doesn't want to play games with guns?! What is the world coming to?! That sounds kinda bad, but I've seen this kid drive. We'd all be much safer if he had an obsession with guns instead.