Sarnac Public House

The Sarnac Public House is a neighbourhood pub that has great brews and food, and was also near the convention center.

I had the Thai stirfry with tofu with vegetables. The tofu was grilled and looked like chicken. Delicious. The beer was a River City Vanilla Burbon Stout, also delicious.

Worldcon 2015 - Wednesday

Wednesday at Worldcon started out slow, as the panels I was interested in did not begin till noon. Until then I wandered around the main area, pictured above. I was glad I registered the evening before but the lineups did move along quickly.

Best Writing Advice I Was Ever Given; David Gerrold (GoH), Bobbie Benton Hall, P.C. Hodgell, David D Levigne. A great panel on writing and it could have been applied to starting anything. The main takeaways were to write often, write lots, and if someone tells you you should not be a writer and stop then you were never meant to be a writer. If you get angry and focus that anger into your work then you are a writer.

Being Creative: How do you get an idea?; Daniel Spector, Brad Foster, Theresa Halbert, Jeff Sturgeon, Alan F Beck. Geared to artists it was equally applied to any creative activity. It was an interesting look at the way artists developed ideas to fruition.

Hard SF Movies: Are they still making them?; Connie Willis, Fonda Lee, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro. Takeaways were how to create a hard SF world without making it too bogged down in science (handwave very limitedly and be consistent) and that Connie Willis is not only a popular writer but she's funny too. Have to try to see some of their movie favorites made in recent years, like Predestination, Primer, Ex Machina, Her and Time Crimes.

Girl Genius Radio Theater; Phil and Kaja Foglio. As always, the hastily written radio play used members of the audience and the hour and a half show was entertaining and hilarious. Head to the link for free comics and great times.

Discarded Worlds: Astronomical Ideas that were almost correct; Brother Guy Consolmagno. This presenter recently won the Carl Sagan Medal for his public speaking on science and he gave a 90 minute lecture on the above topic. He went over the various theories and "facts" throughout history that almost were correct until new data came around. His main takaway is that the science community is like a family; it listens, it makes mistakes, it criticizes, and it corrects but above all it learns from its mistakes and corrects itself with the help of the whole.

That was my first day at my first Worldcon. Great fun and learning with laughs thrown in.

Common Crumb Bakery

The Common Crumb is a great little bakery in Spokane. Its open very early so its good for when you and your spouse are exited about their first Worldcon.

I had the Sante ham and cheese croissant and it was wonderfully flaky and buttery. I also had the pasta salad with apricot, zucchini and carrots. I generally do not have apricots but this salad was fantastic with them.
 

They also have lots of great little treats.

Worldcon 2015 - Tuesday

A view of the river outside the convention center

I was planning to go to Worldcon 2015 (Sasquan) in Spokane on my own, but my wife was also able to get time off work. Yay!

We flew by plane and got there on Tuesday, a day earlier than the convention started. This was to unpack and get familiar with the surrounding area so we would be ready to start off when the panels began at 10am on Wednesday. Except for the difficulty and time spent at customs, security and getting to our gate it was not a bad flight.

We stayed at the Doubletree nestled right in the midle of the convention hall. We also lucked out and got a room on the 3rd floor, the same floor as the passageway to the convention center! Yay! The room also had a fridge so were were able to put delecate items requiring cold to keep them safe.

We were able to register and get our swag this evening so we would not have to worry about long lines. The Spokane convention center is massive!

We ate at Borracho's Tacos and Tequila (see link for details). Then went to Merlyn's Gamestore (see link) and finally the Main Market, a great small scale co-op grocery store with many local items. There is a lot of great shops and resteraunts in downtown Spokane.

Borracho Tacos and Tequila

We arrived in Spokane for Worldcon and thought that the nearby Borracho Tacos and Teqila would be a good place to start.

The atmosphere is nouveau-trendy with people looking fabulous and eating before they do fabulous things. Why I didn't mind was the great service, food and cheap prices on the Tuesday night that I was here.

They had six different street style tacos and I had one of each (for a dollar each), a tortilla soup and some vegetables. They were all tasty and filling.

Postcard of the Interwebs - 14 Aug 2015

Step by Step in Case of a Car Accident: Even though the contact information is gear to residents of the USA, it is good advice applicable all over the world.

Space Suits throughout History: Uber cool!

Cheeses: For those who want to try the different types of cheeses, a handy wheel for you.

Fermi Paradox: Are we the only life in the universe? This excellent series of images and commentary help to explain the theory and possibilities.

How to be more Productive: Lots of helpful hints with creepy drawings of people.

Pig Organ Transplants: Could be a great breakthrough once people get over the modified pigs.

Rat Park: Comic strip on Bruce Alexander's research into what drug addiction is and what are its causes.

A Frog in my Garden

When I was watering my garden plants, this little guy jumped out of my potted cilantro. Anyone know what it is?