Texas Journal

I am very tired. I definately need a vacation, though I don't know how much relaxation I will be doing.

It is August once again, and I am once again off to the World Science Fiction Convention to be held this year in San Antonio, Texas. Now, certainly the area is interesting but not somewhere I really wanted to visit for any reason. I only found out after booking my flight that the Alamo took place there.

I had a rather long trip to get here though. What complicated matters is that work has me on contract in Calgary, about a two hour flight from my home in Winnipeg. Calgary is a very nice city and, in reference to this trip, could be called the Texas of the north. I don't know if I would ever want to live there, it still suffers from the same drawbacks that other Canadian Prairie provices have for me and that is it's isolation. The city itself is fine but there is not much close by. Calgary is a bit better than Winnipeg in that it is very close to the Rocky Mountains and one of my favourite passtimes (whenever I get an oportunity), downhill skiing. Calgary is a very young city and this is obvious when you look around.

People are extremely friendly and very relaxed, even more so than Winnipeg. In Winnipeg people always seem to be worried or complaining about something, in Calgary everyone is pretty much content. Some people have laughed when a few of us “ex” Winnipegers “current” Calgarians describe the difference. It sounds funny, I admit, but it is true.

It is even easier to live in Calgary for me because, as it is a work contract, they are paying for many of my expenses, including the apartment (condo) and transportation. I am very lucky in this respect, not many people can claim such expenses.

I left Calgary after only working half a day and caught a plane to Winnipeg. I met my mother and her husband at the airport. They were living in Ontario until recently when they came to Winnipeg to assist in the Red River Flood relief efforts. It is very fortunate that they can help and they seem to be enjoying the work. It is also very nice to have mother in town, I have always talked to her more than any other member of the family, or anyone else for that matter.

I visited a friend later that night and ended up talking with him until very late. The next morning I had to be up at 5 o'clock but it was the last time I would be talking with him for quite some time, at least in person. He is a very interesting person but many people believe he would be better suited in the computer industry instead of washing dishes. He has many years of computer experience now, including running a computer bulletin board system and assisting the organization I volunteer for, Blue Sky, which provides free access to community information via a computer network.

The next morning, I grudgingly tore myself out of bed and we made our way to the airport. The worse part of the whole trip (after the short amount of sleep) was the number of stops. I stopped in both Minneapolis (for 3 hours) and Memphis (for 1 hour). I have been to Minneapolis before, at least, their airport. I was suprised to hear that the Mall of America is so close by, I am hoping to visit that during my return trip (a stopover of 2 1/2 hours). I had a little time to visit the airport so I did make it up to the observation deck (which I miss at the Winnipeg airport), it was quite a view. The airport is normally very busy and today was certainly no exception. There is also a fair amount of military traffic as a base is very close by.

After finding some breakfast, I boarded my second flight of the day to Memphis. I was quite pleased to see the Mississippi for the first time. I have always wanted to see it, I don't know why. It was startling to see a tanker on the river looking like a toothpick in a bathtub of water. The Red and Mississippi seem to have much in common, they are both large for their areas and they are both brown since they move so fast (bringing up dirt from the bottom of the river). The mighty Mississippi fascinates me in that it crosses essentially the whole of the United States and many large ocean ships use it as a highway. Today we followed it from Minneapolis to Memphis.

Strange in Mephis, I felt closer to the “king” then ever before (literally). “For reasons I cannot explain, some part of me wants to visit Graceland, Graceland, Graceland Tennessee” (Paul Simon). Only thing I can think of there that I would want to visit, I was going to pick up some tourist information, like I did in Minneapolis but did not get the opportunity.

San Antonio is a very small city, quite suprising to me. It reminds me much of Winnipeg, ok, a bit larger, but the same “feel”. Mind you, I essentially only picked up a car and drove through the city on the expressway, but from what I saw…

I had decided to drive immediately to Houston, about 3 hours away, to visit NASA here in Houston, I figured that I would want to do that long drive first while I still had the energy and still leave time for San Antonio later this week. It is good that I have another nice car to drive, I remembered to bring audio tapes this time so I have something to listen to, especially when driving alone for such distances.

The drive I found VERY much like driving in Manitoba. There were rolling hills but the sky was just as large and the scenery just as bleak. There seem to be more trees here but it is a lot drier. When I arrived in San Antonio and it was 95 degrees. It is supposed to stay that way for a few days. As we arrived a thunderstorm was just moving in, but that cleared fairly quickly. Evidently it is supposed to be extremely dry here (like Winnipeg).

It was quite supprising to see the similarities while driving. I don't know what I really expected. I really did not know anything about the scenery here, I guess.

I arrived in Houston just after dark, and had problems finding a place to stay. I decided since my main reason to be here was to visit NASA, I should try to stay as close as possible. The space center is about 25 miles south of Houston and unfortunately (my luck) this weekend is also a big balloon show here, so most hotels were booked completely (except for the expensive rooms). I ended up in this hotel a ways south of NASA and fairly expensive. The rates are unbelievable. Thank goodness this is only once a year.

I have been busy thinking of things to do over the next few days. I have newspapers from both Houston and San Antonio, trying to track down current events and see what is possible.

It was a much nicer day today, perhaps yesterday was a bad experience simply because I was tired. Everything went fairly well today, well, except for the balloons.

I started the day by taking advantage of the free breakfast at the hotel. I was not there for a long time so I needed to get something for free. I really was upset yesterday about paying so much for the hotel. I guess it is just as the manager said, it is simply because of the weekend that their rates increase. Never mind the fact that the balloon festival is in town.

Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas

I began the day by visiting the Johnson Space Center (Space Center Houston). There are a large number of movies to see, including an IMAX screen (six stories high), on which we saw a movie about a docking with the Mir space station, which I really enjoyed much more than the other movie about being an astronaut, I guess it was simply because it contained information that we do not simply get normally including information about the training facilities in the former USSR. The information is really timely considering the great deal of attention the space station is getting now.

They covered a fair amount about the Freedom space station which will be put into orbit starting next year.

Something that also made an impression in the exhibit building was the wall with a picture of the flight crew from every U. S. space flight. It was quite interesting to see the number of astronauts, more interesting was the sign to the right that read along the lines of “This space is reserved for future space crews. Will your picture appear here?”. That, I think seemed to summarize the general feeling of the place, that the astronauts are just people, and that anyone can be an astronaut. Something like the idea that anyone can become president (something tells me that I don't stand much of a chance).

The highlight of the whole experience was the tour of some of the buildings here in Houston. We first made our way through the small streets with many small office buildings to the building that houses the Mission Control Center (MCC) that is seen so often on television. I found this the most interesting with my computer background in that they have greatly improved the efficiency of the control center with the use of consumer computers and some cusom computer programs. This is much better than the past with all of the custom comuter equipment that was impossible to fix or expand easily. It was also interesting to be at the center of where all the activity occurs, though as it was a Sunday and there was no current mission, there were not many people there.

After visiting the MCC, we went to one of the training facilities. Really, that is what this center is for, training astronauts and controlling missions once in progress. The training facility had a full-scale mock up of the space station Freedom, for training purposes as well as a few mockups of the space shuttle. It really gives you an idea of the scale of the whole thing to see the full scale models. It was quite interesting to hear the guide often refering to the “Canadian Remote Manipulator” (Canadarm). It is neat to think that Canada has greatly improved the usability of the shuttle.

They had a number of large balloons that they use to represent satellites for training purposes and they are neutrally boyant to simulate how the real thing will react in space (you move them and they continue moving in that direction unless something stops them).

After the training area, we passed the “Dish Farm” and saw the various news agencies NBC, CBS, etc. It gives you a real impression of the importance of the facility.

The last stop on the tour was Rocket Park where there was a Saturn V rocket (used in the Apollo missions), this truly gave an idea of scale and immensity. Scary to consider that most of the bulk is for fuel. A very complex machine with all of the various stages, which made me wonder how they fit them together considering the rockets on the bottom of each stage. I was suprised to learn that there was an escape plan in effect that would separate the capsule at the top of the rocket from the other stages, independantly powered.

More interesting aspects of the park included a training rocket and another rocket that first acheived orbit.

After returning to the center, we saw a presentation on what was currently going on in space, talk focused mostly on the space station and the future. It was nice to talk to a real person who very accurately answered our questions.

Then I attended a rousing movie about the history of space flight in the U.S. Most interesting was the inclusion of the Challenger disaster (the only time that the soundtrack stopped and the audience collectively held their breath as we watched the horrific event unfold on the screen). It was very powerful. I was suprised when we exited through a different door and passed through a museum containing many different exibits including space capsules that went to the moon (I touched one, it gives a whole new dimension to actually touch history, so often it seems so distance, non-existant). They had a mock-up of the Skylab which I found to be absolutely mamooth comared to the size of the space shuttle, which was mocked up elsewhere at the center.

Ballunar Liftoff Festival, Houston, Texas

I then took a shuttle (alas, not the shuttle discussed above) to the Ballunar Liftoff Festival (the largest in Texas) which just happened to be taking place this weekend. I had a chance to actually taste allegator and have REAL hush puppies (my “grease allotment” has just gone through the roof). We did not think we would see any balloons but sure enough, a gun was sounded and a number of vans pulled onto the main field and started to setup their balloons. It was quite interesting to see it close up after seing it so often on television. There were a few different types of balloons there including two advertising balloons one shaped like a shoe and the other like a bottle of whiskey (“15,000,000 liters”). Unfortunately, there was quite a breeze coming off of the Gulf so only a few balloons launched, the others attempted to inflate but never managed to get the balloons under control so they gave up. This is really bad since there was a balloon I saw last night as I was driving by was shaped like the space shuttle (VERY big).

After this, I had no where to stay so I decided to make the short drive to the Gulf and stay wherever (damn the budget) right on the Gulf. Here I am, in a hotel overlooking the beach, with the morning sun soon to be coming through my window. It is not that cheap (even for what is now a weekday). I am taking advantages of the facility, including the swimming pool. I am looking forward to a morning swim in the Gulf. I love the water, I guess I really miss that in Winnipeg (and even Calgary), the large bodies of water.

Another suprise for me during my travels, who would think that there were wonderful beaches in a state more noted for desert conditions?

A hot day in Texas, never mind the driving.

Began the day with a swim in the Gulf of Mexico, which was just a short walk down to the beach. Nice to be swimming in the Ocean again, something about it that just is so much nicer than a swimming pool or a lake. Saw a few shrimping boats out in the Gulf. Had a swim in the pool only briefly before packing up for the return trip to San Antonio.

Gulf of Mexico

I thought it might be nice to take a longer, more scenic route back so I decided to drive a little along the Gulf before heading north to San Antonio. First, I visited Houston to pick up something from Hard Rock Cafe for my sister.

From there, I drove to Victoria then along the Gulf to Corpus Christi which took about 4 hours, it was pleasant to drive by the many fields of cotton and to see the Gulf for a while.

As I was driving into Corpus Christi I noticed a few references to the U.S.S. Lexington which I was unaware was located there. This is an aircraft carrier that has been converted to a floating museum. As you approach Corpus the highway crosses over a portion of the Gulf and the Corpus Christi Bay with a high bridge which reminded me of the bridge in Hamilton, Ontario. It is very impressive. As you take the exit to visit the Lexington I travelled through a few rather run down tourist areas. It was quite suprising, really, the only thing to visit in that area was the carrier itself, everything else was pretty much dead, though it could have been the day of the week.

USS Lexington

Luckily, I was able to catch a tram up the ramp to enter the carrier, it is quite a distance. The Lexington was only de-commisioned in 1991 so is a fairly recent example of military strength, but it was in use in the second world war so has quite a bit of history, all of which was demonstrated in the displays. It was interesting to walk through the various different areas of the ship and see samples of the various planes that flew from it's flight deck. The feeling of violence in the actions it performed was overwhelming. It also seemed to also be very cold, perhaps that is simply because the ship is empty now, devoid of the live that once filled it's cabins and decks.

A few times, while walking around deep in the ship essentially all alone (the tour is “self-guided”) it was a bit creepy. It was interesting to see all of the different things that are required for the operation of the ship.

It was good that the ship was open later as I spent about two or so hours on the tour.

I then made the two hour drive up to San Antonio finding my hotel very easily. It is not exactly in the best area of town, but it is very clean and very reasonably priced. The owner seeemd to be willing to go out of his way to keep me happy, including offering to drive me to the convention (and back at night), I guess he needs the public relations.

Most of my day, as you may have been able to tell was spent driving. I enjoyed being able to see much of the state and the landscape. I am still struck by how similar it is to Manitoba and Saskatchewan, I don't know what I expected. I guess I was expecting a desert and not much else.

The day began on not exactly the best of footings, and eventually ended 180 feet below the ground.

I woke up fairly early to visit Six Flags, Fiesta Texas, a theme park that is very popular around here. The guide book from the automobile association indicated that it would be open, however, it turned out not to be, but not before I made the trip to the park (about half an hour away). So, suspecting the worse, I also attempted to see if Sea World was open, another half hour away, again not open. It is unfortunate, the theme park is supposed to be quite good, I have heard they have a few really good rollar coasters as well as a laser night show against cliffs that circle the park.

Since I was travelling, I figured that I might as well do something that I had been planning, namely, visiting a local cave (which happens to be the largest in Texas). I had to first return to downtown to the hotel to pick up my camera which I had left there, then I made the additional half hour trip to the Natural Bridge Caverns. The cavern was a bit off of the interstate, over some winding roads, and through various cattle farms around here. It was really neat to see the cactus along the side of the road growing in the wild. Interesting to think that people at home actually pay money for such plants and here they grow like weeds.

The caverns was a nicely appointed tourist area, where I had a conversation with a canteen employee about my “accent” (“Canadian? Could tell, you have an accent”, “No, you have the accent?”, “I have an accent? Oh, a southern drawl?”, “Yes”) It was quite amusing (you had to be there, a few people were getting into it). A knowledgeable guide took us down a winding path to the cave entrance where he pointed out the formation that gives the caverns their name, the natural bridge of stone that bridges over the entrance. These caves formed after underground rivers slowly eroded the softer layers of rocks over a long period of time then the water table dropped, leaving the caves as they are now.

Natural Bridge Caverns, Near San Antonio, Texas

It was a long way down, passing many different formations and deep, clear, pools of water. Quite fascinating to think that it is all natural, all of the colors and sheer beauty of it all. These caverns are the largest and Texas (they are ALL large in Texas “chuckle”). There were a few parts that are really suprising, a cathedral ceiling about 100 feet high, a 40 foot drop from the walkway into a former stream bed, formations that took more than 25 million years to develop. The guide made it very plain that no one was to touch the formations as the oil in the skin would cause the rock to stop forming deposits and therefore the formation itself. I took some pictures, but without a flash I don't know if they will turn out. There were a large number of people on the tour, which lasted more than an hour, covering more than half a mile, and we only saw less than half of the discovered cave system.

The guide indicated that the southern portions of the cave may be opened to the public later but remain closed for now. Considering the number of people that visit the caves, they are in remarkable shape, and very well accomodated for the visiters, many of the formations were labeled and well lit.

I took the long way back to the visiter center, walking along the path looking at the local folliage (cactus and various trees), also neat to see pecan trees.

After this, I figured I had enough time to visit another cave close by (Cascade Caverns), about half an hour away. This one was much more difficult to get to, I had to follow a very narrow, windy, road through various farmers fields (literally, at one point I actually crossed over a “texas gate” and into the middle of a field full of cattle, a cow was right beside, if not on, the road). Eventually, I came up on the visiter center which was rather run down with various signs indicating that I should “Beware of the cats” and “Do not touch the animals, cats, they may bite”. This, along with the general state of repair, or in this case, disrepair, gave me a sinking feeling. This was not appeased by the generally ramshackle visiter center (“I would like a ticket” “OK”, “Do you offer a AAA discount?” “Certainly not.”, I still don't know what that means).

After watching a dismal video for ten minutes about how caves are formed, we were shown down a path in bad repair, past light standards that looked like they were from the 50s, or earlier (and it turns out they were - this cave is the oldest public cave in operation in Texas). The path was very dangerous and slippery. The formations were almost non existant and there was not much of any sort of head room (some ceilings were only about 4 feet high). I was greatfull that I wore a hat as I could hear the water hitting the top of it.

We got to the far end of the cave were there was a waterfall and a pool at the bottom. In the middle of the somewhat cloudy pool there was a drain and then my heart sunk even more. It turns out that the whole cave system was flooded in June of this year and they pumped out all of the water to open it again to the public. It turns out that in the dry season (right now) they pump water (no joke) from the pool to keep the waterfall running “So you can see how pretty it is, for our guests”. There was an inflatable boat in the pool so that the staff can remove twigs and other foreign objects from the pool that fall in via the water. What was disturbing was the blatant interferance with nature and violation of the purity of the cave, in direct contrast with the other cave I visited. I guess I am just a purist, but it somehow diminished the visit greatly for me. Someone asked why I did not take any pictures and I guess this is for the same reason I do not take pictures at the zoo, man forming nature for it's own entertainment. Taking pictures of something in it's natural form is much more fulfilling for me.

Don't get me wrong, the people were really nice and helpful at this other cave, it was just the degradation of the cave that was disappointing.

Anyway, after that I finally returned to San Antonio. In case you are wondering, I have put about 1,000 miles on the car (well, 930) so far, yes, I have been travelling a bit, I don't think I will be doing much travelling in the next while, limiting my trips to San Antonio only.

Downtown San Antonio, Texas

Slept in today, not very good. I began the day by parking downtown so I could make my way to the Convention Center to advance register for the convention which starts tomorrow. I found my way there by walking along the riverwalk, it was very pretty and interesting. Eventually, I managed to determine that the registration was at a hotel a few blocks away, and I got all of the information I need for tomorrow.

San Antonio Convention Center

The Alamo was only a block away so I went to visit. I knew next to nothing about the Alamo so I found it very interesting to read about what actually happened there. My southern U.S. history is VERY bad. It was rather impressive, and gave me a sence of the patriotism that many feel around here. “Don't Mess With Texas” is a very common phrase to hear.

The Alamo, San Antonio

The Alamo has been very much preserved and is very interesting, maintained by the Daughters of Texas (who were initially charged with doing so). I learned that David Crocket was involved with the last action taken at the Alamo. I know next to nothing about Davey and found the exhibits extended my knowledge. I can see why he is called a hero, or at the very least, a significant historical figure.

After the Alamo, right across the street was the Post Office, so I picked up a few stamps from a very helpful teller, it is amazing how many people in this city are so nice when they don't have to be. This was very much in evidence when I asked directions to the zoo after leaving the parkade, the lady was very patient and explained exactly how to get there.

The people from the convention, in one of the magazines they send after you register, said that the zoo was something to see, so I took them at their word. The real name is the San Antonio Zoological Gardens and Aquarium. The aquarium refers to a few areas of the zoo that have some aquariums with local and exotic fish, turtles and other water creatures.

It was nice to see the park essentially in the middle of the city. Neat to see all of the almond trees. The zoo was very good, with a great deal to see. A few things were closed, but those things were not that important (mostly amusement “rides”, like a “boat” ride along a creek in the children's area). They had a great number of birds, specifically, macau's and parrots. They had a fair amount of local animals which was also neat (roadrunners, etc.). I can hardly believe that the animals can stand the heat, it was about 95 degrees for most of the day, though the camels, zebras and giraffes did not seem to have any trouble. I would guess that It would be easy to maintain the animals at the zoo in their native climates, even animals from Asia, Africa and South America. There were a large number of animals that were only found here in San Antonio or at only a few other zoos. Many of the animals were either endangered or on a captive breeding program. I was also pleased to see that a few of the enclosures were using the idea of “barless cages” where natural barriers serve to keep the animals caged. For example, with the bears, you have a large, deep moat that they cannot cross.

The one thing about the zoo was that there were many winding paths, which made seeing all of the exhibits difficult in a simple pass. I walked a long time there, also seemed to have a few ice drinks also.

After the zoo, I walked over to the Japanese gardens, which seemed to be in a bad state of affairs, there was no pond (it was empty and dry) and there were few, if any, people. The garden itself was getting a bit overgrown. It was disappointing after the wonderful zoo. From everything I have read, the gardens were supposed to be quite nice in the past. It was interesting to see all of the bamboo growing in the garden as well as the zoo. I guess it is just that I have never seen it growing before and have a hard time believing it does, to see it…

After the garden, I went on a mini-train ride around the park that surrounds the zoo, just to see what is there. There are a few things to see, perhaps I will be able to re-visit it while I am here.

I grabbed something to eat then headed back to the hotel, very early this time, however, I spent most of the evening studying the convention itinerary to see what I will be visiting over the next few days, marking those that look interesting. There are a large number of authors here, it should be a very busy but fun time.

It was a paricularly social day today, met lots of people and listened to lots of interesting information.

The owner of the motel fulfilled his promise and drove myself and a fellow convention member to the convention center this morning. He is from Ohio and was commenting about the various conventions he has been to.

I began the day orienting myself, we were a bit early just for this reason. It turned out that the guides that were distributed yesterday to people that registered in advance (eg. me) was not correct, so I was waiting in a room that was not actually where the first presentation was to occur. After a trip to registration (at the far end of the convention center, a trip on the outside of the building in the heat; a VERY long trip, there were signs along the way “Registration ->”, ”<- Everything Else”) I picked up some information about various events. My first visit (you can probably guess what is coming) I only picked up a t-shirt (I get one and where it at every WorldCon I attend) and some information about other events. Then, after realizing that there were revised schedules (but not before returning to the room where the event was SUPPOSED to be held) I returned to the registration area to pick up a revised schedule. People were not too happy about all of this and just added to the confusion for the day.

Before the first panel we even waited at the wrong door to the room. The panel was about how Virtual Reality (a simulated computer-generated environment) can be used in real-world applications. There seemed to be a great deal of consensous that there are real-world applications mostly dealing with placing people into environments that make working in the real world easier, for example, in medical applications for surgeons operating either remotely or in areas of the body that are difficult to access. Many examples were drawn from current medical research, it was very interesting.

The next discussion was regarding future materials that are currently under development. The panelists were all extremely well qualified, about 4 out of the 5 had PhD's for chemical or engineering. A few of the topics went way over the head of many in the audience (including myself). A couple of times discussions between panelists and particular audience members were extremely complicated. I found the talk very informative, especially when discussion focused on semi-conductors, ceramics, “bucky-balls”, etc. These were all just buzz-words to me, but the talk cleared up what they were and how they could be used. It is happy to see that there are many practical applications for the technology.

After this, I visited the Dealer Room to see what books (etc) was for sale. I spent a lot of money, but I knew this would happen and had allocated money for it. So many books that I have not seen were available so I had a good time finding the best price and purchasing. Even better, most of the books I got were hardcover. Many people do not like reading hardcover but I really enjoy it. When I read a soft-cover book I am really concerned about damaging the binding that it gets really ackward to read. Besides, I like getting the high-quality hardcovers signed here at the convention. One of the books I purchased was already autographed (there are many such books for sale here), which makes my life a bit easier – I like the author too (big smile). A book publisher is here again this year (Del Rey Books) who gives away books (with the author there – waiting to sign). They have a few authors I hope to visit over the next few days.

One of the best things about the Dealer Room is having access to information and material from areas that are difficult to access, such as Britain and specialty shops.

I then attended a talk about the future of Africa. It was not particularly a pleasent discussion. The people on the panel have spent a great deal of time in Africa as well as doing a lot of research on the topic over many years. They basically saw the origins of all of the problems being the splitting up of Africa by the British with no regards to the tribes, their physical borders or lack of physical borders (with the many nomadic tribes). By doing this, the British influenced greatly the behaviour of the tribes, and their goals, in the past they were tough to survive and the borders just served to have the tribes within the new country fight for supremecy (with no mercy – most tribes are bitterly at odds with any other tribe), killing off any other tribes present. In an election, members of a tribe will only vote for a member of the tribe (making it EXTREMELY easy to predict the outcome of any election). In Africa it is essentially survival of the fitest. The future they saw for Africa was bleak – self anniolation of the population for the next 100 years until a new society emerges. The Aids epidemic was discussed but dismissed as “irrelevant” to the future of the society since, even though 25-30% of the society may be decimated with the plague, the rate of growth is just so massive that it will easily overwhelm the casualties. At one point a speaker said (paraphrased) “It may be harsh to say it but if you feed 5 million Africans this year, next year you will have to feed 7 million”. No solutions were offered for this situation. Everything they said made sence but, as I said, it was very depressing. They had numerous anecdotes about the culture clashes and the completely different moral and social structure in Africa (an example, it is not unusual to be driving down a road and have a completely naked lady on one side of the road carrying 85 pounds of lumber on her head and to have another lady, completely dressed and covered, for example, a mouslim woman on the other side of the road also carrying 85 pounds of lumber on her head).

The final panel was on “Cyberculture” which I found to be extremely amusing because it started by all panelists indicating that they did not know why they were there, but when they introduced themselves, they all discussed their lives and it was extremely apparent that they all were VERY much dependant on the Internet to communicate and perform there various jobs (one was even an artist that was making money from the Internet by selling his works). But, I guess that is the bottom line: It is becoming more and more essential in our lives. True, it is not reliable…YET…true, it is very cluttered…SO FAR…but there is a lot of future ahead…

Well, I then returned to the Dealer Room, bought a few more extremely cheap books ($5 and under is cheap to me) before the room closed at 6, after which I headed over to the “ConSuite”. This is a suite at the hotel that is run by the convention people that serves refreshments (as with all suites – completely free) and various discussion groups form. I helped myself to some things and sat down, only to be drawn into discussion with some interesting people (it has to be interesting when one of them introduces herself as “Sunshine” and the other people do not blink an eye). They were very friendly, asking me a few questions. We decided we would go to the opening ceremonies and I sat beside Sunshine who turns out actually organized a convention (Science Fiction, adults only) in the U.S., I was really suprised (though perhaps I should not) to hear that many of the conventions lose money, for example, one convention a few years ago lost $40,000 (some people had to mortgage their houses – no joke). I guess the whole thing should be looked at as a “big party” and you should accept the loses (that, however, is a LOT to swallow). Even after the advertising and membership revenues to suffer such a loss is very difficult to take, I am sure. Anyway, she turned out to be very nice (though VERY bubbly – at the ConSuite she was mentioning to everyone how much she “jiggles” – and demonstrating – EXTREMELY friendly) and we had a good discussion.

The Opening Ceremonies were fun, they put on a bit of a “Western Show”, complete with a Cowboy Singer, a Gun Fighter and a Rope Master. They were all extremely professional (though at one point they mis-pronounced one of the honored guests for the convention). It really was a very professional show, covered by video with large projection televisions, there must have been about a thousand people in the audience. Those of us in the audience that were not from Texas were sworn in as “Honorary Texans” for the duration.

After the ceremony I returned to the ConSuite to have a nice conversation with a couple there where he was blind and had a guide dog. They were very nice people and I had a long conversation with the wife about what is involved with obtaining and training a guide dog. She explained that the guide dogs are purebred dogs that undergo a lot of training. The organization that provides the dogs provides nominal fee ($150) for each dog ($50 to replace in the case of death), even though the training itself is extremely expensive. Each dog and potential owner are trained together for 4 weeks (even the owner's trip and accomodations are paid for through donations).

Well, despite the urgings of Sunshine (and others) I called it a night since I had a few books (included in a box under my arm). I caught a cab back and talked to the very friendly driver on the way back to the hotel.

All in all, a very pleasant day, met some nice people.

It was a long day today, I learned a lot, spent a fair amount of money and I am very tired.

After talking to a few people, including cab drivers, who, by the way, seem to be very easy to talk to here, they indicate that the weather is very changable, I guess my definition differs. Here, changable means the difference of about 20-30 degrees. Changable that I am used to is about 20-30 degrees…Celsius. It has been very hot and continues to be hot today.

The first discussion was good, where a few beginning writers as well as more professional individuals (and an editor) discussed how to write and, more specifically, how to get published. I attended this discussion because I have been tossing around an idea of writing a few stories, just to try it. I have a lot of time on my hands out in Calgary and I might as well do something with it. I can't just sit there, though now I have a LOT of books to read (a whole box full, after today).

They had a lot of very practical things to say, mostly about how to present yourself (what NOT to do to get published). I found it very helpful though a bit premature for me (seeing as I am only interested right now). Perhaps I will give it a shot, it would not cost me a lot and I might like it. No doubt I could never make real money but it would be neat to have at least an article published. I was really happy when my write-up about Blue Sky Community Networks (where I volunteer) got placed in our company newsletter. I was very proud of it, it was well written, I feel, and consise, though still a solid page of text.

This discussion I attended simply because I was interested in what is involved in being a computer game programmer and designer. The discussion was very new to me but very informative. The companies, even the big ones, are suprising small compared to other computer fields, the biggest was reported to be about 200 people (300 people when at their peak).

It sounded like they have a lot of fun, this is something that has also always been in the back of my mind, so I thought I would attend. It also sounds like it is very difficult work, though I kind of like the idea of being able to use your imagination and artistic skills, I don't know if I have any…It would be fun to find out. It is also refreshing to see that the same politics are involved in this business also.

The panel before this was very popular, with people sitting in the aisles for the discussion (the names on the panel were very big and topic was very good). Periodically this happens with the convention where they mis-judge how popular something is and put it in a small room. Because of this the room was very stuffy for our panel, which is unfortunate.

The discussion was very good, but I had trouble concentrating (literally) because of the heat. They concentrated a lot on the various methods of changing an atmosphere to support life. A neat part was that the Science Fiction author that originally proposed Terraforming was present and discussed the origins and original ideas involved.

The simplest suggestion was that techniques be applied to our planet (specifically the desert areas) to try them out before other planets, but then the moon.

The next little while was spent in the dealers room (again), I managed to get a couple of autographs and pick up a few more books (for free) from the Del Rey booth (I like their booth the best! I am getting lots of different books that I may not have bought, and I can try them out, but I think that is exactly why they are giving them away).

A few years ago in Glasgow I felt really bad when I ran around to find a book by a particular author that I like, only finding one that was eseentially in the middle of a series, and had him sign it. The thing I felt bad about was that as I had the book signed he said, “You know this is not the first book in the series” and I was taken aback I guess, as well as tired or simply in a bad mood I guess, so I said “Yes, I know” (in a smart-alec type way). It may be silly, but I have always felt guilty about this so I finally had a chance to make it up to the author today, I got the book signed that I really wanted signed (my favourite of his) and one of his newer books. I had a brief discussion with him about how much I enjoyed his older book and he indicated that he had fun writing it and that I will enjoy his newer book. Authors are real people, that is for sure.

Waiting in line was interesting, I was commenting that there are always those in the line that have 10-20 books to have signed which REALLY slow things up and seem to be a bit unfair. The guy behind me and I were saying that we like to have books signed that actually mean something to us (whether it is the first book we read by the author, or simply our favourite), he had one short story he wanted signed and I only had two books, the two guys in front of us had a bag each.

This panel was simply for fun, I thought it might be neat to hear from the people that write the games, which ones they think are the best, the worst and what is good that is coming. I found it funny to hear that sometimes, during the development of a coputer game, they will get “letter bombs” from other computer game companies, that is, copies of the competing company's games. They are called “letter bombs” because the company will start playing them and not work on their own projects (they attribute one such bomb as having pushed back the release date for a software title weeks, if not months because everyone at the company was playing it).

This final panel I attended today discussed the moon of Saturn and the possibilities with water being on Europa. The discussion focused mainly upon future probes that will circle around the moon and possible future trips to touch down on the moon. This was a mainly scientific discussion that I found fascinating, with many of the people deeply involved in the efforts present on the panel. One was saying that they recently had a conference to discuss the exploration of the “oceans” on Europa, which served to bring together the astronomers, geophysists, and oceanographers to discuss the issues.

Europa, as far as can be determined, is the best choice for life in the solar system since it seems to be covered with a later of ice (the photos indicate cracking indicative of ice cracks) with water below it. The ideas are to place a probe on the surface and have it melt it's way to the water then release a submarine for exploration. This idea was reported just today in USA Today. This seems like REAL science fiction to many, but it is REAL science.

Well, after all of this, I thought it might be fun to go to a place I heard about to go for supper (described as being “downtown”, much like the way the airport here is “downtown”, if a 30 minute taxi ride can be called “downtown”). So, I set off only to find out that the downtown was about 20-30 blocks away. I figured, since I was already walking down the street I would visit Planet Hollywood and Hard Rock Cafe as it was right there. I found the real “river walk” that runs though the city. It is really interesting, there is a river that flows through the city (the “San Antonio”), but they have taken a bend in the river, and esentially separated it from the real river and they have built all around it, there are restaurants and water tours all along it. It is very nice down there, it is always a bit cooler (very nice today).

I caught a taxi to Bill Miller's BBQ, a local chain. The taxi ride cost almost as much as the meal, very reasonable the food was very good. Evidently they raise their own cattle and they have their own smokehouse. It was very good and filling.

The problem was it was not exactly in the best area of town, so catching a taxi was very difficult, so I started walking, figuring that I would stop a taxi as it went by. I walked for a while, getting VERY hot, in not the best area and finally stopped at a gas station and had the attendant call a taxi for me. An interesting gas station for me, it had what can only be called a cage around a few coolers with regular corner store items (milk, soft drinks, beer, booze, etc.). It was at this point that I decided I would really not want to visit here again, at least for a long time, I was VERY uncomfortable waiting for the cab to arrive, as I said, the area was not the best. Even the taxi driver was extremely sexist, perhaps acceptable around the area but not exactly endearing.

The next event was to go to the Consuite were the “Chili Cook-Off” was held at 8:00, I waited around for it to start, continuing eating and drinking (I am VERY stuffed). The chili was quite good, with the 25 cents for each sample being donated to the San Antonio Library. One of the four contestants was from next year's WorldCon in Baltimore, Maryland, they had a chili made of crab, it was not realy chili, but more like a stew (it was good though).

Well, after this, I wondered around to some of the various parties occuring in the hotel, it was pretty fun trying all sorts of different foods (candies, etc) and talking to a few people.

That is the thing, at most of the events I have attended, I have been able to talk to many people. They have all been friendly, after all, we have lots in common, with the convention. It is always interesting to find out where people have come from and why they are here, how many times they have attended.

If yesterday was busy, today was much worse. I never did really sit down except for the show later this evening.

The day began in search of an autograph from a favourite author. An interesting note is that he is well known for his books about the colonization of Mars (particularly interesting in this day of the Mars probes). He is well liked by the fans and good to talk to (as I did). That is part of the whole fun about getting autographs from these authors is that you get to talk to them and let them know how much you like their work.

This day had a very tight schedule, I was planning on going to a discussion about “Defending our planet – from what?” but I decided to take it easy and attend a session that basically show previews of a number of upcoming movies, many of the previews had never been seen before by an audience. There were a lot of good Science Fiction movies shown. One in particular is based upon a classic Science Fiction book written by one of the best authors. It was interesting that some in the audience booed some of the sections since Hollywood has been pretty bad in their adaptation of novels (SF) to movies, altering the stories significantly. Since this is such an important novel to some people, they expressed their impression that this was another such movie. I like the comment that Mr. Walker made “You have not seen this movie - give it a chance”.

He also made a number of comments about the current state of affairs in movie making including the way many television shows are being turned into movies. “We are doomed to relive our childhood on the big screen.”

This deserves a bit of explanation. Mr. Straczinski initially presented a television network with an idea for a series that would last five years (and only five years). He wrote an epic that has become extremely popular (to put in mildly) by many fans. The room he held his talk in held 3,000 people: it was full. He even had a standing ovation when he walked in. The reason people are so happy with him is that he listens to the fans and that he just got renewed for a final 5th season. There were lots of stumbling blocks in the way, including the fact that the company that produces Babylon 5 went out of business a year ago, however, due to contract issues they have been forced to continue with Babylon 5.

Really, his story is also the story of the underdog: No company, little money, oposition, odds against him (most shows like his die after 11 airings). He was forced to inovate, creating many of the special effects used in his series on essentially home computers (the effects are unbelievable).

He was interesting to listen to, however, I had to leave less than an hour into his two hour talk since I was after a few more autographs for my friend, Victor, in Winnipeg. I did get the autographs and picked up a few for myself at the same time.

I had a bit of time, so I went to where my next panel was to be held. Luckily, they were discussing a topic that was of interest to me. Present were a few socialogists and interested individuals. I was suprised to hear how much their feelings echoed mine. They basically asserted that the Chinese government's attitude, though communist, differs from the former Soviet Union in that it is not expansionist. They agree that Hong Kong will basically be allowed it's protests and that things will continue as they do.

Much of the panel seemed to be in teaching many of the americans (or so it seemed) in the audience about how big, yet in many ways, backward China and the area is. People here tend not to have any idea about the completely different ideals and philosophy in China.

They also mentioned that much of China is extremely jealous of the success of Hong Kong and China will have to be careful to present Hong Kong from being completely destroyed by the rest of it's citizens (either by a massive immigration or a civil war of some kind).

This started out very interestingly since there were three rooms each listed (at different points in time) for this panel. The panelists and the audience took about 15 minutes to figure out what was going on and decide on a course of action. Eventually the panel formed itself (with a few other members of the audience that provided significant input, but were not listed on the panel member list) and the discussion essentially focused on the use of single (or minor secondary) stage vehicles to get into space. The contentious issue was how they might be powered (one contended that we could use lasers to beam power to the ship whereever it went all the way into orbit the other “fire and brimstone” group continued to suggest the use of regular rocket fuels to get into orbit). It is very important that these technologies be developed to continue the exploration and exploitation of space. It costs so much to get things into orbit that new ideas and technologies are needed to keep the price down. The people on the panel were actually developing these technologies so the information was very good.

I returned to get another autograph for Victor and then took my time showing up at this next session. This was really neat since the people that talked were from Nasa and were discussing the current experiments they are performing in “closed systems” where people are put into sealed environments for a period of 30-90 days at a time, using various air and water recycling systems. The presentation was very professional and informative. Of course, all of this research is directly translatable into various uses for the space station and a possible trip to Mars.

After this session, I then started getting very busy since I wanted an author's autograph, however he did not attend the convention (from what I heard he does not like fans, but prefers to stick to the “literary crowd”). I had to drive about 15 miles up the highway to get to where he was signing books (of course, since I am having the hotel drive me to the convention every morning, I had to catch a taxi to the hotel first). He read a bit of his work first, then answered some questions which was pretty interesting then he signed some books. I picked up a book (to be signed) for Victor and a few more for me. William Gibson is interesting in that he actually started a whole new genre of Science Fiction known as “Cyberpunk”, which is the idea of technology integrating itself into our society in such a way that we are essentially all a physical part of the whole (plugging ourselves, literally, into computers). I still don't know if I really like his work (or ideas) but he definitely knows how to write.

As he was sitting there talking, one of his co-writers was in the audience (but HE actually was attending the convention), so I managed to get his autograph at the same time on one of their collaberation books (so I was VERY happy).

Eventually, I managed to leave but on the way back I stopped at a place to have supper. Tonight I wanted to have a REAL steak, so I stopped at a very nice looking place just off of the highway, so I pulled in and knew it would be expensive when the valet parked my car (and here I was, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt advertising last year's convention). The food was absolutely fantastic and VERY filling (I did not finish). I had an 18 oz t-bone steak and the meat just fell off of the bones. I do not normally enjoy steaks (too much meat), but if they are prepared VERY well…I ended up paying a lot of money but I was very happy with the meal (and heck, I am on holiday!).

Eventually, I returned to the hotel and had them drive me back to the convention (well, the hotel where all of the parties were). From here, I proceeded to the second night of the chili cook-off (yes, after eating the BIG supper) and sampled what they had.

After a little while, I snuck into the ceremonies which were already underway. These awards are voted on by the attending membership and are the most important in the Science Fiction industry. It was really neat to see all of the famous authors, publishers, editors, directors, etc. there. Babylon 5 eventually won the Best Dramatic Presentation which made the audience very happy and the author who I had got an autograph first thing this morning one an award for his latest book (which he signed for me earlier). Now, I REALLY have to read it. The awards were really fun, it exposed me to a number of different categories and gave me a bit more of an appreciation as to the effort involved in many of the different areas.

After the ceremony many of us returned to the ConSuite to have a bit more chili (yes, I was EXTREMELY FULL by this time) and wait for a playing of the Babylon 5 episode that won, about half an hour after the ceremenies finished. We did this and I had a chance to take it easy and simply enjoy.

But, after this, I did my second night of tours for the various parties around the convention, visiting the “Toronto in 2003” who seek to have the 2003 convention in Toronto. Evidently Winnipeg wanted to hold it but when Toronto said they were interested Winnipeg threw their support behind Toronto (since two places in Canada would split the votes). The party was to support their bid so I joined their effort as a “Supporting Member” which means that I offer financial support and, if they win the bid, I get a great discount on the price of attending. I also managed to pick up a t-shirt (because I thought it was unique). Another neat party was the group from Russia (they had some interesting Russian material).

As I was leaving, one floor had a bagpiper standing at the elevators (evidently you could hear him all throughout the hotel). There was quite a crowd (on every floor also) waiting, one of them was a famous author who was really getting into the convention by attending some of the parties. It was funny because he was standing right beside the piper and all of a sudden just walked away (obviously in pain), most of the people present, including the piper, broke up laughing.

Tonight was a big concert right downtown so catching a taxi was right out of the question, the traffic was unbelievable so I just walked home. This was not necessarily a good idea since it was already past midnight and the hotel is (literally) on the wrong side of the tracks. It was about a half hour walk and the last bit is through the cemetary. Luckily the walk is along a busy road, however, it did not really thrill me too much. I have not really ever had problems walking by myself but I have to admit I was a bit uncomfortable.

Very difficult to get up today. I have been up fairly late, after the walk last night and writing this “expose”, I got to be very late, and up relatively early. It was worth it.

This was an interesting discussion and was originally intended to discuss whether or not the dinosaurs were already dying when the asteroid hit the earth that caused their extinction. The father of one of the people on the panel was the person who discovered the conclusive evidence of asteroid impact in a soil sample. The talk basically revolved around the issue of whether or not dinosaurs actually servived this impact. It was agreed that many insects, burrowing and deep-ocean creatures could have survived the time immediately following the impact (which would be like a “nuclear winter” where the earth was covered with clouds, drastically cooling the planet). I found it interesting that they have determined that the sequences of our DNA that were previously thought to be “garbage” are actually discarded genetic segments due to natural selection, and can therefore be used to trace species ancestory. Where the discussion was hotly debated was when it was suggested that certain species (such as birds) could have been derived from multiple ancestors (such as, perhaps, reptiles). There were many very knowledgable people in the audience (as is typical here).

Next, I went in search of autographs from two of my favourite authors. I have both of their autographs already but I wanted some of their more recent work signed. I talked to both of them. One of the lines was shorter, only about half an hour, the other was for one of the most popular authors and it was about an hour and a half in the line. Mr. Niven is an interesting person, I saw him last night at some of the parties. He has a particular problem writing for long periods and he has been known to use a stamp instead of signing autographs, today he signed all the way through his allocated hour for an additional hour and signed all of the books. I mentioned to him that he was very generous to do so, he indicated that it is not his hands mostly, but his back that will eventually hurt. He really likes his fans is all that I can think of.

This was an interesting panel, many of the panelists believed that we should first concentrate on perhaps going to the moon first to test out technologies to be used on Mars. One even suggested that we should first try the moon, then a close asteroid then finally Mars. There were many people on the panel, with many different degrees.

I went to this discussion strictly out of interest for something a bit different since I don't really understand this part of Science Fiction. There are a few authors that have heavy psychodelic and sexual references in their books and I just cannot follow it (that is, understand what the books mean or are supposed to mean). The panelists did not really make this clear but did point out that this brought the SF field into a bit more of a contemporary feel, which I think I can agree with. The older style SF concentrated more on science and less on people, but the newer forms strike a balance between the two. I still can't follow the drug references…The panelists indicated that they were heavily influenced by the times in which they wrote, late 60's, early 70s. An interesting note was that one of the panelists who wrote MANY books like this is from Britain and he denied that his writing was seen as rebellion but rather as a different form of SF in Britain, where the people that wrote similar works in North America were seen as revolutionaries.

This was another interesting talk, focusing on the problems with the use of non-renewable resources here on earth and possibly using large solar arrays in orbit to beam power to earth. They discussed that it would not be possible, with the current plans, to use this as a weapon since the concentrations being discussed were not much stronger than sunlight. While it was agreed that the power would be cheap, better mass transit to orbit systems were required for this technology and the capital costs are extremely significant and do not make this technology practical in the near future. The maintenance costs are also fairly significant.

After this I made my final trip to the Dealer's room and picked up a few more books (I have a box of books I am taking back with me to Calgary). I also managed to finally subscribe to a Science Fiction (Professional) magazine. I have always intended to subscribe but never got around to it. The magazine discusses various authors and events in the Science Fiction field. It will help me stay on top of what is going on. I was given a few sample issues and found them very interesting (even better to think that I have met many of the people being discussed). I hope to keep in touch with the field more over the next year, I have gotten way to involved with computers recently, I think I need something different to be involved in (if only reading for now).

This panel focused on the recent discoveries of planets around other suns (so far about 12 of them). It was discussed how these planets were discovered and what those planets might be like (how hot, how much gravity, etc). Many other types of Solar Systems were discussed and also the likelihood of their occuring. At one point a writer for, I believe, USA Today (or the New York Times, cannot remember) read off a list of suns around which planets had been found, the names were all catalog numbers (eg. AB123) and she questioned whether the scientists had any imagination. This was a good talk and very entertaining.

Well, for my culinary adventure tonight I completely discarded any attempt at nutrition. I walked about 10-12 blocks in a rather bad area of town to visit what is called the “Jailhouse Cafe” because it is located right opposite the local jail. It is also located UNDER a freeway and in not exactly the best area of town (I passed quite a few people sleeping on the sidewalk on my walk over to the restaurant). However, once in the restaurant, it was very nice and very clean. It is best known for it's Chicken Fried Steak so that is what I had. It was enormous and had a cream sauce on top, I still get the shakes just thinking about it. Oh yes, it was good, but I don't think I could have another for quite some time now. The description in the program book for the convention describes the Jailhouse, “You can get chicken fried stead here big enough to give you instant heart attack.”, even better, the daily convention paper had a review that mentioned “Warning: the portions here are HUGE and many can be shared. In particular, nothing human can eat an entire Police Chief Special ($11.99) in one sitting – the quality of food defies description. On the unlikely possibility that there is room for dessert, Jailhouse has cinnamon rolls the size of the average fan's head” I thought that was rather amusing, no I did not have a roll. They are not kidding about the size of them though (unbelievable).

I decided that it would not be a good idea (for both the area and the state of my stomach) to walk back so I had the desk call a taxi which never showed up. Eventually I had to get her to call them again after waiting half an hour (it is a pretty bad area), by that time there were some other people there from the convention also needing a ride so they shared a cab with me. Funny enough some were from Toronto and made sure that I had supported the bid for the convention there (which I did last night). They seemed to be happy. It was fun talking to them (everyone I get to stand beside, sit beside, seem to talk and be very pleasant, I make sure I do talk to them).

About an hour after finishing my meal I finally got to the Masquerade and it was good that they had started later. Just to let you know, this is where individuals and groups organize to make costumes of a fantasy or Science Fiction nature. They are really quite good and it was fun to watch. This is something that is strictly fun and the auditorium was very full. Many of the costumes were very elaborate and must have taken many months to complete.

After the initial presentation we had to wait while pictures were taken and the judging occured. I never did see the final results. Many of the 31 entries had cancelled (unfortunately).

I headed up to only one party tonight, and that was a “joke bid” party called “Z'ha'dum in 2260”. This is based upon a mythical place discussed in Babylon 5. They want to hold the 2260 convention there. They had really cool stickers to put on my name tag (to join the many other stickers already there from previous nights). It was fun and I picked up a few things (soft drinks, goodies, etc, though I was, and am, still pretty full from supper).

After this I headed down to the Riverwalk as I had a ticket for a barge tour that the convention had reserved for us (at half the normal price). This was really good, taking us all along the “river” in downtown San Antonio, pointing out various historical and contemporary locations all around the river. The river itself is of course, as I already described, a branch of the river that has been changed into a shopping and restaurant concourse. The “river” is only about 3-4 feet deep and is concrete (it is drained once a year and cleaned out, the most prolific things found is cutlery from the various restaurants that line the banks). Even the time we had the tour, about 11 pm to just after midnight, there were many people around and it was very interesting. There were quite a number of cyprus and palm trees that line the shores.

I was saying to someone I sat with on the trip that really there is not much in San Antonio (she REALLY liked Winnipeg when she visited a few years ago with the convention) but the river is really something else, the street level is pretty boring by comparison. Next time I visit, I will have to explore this area a bit more.

Today was really a day of relaxation. Or at least my idea of it. I can see that many people may just sit around, read a book, perhaps watch a movie or something, me, I went to Six Flags: Fiesta Texas, a local theme park.

Overall, I found the park disappointing, but this is from my perspective. If I took a few younger children there it would have been fine, but as I was looking essentially for good rides, there were not that many to choose from.

The park itself is laid out very well and is quite interesting, surrounded on all sides by canyon walls (all man-made, that is, excavated for the park) and a number of different shops and areas to wonder through.

I went on all three roller coasters, one is the largest wooden roller coaster in Texas (which was by far the best), another is one that is very fast based upon the Cayote/Roadrunner chases, and another, “Joker's Revenge” was a roller coaster that went backwards (including loops, etc.). All except the Rattler (the wooden one) were extremely short and even the Rattler had a section right after the first drop that was extremely boring, in that we essentially went around in a big circle about three or four times.

I also went on two water rides, one a traditional log ride, where there were many people standing above where the final (and only) drop occurs waiting to be splashed and the other ride was a rapids ride where there were about nine people in the inner tube going around in a rapid track. It was very hot today and these rides were much appreciated. There were many long waits including time to get into the park itself (since we had to go through metal detectors and since it was Labour Day), we waited about half an hour just to get through the main gate. The rides averaged about 45 minutes for the bigger ones. The “Joker's Revenge” was the shortest line up. No wonder, I did not feel that great after the ride (riding backwards is NOT my idea of fun).

The park is divided into a number of different areas, for example, I had a bratwurst sausage on a bun in the german area of the park (and later listened to the german band who were demonstrating a number of german instruments).

I had to try a turkey leg (smoked, literally) as there were lots of people trying it. It was not too bad, a bit too much meat for me though, I prefered helping myself to many of the ice-drinks since is was VERY hot again today. I did not wear my hat since I was afraid I would loose it on some of the rides, oh well.

I also went to a live action show featuring some superheros, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Green Lattern, and Robin who were fighting the Joker and Lex Luther. It was a great show for kids, the effects were very good but the acting and staging was, shall we say, not exactly broadway, not exactly any other street in New York.

I was going to go to the water park area but there were not many rides actually open, including the largest of the water slides. I figured, since more than half of the rides in that area were not open it was not worth it.

I was a bit tired after that, only after six hours in the park (much of the time in various lines), so I began my trip back to the hotel. I have to get up VERY early tomorrow for my flight so I wanted to be back early anyway.

Before I went back to the hotel though I stopped by a supermarket. I thought it would be a great idea to pick up some authentic Mexican hot sauce and various chilis. So I picked up so Habenero sauce, which is essentially the hotest thing that exists on the planet (estimated to be about 1,000 times hotter than jalapeno sauce). It should be interesting to try it out, and I find it rather amusing. One of my friends in Winnipeg will like it that I also got him some (someone actually dared him to eat a whole Habenero once at work and he did – he also did not talk for too much after that and took a while to recover).

After that was pretty boring, I have packed up my room, which has been my home for about a week now. It will be sad to leave. I am up at about 4 in the morning tomorrow to begin my day of travel. Not exactly fun. I have a box that is essentially gifts and books. A LOT to travel with.