Two weeks ago, over Labor Day weekend, I flew down to Atlanta, Georgia to experience my first Dragon*Con; a convention that’s been described as “Geek Mardi-Gras.” Over the four days of the con, one vividly experienced science fiction, gaming, science, skepticism, cosplay and a smattering of dozens of other genres that all came together under the roofs of four hotels in downtown Atlanta. Here’s a snapshot at the Hyatt, as people shuffled from one place to another to try and catch the excellent programming.
Getting to the Hilton in the early evening (after Delta was kind enough to loose my luggage), I met up with friends, dropped bags off, and headed out to the Star Party, put on at the Emerson Physics Dept. by the Atlanta Skeptics as a fundraiser for Light the Night – the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I was lucky enough to bump into my friends Danny K and his wife Ellen. And instead of just sharing a cab to the party, Angie, the con’s Medical Director, was nice enough to offer a ride in her SUV. We all packed in, and with some help from the iPad, we managed to get to the party right on time.
There was food, wine, and beer, and music provided by skeptical troubador George Hrab.
People exchanged hellos, raised a glass, and made some new friends.
Then it was time to see Dr. Pamela Gay‘s talk on citizen astronomy. We filled into the rows of the lecture hall and it felt a bit strange to be bringing a bottle of IPA into such an academic venue.
She went over examples of amateur scientists, some of which had no formal scientific education, who made contributions to the field of astronomy. Of note was a stellar object known as “Hanny’s Voorwerp”, which I’ll come back to a little later.
After the talk was over, people gathered again in the atrium and kept drinking while preparations were made for the evening's other entertainment: planetarium shows, rooftop star gazing, and a very special opening of the department telescope, trained on Jupiter and several of her moons.
While we waited, Maria Walters gave a speech and thanked everyone for coming.
A little while later I was up on the roof, where I got to meet authors and podcasters PG Holyfield and Scott Sigler. After a few hours of star gazing I headed back downstairs to find the party winding down. But George was still playing music and, as you can see, 2010 Parsec award winner Brian Dunning was talking about something interesting, as usual. (Incidentally, Brian recently found a new reason to live – an iPhone app called FatBooth, of which he made liberal use.)
I left the party around 2 AM, tired from the travels of the day and the nice evening. My bag hadn’t been found but the Hilton desk was nice enough to supply me with the necessary items (deodorant, toothbrush, razor) to feel suitably civilized. I headed up to the room to catch a few hours rest.
The next morning I woke late and hurried to get to my first meeting, organized by KO Myers and Tim Farley, the Grassroots Skeptics Organizers meetup. As the founder of Capital District Skeptics, I was looking forward to having some face time with other organizers from around the country.
I was a bit late but was still able to get a nice meal and chat in before I had to get my DC badge. I had been told by several people that this would be a daunting task. Lines typically stretched around the block and even once you were indoors, it was still an hour wait. 
Lucky for me, I had an ace in hole.
In under ten minutes from the time I got the the Sheraton, I negotiated the lines, reached the solutions desk, & had my badge on a lanyard around my neck. Look below to see what the registration queue looked like.
It was one of those ‘walk 60 feet one way, walk 60 feet the other way, & you’ve moved up six inches’ types of lines. I don’t know exactly how long the average wait time was, but I did see cocktail stations set up every few feet along the perimeter. “Very crafty,” I thought. 
Now that I had my badge, it was time to start planning. You can see here just how much programming there was. This being my first time at the con, I tried a few strategies to decide my itinerary. I eventually got it in place for the day and set out.
It was nice to see Stacy King give a talk on the animation process of the upcoming Storm the Movie, featuring Tim Minchin. It looks really great.
Immediately following her talk was the NSFW live podcast right next door, featuring Brian Brushwood and Justin Robert Young. I’d been meaning to listen to their show for some time but hadn’t quite got ’round to it. I’d met Brian a few years ago and was familiar with his program on Revision3.com, Scam School, and it turns out Justin was the producer and host of The Amazing Show with James Randi, which I’d listened to (and how I found out that Brian was a fellow skeptic). Brian and Justin put on a great show with special guest Veronica Belmont. 
Shortly thereafter I managed to win a “special edition” beverage, thanks to my lip-reading ability and knowledge of movie trivia. The hosts had gone to the “Walk of Fame,” the room designated for celebrities and their tables, walking around and asking celebrities to say a line of dialog from a movie they weren’t in. It made for some great film. Kevin Sorbo’s excerpt had no audio, and my quick identification of the movie he was quoting won me a Dharma Initiative ration. 
The rest of the weekend was a blur.
I made sure to get my Tdap booster at the Skepchick vaccination clinic. As as bonus treat, Maria had on an excellent version of a T-shirt meme. 
The Skepchicks were accompanied during their podcast by Bill Corbett, Kevin Murphy, Scott Sigler, & Drew Curtis which made for a fun few hours. The bottles of Arrogant Bastard sold downstairs didn’t hurt either.
In the interest of discovery, I made sure to catch programming that I knew nothing about. I found a few things that I thought were nice touches to the Con, like Pro Wrestling, complete with costumes, a robot battle competition, and even a hospitality suite, where volunteers toiled nearly thanklessly to provide snacks, sandwiches, drinks, and movies to Con goers.
It was really great just walking around, getting a feel for the place, and checking your schedule to see what was in a room nearby.
I happened to be by the ballroom where Pamela Gay was giving a more in-depth presentation on citizen astronomy and Hanny’s Voorwerp. Pamela covered a little more material than during the Star Party. But even better, she Skyped in Hanny who had stayed up late in the Netherlands. Plus, there was also a comic book made about her experience and the artists were present as well. And everyone got a copy. And there was liquid-nitrogen ice cream! Certainly a solid event.
Hanging out in the bar was an event in itself. There were songs and stories. There were magic tricks! Here’s one Walter did for Brian:
Richard Saunders generously brought the usual complement of Australian goodies, like Tim-Tams, and, unfortunately, Musk Stix.
I did miss out on a few panels I was hoping to get in to, like Rifftrax & the Futurama panel. But the disappointment of finding out they were filled to capacity was greatly overshadowed by the abundance of other interesting activities.
And even without the programming, this being my first time, there was something to be said for just walking around for an hour to check out the sites. I usually had breakfast by myself at the Starbucks in the Marriott. From the tables there, I could see not only the spectacular architecture of the place, but also the throngs of people, many in costumes, mingling about the place.
Here’s the view of the elevator bank looking upwards. It’s about 48 floors of open atrium and the view from the top is vertigo-inducing: 
By Sunday night, things had started to wind down and some people started leaving. There was a big party that luckily got moved down to the lounge of the hotel and people stayed up until after 4AM.
Monday was the wrap-up day. There were only a few programming spots to go to. Some speeches were made, awards received. I took the time to scope out the vendors’ room since I hadn’t been in there yet. It was packed with tables. All sorts of merch were on display. Comics were to be expected, but one dealer even had cases of bagged & boarded vintage Playboys. Bladed weapons from real and fictional cultures were available for purchase, as were costumes, leather coats, pieces of BDSM apparel, and jewelry.
After milling about and seeing the crowds dwindle, we’d worked up quite the appetite. Tim & Jessica organized about 20 of us to go get dinner at the famous Fox Bros BBQ. The short wait for a table was worth the smoked chicken wings and ribs that this place did so well. I made sure to thank the cooks after we finished eating, because it was clear attention had been paid to getting it right.
The next morning I made sure I’d have plenty of time to catch my flight. I took the MARTA to the airport and had a full 35 minutes when I reached the desk before takeoff. But apparently, Atlanta is an “exception city” & I was supposed to be there 45 minutes before my flight. This was a huge mess and I won’t bother with the details here – it suffices to say that I am no longer a Delta fan
Despite the slight troubles, I managed to get home just fine. I look forward to next Labor Day weekend, and I know where I’ll be spending it.
