Saturday, November 24, 2007

Net friends, fans, and hotel insults....

After a day of Con-ing I come back to find this on my bathroom counter:
11_24_2007 019
Honest, I'm not a messy hotel guest. All I had for trash yesterday was some napkins, a sheet from the hotel notepad, some kleenix, and the remains of a pear (wrapped in several paper towels and napkins. And, yes, I did leave a tip this morning when I headed off to the panels. Now I need to bus my own trash? I think not Mr. Marriott.

Well, while I was getting in trouble in absentia for trash, in person I was doing what I enjoy best at cons-- sitting in panels collecting book recommendations. Here's the view from the back of the full house at "SF Canon, Essential SF"
11_24_2007 002
Our guides through the spirited discussion and debate were (l to r) David Bratman, our own stitching blogger Kathryn (Threads of Desire), Berry Kercheval, Tim Powers, and Harry Turtledove. After the panel I got to chit chat with Kathryn for a bit. If you've been following her adventures and pending adventures on her blog, you will be amazed to know she shows no sign of collapsing with exhaustion. I don't know how she does it all!

Kathryn also surprised me with a goodie bag! Stitchers and fans are The coolest!
11_24_2007 008
She included HiH's Spooky kit -- a cool house with this nifty moon behind it, 3 perfect Kreiniks (she noted that they were Christmas gold, silver and red..... hmm wonder where she got the idea that I might need Christmas colors??? lol), a beautiful petite Treasure Braid in a brass-ish gold, and 3 packs of some of the best looking Silkweavers fabrics I've ever seen (possibly she heard me whining to myself that one of these days I have to stitch something worthy on a Silkweaver fabric just so I can put something in that dang Stitcher's Showcase of theirs!). Thank you, Kathryn! You shouldn't have, but just try and wrest the stash from my paws!!!

In between the pages and pages of notes I took today, I got some stitching done. A little more on the Halloween Fairy:
11_24_2007 018
And I even did a little needlepointing! Miracle of miracles--
11_24_2007 013
I have to admit that today the fairy was loosing her allure, but the shawl dancer is a little too much for panels. I also brought the Sweetheart Tree "Fuit of the Vines to finish for my sister, but the last thing I'm doing in a hotel conference chair with no side tables is beading! LOL What a disaster that would be --- I also need more solitude for beading because my during-beading swearing isn't socially-acceptable! I guess it'll either be more fairy tomorrow, or I'll sort out one of the ornies I may or may not have brought the appropriate threads for why hanging out on my balcony over breakfast. ... the joys of CA! Here it is the last week of November and I can lounge outside for breakfast! hee heee

Nite nite folks! All this vacationing is exhausting! lol
________________
The quote of the day came from Kathryn's canon panel-- by Tim Powers in reply to the audience member who said he couldn't stretch his disbelief far enough to believe in Leiber's Canticle for Leibowitz that the one institution to survive nuclear war was the Catholic church but a few minutes later said he could accept the fictional applications of faster than light travel: "Faster than light's ok, but the Catholic Church is improbable?!"

See? You too could have all this fun if you'd come to SF cons! They're everywhere, and I bet most of them are loads of fun. Go on, explore, enjoy yourself!

9 comments:

mainely stitching said...

The whole housekeeping aspect of hotels has begun to bug me - I get particularly red about the face and neck regarding the "tip envelopes" that are prominently displayed. Grrr. Bussing your own trash is pretty low, too, especially for a Marriot.

Neat picture of the panel!!!

Shelleen said...

I cant believe that you have to take care of your own trash. What kind of place is it when you pay what you do? Geesh. Sounds like you are having fun though.

Amy said...

I'm so glad you're having fun Ruthie! You know what I'd do with the bag for trash, write the staff a *thank you* note on it and put only the empty tip envelope in it when I left. Okay, so I'm somewhat of a smart*** but maybe they'd get the point. ;-) Your stitching is wonderful... and remember, as Alma Lynne always says "Need Has Nothing To Do With It". :-)

Sending you hugs my friend!

Dani - tkdchick said...

Hmmmm the idea of housekeeping is they do the work for you. I'd refuse to do that... they're getting paid and that's that. Especially what you pay for a room these days.

What a lovely gift bag!

Unknown said...

Actually the large trash bag is a GOOD idea...for everyone who is throwing a party. You always have more trash from that than will fit in a small hotel wastebasket. We have been doing parties so long that we just bring our own huge trash bags, but some people do not think ahead quite so far. The problem with the Marriott is that they probably gave trash bags to EVERYONE rather than just the rooms on the 17th and 18th floors which are the only rooms that are allowed to have parties.

I haven't seen tip envelopes yet in American hotels, but sometimes you do get cute little notes from "your" maid. We are generally very tidy and don't leave tips unless we are having a party. Than we leave large ones since just hauling away our trash is a big job.

Kate said...

Sounds like you're having a blast at the con! Kathryn's excellent at putting together stash goodies. :)

Anna van Schurman said...

Maybe they thought you might not want food trash in your room until the next cleaning came along? I practically take food from the fridge out to the curb rather than have it in the house (let alone my room). But who knows what their motives are?

I think it's so great you got to meet Kathryn! Great swag!

Wawanna said...

All this and stitching too! Soounds like you are having a grand time. Keep stitching, shopping, reading, eating, $ etc. Enjoy, enjoy!

Sharon said...

Sounds like fun! I love your needlepoint piece. Simply gorgeous.