Melissa and I are in our hotel in Boston, and we’re ready to go. Before I get into it, here’s a quick correction.

The Live From Arisia podcast will be available after February 14th! Check this link in a week and you should be able to find it and listen to it.

Today started off with a blunder on my part. I packed almost everything last night before going to bed. I remembered everything except the microphone. I didn’t realize I left it out until we arrived at the airport this morning, around 4AM. How were we going to do Live from Boskone recordings if we didn’t have a decent quality microphone?

I put that off as a problem for later. We flew United today, as opposed to American last month. Our flight left Sacramento a little after 6AM, landing in Chicago around noon, and then we left Chicago at 2PM and landed in Boston a little after 5PM. The more direct route improved our flying experience, though for some reason, we hit more turbulence. I’m not a calm and relaxed passenger even when the flight is smooth. Today, my palms were sweating and my knees were shaking, and I kept reaching for something to hold onto. Since Melissa gets the window, I always have the middle seat, so there was nothing for me to grab. I panicked quietly in my seat and got through it.

Once in Boston, we went to baggage claim. Now, with your permission (and perhaps to your amusement), I will rant.

What is the point of getting right up on the belt if your bag isn’t there? Why do you people INSIST on crowding the front? People! Idiots! Take two steps back, and then EVERYONE will have a better view of the belt. When you see your bag, you can then take a couple steps forward, grab it, then get the hell out of the way. This doesn’t have to be hard. This doesn’t have to be complicated. Follow these steps and we ALL win. Oh, and to all you assholes that look at me standing back at a reasonable distance and then choose to step in front of me? There’s a special place in hell for you. It’s baggage claim. You’re going to be stuck in baggage claim in hell, because most of the people headed to the hottest afterlife arrive with extra personal baggage.

Where was I?

Oh yes. Boston.

It’s still relatively early here. When we flew in for Arisia, we didn’t get in until after midnight and we were zonked out. Now it’s not quite 9:30PM. We explored and found our tables in the dealer’s room. I introduced myself to the people running the dealer’s room, and we had a very pleasant conversation. We don’t have our badges yet, but that shouldn’t be a problem tomorrow.

Once we were checked in, nested, and we completed our initial inspection of the con itself, we took an Uber to a shopping center not far away that has both a Target and a Best Buy. Target had a new Yeti microphone, very similar to the snowball I was supposed to bring, and it wasn’t too expensive. That will now be my travel microphone. I will test it tonight and make sure it’s of sufficient quality.

With the microphone secured, we wandered over to Applebee’s, ate food that wasn’t terrible, then Uber’d back to the hotel. In the lobby, we ran into David Gerrold. If all goes well, we’ll take him (and maybe others) to dinner tomorrow night.

That’s Boskone Day 0! Tomorrow will be a lot of setup and diving in. We still have to find a place where we can record, but I imagine that will work itself out.