A waaaay longer Dead Dog Party than any con I've EVER seen...

[thatcrazycajun]

Those of you who saw my post of yesterday in re the snow that began last night during GAFilk XIII's Stray Dead Dog party/filk will know by now (at least you should, if you have seen or heard any major news-media outlets today) that it got worse. It got much, MUCH worse. (If you haven't, read all about it here or here.)

The Songbird and I, along with at least a dozen other members of the convention and its committee, were effectively imprisoned at the hotel by a statewide snow emergency. Although the snow itself was not the typical multi-foot-deep blizzard with which my Northeastern US-based friends are well acquainted (as am I, having lived up there for pretty much the entire decade of the 1990s and then some), it resulted in slush and ice followed by freezing rain and/or sleet that made all the metro Atlanta area's roads impassable or close to it most of the day. Both of our employers, mine and SB's, closed shop today as a result along with most area offices of government, schools, shopping malls and other businesses. State officials advise anyone not having an absolute necessity to be on the roads to stay off them and indoors, as temperatures are not projected to get any warmer until at earliest tomorrow afternoon.

The upside: We got to enjoy an extra night in a very nice hotel room, courtesy of the concom (and profuse, heartfelt thanks to the husband/wife and chairman/treasurer team of autographedcat and kitanzi, for that...as well as to the concom entire for inviting me as Toastmaster in the first place, for my performance as which the reviews are so far quite surprisingly rave) and a lovely breakfast and even lunch with those of our fellow attendees and friends who likewise found themselves marooned by either road conditions or airline-flight cancellations and/or delays. We finally decided to take the risk, having scouted the nearby roads at the warmest part of the day (a balmy 32° F), of driving back the 15 miles or so across town to the apartment we are still slated to move out of by month's end. And we actually did make it safely as far as the road that turns off Northside Drive near Interstate 75 and leads to the apartment complex. And we even still have power, food and comms access.

The downside: We were forced to leave SB's little black Honda parked at said intersection, the steep, slushed/iced-over incline of the massive hill that lies between our apartment complex and the main road being too much for the poor thing's modest horsepower to make any headway uphill. We hiked the remaining short distance to the actual apartment building, where I am now warming my feet in preparation for a trip back out to retrieve at least some of the stuff still in the car that we would like to avoid having stolen overnight.

As for AC and Kit et al., they are still ensconced at the Crowne Plaza Atlanta Airport, expecting not to even attempt leaving before tomorrow. Anyone reading this and awaiting word from them or other con members not yet arrived home should contact them there. And we also wish to profusely thank stevemb and his own lady wife starmalachite for offering us crash space tonight in their hotel room. which we perhaps should have taken them up on, in retrospect...ah, well, hindsight is 20/20 and all that. And thanks to everyone who offered words of praise, in person and online, for my brief weekend of fannish glory. Updates on what SB calls "the Snowpocalypse" will follow in this space where and when feasible.

Comments

[mshollie.livejournal.com]

You guys stay warm, y'hear?

[terriwells.livejournal.com]

It reminds me very much of the time about six of us got stuck for TWO days after Musicon...we got put up at the Lee Billings' house, as she was the con chair. This was in Nashville, you understand, and Gary E. was heard to proclaim that if he was stuck there one more day, he was very much afraid that he would turn into a country singer!

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

The last time snow did this much disruption to my con-going was a Boskone weekend back in the late '90s (while I was still living in Noo Yawk City) with zsero, jonbaker and mamadeb in the latter couple's car. A snowstorm and engine failure combined to cause us to stop overnight in CT that Friday evening...and me to play Shabbos Goy for them to rent a room and a car to complete the trip to Framingham the next day.

I never thought I would have a snowy con story to top it...until today. Of such things is fannish lore built.

[gorgeousgary]

I reminded Lee about that sometime early Sunday afternoon. She just about fell over laughing.

[terriwells.livejournal.com]

LOL! Sweet. The spirit of Musicon lives on. ;-)

[happyfunpaul.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear all is OK with you two.

Glad we made it out on a 7:15pm Sunday flight just before the storm hit. (Actual PA announcement on the plane: "Please stow your luggage and take your seat as quickly as possible. The storm will be here in ten minutes. We want to get out." Or words to that effect.)

Did Seanan make it out?

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

At last report, our spectacular blonde GoH's plane had departed Hartsfield-Jackson Airport this afternoon with her on board. (One presumes her luggage was on board as well...although with airlines these days, it may well be better to say "one hopes like hell.") Hopefully by the time you read this, she will have arrived back safely to her West Coast digs.

[hms42]

Yes, she is home in California.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Albeit with a reported unscheduled stop in Salt Lake City.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear that you made it home safely. Maybe I was the smart one by leaving mid-afternoon yesterday. By the time the snow evidently started (I say "evidently" because I did not know when it started) I had unpacked the sport cute, reconverted it into a passenger vehicle, taken care of all the charges from the weekend, eaten dinner, and was settling in for the night. When I woke up this morning, there were 6" on the ground near me and while the news programs were saying "Stay home," figuring my boss would have had a conniption fit if I didn't get into the office, I made it into the office with no problem, only to find, two hours later, that no one else came in.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Usually it's a prudent thing to call your office and see if anyone is even there on a day like today before rushing out there; I did and found only our voicemail, in which I left messages. No one responded, and they've allowed us to take vacation days before when roads were too icy to get to work.

[thnidu.livejournal.com]

Umm... those shouldn't even come out of vacation days!

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

The only problem with that, Matt, and you wouldn't know it, is that we don't know how to change the message in our voicemail system, there are only 4 of us in the entire office, I'm always the first one in (I get in before 8AM so that I can get things going). I'd also tried calling 2 of the attorneys, neither of whom picked up their phones when I called, so I had to figure that someone was probably going in. Silly me, thinking that other people would be able to come into the office because the driving was easy (well, maybe it was for only me, I don't know).

Matter of fact, I'm in the office now.

You're at work? In any god's name, WHY?!?

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

What in the frozen hell (and I mean that quite literally) are you doing there instead of staying home like a sane person? You're taking your life in your hands driving around town at all right now, even with your vehicle being a sport-ute - there are far too many black ice patches and other less-well-equipped drivers sliding into each other. Unless you've been ordered by your boss to do so (in which case she is being insane), you should be home...and so should anyone else there with you. You've become too good a friend for Mary and me to lose you now.

I appreciate the concern

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

but my route to work is down to asphalt as all the roads are well traveled (Cheshire Bridge, Lindbergh, Piedmont and Pharr). The only part of the trip not paved was the upper parking lot behind the building where I worked, which is where I parked myself so that I wouldn't have to deal with a down ramp or an up ramp. And considering that my boss isn't answering her phone when I call her, I can't exactly be ordered or not ordered to. However, when I called the young attorney who dropped me a note after I dropped him a note about a coupon for reduced rates at his favorite addiction (a game called "DAMNIT!," if you get my gist), he said to wait tomorrow until I hear from someone.

Oh, and as far as my boss being insane, 2010 was the year she went off the edge - iPhone 3GS, buying 25 acres of land to build a horse farm for her daughter, buying a Mac Book Air for her daughter, buying an iPad for her husband, amongst other things.

And with the job market the way it's been, I'm not about to risk losing mine, thank you.