This was short Thursday, with panels starting at 11:30 in the morning. We drove into town (traffic was light), parked, and walked through the sunshine to the hotel a block away. We could have parked closer, but we chose a free lot.

Registration was busy, but we got checked in, got our name tags, book bags and so forth with no trouble.

After going through the bags and putting duplicate books on the share table, walked about, getting the lay of the land. The venue is compact and all on one level, which is nice. We had a nice talk with Janet Rudolph, who would present the first panel, LCC 101. After a trip to the book room and sitting in on part of the panel, we left on another errand, then had lunch at the Cadillac Cafe, which has very good food.

Back at the hotel, we had time to vist with other friends before heading to the It’s a Living: Odd Jobs & Strange Professions panel, with Linda Joffe Hull (M), Tammy Kaehler, Camille Minichino, Robert S. “Cap’n Bob” Napier and Diane Valler. Very interesting, and it was good to see both Bob and Dave “Evan” Lewis, both long time friends. Then we ran into Maggie Mason and her friend Nancy in the panel room and had a talk with them. Walking through the lobby on the way back to the car we ran into Thom Walls, which meant we’d already chatted with all but one of the ex-DAPA-Em members who will be at the con. A fun first day, just one book purchased. Tomorrow’s report will have more on panels and events and less name dropping, I promise.