My friend Karen and I took the Gold Line from Pasadena to Union Station, and from there caught the Amtrak to San Diego. This not only was remarkably hassle-free, but I had never been to Union Station before and it was a treat to see how lovely it is. If you don't believe me, here are some photos.
A lovely fountain outside the station.
Inside Union Station
The train ride was extremely uneventful, and once at the San Diego station we got a cab (whose driver obviously learned his trade in some Third World country where traffic laws are more "guidelines" or "helpful suggestions." At any rate, we made it to the Westgate Hotel in one piece.
The Westgate is a lovely place, sort of old fashioned but I am not complaining. Hey, they have free Wi-Fi and that's all we need.
The lobby of the Westgate Hotel.
The not-so-lovely view from our room (it's the City Administration Building).
Once we got checked in Karen and I made a trip to Ralph's for some food and snack items, and then over to Baja Fresh for dinner.
As for the title of this blog post, here's what it's referring to. Last Friday I had tried to get tickets for the Nerd HQ panel with Nathan Fillion. I thought I had succeeded, but it turned out that demand for all the Nerd HQ panels was so heavy that the system was overwhelmed and my tickets had been sold to me even though there were none left. Nerd HQ said they would try to see if Fillion would do another panel, at which we would be guaranteed a seat, and when I checked my email at the hotel, we got the happy news that the panel was not only a go, but was for a time when I hadn't anything else planned (I was nervous it would be scheduled during the Django Unchained panel, in which case I would have had to make a very hard decision). Hooray!
Tomorrow we'll be off to get our badges, check out the Ray Bradbury tribute panel, do some sight-seeing around the vendor floor, and hopefully catch Rifftrax Live. Should be fun!
Jealous!
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