Our Toronto Trek experience started off with a bang on Friday... "bang" being the noise made by my car engine as we were passing Mississauga on the 401. The bang was followed by several other bangs and scary noises, a loss of power to the engine, and a small but disconcerting amount of smoke coming from under the hood.
The good news was that I was passing an exit at the time and was able to get myself off the road with minimal trouble and danger. The bad news was that I didn't know anywhere to go but Canadian Tire, who overcharged me royally. I won't say how much I paid, but let's just say that it was 4 times as much for labor as it was for parts and I happen to know the job only took 3 hours. Mr.Credit Card is bleeding.
The other good news is that the car was fixable - never guarunteed since my car is a 1989 model with a lot of miles. Apparently some sort of gasket thing blew, getting oil all over the engine (thus, the smoke) and the ignition wires, which then had to be replaced. Expensive, but repairable. And everyone I've talked to has said that Canadian Tire does a good job even if they charge out the ass, so at least I'm not looking at paying more money to have my mechanic go back and do the job right.
This is my third highwayside breakdown this year. Maybe the Motor Gods are trying to tell me something.
After the shaky start, though, things went better. Nothing daunted by misfortune (well, Dan was nothing daunted; I was daunted and whiny), we abandoned the car to the car doctors and took public transport the rest of the way to the con, arriving a mere 4 hours late, and immediately harrassed-looking Con people swooped down upon Dan, declared him Staff, and took him away to join the ranks of the harrassed. I was lucky. I got to eat first.
The rest of the con can be summed up by volunteering-panels-volunteering-panels-room parties-SLEEP. Repeat.
I had a grand time. I got to hang out a lot with cristalia, which was a pleasure, and my panels were pretty much all good this year, though I think the first (We Don't Need No Stinking Elves!) was the best. Everyone was fresh and energetic, we had a good crowd, and Dan did an exceptionally good job moderating. The crowds at the panels were overall larger than last year, which was also nice. We didn't get to meet up with eeyore42 and labelleizzy, but considering the Plane Nightmare that the latter had it was understandable.
Volunteering was also fun. It's neat to get to see the backside of the con and how it's run (and perks like running into Denise Crosby, the actress who played Tasha Yar on TNG, are another plus) and you get to hang out with a lot of cool people and have fun. Of course, the volunteering thing is a slippery slope: it appears I'm being co-opted for Staff next year, and Dan may be moving up to ConCom. Joy. Oh well, you get a nifty t-shirt.
Sleep was slim to none, but I was expecting that.
And now it's time to deal with all that work I was putting off until "after TT". Damn. Every silver lining has its cloud, I guess....
The good news was that I was passing an exit at the time and was able to get myself off the road with minimal trouble and danger. The bad news was that I didn't know anywhere to go but Canadian Tire, who overcharged me royally. I won't say how much I paid, but let's just say that it was 4 times as much for labor as it was for parts and I happen to know the job only took 3 hours. Mr.Credit Card is bleeding.
The other good news is that the car was fixable - never guarunteed since my car is a 1989 model with a lot of miles. Apparently some sort of gasket thing blew, getting oil all over the engine (thus, the smoke) and the ignition wires, which then had to be replaced. Expensive, but repairable. And everyone I've talked to has said that Canadian Tire does a good job even if they charge out the ass, so at least I'm not looking at paying more money to have my mechanic go back and do the job right.
This is my third highwayside breakdown this year. Maybe the Motor Gods are trying to tell me something.
After the shaky start, though, things went better. Nothing daunted by misfortune (well, Dan was nothing daunted; I was daunted and whiny), we abandoned the car to the car doctors and took public transport the rest of the way to the con, arriving a mere 4 hours late, and immediately harrassed-looking Con people swooped down upon Dan, declared him Staff, and took him away to join the ranks of the harrassed. I was lucky. I got to eat first.
The rest of the con can be summed up by volunteering-panels-volunteering-panels-room parties-SLEEP. Repeat.
I had a grand time. I got to hang out a lot with cristalia, which was a pleasure, and my panels were pretty much all good this year, though I think the first (We Don't Need No Stinking Elves!) was the best. Everyone was fresh and energetic, we had a good crowd, and Dan did an exceptionally good job moderating. The crowds at the panels were overall larger than last year, which was also nice. We didn't get to meet up with eeyore42 and labelleizzy, but considering the Plane Nightmare that the latter had it was understandable.
Volunteering was also fun. It's neat to get to see the backside of the con and how it's run (and perks like running into Denise Crosby, the actress who played Tasha Yar on TNG, are another plus) and you get to hang out with a lot of cool people and have fun. Of course, the volunteering thing is a slippery slope: it appears I'm being co-opted for Staff next year, and Dan may be moving up to ConCom. Joy. Oh well, you get a nifty t-shirt.
Sleep was slim to none, but I was expecting that.
And now it's time to deal with all that work I was putting off until "after TT". Damn. Every silver lining has its cloud, I guess....
posted at 12:25 PM on 07/19/05
by kat -
Category: Events
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