ChicagoCon 2008 - Tuesday, July 15
Tuesday, July 15
Sunrise at the Shore
Matt went out on Tuesday morning to watch the sun rise over the southern shore of Lake Michigan.
[Photo courtesy of Matt]
[Photo courtesy of Matt]
Getting Broadband
For the past few days, our only internet connection had been the dial-up AOL we'd installed on someone's laptop. Ryan decided to see if he could find his way into the neighbor's wireless router.
Ryan attempts to get us an internet connection, as Paul B makes some configuration changes on his own computer.
Ryan wasn't immediately able to get access to the router, so he left a utility running, but decided he needed another one, which would involve us downloading a LiveCD of some flavor of Linux. Without broadband internet access, though, it was essentially impossible to do so, so we decided that we'd find somewhere with internet access downtown later that day and download the LiveCD to a USB flash drive.
Going To Chicago, Take Two
After a bit of math on Monday night, we discovered that even with gas, tolls, and downtown parking rates, it was still cheaper to drive a full car or van to Chicago than to take the train round trip from Michigan City like we'd done on Monday. We thus drove to the city on Tuesday.
Approaching Chicago from the south on Lake Shore Drive
The Art Institute of Chicago, Almost
The original plan for the day had been to go to the Art Institute of Chicago, as we'd heard that it was free on Tuesdays.
The Art Institute of Chicago
Posing with a street performer in front of the Art Institute
By the time we all parked and met up at the museum, though, it was time for lunch. Most of the group were planning on going to some Thai restaurant, but Paul B, Ryan, and Kevin weren't in the mood for Thai, so they went to a nearby downtown McDonald's.
Of course, eating at McDonald's was significantly faster than eating at a Thai restaurant, so the three of us were left with a bit of free time. We decided to use that time to walk up to the Apple Store so that Ryan could download his LiveCD and utilities on one of the demonstration computers there.
While Ryan was performing his downloads, Reid called Paul to let him know they were done eating. When finding out that we were at the Apple Store, he told us his group would be scoping out Millenium Park for the planned Thursday subcon while we walked back to the Art Institute.
Ryan and Paul B walking back down Michigan Avenue towards the Art Institute.
By the time everyone met up again at the Art Institute, though, we'd discovered that it was not, in fact, free on Tuesdays — the free time was now Thursday and Friday evenings. However, tickets were half-price after 4 PM, and it was about 3:30, so we initially decided to wait for half an hour and buy tickets when they were cheaper. However, Kevin had been one of the first people of our group in line, and had purchased his (full-price) ticket before we'd found out about the discount.
Not long after that, we discovered that the reason why tickets were half-price after 4 PM was because the museum closed at 5 on Tuesdays. An hour was not enough to properly visit the museum, so we changed our plans and chose to wait until Thursday evening and go when the museum was free. Of course, that wasted Kevin's ticket.
Kevin holds his now-useless ticket.
Shopping
So, instead of going to the Art Institute, we headed back to the parking garage to drive a little bit outside of downtown on Chicago Street. Our first destination: Rotofugi, a designer toy store.
Reid, Lindsay, and Brian at Rotofugi
Sabrina holds up a toy
After spending nearly an hour at Rotofugi, we walked down the block to Vigilante Press, a comic book store.
Vigilante Press
Ryan and Sabrina read comic books
After that, we crossed to Permanent Records, the record store across the street.
Will, Paul, Charles, Ryan, and Kevin browse music
An alarming mannequin
Hanging around outside Permanent Records
Driving Home
Driving past downtown on the way home
Cooking
We arrived home to find cooking, baking, and decorating going on.
Decorating cupcakes
Decorating cupcakes
Decorated cupcakes
Edible sculptures
Sarah holds up two halves of a cake
Sarah frosts the cake
The completed cake
Evening Fun
Conventioners playing what ultimately became a ten-player game of Tetris
Liz and Derek
The dining room basically became a computer lab.
Mafia
That evening we played Mafia, a game where a number of participants are secretly assigned to the "Mafia" team and the rest of the people are townspeople (though some may have special roles). The Mafia know who their other members are, and every "night," they chose to eliminate one of the townspeople from the game. Every "day," the entirety of all remaining players can choose to lynch someone they think is Mafia by a majority vote. The winning goal for the townspeople is to eliminate all Mafia members, and the goal for Mafia members is to eliminate enough townspeople so that the remaining Mafia members make up more than half of the town and thus have a majority vote.
Reid waits for the game to start
Lance dresses for the occasion
Trip coordinates the game of Mafia
Denny's
That night, a late-night Denny's run took place.
Trip, Steve, Sarah, and Will
Lance
Steve
Driving home