Bouchercon Cleveland - an intro

Well, I'm here. It's been a rough kind of stay for me here in Cleveland. I've been trying to balance multiple activities while I'm here at the Bouchercon convention. Apart from hunting for friends and acquaintances at the convention, attending the panels and visiting the book room, I have been trying to coordinate a few delayed celebrations for my partner and I and a visit with my brother who lives a little over 30 miles south of Cleveland. I'm hoping to get it all squeezed into the two and half days we have here.

Turns out I missed all of Thursday. The original plan was to leave Wednesday night and drive nearly all the way, stop in some motel in Indiana and then drive the rest of the way and get there by mid- afternoon. However, I vetoed that idea because I was exhausted on Wednesday and it was raining in Chicago. Night driving in the rain is taboo in my book. Too many bad experiences in my past and I like my life so I avoid any possibility for unsafe driving when there's bad weather. We left Thursday at 7 AM (Central) and arrived a little after 3 PM (eastern time). By the time we were settled in our hotel (we're staying in a more affordable place only a 10 minute walk away) I had missed all of Thursday's events. Friday was my first day at the convention while it was the second day for everyone else.

We were in time for the big shindig at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But I don't do crowds very well. I also have a great impatience when waiting in long lines. Nearly every single registered attendee -- about 1600 people -- was waiting on the longest line I've seen in my life outside of the opening day at Disney World back in 1972. Since Joe was not registered and security was supposedly very high for this event I went alone. I thought I might be able to get him in but all attendees were told in an email IDs would be checked against a list of registered participants if an attendee "forgot" his or her lanyard with the registration ID card. I waited all of ten minutes before I noticed that people were being admitted through a single revolving door into the museum. From where I was standing it looked like it was going to be about 45 minutes before I ever got in. Add to this long wait the thought of dealing with all the people inside and I was already in a less than pleasant mood. So I left and blew my chance to see the museum for free.

Instead, we went to the Horseshoe Casino conveniently located immediately next door to the Renaissance Marriott where the convention is being held. Last visit to a casino was back in the early summer when we took a wonderful trip to Reno and Lake Tahoe. We won close to $75 between us that time. In our brief visit to the Horseshoe I picked up $17 and change on a slot machine in matter of minutes and later Joe won $96 with only 98 cents left on a machine. Definitely more fun than waiting on a long line to get into a museum that houses old records and guitars. I'll take free money over cocktail snacks and a cash bar any day.

I'll get to my day's worth of activities on Friday in my next post. I'm a bit tipsy from all our drinking and celebrating for my job promotion from my "real job."  Last week I got a 10% raise which utterly floored me. When not writing for the blog, or selling books, I work during the day for a not-for profit hospital that has been notoriously tight with salaries (especially mine) for years. This raise was LONG overdue and the celebration, also delayed, was a heckuva lot of fun.

More tomorrow. I promise to talk about the convention next time.