WindyCon 35

brunians at brunians.org · 17 Nov 2008, 02:37 · from 2008-November.txt.gz

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From: brunians at brunians.org (brunians at brunians.org)
Date: Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:37:34 -0500 (EST)
Subject: (urth) WindyCon 35
In-Reply-To: <830146C0F4CA44718B7BDFE07A320130@GATEWAY>
References: <491F49B4.9020906 at gmail.com>
	<830146C0F4CA44718B7BDFE07A320130@GATEWAY>
Message-ID: <9216.67.142.130.46.1226889454.squirrel at brunians.org>

Oh my! Poor Nigel!

I do hope he is OK, are you following up?



.


> Here's my report from WindyCon 35:
>
> First of all, Nigel Price is in the hospital. He was taken by ambulance on
> Saturday morning when he could not get out of bed. He does not seem to be
> in
> imminent danger now (last I heard). But, the doctors were apparently not
> certain of the cause of his problem as of last night. They were to run
> additional tests this morning that hopefully will be more conclusive.
> Those
> that will, please keep him in your prayers. It is not clear whether he
> will
> even be able to fly home as planned on Monday.
>
> I arrived at the Westin in Lombard at around 8pm Friday. Michael
> Andre-Driussi, Nigel, and Gene's daughter, Teri, were chatting in the
> lobby.
> Nigel had been there all day. He had hung out with Gene, Rosemary, and
> Teri
> most of the afternoon. Gene had panel discussion on children in warfare
> around 4:30pm, but there was an awful screw-up about the room location (I
> won't point fingers except to say it wasn't Gene's fault), so he arrived
> quite late for it. Then the four of them went to supper.
>
> We sat their chatting about Wolfe, movies, books, Chicago, the convention,
> and other things until midnight. We also discussed Michael's and Nigel's
> panel on the future of warfare and it's presentation in science fiction.
> Nigel in particular was very excited about it. Michael, Nigel, and I
> agreed
> to meet in the lobby at 8am and go to breakfast.
>
> I was met Michael in lobby at 10 to 8. We called Nigel's room but he
> didn't
> answer. We decided he was on his way or showering so we chatted as we
> waited
> until 8. I called again at 8 sharp but this time the phone picked up and
> hung up. Uh oh. Nigel must have decided to sleep in. Not surprising with
> the
> 6 hour time difference with England. So we went on to breakfast. We spent
> about an hour and a half talking about books and politics. Walking back to
> the hotel just before 10, there was an ambulance out front. We tut-tutted
> in
> sympathy went on in. Still no Nigel. We presumed he was boning up for the
> panel. At 10 there was a scheduled book discussion on "Soldier of the
> Mist"
> with the chicago-sf.org book club. Michael was greeted as a celebrity, and
> it was additionally lucky for them that he was there, because he did a
> good
> job of reminding me to stick to the topic of SoTM and to avoid bringing up
> the later or other novels in the discussion.
>
> At 11, Michael had book signings. I trolled the con. Still no Nigel. The
> panel discussion was at noon. Wolfe was participating as well. Rosemary
> and
> Teri were there too. Still no Nigel. I went to the concierge and called
> his
> room and searched the whole con (perhaps there was another room mix-up
> like
> the one on Friday). I met Teri on the way back. She told me to go on back
> and she would try to find him. Here is where Teri proved that she had snap
> that was just out of reach of Michael and me. She realized that no one
> travels 1000 miles spending 1000s of $ to be on a panel and not show up.
> She
> went to Security and gave them Nigel's room number telling them she was
> concerned for him. Indeed, they told her, he had been taken to the
> hospital
> by ambulance that morning. My call had awakened him, but he couldn't reach
> the phone in time. Eventually, he managed to dial zero for the front desk.
>
> She came back and quietly told me what was going on and that she was going
> to go to the hospital to check on him. She asked me to call her in 10
> minutes so she would have my phone number. After the panel discussion I
> let
> everyone know why Nigel couldn't make it.
>
> Only family members could get into the ER to see Nigel, so Teri told them
> she was his niece. She got apprised of what the doctors knew so far and
> called Nigel's wife. She helped negotiate the information to ensure his
> insurance would cover all his expenses. Nigel had rented a car so he could
> see some more of Chicago while he was there. So Teri arranged for Michael
> to
> drive it back when he went to the airport on Sunday. Essentially, she took
> Nigel completely under her wing and became his proxy-wife.
>
> After the panel Gene, Rosemary, and Michael went on to Harry Caray's for
> lunch. As they entered the restaurant (connected to the lobby), Michael
> motioned for me to join them. About 20 minutes later, Teri joined us as
> well.
>
> Lunch ended a little after 3pm. The rest of the day was spent chatting
> with
> Michael and Teri and wandering aimlessly and happily around the con. Teri
> went back in the evening to check on Nigel. And I spent the rest of the
> evening in the lobby watching the people in costume pass by and talking to
> Michael about movies.
>
> At 11pm, Michael and I agreed to meet for breakfast at 8am on Sunday which
> we did. Coming back to the lobby, we met Gene and Rosemary coming out of
> Harry Caray's. He admonished us for not joining them for breakfast. Of
> course, if we had realized that that was an option, we surely would have.
> I
> took some pictures with Gene, Rosemary, and Michael then. Unfortunately I
> had to leave at 10am to catch my shuttle for the airport.
>
> I probably did less "con" activities at WindyCon than at any convention
> I've
> ever been to, but I doubt I've every had so much fun.
>
> J
>
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