Another Readercon Semi-Report

[julieandrews]

There wasn't a panel I was interested in at 1 o'clock, so I thought I'd get something to eat. Stopped in the dealer's room and bought more books, then bought an overpriced sandwich wrap from the hotel vendor. 6$ for what was essentially a medium-sized burrito. I wouldn't have minded paying 6 dollars for it, had it been perhaps twice the size. Though three times the size would've been better.

I had approximately 45 minutes left to go online once I got to the room. I planned to watch part 3 of Dr. Horrible while eating my sandwich. Instead I was on the phone with tech support trying to secure an Internet connection for another day. The sandwich tasted good, but not 6$ good. Now the phone call has taken 26 minutes and 37 seconds. Compared to the last one which was 6 minutes. The woman on the first phone call was more competent than this guy.

I really don't have time for Dr. Horrible now. Just to finish this blog post.

The internet connection is also incredibly flaky. Remind me why I'm paying 10$ again? Oh yea, because there's no free wifi place within reasonable walking distance. I plan to complain at checkout. We'll see what comes of it.

A note for next year: Learn how to hack Lodgenet.

In retrospect, I should've gone to the consuite for free food and more entertainment than on-hold music.

[Post-attempting to post update: I clicked Post and it took me back to the stupid Lodgenet Gatekeeper page again. So now I'm talking to tech support again when I should be getting in the elevator to go to the next panel.

The name of the wireless network by the way? StayOnline. I do believe they are mocking me.]

[[Updated Update: I gave up on tech support, or they gave up on the hotel. Fed me some line about the hotel's equipment being messed up. So when I came back to the room at 6, again, no Internet. Another 10 minute call. But here is the post!]

Comments

[tcastleb.livejournal.com]

Yes, do complain about the internet. I work for a hotel that charges for internet and we do occasionally have problems with it and give it away free quite a bit. So, yes, do say something. You can also ask the front desk to change your room to one with a better signal, if possible.

[julieandrews.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice.

The signal doesn't seem to be much of the problem. It's frequently showing me full bars, all green. It just decides to cut out entirely now and then.

I just think charging for the Internet is like charging for cable in the room. Mean and cheap. Especially when they're already making out like bandits in the restaurant because there's no food within walking distance.

[tomomi.livejournal.com]

I hate internet charging. The Wyndham I usually stayed with in Pittsburgh charged in the rooms, though not in the lobby.

If you joined their rewards program (free), and didn't book the room through somewhere like priceline, you got free internet. Which annoyed me a bit.

Your goal for next year can be to learn to drive and bring a car. :)

[scottedelman.livejournal.com]

Is this the same Julie Andrews that I mentioned in this blog posting (http://scottedelman.livejournal.com/60842.html)? I assume that there was only one Julie Andrews at Readercon, but you never know ...

In any case, I looked for you later on at the con to find out what you and Desirina thought of the Delany documentary, but never found either of you. I'm curious, so please come by and let me know what you thought.

[julieandrews.livejournal.com]

Indeed it is. The more cons I go to, the more convinced I am I need to write under my own name rather than find a pen name. If only because people tend to remember it. :)

[scottedelman.livejournal.com]

So Julie Andrews isn't your real name? And here I just assumed that your parents were big fans of Mary Poppins!

A question, though. While I can understand writers sometimes wanting to use a pseudonym under certain circumstances, why did you happen to choose one that was already famous? Won't that cause trouble in the future?

[julieandrews.livejournal.com]

No, it is my real name. And I've been trying like crazy to come up with a good pen name. But it seems every professional I ask just says 'Why not use your own name?'.

I do have reasons for not using it, including. 1) Can't afford my own domain name. 2) Not so good with the search engines. 3) The other Julie Andrews has already published her memoir under that name, in addition to children's books under a slightly different name.

Then people suggest throwing in my middle name or middle initial, but I'm not a fan of that. And using two initials looks too much, to me, like V. C. Andrews.

So I'm a little obsessed with this topic. :)

[scottedelman.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see. I got it backwards. When you wrote, "the more convinced I am I need to write under my own name rather than find a pen name," I thought you meant that you needed to stop using the pen name of Julie Andrews and go back to your own name.

What's actually on your birth certificate? Julie or Juliet? If you instead went by Juliet Andrews, people might not automatically make the connection.