vivdunstan

Greetings from Monroeville, PA, just outside of Pittsburgh! I'm sitting here sipping shitty hotel room coffee and waiting for the free breakfast to start so I can get actual coffee. Sadly, that's not for about an hour, so shitty coffee it is for now.

Yesterday was a long day. I got up at 5 and worked for 4 hours, which was busy. I did a lot of schedule work. It turns out that being able to look at the schedule and see where you can move people to open up slots, or to fill things and how different appointments could fit together is not a thing that people can do according to my boss. Sounds fake, but I'm actually good at it. I can take a slot that has openings on one MRI machine, and see who I could move to open up a spot on another machine for a STAT patient. (We're getting so many openings on the 1.5 machine, and all we need is 3T slots for MRIs.) Part of my success is that I'm very stubborn, and also competitive.

After that, we walked the dog, who had multiple delivery men to distract him, and did not want to poop. It was very sad. Then we went back and got out stuff and headed out onto the highways. IT snowed most of the way through MD, but thankfully had not laid on the road. Once we got past Hagerstown, the snow stopped, and we made good time.

We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for lunch and continued up. Including lunch and bathroom break, it took about 4.5 hours, which isn't terrible.

After that, we lounged on the sofa (this room is enormous. Seriously HUGE. It's got a little living room area and a desk and I like it (even if I slept for shit).

Then, it was off to get dinner. I had put in a reservation at a place that was about 4 miles away. Sadly, Googlemaps took us this tiny windy two lane road that was somewhat difficult in the pitch dark, so by the time we got there, nerves were somewhat shredded.

We went to Eighty Acres Kitchen and Bar who had excellent food and amazing service. Our server, Liz was SO good. She seemed to have a sixth sense for when we needed another Shirley Temple. The gnocchi was softer than I'm used to, and I had some texture issues, but the flavor was spot on. My duck breast was well cooked and so full of flavor, and it came with a shreded half sour red cabbage that cut through the richness and made it even better. Jess had the Short Ribs, which were also really outstanding. After that, we finished up with a creme brulee, which made me happy.

Then it was back to the room, where I mostly failed to sleep well. No real shock there.

Today is the big day! Comic Con! I also may have signed up for another picture of us with Freddy and Jason. (Robert Englund--with iconic glove) and Ken Kurtzinger--in full costume.) Since I loved that shitty movie, I'm excited. (Supid, shitty movie being Freddy Vs Jason.)

I have promised to refrain from climbing Frank Grillo like a tree, likewise for Ron Perlman.

I wish I had some great pose planned for my pictures, but alas, I just want a hug from Ron Perlman. Beauty and the Beast was a formative show for me, and I dearly love the Hellboy movies. Ooh, and Hannibal Chau from Pacific Rim. He also was deeply entertaining.

We'll see how it goes! If the pictures are not terrible, I'll consider scanning them and posting them here.

Tomorrow, we shall go forth back to the con, so we can do the Transformer's panel and Jess can get their picture.

Okay, almost time for breakfast. Everyone have an outstanding Saturday!