Peter guesses that every year, the San Diego Comic-Con is 30% larger than the year before. I’d assumed that when the convention center reached 100% capacity (as it did last year), that it couldn’t get any bigger. I was wrong: the convention has instead increasingly sprawled out into its downtown San Diego surroundings and beyond….
Author: cjbickford
I Hate the Day Before Comic-Con
With 15+ years of experience of packing up and going to Comic-Con, you’d think one of these years it would go smoothly. But no matter how much we’ve prepared, the day before Comic-Con is always a hot, hectic mess. I can’t even remember some of the details of all any more, but I cannot remember…
A Month of Dramatic Events
Peter and I usually live an interesting life, but we try to keep it mellow just before Comic-Con, our big annual event, because there’s plenty of drama already with readying the latest version of ComicBase, making sure everything’s in place for the show, and packing everything up. Well, this year, Fate did not agree with…
A Hike in Arastradero Preserve
I love Arastradero Preserve in Palo Alto, but normally we keep our hikes close to home, especially if we have others joining us. But this week, Neil was at a camp at Stanford, so I figured I’d go on a hike with Kelly while I was there, and invite others willing to make the drive…
Oakland Fairyland
Kelly’s been eager to visit Oakland’s Fairyland, which I agreed would be a wonderful place to her. On Wednesday, I took here there, since I was already almost halfway there, having dropped Neil off at Stanford for his Maya camp. Fairyland is all I could want; and it makes me miss the old Happy Hollow…
Alice in Stanford Wonderland
Last week, Neil went to a full-day camp on the Stanford campus to learn how to do 3D modelling in Maya. He enjoyed the camp, but the week turned out to be an adventure not only about that, but beyond that as well. For one thing, Neil’s friend Bill Gosper lives near Stanford, and he…
Bondage Tomatoes
This is my third year gardening, and my initial amusement that the tomatoes are knaves and the pumpkins are kings still stands. I’ve also improved tremendously, which I can only attribute to the blessings of my neighbor “Demeter.” In fact, my pumpkins were so tremendous last year that they were the terror of the neighborhood,…
Mr. Mailman’s Great San Jose Adventure
Kelly likes to watch a TV station called Sprout, and told me there was a contest to meet “Chica” in Philadelphia. It required downloading and coloring a paper “Mr. Mailman” and being photographed with him in various places, a la a travelling gnome or Flat Stanley. So Kelly and Neil took Mr. Mailman out for…
New Brighton Beach in June
One of my homeschooler groups organized beach days, but so far, most of the people involved have wussed out on going to the beach unless it’s truly hot. But this Tuesday, I was going to go to the beach, rain or shine, with or without anyone else. So we ended up being the only people…
Frog Lake
Last Saturday, I went to one of the state parks that’s been threatened (whether genuinely or in the latest round of stupid politician kabuki theatre) with closure, Henry Coe Park. I’d wanted to hike up to Frog Lake for years: it’s a popular fishing hole, according to lore, especially since it’s the lake closest to…