You are not the ones to make me fly, and therefore are obviously not the ones to take me home

The trip home was fun. My barely-long-enough-to-reach-my-connecting-flight layover in Denver turned into what was nearly an all-night stay. The plane that normally makes the XNA-Denver run and back again was diverted to Colorado Springs due to severe storms…and then vanished off the radar. Well, that’s a good sign. I still don’t know what finally happened with that. Finally, they got us on a plane, some plane, any plane to get us out of there. We went around the aforementioned nasty weather at fairly close range and it was spectacular – moonlight illuminating the tops of the clouds, which were just boiling with lightning. Breathtaking stuff. There was a woman about two seats behind me who didn’t agree, however, though that may or may not have had something to do with how many bloody marys she’d had.

I touched down at XNA at around one in the morning, and was groggy enough that I took my time driving home. Of course the kitties were happy to see me, though I’m worried about Xena – she’s been eating very little, though I don’t know how much of that is the heat and how much of it is her missing her favorite human. I’m worried about her. The baby room painting is coming along nicely, but the rest of the house, to put it as charitably as I can, isn’t. So I’m trying to overcome a bit of mental jet lag and get back to work.

Now, I know what you really want to see – the obligatory CGE stash photo.

For ridiculously low prices, I got:
2600 Tac-Scan, Strategy X and 3-D Tic Tac Toe
Colecovision Mr. Do’s Castle and Illusions
Intellivision Dig Dug and Pole Position
Game Boy Color Dragon’s Lair, new in the box no less
New CDs from 8 Bit Weapon and ComputeHer
Lenny Herman’s ABC To The VCS
CD of Video Game Audio Stories from Good Deal Games
CD-ROM of a huge number of classic game manuals, also from GDG
The complete Classic Gamer Magazine CD-ROM – man, those guys had some great writers.
And only I would be crazy enough to come to CGE…and come home with the Face of Boe and Battlestar Galactica season 2.5. 😆

And add to that, from a pre-CGE trade, NES Pac-Mania by Tengen and Intellivision World Championship Baseball, and those right there are some holy grails, folks – and you may be amazed to hear that I didn’t quite break the bank (a.k.a. my extremely meager budget) to get ’em. (Hell, some of the above were just given to me, though I’m not gonna say which!)

Recently, as my wife’s friends have been loading us down with baby clothes, diapers and other stuff, there’s been some discussion of how her friends are really good to her, but this weekend has reminded me that many of my friends are divinely gracious to me as well. This weekend has been a blast, and at least one person told me that me being here has as much to do with “it wouldn’t be the same without you here” as it does with chronicling the show on video. Sort of like my “pre-baby bachelor party,” geek-style. And I really appreciate everyone for their generosity, unhealable deep-cut discounts, and putting up with me obstructing their view with my camera tripods. 😆

And it’s the people and the memories that have really made me laugh and put me at ease this weekend, while a few days before the show I had to admit to myself that I was worrying myself sick about my wife being at home alone, eight months pregnant, while I’m out in Las Vegas with all my buddies. She tried to tell me to relax and have a good time. But all these guys helped to make that happen, and I can’t thank them enough. They’re not like family, they are family.

Also, a big shout-out to Dave and Robert for staying home, manning the battlestations, and updating the news pages with the latest stuff from San Diego Comic-Con. If, between their efforts and my barely-coherent blogging, your geek quotient hasn’t been met yet, then you’re clearly a customer who can’t be satisfied. 😛