Chicago Report

As I have attended several shows in California, this was the first big adventure for me. Traveling by air is not my favorite thing to do. It’s boring and cramped (I’m a tall dude)- you can't move, fart or sneeze... well, maybe you can- I might get seat choice then. Right off the bat, the plane leaving San Diego the engines would not start....not a good sign... I told Douggie this and he asked what airline I flew...he looked at me cross eyed... So I guess they fixed it in a jiffy (miracle) and off we went. I guess I didn't fly the right one. I watched the engines the whole way.... I’ll drive thank you. Carrying the figures is a challenge too. No sweat in San Diego, but at O’Hare on the way home, TSA took waaaaaay too long to figure out what was in the box (it was in the xray machine 5 minutes!- no shit). The young TSA officer opened it finally and was really amazed by the contents. – Sorry to the 300+ people behind me in line. I did a miniature 101 seminar right there to the TSA employees... Is it Ok to say " I got six little dudes with guns in the box".......??

Once at the hotel after the cab ride from hell (cheap is not always better Matt….. I think the guy was doing IT support while he was driving- among other things) I was met by Dave Peschke. Dave is a super guy and made me feel welcome –even though I was from California. He was the show chair and did a great job with his club putting on the show.

I had a great time meeting everyone that meets here on the forums and those folks I have not seen in years- Jason Green, Jason Whitman and his wife, Matt Springer, Kreston, Chris, John Long, Steve Deyo, Stephan Ward, Dano and his wife, Jon Harbuck, Fletcher, Stephan Malia, Mike Blank, Russ (Rusty) Anders and the Texas crowd, the Jeffries, Doug Cohen, Dee Moore, Mark Mindeman, Mike Stelzel and of course Dutch. The list goes on and on, and I sincerely apologize if I left your name out- I'm going off memory and that aint too good. Chime in here if you had a good time and shout out a name or two. (oh, I did join APG- what a great cause- so Herrera owes me dinner)

Overall the show was bigger than I expected and the people just as nice as they could be. That’s what this hobby is all about. The entries were just superb. It either makes you want to go home and burn your stuff, or strive to do just a little better. I sat in on one seminar and it was great- but I don't paint dudes with red uniforms and gold lace---who's army was that anyway? Kreston said they were Canadians or something.....

We had a blast in the hospitality suite- yep, we did send inflammatory emails to Pete Herrera- too bad we couldn’t stay awake long enough to get his equally inflammatory responses- all in fun of course. But next year we will probably do it in person. We ought to have beer on the show floor- that would make it a kick in the ass show- spill proof steins of course... __________________