The Reno mentality certainly is friendly, and while yes, these hotel folks are in the hospitality aka smile a lot business, the hotel registration staff, the waiters, the maitre'd, hostesses and bell desk personnel were across the board some of the nicest folks I've ever encountered in a hotel. I actually ended up in a conversation for like 15 minutes with one of the Atlantis security staff - you know, one of those people standing at the intersection/beginning of the skybridge/Atlantis hotel seemingly every hour of every day. She liked us. A lot. Not only were we what we always tell people - "fans are good for business. No, I'm sure we told them, we won't gamble much but we will eat and drink. We will make you glad to have us. (Given the previous guests were lots of guys suffering from Love Of Car which meant lots of underage drinking and puking) we really shone.

Watching people accepting awards was fun. By now, many folks who know how Chris Garcia accepted his Hugo for Best Fanzine. I am so so happy he was so so happy. Watching Stu up there, honored by the committee in being asked to give a Hugo was wonderful.


Catching up with people was big fun. The chance to maybe add to fannish lore, by joining up to the Fancyclopedia project appeals to me. I know stuff. I've been a fan for a long time. I'm not a fannish historian, but I've been part of three fandoms. It's in early stages as a wiki but, for example, Stu Shiffman appears in it but there is no mention as yet of his Hugo. Hugo nominations. Fanzine work or fanzine titles. Nothing yet about his involvement in the Sidewise Awards. It's early days yet and I want to help.

The food at the Bistro Napa was very good. The Manhattan Deli was quite good. The sandwich stuff place was perfectly reasonable. Prices were reasonable. Service was speedy and considerate without being cloying.

The ADA/Handicapped access room was perfectly okay, but nothing great. It was a cool view - a real view, not of a parking lot or another hotel's windows. Nothing exciting - brown hills are brown hills. But it was nice to have a view of the area. Realizing the bowl we were sitting in. The ADA requirements were met, but little thought was put into anything else. This isn't atypical but there's a difference between good and great and with a little effort, it could have been great. As it was, it lacked a towel rack, a hook for a robe in the bathroom. The curtains which closed with the usual rod, were behind so much furniture that had I not been able to stand up, or had Stu not been with me, I would never have been able to open or close the curtains. There was very limited space for toiletries as most of the space was taken up with towels. The ice bucket was too high to reach. And of course, there was not enough space to plug the chair in to charge it. Finally, there was the issue of the sliding bathroom door, a door too heavy for me to open or close. Almost too heavy for Stu to open or close and maintenance informed me that there was nothing they could do. Again, by myself, I would not have been able to close the bathroom door. Well, if I'm by myself, you ask, what does it matter? And of course the answer is, who wants to steam up the whole room and i stay warmer with the door closed. But the hotel itself could not fix the door, which we found nuts. Aw, come on!

So we'll talk some more after I post this. I'm still recovering from the trip home. The last post will probably be short but it will be about people, old friends and new. And the stuff we bought.