LostCarPark's Journal

Having been involved in the organisation of Octocon for more years than I care to remember, it's funny that I get at least as nervous about the years I'm not involved in as the years I was.

This year there was good reason to be nervous coming up to the con, as a lot of things were, well, late. I don't want to criticise the committee too much in public, as I've made my fair share of Octocon blunders, and I do think there is plenty of evidence to show that the committee know what the problems were and are taking steps to address them.

Having said that, once the convention started, everything seemed to go very well. Attendance was down on previous years - at a guess I'd say about 80 - but at least most programme items had enough to spark lively debate. most of the people I enjoy meeting at Octocon were there, and it was an enjoyable experience all round.

I did think the programme items could have been better thought out, and I'd really to have known in advance who the panalists were going to be. in some cases I felt they would like to have known this too! But most seemed to get a good discussion going, even if it wasn't the discussion listed in the programme book.

The casino night was fun. I was croupiere (or whatever it's called) on the Roulette wheel for a while. I do rather miss the disco, though I think we'd need to get numbers way up before that would be worth reintroducing.

There was an interesting discussion about bidding for Eurocon or even Eastercon. I would like to see it happen, though I think three Irish cons with less than a hundred attendees each is not a good starting point. It was agreed to hold off for this year and discuss it again for a posssible 2011 bid. I'd like to see what attendance is like next year before making a decision.

Showing rare foresight, the committee announced they almost have a guest for next year, and will announce when confirmed. They have also announced 2009 as year of the fan, with Dave Lally as guest of honour, and 2010 will be a very big year for the con, with the famous George R R Martin already confirmed.

I'm very impressed by this, and if they can keep building momentum, the con is in for a very bright future.

Not sure if the shot of this I posted last week worked, so here it is in action: Dublin's newest form of public transport.

This weekend the Great Lego Train Show takes place in Swindon:

Hope this link works - it's not easy on a phone!

This should be quite an event, with lots of Lego trains, as well as non-train displays. And all this on top of everything the museum normally has to offer.

I will definitely be there on Sunday, and I may be there for some of Saturday.

For anyone with a latent interest in Lego, this is a good chance to see where it's at these days.

Looks like I'll be in London (and Swindon) this weekend. More details when I figure out what they are...

I heven't posted much the last while. This has a lot to do with lack of time. That might change a bit, thanks to my new phone. Okay, it's not going to magically find me any extra time, but it might let me use some of the time that otherwise tends to go to waste. While I do some writing on my Psion, it tends to stay locked up in that device, simply because it's too much effort to do anything with.

So I now have a Nokia E61i. I'd post a picture, but it's a little fiddly to do here. Maybe I'll add one later. It's a little bigger than a normal phone (though it's still no brick), but it has a big screen and a tiny QWERTY keyboard to make up for it.

I'm still getting the hang of it' but so far I like it. The screen is lovely. It can fit loads of text, and it's very bright and clear. The keys take some getting used to, and they're a lot slower than a real keyboard, but a hell of a lot faster than predictive text. I love it for texting.

Browsing the web is not bad, especially when in a WiFi zone, though on the train I'm stuck with GSM/3G. It has a clever system that lets me see an overview of the page then zoom in on the bit I want. It also has an email client that supports push email if you have an exchange server for it to talk to. I don't, so I'm using the GMail mobile Java ap, which is also great.

As I've reached my station, this seems a good point to end this post, but my initial impression is good. I hope to post more on future journeys, and not just abut the phone.

Unless something distracts me!

I don't really consider myself as in the job market, but I just jot an email from a recruiter about a really sweet looking job. Suddenly I find myself very tempted to brush up the old CV...

Does anyone in the London area (particularly anyone who will be at the Sproutlore events this weekend) have a Canon Ixus (I've probably spelt that wrong) charger that Anders could borrow, as his camera is telling him his batteries are flat.