MFF is always a favorite convention of mine, for both the people and the location (I can only hope the new location for next year is half as nice.) I enjoyed myself plenty this year. Won't go into details, but here's a few notables and highlights:

The trip from Ohio to Illinois (and back) was largely uneventful, with only one minor navigational error each way. All in all a good time.

For the trip (traveling with Shou Lung) I bought a cheapo MP3 player that plugs in the cigarette lighter and broadcasts through the car radio. I already had one, but this one had a random shuffle function, which I prefer over playing everything in order everytime. Unfortunately, it's not smart enough to keep track of what it's already played, and repeats a lot after it's been going a while. If I hear "Hotel California" one more time... :)

We jumped around in sleeping arrangements a lot this year. Friday and Saturday nights were in the Hyatt con hotel (thanks to Ponygirl) and Thursday and Sunday night were in the Amerisuites overflow hotel (Thanks to Cmdr. Kitsune or myself, depending on the night). The rooms are a bit nicer and more spacious in the overflow hotel, and you get free breakfasts. No lobby full of water and Koi though. Worth mentioning is when Ponygirl added my name onto the room, some fun little clerical error happened, and she was "Marcy Schwartz" from then on, at least to the hotel. All part of my diabolical plan. :)

The new "lottery" system for the artists' alley worked a lot better and more smoothly than I would have expected. Only downside is the place where signups and announcements took place, and the Artist Alley location itself were on totally opposite ends of the main floor. That's only an issue if one's hauling a tote full of stuff though.

I had my Japanese Soundwave Transformer toy which doubles as an MP3 player out on the table. It was more popular at the con than anything I was selling or drawing. I tried listening to some music while in the alley, but usually something or someone came up, so I took the earphones out. Pretty sure I never listened to any one song in its entirety.

One of the big reasons I like MFF's location is the wide variety of places to shop and eat in the immediate area. Didn't get to visit as many as I would've liked, but did try out a nice Thai place and make a couple trips to my standby for Chicago Dogs, Portillo's. Watch out for those "sport peppers", especially if you're out of practice eating spicy food, like I was.

Spent the majority of my time outside the alley hanging out semi-quietly with various folk, trading a few sketches, and/or listening to tales of furry drama. Got to hang around with a few folk I haven't seen much up to now, such as Gunmouth and Kamicheetah. I've met 'em before, but I think this is the first time I've been near either or them for more than ten consecutive seconds. :) Nice to converse outside of the internet or a crowded public room, in any case.

Is it me, or were there fewer Koi in the lobby moat than previous years?

General hellos and thanks to: Ponygirl, Cmdr. Kitsune, Shou, Ice, Fisk, Todd, Mitch & Amy & Colin, Gunmouth, Kami, Maverick, Bonk, Max Blackrabbit, gNAW, DCRabbit, Scappo, Blackfrost, Shawntae, Tremaine, Soundwave, Optimus Prime, and everyone else I forgot or can't remember how to spell properly. :)

On the way out Monday, I stopped at a toy/collector shop I discovered in the area, White Wizard Toys. Fun place for all kinds of geeky crap. I took a sexy anime girl figure and a die-cast metal Klingon Bird of Prey home myself.

Nifty time this year. Musta been good, since I completely ignored all aspects of the internet the whole time I was there. Seriously, what's up with that!?

Eric S. (a few sketches to come)