I got back positive results today, Friday, July 8 after having a negative home test on Wednesday, my worst day. Started feeling it Tuesday night after arriving home Monday. Since none of my room mates came down with it and It started relatively late I can only assume I got it at the Supersponsor Luncheon (no mask because of food), last breakfast at the Hampton or the one time I did not wear a mask in the elevator in which no one else rode but this thing can linger or at Furryland (Saturday). I had a N/KN95 mask on at all other times.

Since one or two furs have been reported to brag that they attended the con with active infections I will recommend that EVERYONE be PCR tested next year. "It's the only way to be sure".

The first con of any type that I have been to since TFF2020 has ended. Because of this I will, for the first time, post almost all of the pictures I took to FA with only slight editing (in most cases). When I can I will post the name of the suit or its owner. If I do not have a name I will leave it "blank" until I find out/someone tells me. If someone sees their picture and wants it they can ask me for a copy in either JPG (3-25MB), PNG (25+MB) or RAW if they can edit it (25-47MB). Some pictures may have been left out and can be made available. The pictures from that Thursday night have all been posted and I am working on Friday's now (8/20/21). Note that group photos may be posted last.

In the future I may post to some site ALL of the digital pictures I have taken at cons. This may add up to 1.8TB (including RAW formats from the last 4 years). Cons will include Anthrocon 2004-2019, FurFright (except 2007, missing), many Furtherconfusions (2001-2011, 2016, 2017) and many more. These will be all JPG's and may be unmodified.

My next possible cons: ANE (first time, 50/50), Fur The More 2022 (50/50), AC 2022 (paid for), Furrydelphia 2022 (50/50) and Furpocalypse 2022 (100% 26 miles from me, the closest con ever). Due to the ongoing Covid conditions I will not fly until 2023, if ever.

After hearing the accurate, scientifically based news about the present outbreak I have come to the decision that I will not be attending ANY convention of ANY type until a proven vaccine has been released. This is because I have three strikes against me when it comes to my potential survival so I cannot take take any chances. I will not name any of the potential conventions, including one that I am already paid up for, except the NY Auto Show which was delayed until August and may now be cancelled.

I am NOT advocating that any convention be cancelled by those in charge of them but I will advocate that individuals think their decisions over and make the wise choice as far as their personal welfare and that of others (if you may be an unaffected carrier) is concerned. The following is to cut off certain responses that may occur: people of all ages have died and are dying, from 4 years of age to 50 and beyond so please do not think you are immune or may survive this easily as I have heard survivors complain that the experience is worse than of the regular flu. Also, do not even consider any ridiculous political views to cloud your decision.

If you see the new trailer for the new Spiderman movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9DwoQ7HWvI Notice at 1:29 where The Vulture comes down on the camera in what looks like a large atrium of a building. That is FWA's hotel. http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14313991/
I took that picture the year before they moved in there and the picture faces the opposite direction of the movie shot.

I saw on the news today a curious sight: a gorilla chasing an astronaut on the International Space Station! The truth is that the retired brother of an astronaut on board the I.S.S. sent him a joke gift n the form of a gorilla suit so he donned it and joked around with the other members of the crew. This could be called the first fursuit in orbit although I know there are those that may argue this point. This is a link to the story: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/nat.....369738391.html

Hotel
The Marriot

Arrival/Departure
Getting in Wendseday, early afternoon. Leaving Tuesday early morning.

Means of transportation
Southwest Airlines.

Sharing a room with
No one. Roomie had to bail early due to money issues. Luckily I planned for this: I assumed I would be by myself.

Who do you hang out with?
No one in particular. I tend to be a loner.

Gender
Male

Preference
Straight

Relationship Status
No one/none

How old are you?
58

How tall are you?
6'1"

Are you an Artist?
No (I stopped drawing back in 1984, a decision I regret now)

Do you have an artist table?
No (see above).

Do you take commissions?
No (see above).

Do you do trades?
No (see above).

Are you a Fursuiter?
No (I dehydrate too easily)

Attending parties?
I tend not to. I tend to disappear to most in them.

Do you drink?
No.

Can I buy you a drink?
Non alcoholic? Yes.

Do you smoke?
No

Are you attending any panels?
Probably

Stage or public performance?
No.

How do I identify myself to you?
By any name and any contact I may have had with you, Second Life included.

Rules of engagement (physical contact)?
Ask first, always.

How can I find you?
I will be hanging out in the dealer’s room and near groups of fursuiters carrying a black Sony a6000 with a big lens (most of the time) and an attached flash probably with a FA or camera based backpack and wearing a FC 2001, 2011, 2016 or Fur The More shirts (one a day). I am a heavy set African American with glasses and gray hair. I am on twitter but email (yurex109@verizon.net) or FA notes would be best.

Can I talk to you?
Yes.

Can I give you lots of money?
Depends on what you expect in return

Can I give you stuff?
Depends on the stuff.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
Hug: Ask. Snuggle: no.

Can I come to dinner with you?
Due to a major issue I had at the Doubletree years ago most likely no.

Can I hang out with you?
If you want to but I may bore you and I prefer to be alone.

Can I take your picture?
Only if you are in suit at the time.

How do I know if you're not looking to socialize (angry, busy or upset)?
Assume I do not wish to socialize. For me it is the weakest part of any convention I go to.

Personality Type?
I tend to be a loner but am friendly if approached in a similar manner.

Any goals?
To get as many art commissions as possible and attend the adult dragon panel if it is still being held (my last was 2011 and I have yet to check the schedule) and to try and have fun. Also to explore the shopping mall at the other end of the Alum Rock light rail line Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning. I also plan not to get sick after the con: stress and time zone change seemed to have made me sick after every FC since 2004; I have had my flu shot.

Due to a very good deal from Orbitz and a free hotel room (see below) I will be at MFF for the first time evah! 

Where are you staying?
The Wyndham (6.5 miles away from the Hyatt)

What days are you getting there/How long are you staying?
Thursday Morning to Monday Afternoon! Commuting from The Wyndham (possibly in a two door two passenger car rental special: Smart for Two up to a Corvette maybe?)

How can I find you?
If you have my cellphone number (txt or call).

Will you be suiting?
Don't have a suit.

Do you draw?
No

Are you taking commissions or trades?
No

Do you do free art?
No

How old are you?
58 a month ago to the day of my arrival at O’Hare

How tall are you?
6’ 1”

What is your Gender?
Male

Can I talk to you?
Yes

Can I touch you?
Only with my permission.

Are you nice?
I can be.

If I see you, how can you get my attention?
Call me Yurex or Drakeil (I will also answer to my real name).

Where will you be most of time?
Thursday early afternoon: The Loop then registration. After that either dealers den/artist alley, taking pictures of fursuits and during the fursuit parade (silver Sony a6000 and camcorder on a silver tripod) and, stalking Muzz’s Eddie suit.

What will you be selling?
No

Can I buy you a drink?
I do not drink alcohol. Other than that, yes.

See you there. 

"Zoo": If you already heard about this new CBS show please bare with me. It seems revolves around mysterious animal attacks that start in the US then go world wide. From the synopsis of the first episode the attacks maybe disease based. So it comes down to that this may be a "World War Zoo" series of sorts except that the animals are not "undead". It looks like it has a lot of animal attacks using trained animals and CGI. It starts 9 PM on Tuesday.

Due to circumstances that I discovered I did not control I will not be going to Anthro New England. All I say is that it has nothing to do with the con itself. I will be at Fur The More and will be arriving a few days early so I can go to the National Zoo and Air and Space Museum; having a DC Metro station nearby is very helpful. I will also be at Anthrocon. FAU will be 70/30, go/no go and I will be commuting this year. If Furpocalypse 2015 is on I will be there and I may go to my first Midwest Furfest, the only con besides FC2016 that i will be flying: for the first time since FC2011. My con attendance for the rest of 2016 and 2017 will be greatly reduced due to other circumstances; 2017 may be my last year.

I have a bad problem: Ever since I was updated to Firefox 31.0 I have been unable to play Shockwave files (SWF) in the full Firefox window by clicking Download and I cannot save them to the hard drive. They will only play in the standard window on the owners page. Older files that were saved no longer play in Firefox at all; all I get is a white window in the browser. If it means anything I can no longer get IE or Chrome to work in Windows 7: IE comes up but freezes and Chrome fails to start. If anyone knows how t fix this I would appreciate it.

Thank You.

Just saw the IMAX 3D version a few hours before this post and I have to say that this is a good movie with some twists that will surprise you no matter what you know of Loki or the Marvel Universe in general. There is also a surprise cameo that I will not spoil. There are also TWO big reasons to stay until the credits finish: one I did not get as I have not been involved in the Marvel books in two decades and another that is both touching and funny. Again I recommend the movie especially if you liked the first one. :)

With the big drive to FWA out of the way and brand new tires on my car (rolls very smooth now) I prepare for the drive to AC2013 and to have roomies there for the first time since the first Pittsburgh one in 2006: one will take the rain to close where I live first and the other is self driving. this will also be the first time I am in the Omni, but I have been in it once for a small get together back in either 2008 or 2009.

I will also have my two new cameras with me: Canon G15 (for closer and low light shots) and SX50HS (longer zooms especially at the Zoo If it does not rain too much). I also got a Canon flash for both (shared) and it works well. This time I will try and post most of my best pictures here on FA and I may soon go back in time and post many AC pictures all the way back to the last Adams mark AC over the next year.

In about 12 to13 hours from when I write this I hope to have begun the longest one way drive of my life: NYC to Atlanta over a day and a half; I expect to arrive at the Westin between 2 and 5 pm on Thursday after a layover in Charlotte, depending on the traffic on I75/85 in the city (those who have driven in ATL know what I am talking about). This will all depend on how I feel in the next 12 hours as I feel like I may get sick (probably a strep throat). It could just be tiredness as I have had a lot of stress in the past week trying to get ready or mild dehydration from the prep for the Colonoscopy exam I had last Thursday. Hopefully I will make it and enjoy FWA for the first time since 2010. :)

For those who are interested the distance for me will be 881-883 miles to ATL and 643 miles to Charlotte according to Google Maps. My longest one way drive for me was back in 2007 from Cedar Point to home at 511 miles and 9.5 hours with two 30 minute breaks.

I have seen many furs with DLSR's at cons taking pictures without flash in relatively low light situations and getting great results. Since I do not want to pay over $700 for one I was wondering which of the lower level "point and Shoot" cameras would work in these situations.

The ones I have looked at online that I am considering are the foll0wing: Canon SX50HS (looks best for video from the videos from You Tube, great low light video. excellent 50X zoom), Nikon Coolpix P7700 (also good for video and low light, zoom is only 7.2X), Canon G15, Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 or Panasonic FZ200. If anyone has used these cameras in low light situations without flash please tell me how they came out. If any others can be recommended please do so (remember under $750 if possible).

Thanks in advance. :)

I got power back at the house 11/5/12 one hour AFTER I left for the emergency shelter but it came too late to keep my mother from freaking out to the point that she had to be hospitalized that morning (all tests are negative and they are holding her for evaluation). I hope others affected by Sandy get theirs back soon. The uploads I promised will have to wait until this weekend.

I have been without power in lower Westchester County NY since 10:10 pm Monday. Even though the tree was cleared off the broken lines that feed my area Wed. Morning (10/31/12) there is another leaning on another set that may affect my house; except for two houses which the tree is leaning on w/o damage the lines are not broken so they may still apply power to it when the others are fixed. When that happens I expect to start a large amount of uploads through Thanksgiving. Later all. :)

"Battleship" is not "The Avengers" but, for me at least, it is not as bad as some have made it out to be. There are remnants of the old game in the movie (note the commercials for the new version based on the movie) that all will recognize but I will not say how it comes up in the movie, but I will say that something similar has come up before in real life in the past either as a real situation or another movie and that the force field takes out all long range communications including GPS so targeting the high end weapons used in the first half of the movie is a major problem. BTW: the battleship in the trailers is the USS Missouri; yes i know it is technically a mothballed museum piece but as with many such ships still afloat, it still has certain "capabilities"; I won't say how or why it gets used. The HUB special on the movie did reveal that all the non-main actors are real navy personnel (active and retired) and that plays a major role.

So despite some of the cliches in the plot I found the movie overall entertaining for myself and worth the $6 matinee price, but if you do not like explosions, alien invasion movies, the military and the like do not go see it.

This may be a touchy subject but because of major changes in my life I have to bring it up now before the date gets any closer: is FAU 2012 going to occur and if so when will the web site be up (it was supposed to be us since October)? The reason I bring this up is because of the beginning of the deterioration of my mother's overall health I will have to cancel my trip to FWA this March and, sadly, AC in June, Fur Fright this October, FC next January and all other fur cons in 2013. This means that if the location for FAU this year holds true I will be able to commute there each day (110 miles round trip) which means this will be the only (and maybe last) con I will be able to attend until 2014 at the earliest. Some general cons I will be able to attend will be ICON on 4/1/12 and NY Comic Con this October as the former is drivable for one day attendance and the latter I can get to using commuter train and bus. I will also be at the NY Auto Show a week later. Thank you for an anticipated prompt response.

I recently got an email from the hotel that they had no room for me and that my Watch list status would be continued in case someone else cancels. This was a surprise to me because I thought I had a firm room reservation back in August when I called for one. Now I learn that the rooms were sold out since March! There was no obvious notice of this on their web site (or I was too dense to see it). I was very upset at this news but I have resolved this by getting a room at a Super 8 three exits north of the main hotel's exit as both of the local overflow hotels are sold out despite the rumors to the contrary. I will show up at the main hotel in case a room does open up as they advised me to do but I am resigned to a 15 to 20 minute commute two to three times a day, not counting finding a parking space at the Crowne Plaza.

I know that many may ask why don't I try to room with someone. Personally, despite doing so at two Fur Frights and one Anthrocon (all three times I had made the room reservation) with no resulting negatives I really like my privacy and I do not know too many furs well enough to try and enter into this type of situation.

I have recently noticed that they have posted the exact hotel status on their main page, six months too late.. :(

I am presently checking on the hotel status of the three other cons I plan on attending next year (AC, FAU and FWA) and so far their room blocks have yet to open (if anyone else know anything different about FWA PLEASE contact me ASAP). I will continue to do this on a daily basis until I have my rooms at these other furcons confirmed in writing.

I just came up with this and I have been called a sick little monkey because of it: Nyan MLP. Take any pony, put a Pop Tart cutie mark on her rump and have her galloping through the universe with a rainbow trail like a Tron light cycle. I will commission anyone who can do it and the animation can be based on the original one or brand new, preferably with the music but it is not necessary.

So who's up for it?

I'll dismiss with the meme structure and just say that I will do what I did last year: spend most of my time (and money) in the dealer's room as I have found that trying to meet and hold people's attention at cons is a major FAIL for me. I'll talk to and hang out w/almost anyone but I have found that searching out people just has not worked for me and has caused me great disappointments (read as depression) in the past.

I'll be arriving on Wed. (Westin) to go to the Zoo for the third time, and I may be walking around Pittsburgh a bit more on Thursday.

That's about it.

For the first time in my life a flight that I have to take has been canceled due to weather, in this case the snowstorm now hitting the NYC area. Instead of arriving Wednesday night I will not get there until after registration on Thursday night via Chicago instead of LA. This has aborted some of the plans I had and for the first time I will have to reg (I'm preregistered) On Friday morning. On the good side: at least I'll get there and will save money but cutting a day from the hotel bill. To bad this was not next year as I'm skipping FC2012 (at least for now).

I got one that will take me through LAX then to San Jose by 7:30pm on Wednesday then nonstop back to NY on Monday night. I am lucky I did it when I did as the price has gone up for that combination by $70. I suggest choosing one now before Christmas before all combinations head north of $400.

Well, Jet Blue has sold out of all the flights and connections to San Jose so it is either Delta via Salt lake or Atlanta (the last is ironic as I will not be able to go to FWA 2011) or American via TX or O'Hare. Southwest is a no go as the return flights all leave at 10:30am and the cost, as of now, is too high: is equal or more than Delta's even with paying for two bags both ways: $260 max with taxes plus $110 and Southwest is $369 at a minimum and the total flight times are much longer. I am planning on one bag and a heavy carry on and using AAA to reserve the flight as they are a bit cheaper and have better times for American than Orbitz.

Flying into San Francisco (SFO) is a possibility but taking the train to Ssan Jose then transferring to thhe light rail may be a bit cumbersome and with a late night red eye back to NY I will still have to leave the hotel before 7:00pm on Monday (I have not checked the train schedules).

I plan on making my reservations within the next few days.

For those who may want to fly into SFO here is the bookmark for Caltrain for the schedule are here: http://www.caltrain.com/schedules/w.....timetable.html

And the associated light rail info is here: http://www.vta.org/schedules/SC_902.html

Good luck to everyone going to FC.

For the first time I find that Jet Blue, the only airline that flies directly to San Jose from New York, has sold all off their seats on all direct and connecting flights; I did not buy any tickets because the cost was too high compared to other airlines; the costs never dropped beneath $369 all taxes included. Others were cheaper even with the cost for two pieces of luggage round trip ($300-350). the only routes left open are through Delta and American from JFK or LaGuardia. The base fares start at $216 ($260) for both airlines. I'll probably be flying through Atlanta or Salt lake City and through Atlanta on the way back. I hope that this helps some fell NY area furs who are going.