I'm sitting in an empty meeting room at Vulkon Tampa. Was able to get out of work early to beat traffic and pick up Johnny. Got to my sister Kathy's by 9PM and she treated us to dinner. That effectively put me into a triptophan reaction and kept us from driving the rest of the way here. We stayed up talking and playing board games until around 1 AM. Kathy was having a ball playing a logic game called "Mastermind" with Johnny. In her own sneaky way not only playing a game but trying to get his gelatinous grey matter to work a little. I was impressed that it only took her five minutes to mention my long hair! I was just relieved not to find her waiting at the door ready with a pair of shears.

Up an out early to get here. Met up right away with friends from the area. Max and his crew are a good bunch of people and definitely fun to hang with. Surprised Robin Curtis in the dealers room. She looked up, made eye contact and then she did a classic double take as she realized it was "the old" me. We are going to try to get some time together to catch up. She is a genuinely warm and caring person it has been fun to get to know over the years. I'm dying to hear the details in her life since I saw her last.

Johnny learned quickly that Vulkon is not the same kind of convention Shore Leave is. I hope he doesn't get completely bored here. While he has an interest in movies and comics there is some of my sci-fi interests which I know he shakes his head at. But aren't kids supposed to think their parent's are weird anyway? Vulkon is good for meeting friends and doing a little shopping, if necessary; it's not like a "real" convention. But just like I enjoy the break from work and mononoty back home, I'm sure he's enjoying a break from his siblings at the very least.

While in Naples we got to ride by the park named for my mother. It affected me a little more than I expected. Since being so far away from where she is actually buried it's something of a surrogate tombstone of sorts. In the same way a granite tombstone is a connection to the person so is the sign at the park. There are probably thousands of people who have seen the name Rita Eaton in the past three years. Some probably don't even stop to wonder who she was. But there has been someone,from time to time, who has asked, "Who was that?" In some way that keeps her memory alive. Her name is still being spoken. I don't know if she ever even set foot in the neighborhood in which the park is located but for as long as the park exists, so does she.

More later.


Am now at James and Michelle Muench's. They are at the International Conference in Birmingham and offered for me to stay here while they are out of town. It's good to have friends where ever you go. Slightly screwed up the directions and were looking for the place in pitch darkness during a heavy rain storm. What fun!

The rest of the day at Vulkon went well. As with most Vulkons, nothing remarkable. Robin and I weren't able to get time together, but after all, she is working.

It finally happened after 13 years. Someone finally called Johnny "Towaway, Jr"!!!!! A proud moment. Well,for me anyway!