Dragon*Con is here!

So I am officially at Dragon*Con and this post is being published in advance.

Every year I like to make goals for Dragon*Con, the things that I must do or have. Everything else is flexible. So what are my goals this year? Glad you asked!

• Get Richard Dean Anderson's autograph. 
• Get Connor Trinneer's autograph. I collect fictional engineers, and Connor Trinneer played Trippe in Enterpise. I loved him despite his unnecessary Southern accent. (Really, Trek writers? People in Panama City do not sound like that.)
• Buy a fancy pocket watch. Specifically, the kind that self-winds from the kinetic energy of the wearer's movements. Also, one that you can see the inside clockwork on. I know Dragon*Con has them. I've seen them before, and my crappy pocket watch has annoyed me enough.
• Buy a geeky T-Shirt. I do this every year.
• Get a copy of Legion and have Brandon Sanderson sign it, if available. Legion is a new novella by Brandon that comes out this weekend. A booth is supposed to have it. Hopefully, I can get my hands on a copy. :)
• Eat at that one restaurant that let's their waiters cosplay. I can never remember the name of it, but its right next to the Dragon*Con hotels. My parents and I eat there every year. 
• Hang out with friends and have a good time.

So that's it! My goals. Short and sweet!

If you are at Dragon*Con, I hope you are having a fantastic time. If you're not, I hope you have a great Labor Day weekend whatever you are doing!

Countdown to Dragon*Con: Where to Hide

Countdown: Today

In case I haven't already established with these posts that Dragon*Con is crazy crowded, let me restate it here. Dragon*Con is crazy crowded. And unless you are one of the lucky ones staying in a Dragon*Con hotel like the Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton, or Westin, then there is no fortress of solitude for you to escape to in the middle of the day when you can't handle the people anymore. 

Well never fear! Because this blogger knows your pain, and I've got you covered!

Where To Hide From the Crowds at Dragon*Con:

• Hyatt: The International Tower is hands down the best place in the Hyatt to hide, especially the bottom of the International Tower. This area is home to some small panels, and there is plenty of room to curl up in a corner and relax your feet. It's fairly quiet and not very populated. This is probably my favorite place to just escape into. 
• Hilton: The Hilton is actually a great place to hide in general, because not much beyond the Walk of Fame goes on here. However, if it's evening time and you just want a chair to sit in and a table to lay your head on, go to the Hilton basement. This is the gaming room, as in an entire ballroom with tables and chairs where people are playing board/card games. I can't vouch for during the day, but in the evening it gets quiet and cozy. And of course, if you just want to rest your feet, you can always join a game too!
• Marriott: There are no places to escape people (that I've found) in the Marriott. It is crazy crowded all the time. However, for people watching, the Atrium level where the two big vendor rooms are is great. Find a corner, curl up, and take pictures of all the people passing by.
• Sheraton: The Sheraton has lots of nooks and crannies you can curl up in. This building is the home to the Trek Track, though, so beware the Trekkies!
• Westin: I honestly don't know. It's not that it's crazy crowded, it's that I haven't spent a lot of time here.

So those are my secret places! What about you? Do ever have to find places where you can just hide from people at a convention or conference because you can't take the crowds anymore?

Countdown to Dragon*Con: My Schedule

Countdown: 1 day

So other than stalking Richard Dean Anderson and Brandon Sanderson, where will I be this weekend at Dragon*Con? Excellent question!

I love Dragon*Con but not just for the big panels. A lot of fun happens in the small fan panels. Below is my rough draft of my schedule, which is subject to change at a moment's notice at any moment when actually at the con. :)

Friday:

Note: the great thing about Friday is that it's fairly low attendance, especially in the morning. So any big panels on Friday are ones you should go to and will probably get good seats in them. Or at least be in the same room.

Time	Event	Location
10:00 am	The Torchwood Panel	Hyatt Centenial I-III
11:00 am	The Richard Dean Anderson Panel Queue	Outside of the Marriott Atrium Ballroom
1:00 pm	The Richard Dean Anderson Panel	Marriott Atrium Ballroom
2:30 pm	The Lt. Uhura Panel	Sheraton Grand Ballroom A-F
4:00 pm	The Firefly Panel	Westin Peachtree Ballroom A-F
5:30 pm	Looney Theories (WoT)	Westin Roswell 1-2
8:30 pm	Writer's Track/Gods and Goddesses or YA Track/Beyond Hunger Games	Hyatt Embassy D-F or Marriott A707

And I will probably go to bed early on Friday, because Saturday is going to be a crazy long day!

Saturday:

Note: This is hands down the most crowded day of the con.
 

Time	Event	Location
10:00 am	The Parade	Peachtree St.
11:30 am	The Eureka Panel	Hyatt Centenniel II-III
1:00 pm	Remembering Anne McCaffrey or Cabin in the Woods	Hyatt Hanover C-E or Westin International DE
2:30 pm	Which? Where? What's Coming?	Marriott A704
4:00 pm	The Connor Trinneer Panel	Sheraton Capitol Ballroom
5:30 pm	The TNG Panel	Sheraton Grand Ballroom A-F
7:00 pm	Coming Soon (in books)	Marriott A707
10:00 pm	Heroes and Villains Ball	Sheraton Grand Ballroom A-F

Sunday:

Note:This day will be almost as crowded as Saturday.
 

Time	Event	Location
10:00 am	Timey Wimey Literary Stuff	Hyatt Greenbriar
11:30 am	Whedon Universe Countdown         or Book Club-Ender's Game	Westin International DE or Marriott A707
1:00 pm	In line for Supergate IV	Outside of Hyatt Centennial II-III
2:30 pm	Supergate IV	Hyatt Centennial II-III
4:00 pm	The Memory of Light Preview	Westin Atlanta Ballroom
5:00 pm	Dinner with my Parents
7:00 pm	Robert Jordan's Legacy	Westin Roswell 1-2
8:30 pm	Editors and Agents Tell All	Hyatt Embassy D-F
9:30 pm	Steampunk Ball	Westin Peachtree Ballroom A-F

Monday:

Monday is my free day, when I do whatever whim enters into my head. Like sleeping in, lunch with my local friends, and mostly wandering the dealer's rooms. So I have no planned events, but I will be there all day.

If you're going to Dragon*Con, are there any big panels/events that you are looking forward to?

Countdown to Dragon*Con: Do's and Don't's

(Did I forget to mention that Countdown to Dragon*Con is all I'm doing this week? Yes? Well, here is your PSA. This week is all about Dragon*Con. And next week is all about post-Dragon*Con processing. I apologize to the people who don't care about this stuff, but such is life.)

(Also apparently I'm posting every day this week. Turns out I have too much to say about preparing for Dragon*Con!)

Countdown: 2 days

So you're going to Dragon*Con, and you are super excited, because well it's super exciting! But maybe it's your first time or maybe last time you didn't get to do everything you wanted to do because Dragon*Con is just crazy! Well, never fear. A Dragon*Con vet is here to help you! This will be my fifth Dragon*Con, and despite it's insanity, I love it. So let me be your guide.

So what can you expect? What should you do? Let's look at my handy-dandy list!

• DO carry cash. Always. Sure with modern technology you can swipe a credit card on a cell phone, but when you're in the Vendors room in the basement of the Marriott there is very little cell phone reception. Not to mention that with dozens of dealers trying to do the exact same thing at the exact same time, the signals can get a little erratic. You may not be able to buy that limited edition Sailor Moon if you only brought a card. I also recommend, for those of us without unlimited pockets, taking out your entire budget in cash for the weekend and then refusing to use credit cards for anything. This way you limit how much money you spend by how much cash you have and you don't end up spending tons of money. Because with credit cards you can forget how much you've spent. 
• DO pack snacks, if not entire meals. I don't care if you're local or flying in from Europe, you should bring snacks with you. When I lived in Atlanta, I packed my lunch everyday for Dragon*Con. Now that I'm coming from far away, my parents and I will be hitting up a grocery store Thursday night to stock our mini fridge. Food at the con is crazy. There is Peachtree Center with it's complete food court, but the lines are probably some of the worst lines at the entire con, especially at food times. The only other restaurants around are sit down. There will be little kiosks that sell like Papa John's Pizza in the hotels, but the prices are ridiculous. At some point you will be hungry, and you will want to eat. It's so much easier to eat a sandwich you packed while sitting in line then trying to get through the Checker's line.
• DO pack extra clothes and sensible shoes, ESPECIALLY if you're cosplaying. Even if you're not cosplaying, after a spending Saturday morning outside watching the parade and then heading to the incredibly crowded dealer's room, you're going to be more than a little sweaty. You may find you want to change clothes at some point during the day. And if you're cosplaying, this is rachetted up a few extra knots. Depending on your schedule and wear you're staying, you may want to wear regular clothes to the parade and then switch into your costume after it. The parade is outside in Atlanta. It gets hot. And the extra sensible shoes are a must. Sure your steampunk costume calls for Victorian boots, but unless your feet are made of steel, at some point your feet are going to hurt so bad that you'll want to curl up in a corner and just die there. Trust me, I know. Bring sensible shoes.
• DO plan your entire schedule before hand, BUT don't forget downtime or to be flexible. If you haven't looked through the Pocket Program for Dragon*Con yet, do it now. Dragon*Con has dozens of tracks, and trying to figure out what you're going to do at the con can be overwhelming. So look through program and figure out what you want to do. But remember things change. Sometimes panels get cancelled at the last minute and sometimes you realize you just really don't want to sit in the very back of the Atrium Ballroom and squint at the stage. So always plan secondary panels. With so many tracks, there is literally a panel you can be going to at any time, but don't forget that you'll need plenty of time to exploring the dealer's rooms. There are three, and they're huge. You'll want to explore all of it, and you'll need free time to do so. Also don't forget that schedules are made as guidelines, not rules. Feel free to change what you want to go to at the last minute.
• DO bring a camera. Seriously, the cosplaying at Dragon*Con is intense. It's one of the better cons in America for cosplay. If you forget your camera, you will highly regret it. Also, don't be afraid to ask people to stop for a picture, but DON'T do it in highly trafficked crowded areas. You don't want to be the person responsible for creating a Dragon*Con traffic jam.
• DO sit early for the parade. I don't think I can stress this enough. The parade is a big deal. People who don't buy tickets for Dragon*Con or go to any other event go to this, and since they're local (usually) they get there early. If you're not sitting on the curb by nine am, odds are you won't be able to sit on the curb. You need to claim your parade spot by nine am at the latest. 
• DON'T ever wait longer than two hours for an event, EXCEPT for that one event you care about more than anything. I've never had trouble getting into a panel at Dragon*Con. Granted, sometimes I've had to sit in the very back. Also, technically at Dragon*Con, lines aren't allowed to form more than an hour and a half before an event (i.e. you can't form a line for an event until the event before it has started). I say "technically" because sometimes you can get little pre-lines starting. But generally, if you're there an hour and a half before, you'll get a good seat. However, I suggest looking at the schedule, and figuring out which event you'll never forgive yourself if you don't attend. And if it's something big, get there early. I waited 5 hours for Anne McCaffrey's signature, and I don't regret a single second of those five hours.
• DO talk to total strangers. Part of the fun of a con is making friends, and it's really quite easy to do. Sitting in a line by yourself waiting for the Firefly panel? Strike up a conversation with the people around you, or join in on theirs. You are all in line for the same event, so odds are you all have a passion for Firefly. Talk about it. I've made tons of friends at cons: the college kids sitting behind me at the Adam Baldwin panel, the writer's I've met at the writer's track, some steampunkers at the Masquerade, and more. These are my con friends, people I touch base with every year at the con. It's fantastic. And that's the joy of a con. Everyone who is there cares just as much as you do about something fabulously geeky and accept you for who you are.
• DO ask questions during panels, BUT make sure you know what your question is beforehand. I highly encourage asking questions at panels. I try to as much as possible. There is nothing like asking a question of one of your favorite stars/authors/casts and getting an awesome answer. But don't be that person who (A) gets up there and has no idea what they want to ask so rambles for a while, taking valuable time away from people who actually have questions, or (B) doesn't actually ask a question, just gushes. This time is for ASKING QUESTIONS. So...ask a question. The answers are usually awesome. Trust me.
• DON'T PANIC when you get lost. It's going to happen. There will come a time when you realize you were supposed to go to the Roswell room in the Hyatt, not the Westin, you're already ten minutes late, and the Westin is a couple of blocks away from the Hyatt.  There might also come a time when you realize not every escalator in the Hyatt leads to the same place, or if you're really clever like me, there might come a time when you accidentally lock yourself in a stairwell that you apparently weren't supposed to use. Don't panic. Just remember, it's all for fun, you'll probably be able to get a seat in the back, and ask a stranger for help. (Or wait at a door of the stairwell and shriek at the next person who opens it, "DON'T CLOSE THE DOOR." As the case may be).
• DO go outside and use the sidewalk instead of cutting through the hotels. Dragon*Con gets really really crowded. I remember a time when I literally could not go the direction I wanted to because the sea of people was so great, and I ended up on an escalator going the opposite direction then I wanted to. Trying to get through the Hyatt or the Marriott is like trying to swim against the tide. I don't recommend it. Cutting through never makes for a shorter amount of time. I know it's hot outside. I know that in some directions, the steep inclination is unappealing. But in the end, it will be faster. Trust me.
• DO obey the laws of the line. Most of you are probably Americans, and so recognize that waiting in line is a sacred pastime.  Dragon*Con is usually really good about lines. The people who come are good about waiting and the staff are really good about making sure the line enters the room in the same order it was formed (i.e. first people in line are the first people in the building). If you are confused about where a line is, ask the volunteers. They are the keepers of the line. If you think you may  be waiting in the wrong place (aka an unrecognized line), ask. There is nothing worse than realizing you've been waiting two hours for nothing. Also, if you're saving places for other people, making sure the people around you in the line know. My general rule is you should never save a place for more than two people in line. Anything more than that is unfair, and even that I only use rarely. Usually, everyone in my party is in line, except when they have to go to the bathroom/grab food/remember they forget their purse in another room. If you're confused about what is fair and not fair, just ask yourself, would you be ok if the person in front of you in line was trying to pull this over on you? And talk to the people around you. Make sure they are aware of what's going and aren't going to be upset. The last thing you want is for someone to get upset and call a volunteer over to kick the rest of your party out of line for cutting. 
• And just in general, DON'T PANIC or get upset. Remember, this is all for fun. And if it stops being fun, you're doing it wrong. Take a deep breath, wander through a dealer's room or the Walk of Fame, and above all, do not take it out on the volunteers. They are not paid to be there or to help you. They are doing it out of the kindness of their geeky little hearts. And do not freak out on the hotel staff. We are eternally grateful they allow Dragon*Con to come back every year, despite the insanity. 

Well, that's all I can think of right now! Above all, remember to  have fun. If you have any specific questions about Dragon*Con or cons in general, please ask in the comments. I'll be answering up to noon tomorrow, when I will be getting on an airplane for Dragon*Con. :)

Countdown to Dragon*Con: Prepare to Go Fangirl

Countdown: 3 days

I don't care who you are, how old you are, or whether you are male or female. If you are a geek, there will be a time at Dragon*Con when you will find yourself turning into a twelve-year-old girl, squealing and jumping for joy as your favorite person walks by/gets on stage/autographs your poster. 

Case and point: My middle aged father with a career of being an awesome cool pilot in both the military and airlines, when Richard Hatch from BSG walked by, pratically bobbed on his feet and squealed, "It's Apollo!". Suddenly this middle aged, military-vet, pilot was transformed into a fangirl.

There is at least one person for every geek that turns us into squealing balls of excitement. For me, there are a couple. I have this habit of stalking Brandon Sanderson, who is my favorite author. (Luckily, now that I'm done with my thesis, I'm allowed to read his books again). I tend to be the sit in the front row, shove a book in front of him for his signature, and then a walk away kind of person. I have no idea what to talk about. (Networking is not something I'm good at). But last time, at Jordan*Con, when I walked up to Mr. Sanderson and handed him my book, he looked at me and said, "You look familiar, do you go to these things a lot?" Cue fangirlish glee. 

(Of course, on the outside, I just said, "Well, I live in Atlanta and have been to Dragon*Con every year for a while plus some of your signings, so yes?")

And of course, there was the time I met LeVar Burton, where I walked up to him, shook his hand, and while he was signing, I blurted, "I'm an engineer because of you." I imagine he gets that a lot, because he took it well.

But this year, I get to go fangirl on a completely new and awesome person: Richard Dean Anderson. That's right, MacGyver and Colonel O'Neill himself. My love of Colonel O'Neill knows no bounds. When I was in high school, I used to wear O'Neill shirts, which are surfing shirts, but I wore them to show my love for my favorite member of SG-1. When the writers decided it would be a good idea to freeze Colonel O'Neill at the end of season 7 of Stargate: SG-1, one of my friends and I did an entire project on Colonel O'Neill....in Latin. That's right, we did an entire presentation in Latin about how SciFi better not kill off Colonel O'Neill because he was our favorite character. (They didn't kill him, for the record, but they did phase him out of the show. Sad day.)

I've arranged my entire Dragon*Con schedule around Richard Dean Anderson's Dragon*Con schedule, so I can stalk him all weekend. :)

I will not be the only one going crazy over Richard Dean Anderson, since he rarely makes appearances in the United States. So I imagine getting into a Richard Dean Anderson panel is going to require getting in line early and waiting a long time. However, as a Dragon*Con vet, I'm prepared to do just that. Everything else I want to see/do is flexible. Luckily, or unluckily depending on your perspective, he's only doing two panels. One is on Friday and therefore, will be less populated, so it will be easier to get in. But this panel is just him. Sunday is the "Supergate" panel, Richard Dean Anderson plus several other Stargate stars. Sunday is the second most crowded day, and the Stargate panels are always super crowded, so this one is going to be crazy. I will definitely have to get in line early. But at least, I'll have already seen him on Friday if I don't make the cut.

So, if you were going to a Con (or if you are) who would you go fangirl over? Who is the one actor/author/artist that you would love to meet and shake their hand?

What I'm Watching: Web Series

I've only recently started watching a handful of web series, and all of them are thanks to Felecia Day. Not that I've met her personally....er, rather, I have at Dragon*Con in the past, but I mean not that I have a personal relationship with her and she was like, "Hey, you should watch this show." Rather, I became aware of Geek and Sundry through tor.com, which ran an article about Geek and Sundry right when it started.

I had known about the Guild but I had never watched it before. Then through Geek and Sundry I did, and I loved it. I watched all five seasons that were available, and then watched season 6 as it aired. The Guild is about a group of gamers who plays a World of Warcraft esque game, and the hijinks that begin to ensue when they start actually meeting each other in person. It has a lot of gaming humor that the layman may not get, but I'm not much into gaming, and I still found it to be highly enjoyable. I suggest giving the entire first season a watch, it's only about 45 minutes long all together, episode one alone is below and it's only a few minutes long.

Through Geek and Sundry I also started to watch Felecia Day's weekly video blog (known as The Flog) and Wil Wheaton's show TableTop, a show about tabletop gaming. Neither is a fiction show but both are highly enjoyable.  

The next two shows are both fiction shows that I learned about through the Flog. The first is called The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice in the modern day, as if Lizzie was a real person with a video blog. I absolutely love this show. Each episodes it only about three minutes long and they air new episodes every Monday and Thursday. You would think it might get boring, and just be Lizzie talking at a camera the entire time, but that's not how it goes at all. We're currently on episodes like 35 and we've seen Jane, Lydia, Mary, Charlotte, Bingley (known as Bing Lee), his sister, and Mr. Collins all on the show. So far only Darcy and Wickham have yet to make personal appearances (though they have both been referenced many times). It's a highly enjoyable show and I eagerly anticipate each new episode. It's pretty much the first thing I do when I get home from work every Monday and Thursday: download and watch the latest episode. You can watch episode 1 below. 

The other show I watch is called "Save the Supers" and it's essentially the Justice League meets The Office. It's about a group of super heroes, called the Super Force. They presumably fight evil, but the show is about the stuff that goes on in the background of that. The major issue of this season is budget cuts, since presumably super heroes do have to get paid to continue doing what they're doing. The Super Force is obviously a parody of the Justice League since the heroes are World Man (Superman), Night Knight (Batman), Merman (Aquaman), Morph Man (the Green Lantern), and Elementra (Wonder Woman). I think it's pretty funny, but if you're not a fan of superheroes, it probably wouldn't interest you.There are only four episodes so far, so there isn't a huge backlog to catch up on.

So there you have it! The online shows I watch. How about you, dear Reader? Are there any online shows that you watch and think are awesome? If so, please share in the comments below!

What I'm Watching: Summer TV

Recently one of my friends asked me what shows I was looking forward to in the fall. It's not a question that should have surprised me, since I watch a lot of TV--probably more TV than anyone else I know. However, I found I had trouble answering it. I knew there were a ton of shows coming in the Fall, shows I've missed in the summer hiatus, I just couldn't think of what they were. So I figured I would give it some thought and then write a blog post about it. And here we are!

But before I delve into what I'm looking forward to in the fall, we should have a discussion of what I'm watching right now. Some of these shows may surprise you, since they're not all Science Fiction or Fantasy. But well, I'm also a girl, and I have only ever been honest about my love of chic-flics, so whatever. To make things easier on my poor little mind, I'm going to go in order of the days of the week the shows come on:

Sundays: 

• Falling Skies: This show is basically an alien apocalypse story. It follows a militia who are trying to survive and fight back against the aliens who have invaded and occupied our planet. This is supposed to be taking place a contemporary time, not in the future. The main characters are a family: a dad and his three sons. Really, everything about this show says I should love it. And I do. But if you're going to get into this show, you must start at the beginning. Watch season one on netflix. The current season is the second season, and since it's a summer only show, it's finale just happened this past weekend.

Monday:

• Eureka: Ok, you caught me. I'm not currently watching this show, but it was one of my traditional summer shows. However, this was the last season of the show. After five seasons, it came to an end. I couldn't leave it off this list, because if you missed it, you really should watch it. It's about a small town where our nations best and brightest scientists and engineers live, and the hijinks and shenanigans that happen there, which have to be sorted out by the ordinary, but lovable Sheriff Carter. It's a great show.
• Warehouse 13: The premise of this show is that amazing people or significant events can basically impart a bit of their characteristic awesomeness into an object, thereby making it a magical object, like Lewis Carroll's mirror in which a person can become trapped. These objects are collected and kept in a warehouse, where they can't cause trouble. The show follows the warehouse agents, two secret service agents, a cranky but lovable old man, and a young computer whiz. I really love this show, another Syfy summer show, and it's only a couple of episodes into its season right now.
• Bunheads: The first non-SF/F show on this list, this show just started this summer and had it's finale this week. Though a show about ballerinas doesn't seem like it would be my thing, it's made by the creator of Gilmore Girls, and fills the nitch that Gilmore Girls left in my life. If you are a Gilmore Girls fan, you will see many familiar faces and you'll find the banter to be similarly witty, fast-paced and filled with pop culture references that I don't get at all. Like Gilmore Girls it has a balance of teenage and adult angst. And I've really enjoyed the first season.

Tuesday:

• Surprisingly, I watch nothing on this day. Nothing. Which works for me, because that's the night I have my local friends over and I expose them to series they've never seen before. Like Sherlock. 

Wednesday:

• Melissa and Joey: I started watching this show when it first came on because of the leading actors. And really it's a fun little thirty minute sitcom. It's not going to change your life, but if you're looking for a summer sitcom, this one is a pretty good (and really your only) choice. Mel is a Toledo councilwoman who inherited her sister's kids after her sister got herself thrown in jail. Because she works full time, she hired a nanny to help her take care of the kids: Joe, a former businessman who lost his job due to the crime that put Mel's sister into jail. Together they are raising two teenagers. It's a fun, light show.

Thursday:

• Tron: Uprising: I love Tron, and in many ways this animated show is what Tron Legacy should have been. A show about the grid and about Tron. This show takes place between Tron and Tron Legacy. It follows Beck, a young mechanic program that is unhappy with the dictatorship that Clu is setting up. He ends up meeting Tron, who is too injured to continue his fight, so Tron begins to train Beck to take up his mantle. This is a "kid's show" but if you like the Tron movies, this has everything you could possibly want: a great cast, a great story line, and tie-ins to the movies. 
• Project Runway: Another non SF/F choice, this season of Project Runway just started a few weeks ago. I love the fashion and the designs. I don't necessarily love the drama. Essentially, everything I know about fashion I learned from this show. Of course, I'm not very fashionable, so that may not mean much.

Friday

• Say Yes to the Dress: I don't watch this with dedication. It's not set on my DVR and I'm not upset if I miss it. However, if I'm home and it's on, I watch it. It's entertaining, and the dresses are nice. However, it galls me that people spend so much money on wedding dresses. If you want to spend $1,000 on your dress, that's between you and your budget, but I feel like spending more than that is unconscionable. You could put a down payment on a really really nice house with some of the money these people spend. Heck, you could buy a nice car. It's rather shocking.

So that's my summer cable TV schedule, but it's not all I'm currently watching. What does that mean, you ask? Well, there is a whole world wide web out there with it's own programming. More on that on Friday.