I spent the weekend in DFW, attending FenCon.
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And then wrote this nice diary and put in the pictures, and when I saved it in Daily Kos, it made a strong statement on the diary -
delete
That's right:
delete
.
That was the only option Daily Kos gave me.
So I deleted it and now you're getting a not-so-nicely formatted diary.
The drive down was nice enough, and checking in with the convention was also quite easy. Checking in with the hotel was another matter. You'd think, after 8 years of being a guests there for more than one event, that the hotel would have us in their database. Failing that, you'd think they would read the reservation form and see the "special request" area where I always tell them I am accompanied by a service dog.
You'd especially think after the letter I sent them 3 years ago that they would remember me and Itzl.
Apparently not.
They illegally asked for papers to prove Itzl was a service dog.
Now, they would have been completely within their rights to ask for Itzl's vaccination papers. I'd have handed those over without a word.
But - it is illegal to ask for papers proving the dog is a service dog.
They could have quite legally asked: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform.
So now I have to compose another letter to this hotel. The next time, it will be my attorney composing the letter.
So, that aside, I met up with several people, and spent some time helping a friend promote his new book: Secret Science Society.
Saturday, I co-hosted an Egyptian Tea and Mummy Unwrapping. I set the room up and introduced the talented Prof. Mel. White, then faded back to let her present the mummy and supervise the unwrapping of it. She explained what a mummy was, explained the history of mummy unwrapping, interpreted the hieroglyphs on the sarcophagus, and then, the attendees got to unwrap the mummy and discover the treasures within it.
Sunday was a repeat of the book promotion.
Sadly, I was unable to generate more funds for OctopodiCon. No matter how interested people are, they aren't letting go of the grip on their wallets. We're $4,000 short of what we need. If I were a better paid person, I could afford to borrow the money, but banks and credit unions turn me down. I've already tried the other sources - family, friends, even strangers in the street who seemed interested. I've done a kickstarter and an Indiegogo crowd sourced funding programs, I've entered contests, sold what items I owned that were of any value, and even resorted to lottery tickets. I've worked to sell as many enrollments as I could (and I know for a fact that I have many more pre-enrollments than any other first year convention I know of). I've written grant proposals, tried to sell ads on the website and in the programming book, even tried to sell the names of Junior Sprocket awards. Through those various methods, I have managed to raise $43,000. All we need is a paltry (in comparison) $4,000 more dollars.
And it doesn't look like it's going to happen. I have no clue what to do next. I have no resources left, no one I can tap any more. And I don't earn enough to qualify for a loan, especially since I have no collateral to offer.
If I earned more money, I could re-finance my house. This would have been ideal - I would have gotten the final amount of money I needed and it would have lowered my monthly mortgage payments. Since I can afford my current monthly mortgage payments, I could have kept on paying what I now pay and paid off the mortgage as fast as I would have without the re-financing. But the banks and credit unions all tell me I earn too little to pay the new mortgage payments - completely ignoring that I am comfortably paying the much higher mortgage payments I have now.
Grrrrrrr.
So, I left the convention sad and feeling quite poor. I don't often feel poor, but facing the need for that sum of money just - makes me feel poor since I can't seem to come up with it.
Itzl wasn't quite ready to leave the convention at the end of it, so I let him wear his wings for a while longer.
Then because we'd heard there was a Trader Joe's right there near the convention, we had to go and check it out. If there was one much closer to home, I'd probably shop there often. As it was, I did succumb to temptation and bought some cocoa powder. Then, since a real Whole Foods was just across the street, I went there and bought dinner and some cheese and bread to bring home..
It wasn't until I unpacked at home that I realized I'd left Itzl's monkey bed at the hotel. It will be far cheaper to go out and replace the bed than to drive back down there and hope they still have the bed.
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September 23, 2012
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