Pretty much a relaxicon for us — I wasn’t on the programming. They’d had a glut of authors volunteering this year, so they were full up by the time I volunteered (months ago, in what would have been plenty of time any other year, even).

So, we pretty much went to panels and partied.

The weather didn’t cooperate with the astronomy programming. Michigan in January? That might have been a long shot to begin with, but I have no idea, really. I’ve never lived in Michigan, so I don’t know if they had a real shot at it, or if it was wishful thinking.

The most fun panel, to me, was the one dubbed “Stump the Microbiologist,” in which the audience was to name an environment on Earth, and he was to inform them what could live there–exclusive of active volcanoes. Life really *doesn’t* thrive in places where everything is reduced to carbon in under a second, but anywhere else is fair game.

Packs of feral hockey children thundered about the hotel, and their parents crashed the room parties. Before the parties set bouncers at their doors, feral hockey parents managed to cadge some free booze, make passes at the more scantily costumed women, AND insult con-goers as freaks.

But!

I happened to be in the hallway when the Friends of the Detroit Public Library showed up with boxes of free books. In the ensuing feeding frenzy, I scored some nice finds, including some Norton, some Bujold, a Heinlein my husband has never read, and a signed copy of Lee & Miller’s Partners in Necessity.

I discovered Chocolate-Covered Bacon.

My husband bought a marshmallow catapult.

I bought a pocket watch.

And now, I’m safely home again, working on Farryn’s War and researching organized crime.