BrickWorld Day 1 expanded

The first day I arrived at the Westin was around noon on Thursday. Setup began at 6 pm, and the first organizattional meeting was at 4:30, so there was quite a bit of time to rela before things got into gear.

I went to Chichago with Tommy Armstrong, the brickengraver. It was a long trip from North Carolina to Illinois, and somehow, Tommy managed to do all teh driving. I would have tried, but when I was about to, I got hit with something that really pset my stomach, and that took over the rest of Thursday.

Felix Greco was our third roommate, and at checkin, I was met by Barbara Price, Steve Hassenplug's mom. For us, it was a little bit of a homecoming, as we worked together at BrickFest 2006. It was also alittle odd, too, because I wasn't a coordinator this time - I was an advisor. So I was a watcher. She was the Volunteer coordinator, so she was getting people here and ther for different tasks.

I also ran into Mike Huffman, his wife Erika, and Mike Cotterman and his wife,  Susan. I chatted with them for a bit and wandered the florr - the tables were being arranged by the hotel staff and tablecloths were being placed. And the room looked BIG.

I got pulled to help pick up some attendees at teh airport, so I help wiith that (and almost don't make it because we don't have enoough for a toll). And from there I went to teh coordinator's suite.

It was at the suite I ran into other staffers (Heather Hassenplug , Kathie Bonahoom, Abner Finley, Steve Hassenplug, and a staffer from LEGO, Simon Kent) They were finishing setting up badges and also adding a correction to the event program - I forgot to give credit to the cover artist, Greg Hyland. I didn't realize that until I ran the first proof program, and the correction was done on a file that wasn't used by the printer...

The organizational meet went with some questions, some directions, and a lot motivation. We got our registration bags and some items for being part of the event. We aso got a look at Adam's event kit, which was only completed earlier that week.

And from there, it was out to the floor, which was opened up for setup. Models were being carted in and set up - small ones like my micro mechs and large ones like Bryce McGlone's dragon and Brian Darrow's Blacktron Intelligence Agency.

There's an air of excitement that started building as more people came in with stuff. LEGO's area is full of boxes and sets - there are new Creator sets stacked up, and bags of Cafe Corner parts....and Steve Witt lets everyone build the sets for display....

I go off to dinner and then take many pictures of set up. I also talk to Kyle of Brick Forge and take a look at his stuff. VERY nice. I also meet Arthur Gugick and talka about hismodels for a bit (arcitectural models in microscale - very nice)

So things start like they should, with everyone looking forward to the weekend....