As I mentioned, I’ve had an…interesting weekend. Friday morning we decided to drive to a local mall to pick up some things, and didn’t get more than a half-block from the hotel before experiencing some pretty serious car trouble. Ends up we needed a complete transmission rebuild, which makes this the unquestioned winner of the “Most Expensive Convention” award. (My wife jokes that the next Digest fundraiser discs should be labled the “Tauris Transmision” discs. ;) Thank heavens we decided to head out Friday morning…otherwise we wouldn’t have discovered the problem until this afternoon after the car was completely loaded and no auto repair shops open!

It also means I need to stay at the hotel an extra night; the repair shop (AAMCO) promised me the car would be ready Monday mid-afternoon, so if all goes well I’ll be home Monday evening. (If it doesn’t, I’ll surely rant in this space…) The imposed down-time gives me some time to get some photographs from the convention posted, so at least some good will come from this.

Before looking back at the convention, I have to note how…odd…it is to be here alone. I mean, it’s normal for me when in a hotel room not to know anyone else in the place, except for this hotel. Here, it’s normal to run into friends of long standing in the hotel routinely; elevators, dealers’ rooms, lounge. But now, a walk through the halls presents only strangers’ faces, making the afternoon strangely depressing. The ballrooms where the recreations and panels were held all weekend now belong to someone else, and I’m the outsider. It’s vaguely depressing.

But back to the joys of the convention just past. If you’ve never been to one of these conventions, you can’t imagine how much fun it is to gather with a bunch of people who love the same thing you do, and spend an entire weekend talking about it over coffee, wine, beer, and everything inbetween. Think of it as the Internet OTR Digest live and in-person!

And the stars…our good friend Hal Stone was here with his wife, Dorothy and his friend, Bob Hastings. Jimmy Lydon, whom I talked to last in Seattle spent a few minutes talking to me about his time working on the first The Life of Riley TV series, with Jackie Gleason as Riley. Will Jordan cracked me up, Fred Foy got my attention with that distinctive voice, and Paul Carnegie made even dogs sit up and take notice. It was great to see Elliott (Ted) Reid again, and to meet Jack Bivans. I was able to spend a few minutes with my friend George Ansboro, who closed the bar with us the night in 1999 when I received the Allen Rockford Award. And my friend Arthur Anderson made me smile by again complimenting my daughter (here’s a guy who knows a cutie when he sees one). Speaking of Arthur and the Allen Rockford Award, he was honored this year to present the award to his wife Alice for her tireless dedication to keeping things running smoothly at this convention behind the scenes.

What I’m going to do now is rush through the over 850 photographs I’ve taken since Wednesday evening and get a few of them posted now. Once I get home and things settle down a bit, I’ll get serious, and post them in a similar fashion to the REPS Showcase photos posted earlier in the year.

So now I’ll stop typing, and post some pics, with more to follow!

Hal Stone, preparing for a One-on-One panel.	Hal Stone interviews Joyce Van Patten.	Joyce Van Patten	“Those Were the Days” radio players from Chicago rehearse their evening performance.
Craig Wichman and Larry Robinson at the microphones.	Arthur Anderson introduces the Script Contest winning entry, “You Are There,” written by Edward Farr Russell, III	Don Buka and Larry Robinson with director Arthur Anderson	Jimmy Lydon, Craig Wichman, and Larry Robinson
The cast of “You Are There”	Robert Louis Shayon, creator of You Are There.	Jack Bivans, Captain Midnight, Sky King