GenCon Day #-2

Today wasn’t really a GenCon day, but it’s my first day in Indianapolis for GenCon, so I’m counting it as Day #1. Chris was nice enough to take me to the airport this morning at 10:00 EDT, and Kevin was nice enough to pick me up from the other airport at 13:00 EST, and Independence Air was kind enough to move me between the two airports for a ridiculously low fair.

Let me take a moment here to laud low-priced carriers. Independence Air just opened for business a few months ago, and my flight with them came on only their second day running the route from Dulles to Indy. With the discount I received for signing up for their frequent flier program, my round-trip ticket is costing me about $110. That’s not just cheap, that’s how-are-they-making-money-with-only-me-and-six-other-people-in-this-plane cheap. And let me tell you, it was a steal. The flight ran ahead of schedule and included a snack and beverage service. A first for me, except on my only trans-Atlantic flight, was the offer of a hot towel. The planes are small, 50-passenger regional jets; but they are new and clean. And did I mention that this flight is costing less than gas and tolls if I would have driven? So bravo to the low-cost air carriers. You get my money.

After Kevin picked me up, we wasted several fun hours playing through Smash TV and all 99 levels of Joust 2 from Midway Arcade Treasures. Afterwards, we went out to dinner with Mike, Dawn, Kevin, Amy, and Jeff.

Let me tell you about Jeff. Jeff is a math teacher from San Diego, California. He is friends with Mike & Dawn and flew in for GenCon, and he is staying at their house for a couple days (as am I). He is full of non-stop energy, and he has a terribly punny sense of humor. He and I went back and forth on some terrible bowling puns for a little bit, but I simply cannot keep up with him. He’s too much. A good word to describe Jeff might be “zany,” although that definitely conjures up a bit too much imagery of wacky cartoon characters in predictable set-ups ending in much-expected hilarity.

Perhaps not uncoincidental with his sense of humor, Jeff is also the creator of Killer Bunnies & The Quest for the Magic Carrot. We had the unique privilege of playing a game of Killer Bunnies using several as-yet unreleased booster packs for the game, and it was a fantastic time. Some of the cards to be seen are really cool, but even cooler was learning about some of the history, foibles, rules, and secrets for many of the cards in the game. I don’t want to mention anything here for fear of spoiling something I shouldn’t. But it was a real treat to sit at that table.

After that, we broke out the poker chips for a round of Texas Holdum. It was a good game, and Lady Luck was smiling on me this evening. I kept gettin’ dealt the nuts, and I kept takin’ people down with them. I ended up winning the game, the money from which I will use to buy booze later in the week. Of course, it will at least be the booze I like. :-)