So my biggest plan for Blizzcon was to have a really interactive experience with me posting to Twitter in real time and to shuck out news as fast as it came in.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the center had closed WiFi this year, probably due to security, which put a huge block in my plans.\u00a0 I realize now how cool devices like the iPhone are since I could have just had one of those and used 3G or Edge (seems like mostly edge in there) to get updates out.\u00a0 So next year we’ll see.\u00a0 I’m looking at getting a G1 or some android phone since the monthly rates are cheaper.\u00a0 This post is SUPER long so read more after the break.<\/p>\n
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Thursday<\/strong> The flight out was on a twin propeller plane which was a first for me.\u00a0 I advise you never to fly on one if you can avoid it.\u00a0 They seem to fly lower and experience much more turbulance, especially on landings.\u00a0 I had a window seat and slept the whole time.\u00a0 I had loaded up my iPod with tons of movies that I never got to watch.\u00a0 Due to how I wrap my headphones around my iPod I stressed out the connector and now the headphones only blast half volume.\u00a0 So I would have been better off if I had loaded it up with subtitled movies.\u00a0 Ah well.<\/p>\n Flying out to LA was interesting because there were quite a few Blizzcon attendees on the flight.\u00a0 They had Blizzard shirts\/hats, one girl had a custom made horde purse, and were talking about all things Blizzard the whole time.\u00a0 I again slept.<\/p>\n I made it in around 4:30 and got picked up at 5.\u00a0 We ran to the store to pick up bathroom stuff that I didn’t want to take with me.\u00a0 I didn’t check any luggage and didn’t want to get hassled about my toothpaste\/mouthwash\/razor so I decided I’d just go pick that stuff up after I landed.\u00a0 I don’t realize how much I love my Mach 5 until you go back to using single disposable razor blades.\u00a0 So we picked up some stuff and we arrived at my buddy’s house and I settled in for a bit.\u00a0 That night we coordinated some phone numbers and headed out to a restaurant called Overland Stage which was a quiet little hotel restaurant.\u00a0 I had 2 fish tacos which were awesome.\u00a0 We ate with about 10 other people from the WoW guild.<\/p>\n We checked the time around 10:15 and I headed to the convention center to pick up my badge.\u00a0 Last year they closed badge pickup at 11 so I thought I had time, however I got shooed away when I made it to the door.\u00a0 Soooo nothing for me that night.\u00a0 We headed to the bar where I had two (huge) Patron shots and survived it much better than last year where I thought I’d die.\u00a0 Eating helps immensely.\u00a0 We left the bar early that night because it was JAM PACKED compared to last year.\u00a0 Every seat was taken and it was very busy.\u00a0 Last year at that time, we were the only party of people there and it was empty.\u00a0 We got back and crashed immediately.\u00a0 The guy I was staying with had one more friend coming down for the convention who came in just as I hit the couch.\u00a0 We were all beat and went to sleep first though so not a lot of time for introductions.<\/p>\n Friday<\/strong> Opening ceremony started at 11 but we didn’t make it there until about 11:30 or 11:45.\u00a0 No big deal though, usually it’s just the president of the company thanking the fans and talking about what’s new\/cool at this year’s show.\u00a0 I had to head straight to badge pick up.<\/p>\n My badge was in the VIP line but interestingly enough, everyone was in the VIP line.\u00a0 The other lines were empty.\u00a0 This sucked.\u00a0 So I had to wait in line for about 45 minutes to get my badge and scarily, the first question they asked was unexpected and I was worried I wasn’t going to get a badge.\u00a0 They found it and it was no problem.\u00a0 Strangely, the mount card is the SC2 beta card AND they weren’t included in the bags.\u00a0 So they had to find my badge, get a bag, then find a card for me.<\/p>\n While I was standing in line, a person passed by with a name and company shirt that I might have known.\u00a0 I only saw his first name so I called him out as he walked by me and when he turned it turned out to be him!\u00a0 He looks at me like “Ummm, hello…” and I introduced myself and he realized who it was.\u00a0 He thought it was strange I knew who he was, but I just said I read his badge really quick.\u00a0 That would have been pretty akward if it wasn’t him though.\u00a0 Ah well.<\/p>\n Anyway, I made my way in finally and we proceeded to start the search for our massive lot of friends.\u00a0 We went to the Diablo 3 panel and met up with one guy and tried to meet up with others from that point.\u00a0 It was difficult because everyone upon entry had some different interest so it was hard to meet up initially.\u00a0 I gave up and heard about a Starcraft 2 tournament, so immediately my thought was to jump on it with a friend of mine.\u00a0 I was hoping for a 2v2 tournament, but this year they only had single player and 1v1 unfortunately.\u00a0 They had a setup for last man standing, if you win 3 in a row you win a poster.\u00a0 So we started playing SC2 there.\u00a0 The line was very short compared to the regular SC2 playing sessions so we were able to squeeze in a lot of play time and minimize the line waiting.<\/p>\n Most of my day was spent here despite wanting to watch the actual pro-gaming brackets.\u00a0 We were all supposed to meet up for lunch, but by the time we actually met, half the people had already eaten.\u00a0 So my friend’s fiancee that I was staying with had printed a map of local eateries.\u00a0 No one was making any decisions so I just picked a place (Tangerine Grill I think) and we headed out.\u00a0 We got lost getting there, but we made it.\u00a0 It was another hotel restaurant but this place had some really bad service.\u00a0 We pissed off the waitress and so we had a waiter swap which was strange.\u00a0 I had chicken flautas that totally rocked.\u00a0 Well, maybe not totally, they were a little charred, but the guacamole was good enough.\u00a0 I hate guac that doesn’t have lime in it, which this didn’t.\u00a0 I had a tall glass of tangerine juice because you might as well go by the namesake of the restaurant.<\/p>\n Afterwards, we shipped back to the convention and again played SC2 until I had to be dragged off kicking and screaming.\u00a0 The guy I was rooming with in the living room and I got paired off and we cheated a bit in the tournament section.\u00a0 We’d play a match, look around, then just start a new game.\u00a0 After a game ends a screen pops up asking you to leave, which I guess most people assume doesn’t go away until one of the Blizzard employees does some magic to reset the demo, however the reality is after about 30 seconds it resets itself.\u00a0 So we played A LOT of SC2.<\/p>\n Dinner time was creeping up on us and during lunch I had called Tony Roma’s to see if they could accomodate 30 people, which they could.\u00a0 I would like to have picked a better restaurant, but there wasn’t anything noteworthy within walking distance.\u00a0 So we met up with some people who couldn’t get into the convention and had a huge dining party of like 23 or so.\u00a0 The party was so large we were split between one large table and 3 small booths.\u00a0 I sat last strategically and when the waitress came to take our drink orders, we asked if we could have a split check and she hooked us up!\u00a0 My friend’s fiancee tried to pull the same trick but she got denied.\u00a0 You can only split the check once and we stole it.\u00a0 I had a chicken ceasar salad which wasn’t that great actually.\u00a0 I wasn’t that hungry since we ate a late lunch.\u00a0 We had a lot of fun but I left the poster I won from the SC2 tournament at the restaurant.\u00a0 When I realized this I didn’t mind it so much because I thought it would be a pain to take on the plane.<\/p>\n After dinner we hit the bar again and it was SUPER MEGA packed.\u00a0 It was like the previous day x3.\u00a0 We found a place to settle and I had a long island which wasn’t sitting well with dinner.\u00a0\u00a0 We again left early due to the guy I was sharing the living room with wanting to jet.\u00a0 No big deal honestly, but it was getting a little crowded and annoying in there.<\/p>\n Saturday<\/strong> We went to eat first thing this time at a place called Molly’s Kitchen.\u00a0 I had a super nacho plate.\u00a0 I got hassled for eating them with a fork.\u00a0 We met up with everyone else and went back in to the con.\u00a0 This day is somewhat hazy for me.\u00a0 I remember playing SC2 again knocking out all all the people I was at the convention with in an epic triple header.\u00a0 Then we played some Diablo 3.\u00a0 I stood in line at the store which was only about an hour and a half long.\u00a0 The day before people said lines were as long as 6 hours.\u00a0 I feel like this year they added a whole new hall and one whole new game to have hands on with, but for some reason it felt like it was not enough and lines for anything\/everything were much much longer.<\/p>\n Dinner this time was at one of the other guy’s houses we were hanging out with.\u00a0 He lived waaaaaay up in north LA so the drive was pretty long.\u00a0 He lives in what can only be described as a mini-mansion by LA standards.\u00a0 You walk in to this high vaulted ballroom with a wood floor.\u00a0 It’s awesome.\u00a0 The whole place was awesome.\u00a0 We played Rock Band 2, a game I can’t talk about yet, Super Puzzle Fighter, Street Fighter Hyper Fighting, and Street Fighter 3.\u00a0 It was a total blast.\u00a0 I met up with more people who couldn’t attend the convention and caught up.\u00a0 So much fun.<\/p>\n We shipped out around 1AM and got back and crashed around 2AM.<\/p>\n Sunday<\/strong> So back at Denny’s I had the ULTIMATE omelete which was alright.\u00a0 The english muffins there are pretty good though I will say.\u00a0 We chatted it up then it was time for my flight.\u00a0 Well, the check came and 15 minutes later they asked about flights and mine was leaving in one hour, so we had to jet.\u00a0 I actually made it and lucked out.\u00a0 The check in line was super short and the security line was also super short.\u00a0 My gate was at the far end of the terminal though, but like I said, I made it with about 15 minutes to spare.\u00a0 The security line was funny though because one person is constantly yelling “If you went to that game thing this weekend and got a red stress ball you must check it!”\u00a0 So I had to throw mine away due to no checked baggage.<\/p>\n The flights back were smooth.\u00a0 No more prop planes.\u00a0 I ran into a girl from work on the way home from Dallas to Lubbock which was a crazy coincidence.\u00a0 We didn’t sit by each other though, I was in the far back of the plane by this cute little baby.\u00a0 I came home and my cats were still alive though they didn’t seem to miss me too much except for Rex.\u00a0 Mattie seemed sad she wasn’t the master of the apartment anymore now that I was back.\u00a0 Oh well, she’s weird anyway.\u00a0 I’ll post individual game impressions of Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 later.\u00a0 I just wanted to get this post up while it was fresh on my mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" So my biggest plan for Blizzcon was to have a really interactive experience with me posting to Twitter in real time and to shuck out news as fast as it came in.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the center had closed WiFi this year, probably due to security, which put a huge block in my plans.\u00a0 I realize now 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\nI left at 9:30 for the airport to catch my 12:30 plane.\u00a0 I’m standing at the check in line and there’s a small line of people.\u00a0 I’m second from the front and I notice there are 2 counters with people and 2 self check in stations.\u00a0 Well, there’s 3 people around the self check in and the guy in front of me has all these bags, so I assumed he’d be checking some luggage.\u00a0 Well I just sort of walk up to the 3 people around the self check in and ask them if they’re using it.\u00a0 They say no and I proceed to check in.\u00a0 The guy I moved ahead of started yelling at me like “ummm, hey!\u00a0 I was next” or something, who knows, there were two, then I see him run up to the machine beside me.\u00a0 Look man, it’s not my fault you’re an idiot and have time to dawdle watching people talk by the check in machine you need to use!\u00a0 Interestingly my airport had free wifi so I was able to do some minor web browsing.<\/p>\n
\nI woke up super early, everyone else woke up much later.\u00a0 I was reading up on web stuff, trying to keep up with my google reader, however this would prove impossible.\u00a0 I caught wind of the Wizard class in the news for Diablo 3 so that had me excited for the hands on.\u00a0 My roomy and I ate breakfast at Denny’s while we waited on our friends to get ready.\u00a0 I had an omelet and it was as good as it gets for Denny’s.\u00a0 We shipped back to our friend’s house and headed out.<\/p>\n
\nWe woke up late again, surprise.\u00a0 This time however, I was the last one up.\u00a0 While waiting on everyone to get ready we watched some movie with Drew Barrymore and Eric Bana about gambling.\u00a0 Who knew they were in a movie together?\u00a0 I kept asking when he’d go into Hulk mode or have to fight Brad Pitt to death.\u00a0 My friend’s fiancee was not amused.<\/p>\n
\nWe all woke up semi-late and the roomy wanted to learn how to play Guitar Hero.\u00a0 So we turned on GH: Aerosmith and I showed him the ropes.\u00a0 He was pretty great for a beginner.\u00a0 We switched him over to Hard but it was too much and too fast.\u00a0 I did a little showing off while we prepped for breakfast at Dennys again.<\/p>\n