BayCon 2006, Final Report

This is my final recap for BayCon 2006, and has a plethora of photos.

It is hard to believe that it has been six years since my last BayCon. When I moved to Minnesota at the beginning of 2001, it was with the expectations I would return for BayCon on an annual basis to see my friends, at the very least. Little did I know I would miss out on five BayCons, and a lot of changes in the lives of so many friends.

Some of the personal ups: getting caught up with some of my closest friends in the Bay Area: Kate, Mary, Cassandra, Gene, Sara. Running into people I haven’t seen in years: Bambi (okay, Tory), Kay, Bridget, Mike W., Kaos the KB, Kutaj, Keith, Dana, Dorothy, and a host of others. Seeing unexpected people: Eric the Cylon. Meeting and making new friends: Pete of the IKV Blackdragon, Tami, Chris (aka Spock, Scotty and Kirk), Todd, Scott, and more.

Although I did not make it to as many panels as I would have liked, whether due to scheduling conflicts, or not getting back in time for those 10AM sessions (kind of hard to get going in time with an eight month old infant), the panels I did see were quite good. This includes Kaos, the KB’s, presentation on survival gear. Kaos, or Mike, was a S.E.R.E instructor in the Navy, and stays on top of survival preparedness. A darn good talk that everyone should attend. It’s educational.

Bridget’s Cassini Update, with a great power point presentation that included lots of images, including video, and quite informative.

Other science panels on interstellar travel and warfare, as well as political discussions on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The masquerade, in spite of technical problems getting it up and running, had some very creative costumes.

Jerry Pournelle on the Economics of Interstellar War panel with David Friedman and Philip Gust. Intersting panel. Friedman seems to be hung up on that everything is coming down to information warfare. Pournelle focused on a couple of aspects: using large asteroids as weapons, traveling just below the speed of light, and colony ships moving in with the intent to conquer.

Mike Wilson (left), Dave Hnasen (right), I Don’t Know (third base, er, middle), in Mirror Mirror Starfleet Uniforms in the famed Mara’s Bar party room. You know, the place where everyone knows your name.

The first contestant in the Clan MacDude’s Bonny Knees Competition. This was the only contestant wearing a kilt this year. I think the unseasonably cold temperatures kept folks in doors. Yet this guy not only wore a kilt, he was bear, er, bare chested.

Mara's Bar
Crowd scene in Mara’s Bar on Friday night.

Anna Marie Hansen
This is Anna, all dressed up and ready for a big day at BayCon. She was dressed in the convention’s chosen theme: purple.

Here is Kay and Bambi at one of the fan tables. Kay and I go way back with a lot of mutual friends. Bambi and I go back even further, all the way to high school. Egads!

Jade
This is Jade, in a devilishly nice costume.

Romulan
This is Lizzy as an Star Trek:TOS Romulan. Cool costume, and very well done.

Doctor Who and K-9
This is Mary as the new Doctor along with Tillie as K-9. Not sure if she made the K-9 rig for Tillie, or if Sara made it. It made Tillie her usual big hit, as she is regularly BayCon’s best dressed dog. Tillie is a service dog who serves as Cassandra’s companion. She is also one dynamite doggie.

Bridget Landry
This is Bridget decked out as Droxanne from the ST:TOS episode “The Cloud Minders.” Not only is she a NASA scientist, she is a master costumer with numerous awards. This was during her Cassini presentation. She’ll be making this presentation at the upcoming Convergence in Minnesota, so if you are there, be sure to catch it. And her other panels.

Bridget is another old friend, from way back in our days in San Diego and members of S.T.A.R San Diego, which, at the time, was the largest fan club in Southern California, with somewhere around 150 people at a meeting.

This is Anna with a guy named Chris who was being done up as Darth Maul. Every time I walked by him, I had to say, “hey look, it’s Spock!” I did this several times, and when I ran into him later, did the same thing. What makes this story go from ludicrous to funny is that the guy applying the makeup didn’t realize it was the same person calling Chris “Spock.” So, when I did it the forth time, he was completely perplexed by this and was going, “you’re like the forth person to do this.” I had to tell him, and Chris, the guy in the makeup, confirmed it, that each time he heard “hey look, it’s Spock!” it was me. The joke was on him!

Pete and Dorothy
On the right is Dorothy in one of her many costumes. I’m not sure what this one is, but it certainly looks nice. With her is Pete of the IKV Blackdragon, whom I just met during the run of con. Dorothy is also known as Catnip MacDude. We are currently plotting a web coup for furthering the Clan’s reach.

KLINGON!
Dave Hansen of the IKV Bloodlust decked out in full Klingon garb.

More Klingons
Gene Paxton, a good and close friend for many years. With him are Richard (left) and Mike Wilson (right). Mike is Captain of the Bloodlust.

Little Klingons
This is a shot of Anna with J.D. both are done up as Klingons, and were without a doubt the littlest Klingons in attendance. J.D. was born a few weeks before Anna. With J.D. is friend Tami, and with Anna is Mommy Dearest, Sue.

Lizzy Klingon
ere is Lizzy dressed up as a Klingon. Okay, we were having a Klingon party, so, what would you expect?

This is Johny decked out as the dreaded and powerful Darth Sidius. Darn good shot of Johny at that. I’ll have to see about getting a print to him sometime.

Sithies
Johny is joined by Chris done p as Darth Maul and the guy who did Maul’s makeup as an Imperial Officer.

Clowning Around
Never clown around with Klingons…it might get you in deep trouble. Not sure who this is, but thought it was a really cool costume.

Klingons on the Starboard Bow
Sue and Anna surrounded by TOS Klingons.

Klingons on the Starboard Bow part 2
And the Klingons continue to gather on the starboard bow. Where is Captain Kirk when you need him? Oh, yeah, he’s out surfing with the Kahuna.

Lego Star Wars
Here is Mette and her husband as Qui-Gon and Darth Maul, Leogized.

Here is Sqotty MacKlingon with Mary, up by the Tiki Lounge.

Sqotty, Mary, Pete
Here’s the group of us just before Pete was indoctrinated into the Clan MacDude.

Sailor Balloon…the costume was made of a number of balloons. Very imaginative and well executed.

BayCon’s Match Game SF, where every blank might be a euphemism. Actually, that was one of two running gags, the other being WorldCon de Fruta. It was Casa de Fruta merchandise that I won for winning my round of the game.