Last week we went on our year trip to Buffalo, NY to visit Jim’s family and then to head down to one of our favorite cons, Origins, the gaming convention in Columbus, OH. We got there Wednesday night and had dinner with our friend Dave Wendt and I later went out drinking with some friends from the my RPG writing days. Richard, our local host, took us to some bars away from the convention center, so later I found myself walking about a mile back from the bar late at night with my charming escort, Ken Hite, while tornado klaxons screamed behind us. Not being from the area, we didn’t KNOW they were tornado watch sirens, so we just watched the storm roll in. When we finally realized what was going on, we took cover in the convention center. (All this time Jim and the Pink Tornado slumbered blissfully on the eleventh floor of the hotel…)

Thursday had us getting the lay of the land, checking out the exhibit hall, etc. The floor was smaller this year, with smaller booths. Some companies, like KenzerCo (publishers of Knights of the Dinner Table where i have a monthly column) went all out with their usual booth decorations, whilel others, like White Wolf, scaled down considerably. Still, plenty of places to spend way too much money. Webcomic (you must read ERFWORLD now) and funny musician Rob Balder from the FuMP was there, and we hung out and chatted quite a bit. The funny anecdote of the day came from Dave Kenzer of KenzerCo when he saw my badge and asked if that was my real name. I said, well, not technically as Mur is a nickname, which is where he interrupted me and asked, no, was I the person who wrote for them. That amused me greatly.

Friday is when the podcasting group made it to town, consisting of John Cmar, Laura Burns, Chris Miller, Kris Johnson, Shannon Farrell and Dave and Mario from The Gamemaster’s Show. I splurged on a pair of goggles as I’m turning 35 on July 25 and wanted something pretty, dammit. Friday night we ended up at the Big Bar on 2 (the name of the Hyatt bar) witnessing some truly epic karaoke. I texted Rob Balder to come down and play with us, and he did an awesome rendition of “She’s Always A Goth Chick To Me”. I got drunk enough to where I wanted to sing, but luckily fate headed me off at every pass. I was convinced Rob and I would do a fantastic duet of “Common People” by William Shatner, but he didn’t know the Joe Jackson part and the karaoke guys didn’t have it anyway. It’s for the best… Another high point of the evening was getting angry texts from Matt F’n Wallace who hated me for having alcohol and Rob Balder at my con, when he was having trouble locating either at his.

Local people- Rob will likely come to town for Trinoc Con. Just sayin’.

Saturday was made of win, as it was the costume contest. Both the Pink Tornado and I got thrills: she dressed as a villain this year, going as Miss Time’s Up (pictures going on Flickr soon, but protected under filter, so if you don’t know us, you can’t see… sorry) and she won for the second year in a row. Our kid is awesome. My thrill came when I met Feedback, winner of Who Wants To Be A Superhero season 1, and he brightened up when he heard my name, as he remembered me from helping me out on the PFK podcast and from when I loaned my voice to his audio drama. Jim got some pics with his awesome new camera and I took some video of Feedback endorsing PFK. It was awesome, he was a very gracious and funny guy with his fans. Laura, Shannon and Chris Miller each gave me early birthday presents of accessories for my goggles, so I now have a gatling gun, a site, and a LIGHTNING BOLT to go on the lens. I am a tricked out Mur. That night we tentatively introduced our podcasting friends to our RPG friends at a cookout later and it seemed to go quite well.

I met several listeners at the con, spent too much money, and bought myself something shiny. All in all, an excellent con. Even though my Mac broke on Sunday morning. More on that later.