Things started poorly in the morning because the bed in our hotel room is not compatible with Doc C's temperamental back and he woke up in some pain. We got him pain killers and I scoured the internet for somewhere to have brunch.
I eventually settled on Cafe 458, mainly because it sounded like it had some decent food and I thought was fairly close to the hotel. Until I realised it was really at least a half hour's walk away. So I bundled Doc C into a taxi and got my sweetie to his much needed omelet and juice. Cafe 458 is actually only open to the general public on Sundays, and it's entirely staffed with volunteers so that 100% of the proceeds, including the tips, go back to the cafe's charitable weekday work. During the week reservations can only be made by homeless people who have been referred to the cafe by another social service, and the idea is that it's like a fine dining experience with maitre d' greeting the guests at the door and waiters serving a menu prepared by corden bleu chefs. if you are in Atlanta over a weekend I highly recommend going, it's a nice little restaurant and you can get a stack of delicious buckwheat pancakes that just happen to also be tax deductible.
After breakfast we headed over to the hotel where Doc C would be giving his talk, but we went to see what was on sale in the market places. It was like a sea of fabulous geekery, we could have purchased entirely new wardrobes of cool t-shirts along with an exciting selection of steam-punk jewelry and disturbingly accurate weaponry. Doc C bought a cuddly Darth Vader and I think I may have to go back tomorrow to pick up the gem encrusted Star Trek communicator broach. It was magnificent in it's campy over-the-topness.
The browsing took far longer than we had anticipated, and afterwards I needed the peace and quiet of our hotel room. Not to mention the elixir that is tea. Doc had a meeting to go to, so I stayed for a lovely nap and we arranged to meet before his talk.
The talk went really very well, and Doc's observations on how super power's are assigned along gender roles for the most part prompted a lot of discussion with the audience. He had several people stay behind after the Q&A to discuss things in greater detail, including a student who happens to attend our university who asked if he could help with further research.
Then we went for a ridiculously delicious dinner at the Ritz-Carlton's Atlantic Grill, before heading back to the hotel again.
I am freaking exhausted now, but this weekend has been a welcome jolt of geektastic fun. Tomorrow we are determined to see the Battlestar Galactica panel, because if Edward James Olmos is in the same town as us we are going to hear him talk or know the reason why.
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