addendum
I already posted some comments in the publishers' forum, so I'll repost them here and elaborate.
WHAT A WEEKEND!
First of all, it was fantastic to meet so many ENWorlders... Of course, it's always great to see old friends, and professional contacts, especially helpful ones like Crothian (who helped man the booth while I chased around the Con) and Mr Billy (he really IS a handsome rascal!)... But meeting so many of the online faces was great! People travelled near and afar, braving bad in-flight movies and missing luggage, and I thank you for your effort!
Our booth was so far away from the entrances that by the time people reached us, they were so tired that they needed to sit down for a demo of Campaign Suite, and so few made it tour end of the world that we were able to invest in quality time with each and every person who walked by. And saying good morning to Kenny Baker as he walked by wasn't too hard on the spirit either. Chris and Dee from Twin Rose- you guys are fantastic for letting us horn in on your booth space. Just so all y'all know, they paid for the lion's share of the booth, and yet took up only a tiny corner of it, leaving the rest for us to pimp our books and for us to have somewhere to meet up. Poor Dee is recovering from a twisted knee, so was backed into a corner in her wheelchair, so space was at a premium! Michael Morris has a brain the size of a planet. He brought and stocked a mini-fridge at the booth. THANK YOU!
The lil' Canadia Suite ROCKED. Udon Studios donated some special Street Fighter previews (available exclusively at the Canadiana Suite and at last week's ComicCon) and some Exalted books that they illustrated and some other comics. Fiery Dragon provided a case of MooseHead beer and some Canadian flags and stuff, Red Shirt Games brought cheese curds for our poutine and some Canadian Club rye... And we had about fifty people pop by throughout the week. Thanks for dropping by everyone! Honestly, our suite wasn't a constant party palace- it was once the dealer room was closed Thursday (until we kicked everyone out around midnight, I think?), Friday (until we kicked everyone out just after eight so the girls and I could get dressed and practice their speeches for the ENnies), and Satyrday (until Jake and I had to leave for a party- not the White Wolf one, the Valar after-hours one). I'm already looking into what we can pull off for next year!
We sold lots of books, particularly ENPJ #2 and the Kids' Colouring Book. Thanks everyone for being so supportive. BIG thank you's to those who asked the girls for their autographs. And thanks to those who contributed art and content and who autographed the girls' copies.
On the subject of being supportive and hearkening back to great publishers, there were a whole whack of publishers who donated product to the ENWorld party, so thank you everyone! We couldn't make it- didn't feel like bringing the kids to a bar for some reason, and we really needed to get home soon. I hope the party went well!
On Sunday Hound placed second in the finals in DCI's Risk 2210 Tournament, bringing home a GORGEOUS plexiglass board to taunt our friends with. So if you missed saying hi to him on Sunday, it wasn't because he was avoiding you, twas because he was out conquering the world.
The kids placed second in the Best in Show for the Costume contest (JUST missing winning an XBox with the new D&D game), but DID win first place in their category for their dancing. Yes, this is a proud momma whose daughters won for their talent, not their looks. AND they got the signatures of the celebrity judges on their papers including Tracy Lords'. Coolio.
Gen paid the $5 that made the record for the longest time an individual spent in jail, and impressed the Code Monkey types with her oh-so kind Pointing and Laughing and Taunting the prisoner. Gen and Chrys are currently wearing their Monkey T-shirts to bed.
The Gelflings were interviewed by GamerTV (from the UK, apparently- I don't get cable, so never heard of them) and filmed by TechTV (yet another obscure channel of which I'd never heard), and were on the local news when their father was put in Klingon Jail.
Dave Arneson came by the booth and picking up a copy of the Kids Colouring Book- his granddaughter loved the GenCon 2002 edition, so hopefully she'll like the Celebrity Edition!
Overall comments:
I was impressed by the quality of people and conversations we had with all of our new/old friends. I just loved the community, and the ability to recognize names and put faces to them. One night we were sitting around in Lil' Canadia discussing game design, 3.5 opinions, etc. and it suddenly dawned on me that here we were talking about total gaming geek stuff, and everyone was participating, had an opinion, and it was all good. GREAT feeling. GenCon is the Cheers of geekdom. During the Risk game, Jake would exclaim "Australia Australia Australia we love ya" whenever someone would take over a territory therein, and other players would respond with "G'day Bruce". Before the costume contest, the really big Martian costumed guy was taking a picture of a great DareDevil costumed guy, and said "well, I don't have to worry about warning you about the flash, being blind and all". Obscure comic references, no problem. Monty Python quotes, sure. Chucking dice, card floppin, twas all good.
Gamer/Geekdom celebrities were approachable and amenable, and human as ever, which was great. I'm working on negotiating my daughters' dowry for her betrothal to Brom's eldest. I got great big warm hugs from Big Name White Wolf Peeps, from Frank Krug (who did some great art for the Carrion Huntress download webhancement for Necromancer's Legacy), from Peter the CodeMonkey from Paradigm... The Gelflings were instantly adopted by ArthurQ... It was an immense pleasure to meet everyone, or to be able to spend more time with people we'd spent time with before.
Hal really is just a big ball of sociable. It's amazing.
I constantly washed my hands, and yet I caught The Bug. It may have something to do with not getting more than three hours of sleep in any night since Monday. That and our booth being right underneath the Con's most powerful vent running full blast. I had to go buy that lovely shiny cloak just to keep warm (well, and to wear to the Valar party)
Other purchases/Swag besides the cloak:
Cannibal Pygmies in the Jungle of Doom and
Kung Fu Samurai on Giant Robot Island. I swear, between Jim Zubkavich (artist for QuickShots/Udon Studios- the guy who turned us on to the game at Origins), Crothian and myself, we must have been directly responsible for the purchase or referrals of a thousand dollar's worth of games from Z-man! Thanks for the discount guys!
Two beautiful masks from the artist room. I've been eyeing them since last year, and finally splurged on the expense, and don't regret a penny. Wearable art? Yes please!
Apples to Apples from OUT of the BOX. Fun, educational games. And apparently they have a French version available from their Europpean site. Fantastic chance to help improve the family's vocabulary.
The Gelflings bought one of those fuzzy, moveable dragon creatures you'd see on peoples' shoulders, a solid hematite skull for their dad, some t-shirts for themselves, and won some great free stuff from the Wizard's Quest setup. The first time they tried, Chrystine got herself a NeoPet, and Gen wanted to win something for her dad and got him the Star Wars Hero's Guide. The next day, they each got NeoPets. So now we have three NeoPets all talking to each other, rolling around on the floor. Oh yeah, and the girls got a silver BobaFett figurine from Paizo (thanks Erik!)
Disappointments:
Not enough time to search for swag. Jake was in the tournament so I felt bad every time I had to leave the booth.
Not enough time to hang out with everyone with whom I would've liked.
I pity the people who didn't get their passes mailed to them in advance who ended up spending four hours in line.
Missing the White Wolf announcement so I could've seen the WoD fanboy faces drop.
Not getting Gen into a Living Arcanis game all weekend. She's got the judge's card, so in theory could've run a game, but we wanted to have her play in a Con game to get a taste. Next year, I guess.
Jake didn't get to go shopping. Well, that's not MUCH of a disappointment, but it does mean that we don't have a copy of Arcana Unearthed yet as well as a couple of other pieces we were looking for (so we'll just pick them up at our FLGS instead).
All in all, a GREAT time. Great parties, great people... Peter should be proud of another great Con. I loved Indy- it's bigger, cleaner, and great hotels too.
So- who's coming to GenCon SoCal? Should we try and score a booth, maybe with a table where we can play some games?
(and still don't...the Spycraft game wasn't a tournament). I assumed that Daniel's last name was Pielorhino--it's not. Apparently "Pielorhino" as a title has something to do with Pelor and being small. I was told to pronounce it as if it was written in Portugese. I am, if anyhting, more in the dark than ever.
just kidding, it was a pleasure to meet you, i'll accept a lil bit of sick in exchange. besides, i'm still convinced it was those incosiderate cretins i call friends who had my room temp set to 60 degrees! not to mention that that exhibit floor was like a refrigerator! hmm maybe i should have tried to sell off their a/c unit 
