Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Weetacon 8 (Infiity) – Green Bay, WI (Day 2)

I woke up really late and had a shower meat stick and some cheese curds. I was up in just enough time to go catch lunch with some Weetaconers at The Urban Frog – vegetarian, vegan, and healthy foods. I had a club panini with ham and turkey and some mustard sauce on it with some blue corn chips. Pretty good sandwich. No complaints, though I do have the feeling that I stole my neighbor’s sandwich and she got mine. Sorry about that if I did. I had forgotten what I ordered. I also got an orange pineapple yogurt shake. Really delicious.

We headed back for the Weetacon raffle. You buy raffle tickets for a dollar and each item has a paper bag next to it into which you can put in as many entries as you’d like to. There are some items that only get one or two tickets and some items that get hundred of tickets. So it’s pretty competitive. There’s a lot of trash talking and threats of slap fights, but it’s all in good clean fun a and the profits go to support a local food pantry in Green bay. Again I know this sounds corny, but this is one of my favorite events of the weekend. There is soooo much yelling and cheering!!!!!
There were a few items which people get very possessive of, even before any drawings have been made. Seriously amazing gifts are donated from attendees, past attendees, corporate sponsors, and local folks. An incredible group of home made, purchased, and discovered items including hotel, iTunes, Amazon, and Target gift certificates, knitted hats and scarves, books, toys, pottery, artwork, photography, spices, and a ton of other things I can’t even get into, mainly because it's in the over-21 section of the room (where the adult toys and alcohol are).One of the big ticket items this year was a quilt someone had made and donated. It was called “The Manliest Quilt In All of Creation”. It also came with a matching pillow case. I ended up putting in a lot of tickets in that bag since it was so incredibly mind blowing. And then I started smack-talking – that’s how this whole thing works. As it turns out, I won the thing in a triumphant hail of cheers. It was fantastic. I hope no one was REALLY mad that I won (I did put in more tickets than I will divulge to D.Rough), but people were really hoping to win that item.

Consequently, I also got an awesome paloma making kit. D.Rough and I have put back some palomas in our day, so I knew she’d be thrilled about this.

The raffle was followed by the annual Igigi fashion show. Igigi makes clothes for the fuller-figure lady and donates some merchandise for the fashion show so people (who oddly enough are BLOGGERS) will write about the clothes and market it for them. It’s a super awesome partnership and I think everyone wins. The clothes are awesome and the ladies in the fashion show really step up to the plate while we all cheer, and cat call, and ask for more spins! And yes, many of the audience members DO partake in an adult beverage of sorts during this time.


It was dinner time, so we all headed to the Prime Quarter Steak House. It is one of those cook your own steak kind of places. A few people were trying to get me to do the challenge – a 42 oz steak with a baked potato and trip to the salad bar. I wasn’t in the mood to die that night, so I didn’t even attempt it. (My record is a 36 oz porterhouse, so it’s at least within the realm of possibility.) I DID however pay a little extra to have someone cook my steak for me. Why would I pay a bunch of money to ruin my own steak? – I’d leave it to an expert. And I’m glad I did. It was delicious. No complaints at all on any part of the meal.

We headed back to the hotel so people could change into their outfits for the evening’s theme party. In previous years, we would go to a dive bar and get sloppy with the locals. However, last year, there were a few "incidents", so the Weetacon planning committee decided to throw their own party – which they did in amazing fashion. We took over the upper floor of the Fox Harbor Pub and Grill in downtown Green Bay (within walking/stumbling distance of our hotel). The planning committee had also arranged for a photo booth so people got ridiculous after a bit. Rob from Green Bay Photo Booth had a bunch of props and a pretty sweet set up that printed out your photos for you and saved all the shots on a disc in high-resolution for downloading later. Brilliant – and I’m guessing he’s seen it all before, but we had a good time in there.

In the private bar that we had, they were dancing and running 80’s trivia and snapping photos left and right. These people really know how to have a good time.
A lot of new drinks were tried by folks. A lot of shots were tried by folks. A lot of yelling happened.A lot of shenanigans ensued. And then we all go out for pancakes. Really. It’s been termed “Pants Cakes” by this group for as long as I have been going, and it basically entails our group heading over to the Blackstone Family Restaurant at bar close and eating something hearty and breakfast-y to soak up as much alcohol as possible.
It’s a glorious way to wind down the evening in Green Bay. The food here is amazing diner food and they don't skimp on the portions. And yes, this usually means we roll back into the hotel (through the use of strategically planted designated drivers) about 4am+. Some people are not so shiny in the morning after this big Weetacon blow-out.

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