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Well, this year's MFF came and went. And man, did it ever go well. This was one of those conventions for me where everything seemed to go right and fall into place. It was a rare moment at the con when I didn't have something to do or someone to chat with.

As is my tradition with attending conventions, I tend to work them too. This year, I worked in Operations for Puma and his staff. It was a different experience, and overall I enjoyed being in more of an attendee-facing role at this year's MFF.

As I mentioned in a previous comment, Raptor Red was there, in a new version of his fursuit. He was rather expressive, which is normal for him:

The fursuit parade had 574 fursuiters this year:

Okay, I uploaded all of my pictures form Midwest FurFest. Okay, let's get the link to all of the pics out of the way: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmuth/sets/72157622889526042/. And now, pictures that I found especially interesting!

First picture is from the Method 1 Live show. Since the hosts couldn't have beer in con space, they instead reviewed Drank Beverage. Along the way, they also decided it would be a good idea to drink Brawndo, and even mix them in the same glass and drink the olive oil-colored concoction. That didn't end so well, as this picture tries to illustrate:

One Standard Issue Furpile that happened Sunday night outside of the dance:

And some actual huskies, who were part of last year's charity, came by to be trained for working with large crowds:

The first Steampunk fursuit that I recall seeing at a furry convention:

This Beast fursuit--or combination of fursuit and face paint, rather, was pretty cool. The first time I've seen someone do something like that, too:

Poor Raptor Red!

Want the rest of my pictures? They're at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmuth/sets/72157622889526042/. Have fun!

A picture of November and myself at Midwest FurFest.

Yes, I often wear a shirt and tie to furry conventions. The picture was his idea. :-)

I'll be arriving at Midwest FurFest on Thursday and leaving on Monday.

I'm working in the Art Show again. Here are the hours I'll be on duty:

Friday: 11 AM to 3 PM
Saturday: 1 PM to 3 PM, 7 PM to 1 AM
Sunday: 11 AM to 6 PM

Hope I'll see the usual gang of folks there!

I'll start this con report off by mentioning that it was my first Midwest FurFest that I attended since 2003. I wanted to attend it since then, but I ended up having other Christmas travel plans (some trips to Europe, among other things) that sucked up my money and vacation days.

The executive summary was that it was nice to come to a con where I didn't have to work as much as I did at Anthrocon. I still worked this con, but I'm getting ahead of myself. :-)

I flew into to Chicago on Thursday night before the con. I ended up sharing a flight with this guy:

Apparently his parents let him come to MFF, provided that he shared his flights out and back with a responsible adult. Sometime my name was mentioned. I have no idea how this happened.

Now that pic was taken just outside of the Art Show, where I was working for Aureth this year. It was nice to work the art show, because I didn't have to be on my feet as much, and it was a relatively quiet environment. It also awesome to work with Mindslide again, seeing that I hadn't seen her since 2003 or so.

On Friday night I hit the dance, so I could dance to the sets of Kale and other DJs. And yes, this a pic of Darth Vader at the dance:

The good news is that my cardiovascular system was in good enough shape that I could dance for 30 minutes without stopping. The bad news is that my muscles weren't used to this sort of activity and I paid for it dearly the following days with very sore calf muscles. Well, at least I know my limits now. :-/

On Saturday afternoon there was the fursuit parade. While the pictures came out nice, I was totally freezing while I took them. It was around 40 degrees with a bit of wind when these pictures were taken:

At some point on Friday, Orvan Ox came by the art show with some deliveries:

Aside from the art show, I ended up volunteering a few shifts with security at the con. I had originally packed my Dorsai Irregulars beret, since I knew a few other DI would be attending the con. I never thought I'd actually end up having to work as a DI at that con. There was some joking amongst the DI about it being the shortest time ever to negotiate and complete a contract.

The downside to helping out with security is that it affected my performance in working the art show. I was rather tired and Saturday and Sunday and it hurt my productivity a bit. I'll have to be more careful about over-extending myself in the future.

On the way out on Monday, I saw this incredibly cool Okami-themed car, complete with a Michigan license plate that read "OKAMI":

The rest of my pictures can be found at: http://flickr.com/photos/dmuth/sets/72157610262520115/

I know I didn't mention a lot of names in this con report. It's not because I forgot about all of you, it's just that I felt it'd be redundant since I've been to so many cons in such a short time.

My next two cons will be MagFest in January and Furry Connection North in April. I'll see you there!