Walker goes APE

Actually, the headline should read “Walker goes to APE” but it’s not as catchy. APE is the Alternative Press Expo, a comic book convention run by our friends who are also the wizards behind San Diego Comic Con, the world’s best (and one of the largest) comic gathering. We’ve been attending for more than a decade and 2008 marks the first convention for the Little Man. He has been the hit of the show and was even mentioned as a show highlight on some comic news sites. Here’s a photo taken by Newsarama journalist JK Parkin.

On Saturday, Walker was taking in all the sights and sounds. He loved running around the HUGE place and waving “hi” to everyone. Some punk rock comic creators were smitten by him when he played for minutes with their bicycle spoke roulette wheel. They drew him a picture and gave him one of their CDs. Walker also enjoyed walking up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down… the stairs. One of the cutest moments was when he was walking up and down (see a pattern here?) the handicap ramp. The first time he decided to descend the ramp, he walked up to it, sat down, and scooted forward on his butt as if he expected it to be like a slide. Since he didn’t whip down the slide, he opted for running. Mommy was very tired and sore from all the up and down activity.

I should take this time to mention that I found a time when I couldn’t manage One More Thing. I had my hands full with watching Walker and transporting his stuff from place to place. I had no capacity for helping Larry prepare, set up, or work the show. I rarely find myself thinking I’ve reached my limit but I did for just an instant. Upon arriving home, I was thrilled to sit down and drink the last glass of wine in the house. Read on, and you’ll understand why.

The convention is conveniently located a block from the Adobe office. In the past, we’ve just used the parking garage so we didn’t have to fight for parking. But this year, having the office so close has been a lifesaver. After so much activity, Walker was exhausted so we’ve gone to the office to find a quiet and dark place to nap. Well, that’s the theory. On Saturday, it was POURING rain. The roof at the convention center was leaking everywhere (we had a sign at our booth simply saying, “Yes, we know” as one leak was directly above our tables). Walker and I went out to deliver lunch and we got a bit wet. So not only did we want to use the office for napping but also for drying off. So we braved the rain and arrived drenched. We peeled off our jackets and I removed Walker’s shoes, socks and pants. I removed my sweater and put on a fleece jacket I keep at my desk. I bundled up the little guy in two blankets and two jackets, turned off the light, turned on Sleep Sheep (so he has his wave noises) and he quickly fell to sleep. A deep sleep. So deep that an hour later, when the fire alarm went off (with the accompanying flashing lights and ear piercing beeps), he kept sleeping. Being pretty confident there was no fire in the building, I waited for security to turn off the alarm. And I waited. And I waited (but I do start getting our stuff together since it’s all over the office). And I waited some more until I saw a few fire engines pull up with sirens blaring. Figuring it would be odd to see an employee sitting in an office with a half naked baby with fire alarm blaring, I decided it’s finally worth waking the peacefully sleeping Walker and take him into the other building. I can’t carry all our stuff so I just picked up the heavily bundled baby and transported him to the main Adobe building next door. We waited for about twenty minutes while the SFFD confirmed that the alarm was triggered by some water on the roof but they had difficulty turning it off because they didn’t have access to a room in the building. Walker, in the meantime, slowly awoke and didn’t want to sit on my lap anymore. So he got off the couch and ran and danced around the lobby in his shirt and diaper, looking out the front door as people from the convention walked by and oggled at the building (you see, Adobe software is essential for most of these folks’ art so it’s a sort of artistic Mecca).

We finally get the nod to return to the other building so we could finally gather up our belongings, get dressed and head back to let Daddy take a restroom break (it had been hours since he’d been able to leave the booth). But it was not to be. The alarm went off again before we could make it back in the building and the poor, wet security woman had to call 911 to have SFFD return again. This time they brought big axes and after another extended period, things went back to normal. (However, there will be a few folks who will return to their desks on Monday and wonder why they are either higher or lower than they left them. They won’t know a little half-naked Pixie found the buttons to adjust the desk height. I did successfully stop the Pixie from shutting down a video server.)

Today nap time seems is thankfully much less exciting. We are camped out in a conference room in the main building and we’ve managed almost 120 uninterrupted napping minutes. It’s not raining today either so my outlook is a bit more positive. After nap, we’ll return to APE and likely run back and forth under a 2.5 foot opening of the main entrance which Walker thinks is hysterical since he can clear it without ducking while Mommy must do deep kneebends to follow him. We’ll giggle and make new friends and see our old friends and then put the books away until July when Daddy goes to San Diego.

And I must say that our lives are rather mundane in comparison to Uncle Thayer who leaves tonight for a last-minute assignment from Playboy magazine in which he will be spending a week on a boat in Mexico, chumming for and swimming with Great White Sharks. The only advice his wise big sister could muster was, “keep your hands and feet inside the cage at all times.”

P.S. Nothing to report for Halloween. I worked all day, skipping an Adobe Mom/Baby lunch. Walker reprised his role as Yoda for Sofiya and Larry wore his Luke costume when he went to pick him up at the end of the day (both were a big hit). We didn’t go out Trick or Treating. We did, however, have a pleasant surprise on Saturday when our neighbor from across the street gave us a beautiful pumpkin cookie she had gotten for Walker since she expected him to come visit the night before. I’m so proud Walker brings out such joy and love in people.