Set in SF and a very fun evening....

So after another very nice breakfast at what is rapidly becoming our favorite hotel, we were off to the Concourse. We toyed with walking, but ended up in a cab as we had our carry-ons and show bag and misc. other bits of brick-a-braq. It is only about 1.1 miles from the venue and we were there in short order.

We arrived and found pretty much exactly what can be seen in the first image [N.B. If you right click on any of these pictures (or yesterday's, etc) and choose open in a new tab (or window) and it will open a really nice big image]. It is a big and reasonably well lit hall and the pipe-and-drape system is interesting and quite elegantly designed. Best of all, they is designed to "take" adjustable shelving. I've never seen this before, but it let us put up a "top" shelf, above the folding shelves, to display some oversized books and plate sets in a nice way. When we made it to our booth, we found our 13 big black cases waiting for us (8 of ours, 5 of Don's). Having schlepped a booth full of cases into a hall the previous week, I can not express how nice it was to see that big pile happily waiting for us.

We shoved the big cases around a little bit and figured out a way to use some of the extra tables we found stacked in our booth. We ended up with a big trophy on each "side" with a four-foot peninsula at the center and we each have one eight-foot table down the side. The center counter case is slightly off center which allowed use to tuck in a little four-foot table on Don's side (at least a picture or two tomorrow showing the entire booth...Don was not set up before we finished). We ended up pulling our big table forward a bit and staking some of the Pelican cases and covering them with the very red plastic table cloth(ish) material we found in the booth...anything for a bit more horizontal surface(s).

Once we got the tables set up and the shelves up, everything just fell into place nicely. Oh, we checked all our leg supports and shelf supports in the cases. I can not stress strongly enough how important it is to check them. I saw a table go down on someone a year go or so and never want it to be me...and did have a shelf let go (luckily, it was with the first book placed and it had not fully left my grip. I check *carefully* before each setup.

We've sold a handful of things...sadly, one of them being one of the items I was most amused to bring out to this show (more on this in a later post). The booth is set up and ready for the morning. I have had email from a half-dozen people or so who have told me they are coming and tomorrow should be really fun.

We left well before set-up finished (close to a first for us (read, "me"). We walked, uphill, to the hotel to get ready to meet some of Suzanne's friends. San Francisco is a great city...in desperate need of an ironing. We met Suzanne's friends at Bourbon & Branch, a speakeasy cocktail bar a few blocks away (down). Reservations strongly recommended, you get a password to get into the unmarked door. It is very well designed, has a great feel and you can actually have a pleasant conversation with your friends without shouting. The drinks were great, the company even better. It was really a place. We left, picked up some great Pakistani food on the way back (up) to the hotel and called it a night. Show starts at 10 tomorrow.