ComicCon International 2009 - Day 3 & 4 (The Saga of the Stealthy Cell Phone Security Stealer)

After my last blog we enjoyed the Battlestar Galactica panel in Ballroom 20 of the SDCC. As we were leaving the incoming crowd pushed forward as we battled them to get out of the room and onto our next event. I did a double check to make sure we weren't leaving anything behind and then wiggled out as people shoved their way in. Only about a half hour later did I realize that something had gone wrong and that my cell phone (including my adorable and much loved phone-bunny charm, Mr. Harry Juku) was missing.

I had gone into a comic book panel on my own and was going to text Mike an update when I realized that my phone was nowhere to be found - I dumped out my purse... nothing. I ran back to the panel in Ballroom 20, couldn't get in and the lady was mean to me. I started crying. I ran down to lost and found, nothing. I started crying. I asked all the staff and security guards I could find if they knew where a payphone was... none of them knew. I finally found someone at information who asked someone else, who asked someone else and thought they knew that a payphone was around the corner. I ran down there, put in my $1 of quarters and called "Long Distance" to Mike's cell phone hoping that he would pick up a call from a strange San Diego area phone number. I started crying. He finally picked up and in a panicked sob I mumbled about what had happened and asked him to get out of his line to help me find my phone. He did, because he's awesome.

Without my cell phone, it was harder to set up a meeting place and meet up with him. There was some confusion but after chasing him a bit in the distance (and crying) we found one another. He walked back with me over all my steps and talked us back into Ballroom 20 (while I cried) and we checked under the seats but couldn't find anything. He walked me back to the lost and found and better explained what happened to the person at the counter (while I cried) and then calmed me down enough to get to a place where I was only depressed, not crying.

We hopped back in line where Brian L was waiting for us and got into a neat panel for District 9 (looked awesome) and then we took off again on the hunt for Mr. Harry Juku and my phone.

We run back to lost and found, hoping for an update and get in right before they close. No phone.

We went back to Ballroom 20 since I remembered that the people right next to us in the 2nd row were planning on staying in there for all the panels that day. Sure enough when we got in there, those people were still there (although they had managed to move closer to the center of the room and they remembered me & they had informataion about my phone!

Someone had found my phone! And even better, they turned it into the security guard at the front of the room! Another group also confirmed this and later a man approached me telling me he had seen them give the security guard the phone and he was going to put it on a "table."

"Joy!" I thought. It's in the hand of a professional! At least it's in good hands! Mike asked the security lead that evening and he suggested we go to the security headquarters to see if it had been turned in there. We do that (filled with hope, joy and happiness) and find... nothing.

No phone. Nothing turned in. Nada.

Luckily we managed to talk to one of the head honchos, who after telling him the whole story, took a very personal interest in finding out what happened and why one of his security guards ha d not turned in the phone. He told us to come back in the morning and see if something would come up as the night shift ended.

At dinner, my brother called my phone on a whim and it picked up! Apparently it was still in this guy's pocket and my phone (which was on silent - no vibrate or anything) answered this call and we could hear his voice and other people's voices. This prompted Mike to call AT&T where a super helpful person did everything she could to figure out how we could get our phone back. Since we're on a family plan she was able to set us up with a tracking program so we could triangulate the location of my phone within 1 mile (or less.)

Once we set that up we were able to find that my phone was still at the convention center. JOY!!! We relaxed for a bit... up until about 11pm... when the phone started moving. .. from the convention center, to the Hilton Hotel... and then to National City.

We came back in the morning to the security booth and let them know we were able to track our phone and that it was moving... and that it hadn't returned to the convention center. We were pleased to discover that all these head honchos in the security staff were retired SDPD who had worked in homicide investigations, sex crimes and a former captain of the SDPD... they knew the cops and they knew what they were doing... AND they were so excited to have an investigation that didn't involve fraudulent comic-con badges. They were interrogating staff, and had called the SDPD down to take a police report from us (we had to leave the Lost panel right before it started... but it was just something we had to do.) These security dudes were kick-ass and I felt so much better about this shitteous situation .

Saturday comes to an end and there is still no phone and it hasn't returned from National City... but the investigators were able to narrow it down to 3 possible perps and today they found the guy who was given the phone who said he turned it into his supervisor. SO. NOW. We're sitting at Comic-Con not really wanting to do anything but wait for my phone to be found and returned unharmed. The battery died (or the phone was turned off) so we can't track it anymore, but I still have high hopes.

In more ComicCon style news though, I wore my costume yesterday - Dr. Mrs. The Monarch from the Venture Bros. It was a trip. I was intereviewed by a couple websites (Mike got dragged into them too hahah) and it was like I was working at Disneyland again. We could hardly walk 3 feet without being stopped for a picture. Insane.

We walked down to the Adult Swim booth and took pictures and ran into other folks dressed up from the Venture Bros (there was a Venture Bros. panel that day) and took a number of group pictures. The producer of the Venture Bros. happened to be in the area and took my picture and later explained who she was and asked if she could get my permission to post the picture on the Venture Bros. facebook page. SURE! A moment later, a woman from Adult Swim asked us to all sign releases to have our pictures used for their bumps... so that was neat.

The Venture Bros panel was actually probably my favorite thing we did. Doc Hammer was hilarious and hearing all the other guys with their normal voices having moments of Dean, Dr. Venture, etc. coming out in normal conversation was great. Actually they were all hilarious. I'd wait 3 hours to see them all again any time.

The sad news was that when Mike asked an exec @ Adult swim about Lucy The Daughter of the Devil and the possibility of Loren Bouchard's half hour spec being picked up, we got a definite "no." On top of that, Adult Swim has a buttload of really shitty looking shows coming up. So, it's good to know AS is going down the toilet. Fantastic.

Anyhoo... this is too much of a long blog. Let's all keep our fingers crossed for my phone, kay?

Other notes:

-Anime kids are annoying and smell bad.

-The 14 year olds camping out for Twilight are gross and left the most disgusting dirty mess after they left.

- I think I hate teenagers.