So frustrated I nearly had to Twitter

So today is the 3rd of February (speaking of which, I completely forgot that yesterday was Groundhog Day. Not that I celebrate it or anything, but you'd think with how bored I habitually am at work, it would have been five minutes' worth of entertainment). The 3rd of February is not a significant date by any measure, but it is just three days before the 6th of February.

Which, for the past three years, has been the date on which hotel reservations for Comic-Con International open (and sell out). Last year, Comic-Con posted a blog for attendees, which listed the hotels, answered frequently asked questions, and provided a space for Con goers to complain, offer suggestions, and otherwise comment on accommodations. The blog went up in late January, posted a list of official Con hotels on 1/31, and closed the week before Comic-Con 2008. It hasn't been updated since.

And this year, there's been no information. The "hotels" page on the official website says to check back for updates, or subscribe to their RSS feed. I've done both. Still nothing. Last year, and in years before, Comic-Con sent out a little save-the-date postcard with the day hotel reservations would go live. I think the postcard came sometime in January. This year, they seem to be doing all their communicating by email, but I've received multiple emails from them, and nothing about hotels. No postcard, either.

So I'm freaking out a little, mostly because that's just how I am. But I'm going to be really pissed if, suddenly, Friday morning at 8:30, the site tells me they're going live at 9am. I spent far too much time at work today inputting different combinations of "Comic-Con", "hotel", "reservations", "open", "2009", "discussion", and "news". I found nothing, except for a couple of blogs that confirmed they hadn't heard anything either. And several Tweets that said the same thing.

Which, for a moment, almost made me want to join Twitter. Most of the time, I find the idea of updating random followers on my life and thoughts in 140 character bursts to be both pointless and irritating, but today, being able to rant to the world in tiny, angry tirades seemed like it would alleviate my desire to scream. (Which I try to refrain from doing at work.) I resisted, however; mostly because as a new member, I'd have no followers, and would thus be ranting to no-one.

The ultimately fruitless research was oddly satisfying, though. I actually felt productive, tweaking the advanced Google search, learning how to sort results by date, and combing various blogs and discussion boards for information. I found a number of interesting things, including a pdf brochure for the San Diego Convention Center that acknowledged Comic-Con as their best-attended event (by an 80,000-person margin) but failed to list it in the top 5 conventions of the year. WTF? More on that in a later post. I also found a misogynistic, borderline wacko rant by Dirk Benedict (the actor who played Starbuck in the original BSG) trashing the new BSG. It made me extremely angry, until I read the first comment, which went something like, "Dirk, I'm sorry man, but your show sucked on toast." And then all was well again.

But the information blackout continues, as does my mounting frustration. And the uncomfortable sense that doing anything would be better than my current job. However, since nothing can be immediately done about any of this, I continue to haunt the web, and rant on the side.

Check back for updates, or subscribe to my RSS feed.

Aaargh.