And the word of the week is "Pheeew!" After travelling home all day this past Monday, then learning on Tuesday and Wednesday just how much my three-month-old changed over the 10 days I didn't get to see him (like not wanting to eat for Daddy any more), I am back home and a little less bleary-eyed.

Vancouver is a great city even when it's sopping wet, and as usual, a great time was had by all. David drove down to Nashville a week ago Tuesday so that we could make the trip together and get some planning done. This mostly consisted of writing interview questions and deciding who would take the lead interviewing each person, should we happen to get time with them. I'm the sort who likes to over-prepare in order to feel comfortable, so that's a good 10 to 12 questions for every person, place, or thing who might agree to talk with us, from Michael Shanks to Carl Binder to Guest Star o' The Week to Key Grip #4.

I certainly had a few names at the top of my wishlist, especially those actors I am in love with (Amanda and Claudia -- in a perfectly appropriate, married man sort of way) and those who GateWorld has never interviewed before (Paul McGillion and Jason Momoa, for example). David has done many more interviews than me (thanks to his ability to record phone interviews well), so I got the privilege of leading the lion's share of our set interviews. Please forgive the boyish voice when you hear it -- I think I'm getting better, but if some people have "a face made for radio," then I think I have a voice made for print. I really am 30 and somebody's father.

Wednesday was a fun day to casually run around town with our official photographer, kiwigater. We conducted four interviews at two different talent agencies, and met some darn-nice actors. Some of this material you've already seen on the site, including a personal message to his fans from Kavan Smith ("Major Lorne"). Kavan was an early highlight of the trip.

Thursday and Friday we spent all day on set, and it just never gets old. Even after being on my feet for hours on end, waiting for the next interviewee to become available and not getting much done, it's still great fun to be there. It was my third year visiting, and I hope that it always retains that kid-in-a-candy-store vibe to me. The publicity team on set ferries us around all day long, and they are simply outstanding.

We'll be rolling out those interviews over the weeks to come, and I couldn't be happier with the great material that the casts and crew provided to us. Even Brad Wright and Robert Cooper, two of the busiest men in show business, seemed to enjoy chatting about the finer points of the Stargate universe for better than half an hour each. I suspect that after so many interviews with the mainstream press, they like talking about the show with a couple of guys who they know truly love it, and who have an encyclopedic knowledge of it. (Brad joked that he could use terms like "Harcesis" with us and not have to explain it.)

Friday the convention also began, and while I missed the stage activities, we had a blast at the GateWorld Get-Together that night at T.G.I. Fridays. This event drew about 25 people last spring; we were shocked when we had R.S.V.P.s for nearly 80 this year ... so many that the event nearly didn't happen! We couldn't find a restaurant to accommodate our group, and were debating splitting it into two parties for two different nights, or renting a hall and just ordering pizza. I'm so glad things worked out the way they did (73 attendees), but if our group triples in size again next year we'll definitely be in a spot.

Several actors provided us with photos autographed especially for this event, including four from Amanda. We gave those away in a random drawing, along with several other prizes. Titan Magazines kindly provided a box of the new Stargate SG-1 / Stargate Atlantis Official Magazine yearbook, so that everyone at the party could go home with a copy.

The party also gave me a chance to meet Ivon and BamBam, two of our star bloggers, face-to-face (BamBam for the second time, actually). Rainmaker's Bruce Woloshyn, one of GateWorld's oldest and dearest friends, also turned out again to chat it up with fans. Thanks, guys!

Saturday and Sunday consisted mostly of convention coverage, listening to the actors and crew on stage and taking notes. I'm still working on getting the last bits of this published on the site -- stay tuned for reports on Amanda Tapping's stage appearance, and the panel from JR Bourne and Cliff Simon. Creation put on a top-notch event this year, with the possible exception of a couple of jokers they let on stage for a trivia game on Sunday afternoon. (Yes, that'd be me and the aforementioned David, with help from kiwigater and Shipperahoy).

Monday morning we rose at 4:30 a.m. to make it to the airport on time, only to have our cab driver tell us that it was daylight savings and we were running an hour late. SON OF A! We spent the cab ride debating whether or not he was right, and thank goodness he wasn't.

My highlights from the week include an interview with Claudia Black (we had her for only 6 minutes last year before she was called back on set), seeing Amanda again and getting to talk with her a bit (and show off a picture of my beautiful baby), Kavan's interview (and the hilarious outtakes I hope you get to see), and reconnecting with Brad and Rob. With a site like ours, there is always a subtle tension between "Keep doing what you're doing" and "Why are you doing what you're doing?!", but they were incredibly accommodating and complimentary.

I also finally got to meet and interview Rachel Luttrell. Boy, it's hard to keep my small-screen love interests to just two with such a wonderful lady. And we polished off a total of 20 interviews at the convention, with what I think will turn out to be a really nice piece with the world's most soothing Tok'ra.

Vancouver 2006 will surely go down in history as one of my favorite "working vacations." I can't say I relaxed a lot, but I certainly had fun "working." I hope it pays off in spades when all of you get to see and hear these interviews!

For the third year running GateWorld's editors are packing up the bags to head to one of the biggest Stargate conventions in the world! Creation Entertainment is hosting the official Stargate SG-1 / Stargate Atlantis event in Vancouver, March 24 to 26. Vancouver is arguably the best place for a Stargate convention, since that's where the shows film. That means more guest stars, more participation from writers, directors, and producers, an authentic props gallery from the show ... and even tours of the set for a limited few.

Here's our convention photo gallery from last year.

Guests at this year's event include Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping, Joe Flanigan, Beau Bridges, Gary Jones, Alex Zahara, JR Bourne, Cliff Simon, Dan Payne, James Bamford, Martin Gero, N. John Smith, William Christensen ... and the animatronic Thor puppet!

This week is like the Super Bowl for us. For toy enthusiasts, the biggest event is Toy Fair. For the video game sites I frequent, the E3 expo makes for the year's biggest news. Next week's trip to Vancouver is all of that and more for GateWorld. Our whole year has come to spin around this trip.

The convention and the fun we plan to have there -- watching stage panels, conducting our own trivia contest, interviewing guests, and cruising the dealer's room -- is just the tip of the iceburg. By the grace of Sony and the producers of Stargate, we hope to spend a day or two on the sets of Stargate. I've been there twice before and it is truly an amazing experience. We usually get to see a bit of filming in between grabbing as many interviews as we possibly can, whether it's in an actor's trailer or grabbing a seat in the Atlantis conference room.

Last year, between the set visit and the convention we came home with around 15 separate interviews and lots of news on the upcoming season. It was so much that it took us a good nine months to get them all published (something we've taken steps to rectify this year!). We'll also be covering the day-to-day of the convention itself.

Last, but most definitely not least, GateWorld is hosting a dinner for our forum family! Last year we had about 25 fans from the forum spend the evening together at a local restaurant, with special guests Rainbow Sun Francks, Martin Gero, Bruce Woloshyn, and Courtenay J. Stevens popping by. It was so much fun and such a hit that we decided to do it again ... and our head count is currently at nearly 80 attendees.

So I'm excited for the big week ahead. Stay tuned ... Internet access permitting, I hope to get some live convention blogging in, and also let you in on how the rest of the week goes as it unfolds.

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