Originally intended to document my experience of DeLorean ownership, focus is often radical and strange, boring and obtuse.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Volunteering at FanExpo 2012

Donations for TeamFox were greatly appreciated at FanExpo!Michael J. Fox's disease is terrible. It is the reason he founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's research. Volunteering is not terrible. It is the reason I spent Friday evening and all day Saturday at FanExpo.

At this point the news is old. Sure, if I wanted I *could* just hit 88 mph in the Time Machine, go back and write this post before FanExpo, but I can't seem to get my hands on any plutonium. Sure, in 2015 I will be able to walk right in to my corner store and buy it, but for now I'm stuck.

So, back to FanExpo. My friend, owner of this amazing Time Machine, had a wedding to attend, so I volunteered to raise funds with his brother at the exhibit.

People usually go crazy for DeLoreans and there was no exception at this massive nerd-fest. Ok, don't get all angry that I just called it a nerd-fest. It's okay. I'm allowed to say that. I am one of you.

Besides, you know it's true.

Many commented that FanExpo was nothing more than a cash-grab these last 2 years, but said they were happy to see someone doing something for charity. Many were more than happy to hand over $20 to sit in the Time Machine and take photos. Some were happy to donate even more than that. To those people: thank you.

To the Hulk, who tried to rip the front bumper off the car, thank you for your donation. To the Staypuft Marshmallow (wo)man, thank you. To Doctor Who, thank you. To all the girls in their teeny tiny costumes, thank you, thank you, thank you. To those "inebriated" scientists, thank you. Ghostbusters/Back to the Future Crossover - eat your heart out Marvel. To Omni Television for helping spread the word about this car even further, thank you.

To Venessa in her Transformer DeLorean costume, thank you. To Marty McFly, thank you. To anyone not in a costume, thank you. To all the excited people who were happy to give to such a worthy cause and stop and chat for a bit, thank you. And to Christopher Lloyd coming to Canada and drawing even more attention to the Time Machine, thank you.

Even without Christopher Lloyd in the car lines were long and people's patience was tested. The rooms were hot, crowded and smelled of sweaty farts. So if you stuck it out and donated your hard-earned money, I sincerely thank you. Alternately, if you stuck it out and donated stolen money, I also sincerely thank you.

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19 Comments:

Blogger Lillium said...

Hiya Martini! I was one of the people who donated and got my picture taken with the Delorean, but I never received the pictures! I was wondering if you know who I need to contact to get them?

I would email you but I don't have fake job offers for you :(

11:27:00 PM

 
Blogger Martini said...

Hi Lillium... I'll see what I can do. Before I continue, I need some more information. Are you referring to a photo with Christopher Lloyd & the car, or are referring to a photo we took of you sitting in the car? If it was the Chris Lloyd photo, that was run by FanExpo and we don't have access to those photos. You could contact them directly and see if they saved the photos. If it was the latter, I don't own that camera. The owner is away on business in the USA at the moment, but I will email him right away and ask. Also, you can contact him through his website: timemachineforhire.com And yes, you can email me at that silly long email address. It's real. (But I don't usually check it.)

3:52:00 PM

 
Blogger Lillium said...

It was a photo of just me in the car. I gave the photographer my email address to send the photos to, but he couldn't email me right away because there was basically no internet connection in the convention center. Unfortunately I didn't ask him for his contact info at the time. I wondered if he lost my email or encountered mailing errors. Thanks for your help.

4:03:00 PM

 
Blogger Martini said...

That may have been me. Was your address something about a car@hotmail.com? And we wrote it on one of the Parkinson's bookmark things?

4:36:00 PM

 
Blogger Lillium said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

4:40:00 PM

 
Blogger Martini said...

Ok, I have your email. I will email the owner. He's REALLY busy at the moment and that may be the reason why. You should be easy to find on the card. Hopefully I'll have good news for you. (I am crossing my fingers they did not format the cards at the end of each day.)

4:58:00 PM

 
Blogger Lillium said...

Ah, I understand. Thanks so much for your help!

5:00:00 PM

 
Blogger Unknown said...

Hi Martini: I was moved by your volunteering, as I lost my Dad to Parkinson's. I'm proud that The National Parkinson Foundation and The Michael J/ Fox Foundation are close. NPF donated $10 million to Michael's non profit just before I hosted an annual Gala in Florida, where NPF is based. This sounds like a great event and I champion your time and efforts, my friend!

5:00:00 PM

 
Blogger awildermode said...

What, no pictures of the girls in teeny tiny costumes?

2:28:00 PM

 
Blogger awildermode said...

Oh, I am so excited. I am able to post...I guess I am not a robot.

2:29:00 PM

 
Blogger Martini said...

awildermode - I'm glad you can comment. And my sincerest apologies about the photography blunder. ;)

7:16:00 PM

 
Blogger Martini said...

Michael - My condolences. I don't think I knew that about your father. $10M? Wow! We had loads of fun raising the money, but trust me, we didn't come close to 1% of that. hahaha.

9:59:00 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Friends of ours were at Fan Expo as well (they go every year), but this time they were manning the 'Scream All You Want' web-series booth (they're the co-director/producer/costume designer/make-up artist for the series). Glad to hear you had fun!

10:26:00 AM

 
Blogger Martini said...

Darn. I bet they were right near us! I could've said 'hi'. Then they would've said, 'who are you?' and it would've been awkward. Maybe next year!

8:15:00 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Might have been awkward...anyway, the photos from Run For Your Lives are up. Looking forward to the race near Barrie in two weeks!

10:14:00 PM

 
Blogger Dumpster Diva said...

"crowded, and smelled of sweaty farts" ROFLMAO!!! Don't we all know what that's like when tons of people are crammed into an enclosed arena!
My dad has Parkinson's and it's a bitch to have! Great charity and noble of you to volunteer! I love volunteering for events like this! You meet the most interesting people! You get props!

11:29:00 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just want to let you know what when I post a comment under "Ryoko861" and I don't get the Captcha correct and have to re enter it, there's no where to click "Submit". So that comment above is mine. It would only accept my google account without having to enter the captcha letters.

11:31:00 AM

 
Blogger Martini said...

I've had that same problem in Explorer. The submit button only appears regularly when I use Firefox.

Sorry about your dad! More and more people keep telling me they have some relative suffering from Parkinson's.

7:39:00 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Girls in teeny tiny costumes? Maybe I'll attend next year!

4:52:00 PM

 

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