Pensacola Highlight: Meeting my Nephew

Rob and Matt at the Paracon

One of the best things from my (Rob) trip to the Pensacola, Florida Paracon was that I finally got to spend some great quality time with my 24 year old nephew Matt. Matt lives in Tampa and has degrees in Sign Language interpretation and French. He's an amazing guy. He's into fitness, he's very aware of social and political issues and we had a lot to talk about. I was really honored that he drove 7 hours from Tampa to spend time together.

A fountain at the old Pensacola docks

Rob and Matt take a night-selfie at the docks

 - He arrived on the Saturday of Paracon, so we went to dinner and talked a lot before fizzling out. The next day, he accompanied me to Paracon and stayed for half the day before I told him to go explore the town and see a movie (I didn't want him to come all that way and sit all day). We enjoyed another great dinner and drove to old Pensacola at night, where we walked around some docks.
  Spending the time together was amazing. We really got to know each other much better, and he's an amazing man. A million thanks for making that drive, Matt!

Historic sign at the old town dock

Paracon Heat Adventure, People, Ghost Stories and Costumes

The heat inside curled book covers

2 women with an axe to grind?

The Pensacola Paracon was Saturday, August 9 and Sunday August 10. On Saturday vendors like me (Rob) had to be there at 9 a.m. and the doors opened at 10 a.m.

TOO HOT TO HANDLE - The air conditioning was working... until 10 a.m. and then it died. The outside temperature hit 100F. The INSIDE temperature in the convention was about 105/110F. It was unbearable. I bought about 7 bottles of water and people were miserable. There were many people in costumes, too. I read some of the facebook comments, and some people left after 30 minutes. We had to stay from 10am to 6pm (8 hours) in 100F plus heat. 

Even R2D2 from Star Wars was there! 

MY TALK -   My talk about a "double murder ghost investigation" was at 4:30 p.m. in another building, which did have A/C, but only 18 people showed as the crowds rapidly thinned out. The talk went well, despite the small group. 

FASCINATING PEOPLE - 

The Joker in the background looking at toys

  I got to meet some really great people over the weekend, though. People who came to the table to ask questions, share stories and find out what my books were about. A young gentleman named Will was there with his family and I was amazed how much he was so spiritually developed. I met a wonderful woman named "Silver Wolf" (nickname) who rescued many dogs in her neighborhood.  Justin was sensitive to energies and realized that bad relationships cause negative energy that no one needs. I met David and Maria Chavez who are starting "Phantom Paranormal Research and Investigations" in Pensacola. I met Ray and Heather Carlson of Bellview Paranormal Society;

A guy with a beaded face painted on

2  SPIRIT RESCUE STORIES- 1)  One woman gets a headache whenever in the presence of a ghost or spirit just as I do. She said she felt her grandmother's spirit with her and her husband when they spent 72 hours on a kayak in the NW Pacific before being rescued by a Japanese Coast Guard boat. 
2) Another woman told me that even though her dad passed 4 years ago, she knows his spirit is around. One day her breaker box shorted and the lights in her house went out. She called to her

Deadpool and Darth Vader

dad to fix it and shortly all the power was restored and the breaker worked again!  She knew it was her dad. 

Set up at the Paracon and a Dog Connection!

This is part three in Rob's trip to the Pensacola, Florida Paracon. After checking

outside the paracon

into the hotel I drove to the Pensacola fair grounds to set up my table for the weekend (Sat./Sun.) event.

Setting up at the Paracon

A MESSAGE MY MOM -  As I was pulling in the front gate I noticed the first building on the right housed the Paracon, but I heard my mom say "keep going, keep going straight ahead." I wondered why, but didn't question it. In the next building was a dog show! Since I was there promoting my book "Pets and the Afterlife" it was a perfect place to visit... so after I set up my table I walked over to the dog show.

Connie Fleming and one of her agile Shelties

MAKING A DOGGONE GREAT CONNECTION - 
  That's when I met an amazing dog trainer and dog lover named Connie Fleming.  She was warm, wonderful, and welcoming and saw my badge and said "I think you're looking for the other convention!" - I told her I was in the right place and told her about my book. We talked about her Sheltie dogs, our 3 kids, and her experiences with pets who have communicated from the other side. She told me that some of her dogs posed with Star Trek actors and she loves sci-fi! She took the 2 business cards I had and said she'd display them. How kind!  

  The next morning I went over early and brought her more business cards and a bunch of promotional post cards, and gave her a free copy of the "Pets" book to say thanks. 

  AMAZING TURNABOUT - One of the gentleman attending the dog event saw the book on Saturday, walked over to the Paracon to find ME, and bought my book. Wow. He said he and his wife lost a couple of dogs and believe they've received messages. He walked in the 100F heat to get a copy and I was really honored!

The dog show - agility set up! 

    

WHAT IS THE PENSACOLA PARACON? A Science, Comic, Sci Fi, Anime, Gaming, paranormal, art, horror and Costuming Convention! Pensacola Interstate Fair Grounds Conference Building, Pensacola, Florida Pensacola Interstate Conference Building 6655 Mobile Hwy Pensacola Florida 850 941-4321

http://www.pensacolaparacon.com

NEXT: MEETING SOME NEW FRIENDS/FELLOW VENDORS