Curse you stupid Gen Con database!

It's that time of the year -- time for wailing and gnashing of the teeth as people attempt to register online for Gen Con and hotel rooms.

Yes, I plan on going to Gen Con. I realize that I'll have a six-week old with me. Yes, Jeff and I are hardcore. If everything goes well, we're taking our baby girl to her first Gen Con.

Anyways, we were trying to hook up with the Westin, because it connects via tube to the convention center and is located across the street from the center. The more Jeff reasoned with me, the more I realized that having the convention center close by for emergency diaper changes, feedings, etc. would be nice.

So when Alan called us last night letting us know that registration had opened up (his said he saw the phrase that hotel registration opened up at 12:00:00 AM EST) I was online and buying my badge and making my hotel reservation. To my surprise, I actually got in to register for a hotel room and managed to get the Westin!

Well, the euphoria didn't last long. This morning I got an e-mail saying that our reservation had been canceled. It took me three or four reads to figure out what the hell was going on -- apparently the convention people decided to call it a computer glitch and was canceling approximately 200 reservations made last night. We'd have to re-register again this afternoon.

What bothers me is the fact that out of the hundreds of thousands who visit Gen Con and Indianapolis, the company chose to cancel perhaps one percent of the reservations made because of a glitch on their end. They said that registration opened at 12 a.m. -- aka midnight -- not noon. The website also accepted those reservations from not just me and my friends, but 200 people in all. Not to mention, they took an extra hour to undo all the reservations, which probably messed with everyone else wanting to make their reservations to the hotel.

I'm also irritated by the fact that when I went to reregister, it took an hour for the reservation to go through thanks to time outs and slow connections. Not to mention, when my reservation was shot down, there was no information regarding the fact that the Westin was booked up. It just said that there was a problem with the date or the address information -- nothing about the hotel itself.

Fortunately we do have a hotel (The Omni, which we stayed at last year and found quite nice), but I'm very disappointed with the entire process. I'm also not thrilled that I won't have easy access to the convention center and the hotel. Gen Con's not exactly stroller friendly, so I'll have to carry the wee one, the diaper bag and a gaming bag. Either that or hire a sherpa guide.

I can hear some of you saying "Well don't go to Gen Con then. This is what happens when you have kids -- you have to make adjustments." To that, I call shenannigans. Gen Con is becoming more and more family friendly -- you don't see just children there, but also babies of all ages and sizes. I want to expose my daughter to a hobby that I enjoy and while I know that I've got to make some adjustments (less games to play; no staying out until 2 a.m.; more time in the hotel room feeding, changing, napping, etc.; and trading off with Jeff so we may not be gaming together), I don't believe that this means my life is over.

I attempted to make some accommodations, by following the rules outlined on their website, and it doesn't feel fair that my best effort got shot down because of a glitch on their end.