I got lucky and got a badge finally.
A client at work gets a professional badge and was able to buy me one through their account.
Its crazy how how hard it is to get into SDCC now. I still remember walking up to the door and paying like $5 and gettng a sick on badge that you could write your name ( or whatever you wanted really , I always chose Joey Ramone or some other rocker ).
Then i I remember one year I was leaving the con and my friend said wait, let me go over to this booth ( which was empty ) and pre pay for next year. It was $20 for 4-day plus preview. I didn't want to because I had spent all my money during the day.
Ahhh the good old days, now if the bubble could pop and all books could go back in the dollar bins