I am in the Philadelphia airport bright and early on this Sunday morning. I want to follow up on Sean's earlier post about the conditions here, no air conditioning again today and I must be sitting in the same gate with the same ripped up seats as Sean was (see his pictures from previous post).
Thats it nothing interesting to talk about on this trip yet.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Stranded
It's official, Whippy and I are stranded in Ohio. With little sleep, no breakfast and last minute presentation updates we ventured out to find a place to print our presentation materials. Where else did we go but FedEx Kinko's, (sorry Jenny, we were not mentally capable of utilizing the online print section of the site).
We spent the majority of the morning at FedEx Kinko's watching the presentations get printed, admiring an actual Dairy Queen shop in the adjacent parking lot and reading the humorous b-day cards for sale in the shop. William had been calling giving status updates on his whereabouts after being stranded in Chicago and the presumed whereabouts of his luggage. I've had many surprises in the hours before a presentation but none like this morning.
Sean: "Hello?"
William: "My luggage is lost, if it's not here by 10:00 we need to go shopping."
Everything worked out well including a trip to Starbucks where Whippy was insulted by an overachieving barista for simply asking for a straw. I also realized you get the "stink eye" from such barista's when you order a small iced coffee without using the proper terminology.
The Garmin got us lost on the way to meet the NYC team but everything worked out for the best and the business aspect of the trip was a huge success. Now for getting home, that's another story. It seems some storms on the east coast grounded all flights to Philly and NYC. After being taunted by US Air for 5 hours I threw in the towel when the plane returned to the gate. If a pilot ever "promises" you something, don't believe it. I think I also annoyed the nice girl sitting next to me as William and me passed issues of Complex Magazine and cell phones across her for an hour or so.
After a scramble to reschedule flights for Wednesday, William braved it out at the airport while Whippy booked us a hotel that could double for the Overlook Hotel that was used in the Shining. The following pic sums it up.
We spent the majority of the morning at FedEx Kinko's watching the presentations get printed, admiring an actual Dairy Queen shop in the adjacent parking lot and reading the humorous b-day cards for sale in the shop. William had been calling giving status updates on his whereabouts after being stranded in Chicago and the presumed whereabouts of his luggage. I've had many surprises in the hours before a presentation but none like this morning.
Sean: "Hello?"
William: "My luggage is lost, if it's not here by 10:00 we need to go shopping."
Everything worked out well including a trip to Starbucks where Whippy was insulted by an overachieving barista for simply asking for a straw. I also realized you get the "stink eye" from such barista's when you order a small iced coffee without using the proper terminology.
The Garmin got us lost on the way to meet the NYC team but everything worked out for the best and the business aspect of the trip was a huge success. Now for getting home, that's another story. It seems some storms on the east coast grounded all flights to Philly and NYC. After being taunted by US Air for 5 hours I threw in the towel when the plane returned to the gate. If a pilot ever "promises" you something, don't believe it. I think I also annoyed the nice girl sitting next to me as William and me passed issues of Complex Magazine and cell phones across her for an hour or so.
After a scramble to reschedule flights for Wednesday, William braved it out at the airport while Whippy booked us a hotel that could double for the Overlook Hotel that was used in the Shining. The following pic sums it up.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Ohhh, Hi Oh
This is my first illustrious post to the SEO travel blog and we're off to Columbus, Ohio. My journey started off in Albany, NY (yes my hometown) and also known as "An All American City". I recently only found out we received that award years ago and the city likes to keep re purposing it in an event to curb the fact that it's a lovely city nestled between two terribly bad neighborhoods and reeling from some scandal involving a powerful politician. Either way, I'm departing from Albany International. Not sure about you but "International" kinda leads me to believe you could leave the country from here. Well all that Albany International can do for you is bring you to an airport that will fly you out of the continental US. It does have flights to Canada but I don't consider that international, they are more like a good neighbor with lots of trees.
So I flew from Albany to Philly (ironic yes) and it seems as if the Philly airport is doing it's part to save electricity by not turning on the AC. The entire experience was horrible, I mean if your not going to run AC when it's 100 degrees out at least funnel that cash to get some new seats while I wait for my flight that is already 45 minutes late to board.
Before I landed in Columbus, William asked me to rent a car for the trip as we were both unaware of how difficult it would be to get around in a cab. I made it to the rental car area and jumped in the shortest line (not the best decision) and anticipated leaving the airport in some swanky ride for the next 24 hours. Well, swanky in Ohio means a late model Chevy Impala (sorry William, no BMW's here.. i tried). I was also asked if I required a GPS system for my travels to which I responded, "hell no, just tell me how to get to the Sheraton".
Well it turns out this is how I fell into the scam. Nobody knows where your going so you are forced to rent a Garmin. Also note that nobody knows how to work the Garmin either. I was literally asked if I have used one of these devices, to which I responded, "no". Their answer, "we don't know how to work it either".
Yes I took this pic with a Treo doing 80 while lost in Columbus, I like to live on the edge.
After an hour (stupid Garmin), I found the Sheraton Suites. For the past 2 years I always ask William where he's staying and it's always the same answer, "the Sheraton". I'm not sure if it's brand loyalty but this Sheraton beats the hell out of the one in NYC. My room is about 200% bigger, has 2 TV's, a couch and other things I will never use but just like to have. (I'll post some pic's tomorrow)
After I got all checked in I decided to see what Columbus was all about. I stay away from the hotel bar and sightseeing activities cause all you'll find is tourists. So what did I do? Well I took my classy ride out and cruised Columbus for the mecca of all culture, the local Gas-n-Sip. In this case it turned out to be a Speedway gas station.
The local Speedway was full of amusement, and to my delight they had an actual Beer Cave! How sweet is that, a cave full of beer chilled to a perfect 34 degrees!
While I marveled at the brilliance of the beer cave I noticed something was wrong, Columbus was having AC problems also and the beer cave was not cooling properly. The pic is hard to see but it says, "Beer cave not cooling properly. Sorry"
After a quick chat with the clerk I also learned I could score some fireworks down the street and that the local kids have been trying to rip off the 1$ an night DVD rental kiosk outside.
After those shenanigans I met with Whippy and we worked for a while on our presentation and learned that William was stranded in Chicago... again.
So I flew from Albany to Philly (ironic yes) and it seems as if the Philly airport is doing it's part to save electricity by not turning on the AC. The entire experience was horrible, I mean if your not going to run AC when it's 100 degrees out at least funnel that cash to get some new seats while I wait for my flight that is already 45 minutes late to board.
Before I landed in Columbus, William asked me to rent a car for the trip as we were both unaware of how difficult it would be to get around in a cab. I made it to the rental car area and jumped in the shortest line (not the best decision) and anticipated leaving the airport in some swanky ride for the next 24 hours. Well, swanky in Ohio means a late model Chevy Impala (sorry William, no BMW's here.. i tried). I was also asked if I required a GPS system for my travels to which I responded, "hell no, just tell me how to get to the Sheraton".
Well it turns out this is how I fell into the scam. Nobody knows where your going so you are forced to rent a Garmin. Also note that nobody knows how to work the Garmin either. I was literally asked if I have used one of these devices, to which I responded, "no". Their answer, "we don't know how to work it either".
Yes I took this pic with a Treo doing 80 while lost in Columbus, I like to live on the edge.
After an hour (stupid Garmin), I found the Sheraton Suites. For the past 2 years I always ask William where he's staying and it's always the same answer, "the Sheraton". I'm not sure if it's brand loyalty but this Sheraton beats the hell out of the one in NYC. My room is about 200% bigger, has 2 TV's, a couch and other things I will never use but just like to have. (I'll post some pic's tomorrow)
After I got all checked in I decided to see what Columbus was all about. I stay away from the hotel bar and sightseeing activities cause all you'll find is tourists. So what did I do? Well I took my classy ride out and cruised Columbus for the mecca of all culture, the local Gas-n-Sip. In this case it turned out to be a Speedway gas station.
The local Speedway was full of amusement, and to my delight they had an actual Beer Cave! How sweet is that, a cave full of beer chilled to a perfect 34 degrees!
While I marveled at the brilliance of the beer cave I noticed something was wrong, Columbus was having AC problems also and the beer cave was not cooling properly. The pic is hard to see but it says, "Beer cave not cooling properly. Sorry"
After a quick chat with the clerk I also learned I could score some fireworks down the street and that the local kids have been trying to rip off the 1$ an night DVD rental kiosk outside.
After those shenanigans I met with Whippy and we worked for a while on our presentation and learned that William was stranded in Chicago... again.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Weekend in Seattle
Instead of flying back and spending a day and 1/2 in Philadelphia before flying back to Seattle, I decided to stay for the weekend and do a little site seeing.
Saturday started late as I took the opportunity to sleep in and sleep off a few Manhattans from the evening before. I can drink quite of few of these in a short time when I am at the bar by myself, which I will have to keep in mind for the future.
Once I got up and I started the paperwork for Dan Coe's last day at AA|RF after reading his latest blog post. Please wish him well in his new endeavors and bring a camera to his going away box packing.
Next it was time to find some breakfast so I headed over to Pikes Place to check out the local bakeries and see if I could see some fish being tossed around. I found some good pastries for breakfast, but no flying fish. I would post some pictures, but I didn't bring my camera on this excursion. From Pikes Place I took a scenic walking tour around the city going from Starbucks to Starbucks, I had to keep walking as I was pretty hyped up on caffeine after the 3rd Starbucks.
For the afternoon, I found a local municipal golf course to try out, Jackson Park Golf Course. It was quite overcast when I started the round and I was expecting to get wet from the rain at some point in the round, but the weather held out and it was an enjoyable round. I shot a 43 on the front nine, but forgot how to play golf on the back nine and shot a 57 - yes that is a 14 shot difference and about 8 golf balls donated to the course on the back nine. Again, sorry no pictures, but then who wants to see pictures of a golf course anyway.
For some reason I find a round of golf to be quite tiring and decided to stay in for the evening and order room service. I was quite surprised that the California Cobb with Citrus Roasted Chicken was as good in taste and presentation as I expected. So now the Westin has two of my favorite room service meals, the cheeseburger at the Ft. Lauderdale Westin and the California Cobb here in Seattle.
Sunday I was up nice and early, sans hangover, and took a quick run down by the waterfront. Went to a local bakery for breakfast and then back to the room for some work. As I was working and looking out the window in my hotel (picture below) I decided I would face my fear of heights and go visit the Space Needle.
I took the monorail to the Space Needle and with great apprehension went up the elevator which is glass so that you can see everything on the trip up which lasts 41 seconds. 41 long seconds if you have a fear of heights.
Below are the pictures of what I was able to see from up there, which after the Hong Kong observation deck up in the mountains was a little less spectacular.
The rest of today is for preparing the deck for the Victoria's Secret pitch and other miscellaneous work. I will update later with any interesting, or maybe even not so interesting, food pictures from dinner.
Saturday started late as I took the opportunity to sleep in and sleep off a few Manhattans from the evening before. I can drink quite of few of these in a short time when I am at the bar by myself, which I will have to keep in mind for the future.
Once I got up and I started the paperwork for Dan Coe's last day at AA|RF after reading his latest blog post. Please wish him well in his new endeavors and bring a camera to his going away box packing.
Next it was time to find some breakfast so I headed over to Pikes Place to check out the local bakeries and see if I could see some fish being tossed around. I found some good pastries for breakfast, but no flying fish. I would post some pictures, but I didn't bring my camera on this excursion. From Pikes Place I took a scenic walking tour around the city going from Starbucks to Starbucks, I had to keep walking as I was pretty hyped up on caffeine after the 3rd Starbucks.
For the afternoon, I found a local municipal golf course to try out, Jackson Park Golf Course. It was quite overcast when I started the round and I was expecting to get wet from the rain at some point in the round, but the weather held out and it was an enjoyable round. I shot a 43 on the front nine, but forgot how to play golf on the back nine and shot a 57 - yes that is a 14 shot difference and about 8 golf balls donated to the course on the back nine. Again, sorry no pictures, but then who wants to see pictures of a golf course anyway.
For some reason I find a round of golf to be quite tiring and decided to stay in for the evening and order room service. I was quite surprised that the California Cobb with Citrus Roasted Chicken was as good in taste and presentation as I expected. So now the Westin has two of my favorite room service meals, the cheeseburger at the Ft. Lauderdale Westin and the California Cobb here in Seattle.
Sunday I was up nice and early, sans hangover, and took a quick run down by the waterfront. Went to a local bakery for breakfast and then back to the room for some work. As I was working and looking out the window in my hotel (picture below) I decided I would face my fear of heights and go visit the Space Needle.
I took the monorail to the Space Needle and with great apprehension went up the elevator which is glass so that you can see everything on the trip up which lasts 41 seconds. 41 long seconds if you have a fear of heights.
Below are the pictures of what I was able to see from up there, which after the Hong Kong observation deck up in the mountains was a little less spectacular.
The rest of today is for preparing the deck for the Victoria's Secret pitch and other miscellaneous work. I will update later with any interesting, or maybe even not so interesting, food pictures from dinner.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
My Rebuttal and Conclusion.
First things first...I didn't wear that sweater again during the trip...no there wasn't a goat involved in Vegas... and i wasn't groping Lisa in that picture while I was trying to do revenue recognition (she was dancing and I was trying to swat her away). Also, the pics Jenny took were of me not of Brad Pitt...I know, I know, I've been mistaken for him more than once but it's something I have learned to deal with...The resemblance is uncanny.
So we know that Jenny and William are still out there missing Lisa and my company, but I'm sure they'll survive...at least I hope so. Here's my version on how things went down since I last wrote...
Wednesday was a whirlwind (to be modest). We've been taking advantage of the free continental breakfast at the hotel which consisted of scrambled eggs (yum), bacon (yum yum), english muffins (pretty yum), fruit (not bad), and muffins (blueberry muffins rocked). Sorry, no pics to show here...but just wait...this is going to be a long post...
Work-wise, Wednesday's SMX sessions were probably better than the first, but unfortunately some things came up so I wasn't able to concentrate on them as much as I'd like to. I'm pretty sure all of the presentations will eventually become available which is good since I had one ear on the sessions and two eyes on my laptop.
During a conference break, Jenny, Lisa, and I headed over to Pike Place Market which was just a few blocks away from the SMX conference. They were kind enough to show me around since it was my first time in Seattle and it was definitely worth the trip. Jenny covered some of these in her last post, but here are a few additions from my standpoint. The photo's probably don't do it justice, but there was lots to see in marketplace.
Flowers...check. fish...check. hippies...you name it, they had it. That lady in the orange shirt? Total hippie (she reeked of pot).
Is that Jenny Du above? Anyway...In the convention center, we stumbled across an interesting advertisement for the City of Seattle. According to Ron Burgundy (Anchor Man reference), I used to think that "San Francisco" meant "Whale's Vagina" in German...HOWEVER!...according to this picture set we were obviously wrong (sorry mom)...
Here's a Seattle advertisement that was in the conference center SMX was held. Unfortunately I don't think the agency that created it has ever heard of photoshop.
Anyway, because uploading and positioning photos on blogger is a pain in the ass, here are the final few from the last group dinner at the Metropolitan Grill. Amazing steakhouse and as Jenny mentioned, we had a great time and succeeded in embarrassing ourselves (pics of me in Jenny's post below). A sincere thanks to William for taking us out.
So we know that Jenny and William are still out there missing Lisa and my company, but I'm sure they'll survive...at least I hope so. Here's my version on how things went down since I last wrote...
Wednesday was a whirlwind (to be modest). We've been taking advantage of the free continental breakfast at the hotel which consisted of scrambled eggs (yum), bacon (yum yum), english muffins (pretty yum), fruit (not bad), and muffins (blueberry muffins rocked). Sorry, no pics to show here...but just wait...this is going to be a long post...
Work-wise, Wednesday's SMX sessions were probably better than the first, but unfortunately some things came up so I wasn't able to concentrate on them as much as I'd like to. I'm pretty sure all of the presentations will eventually become available which is good since I had one ear on the sessions and two eyes on my laptop.
Here are a few pics from the first night's dinner at the Icon Grill. William dined there before and the theme of the restaurant was comfort food, which in short, means that it's delicious but you're going to feel like crap afterwards. Not very comforting...just look at William's face for proof.
During a conference break, Jenny, Lisa, and I headed over to Pike Place Market which was just a few blocks away from the SMX conference. They were kind enough to show me around since it was my first time in Seattle and it was definitely worth the trip. Jenny covered some of these in her last post, but here are a few additions from my standpoint. The photo's probably don't do it justice, but there was lots to see in marketplace.
Flowers...check. fish...check. hippies...you name it, they had it. That lady in the orange shirt? Total hippie (she reeked of pot).
Is that Jenny Du above? Anyway...In the convention center, we stumbled across an interesting advertisement for the City of Seattle. According to Ron Burgundy (Anchor Man reference), I used to think that "San Francisco" meant "Whale's Vagina" in German...HOWEVER!...according to this picture set we were obviously wrong (sorry mom)...
Here's a Seattle advertisement that was in the conference center SMX was held. Unfortunately I don't think the agency that created it has ever heard of photoshop.
Well...at least Lisa and I thought it was funny...
Anyway, because uploading and positioning photos on blogger is a pain in the ass, here are the final few from the last group dinner at the Metropolitan Grill. Amazing steakhouse and as Jenny mentioned, we had a great time and succeeded in embarrassing ourselves (pics of me in Jenny's post below). A sincere thanks to William for taking us out.
Well, I think that just about sums it up. I've posted even more uncensored X-Rated Seattle photos on my Flickr account (including uber-exciting pics of us doing revenue recognition and more eating and drinking) so feel free to check them out.
Sorry for the crappy formatting, but blogger sucks. Please don't fire me.
Wednesday in Seattle
Wednesday was day 2 of the SMX conference. We attended a few sessions in the morning then had a long break for lunch. Over lunch, Dan, Lisa, and I took a walk over to Pike Place Market so we could get a little sightseeing in. On the way, we passed the original Starbucks. The market was full of fresh fruit, flowers, and fish. It was very clear which half of the market sold fish and which half sold flowers based on the smell.
Pike Place Market:
At the fish section of the market, Lisa ran into her Seattle boyfriend (she's got bros in different area codes). When we were out here in January, we met him and he made Lisa shovel ice onto fish. They played off their relationship this time, but I know deep inside they were both reminiscing.
After lunch, we went back to the conference for a few more sessions. And after that, we headed to the Seattle office for a very long night of revenue recognition. Even in the office, it took forever to open our spreadsheets and we were there until about 9pm working on it. Lisa, however found a way to liven things up. These pictures need no explanation:
Turn on some latin music and Lisa can't help but dance!
After we finally finished revenue, we went across the street to a steakhouse for dinner. Our waitress, Joan, was kind enough to take a photo of us. Lisa seemed to really hit it off with Joan and they talked a bit.
The food at the restaurant was delicious and we ordered some desserts as well. The desserts were HUGE and the slice of carrot cake which Lisa strongly implied William should order was gigantic. Of course we could not end the night without some more dancing. This time Lisa had a companion (perhaps even more than 1).
After dinner, we went back to the hotel. As we got out of the cab, Matt Cutts was walking into the hotel. Lisa struck up a conversation with him and they chatted a bit. I found it amusing that give the opportunity to chat with Matt Cutts and ask him questions, the only thing Lisa asked was if he had any cats.
Overall the conference went well and we found some time to have fun. I'm sure William & I will miss Dan & Lisa at dinner tonight. Lisa brought the dancing and Dan was an easy target to pick on! But I think we all had a great time!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Seattle Tuesday Recap
Dan covered everything that happened getting to Seattle, so I will just post the before and after pictures he mentioned. The concept of before & after flight photos was invented by Lisa after she witnessed me enter a plane looking normal, but get off it looking distraught, miserable, and "like hell." Luckily, although this flight was long, it did not cause such awful side effect and the before and afters aren't bad.
Dan & William Before Flight:
Dan & William After Flight:
They look pretty much the same. Although Dan looks a little hungry because they fed us NOTHING on the plane (not even pretzels). And William looks full after his chicken dinner and TWO bags of pretzels.
Dan already talked about the conference, so I'll go over our night. After the conference, we went out to dinner at a restaurant downtown. I really enjoyed the food (potato wrapped halibut), and I think everyone enjoyed their drinks. We had some lively conversation and had a delicious ice cream sundae for dessert. After dinner, we ran across the street in the rain (don't worry Dana, I didn't rust- but thank you for your concern) and jumped in the cab. The cab driver seemed very amused by our "lively" conversation (which involved Dan, a goat, and his trip to Vegas).
After dinner, we went to the "SMX After Dark" party. It was okay, and we left shortly afterwards. We stopped at the hotel bar where we continued to harass Dan about his goat story (sorry, Dan) but did not stay very long. Can't wait to see what today brings!
Dan & William Before Flight:
Dan & William After Flight:
They look pretty much the same. Although Dan looks a little hungry because they fed us NOTHING on the plane (not even pretzels). And William looks full after his chicken dinner and TWO bags of pretzels.
Dan already talked about the conference, so I'll go over our night. After the conference, we went out to dinner at a restaurant downtown. I really enjoyed the food (potato wrapped halibut), and I think everyone enjoyed their drinks. We had some lively conversation and had a delicious ice cream sundae for dessert. After dinner, we ran across the street in the rain (don't worry Dana, I didn't rust- but thank you for your concern) and jumped in the cab. The cab driver seemed very amused by our "lively" conversation (which involved Dan, a goat, and his trip to Vegas).
After dinner, we went to the "SMX After Dark" party. It was okay, and we left shortly afterwards. We stopped at the hotel bar where we continued to harass Dan about his goat story (sorry, Dan) but did not stay very long. Can't wait to see what today brings!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Greetings from Seattle
6:30PM PST - Because I know there are many of you folks out there who have continuously hitting refresh on their browser looking for a Seattle update, well here's the first official post from the Marriott Waterfront. So far, just about everything that I've read and heard about Seattle has turned out to be true, but let's first talk about last night's flight out here....
It sucked.
Here's a pic of Lisa and Jenny - pre-flight and happy. I'm pretty sure Jenny has one of me and William pre-flight too....CRAP. I think they have post-flight photos too...CRAP AGAIN. Needless-to-say, I'm not a big fan of having my picture taken.
While Lisa, Jenny, and I were forced to sit in "2nd Class", Mr. Flaiz (everyone please call him that from now on) was lucky enough to get a bump to first class before the flight. He's definitely a pimp. All-in-all, the flight itself wasn't too bad, it was just long (which I guess I should have expected when crossing the country). The additional hour sitting on the runway didn't help much either. Oh! And how can I forget to mention the biggest letdown. No food! Well, at least not for those that had to sit with the peasants. We did get to eat when we got here though, had a few drinks, and then went to our rooms to sleep.
Flashing forward to today, the beds here in the Marriott rock...or at least I think so (pic of my room and balcony view below). It's cold and rainy of course, and I didn't pack enough warm clothes. We did catch a tiny glimpse of blue sky this afternoon, but since then, the skies have opened up.
It was day one of SMX Advanced and all of the speaking sessions are now over. All in all, things were OK. I think Jenny, Lisa, William, and I all agree that of all the content presented, we probably only walked away with a few noteworthy things, none of which I'll bore you with at this time. I'm sure we'll be presenting our learnings at a department meeting in the near future. I did get to see Google Superstar Matt Cutts up close though and I love the fact that everyone drools over this guy and they hang on to his every word. Me? I think he's a dork...but yeah, I guess some of the stuff he says is valuable.
So anyways, we're all back in our rooms and getting ready to grab some dinner and some drinks. Later on, SMX is having a networking party so we'll probably just head there for a bit. Just to prove that I'm really out here, here's a stupid pic of me wearing
that stupid gray striped sweater that I always wear (and am wearing again tonight). Proof of the blue sky can also be seen.
Jenny's more photogenic and hopefully and she'll be chiming in later as well.
Cheers.
It sucked.
Here's a pic of Lisa and Jenny - pre-flight and happy. I'm pretty sure Jenny has one of me and William pre-flight too....CRAP. I think they have post-flight photos too...CRAP AGAIN. Needless-to-say, I'm not a big fan of having my picture taken.
While Lisa, Jenny, and I were forced to sit in "2nd Class", Mr. Flaiz (everyone please call him that from now on) was lucky enough to get a bump to first class before the flight. He's definitely a pimp. All-in-all, the flight itself wasn't too bad, it was just long (which I guess I should have expected when crossing the country). The additional hour sitting on the runway didn't help much either. Oh! And how can I forget to mention the biggest letdown. No food! Well, at least not for those that had to sit with the peasants. We did get to eat when we got here though, had a few drinks, and then went to our rooms to sleep.
Flashing forward to today, the beds here in the Marriott rock...or at least I think so (pic of my room and balcony view below). It's cold and rainy of course, and I didn't pack enough warm clothes. We did catch a tiny glimpse of blue sky this afternoon, but since then, the skies have opened up.
It was day one of SMX Advanced and all of the speaking sessions are now over. All in all, things were OK. I think Jenny, Lisa, William, and I all agree that of all the content presented, we probably only walked away with a few noteworthy things, none of which I'll bore you with at this time. I'm sure we'll be presenting our learnings at a department meeting in the near future. I did get to see Google Superstar Matt Cutts up close though and I love the fact that everyone drools over this guy and they hang on to his every word. Me? I think he's a dork...but yeah, I guess some of the stuff he says is valuable.
So anyways, we're all back in our rooms and getting ready to grab some dinner and some drinks. Later on, SMX is having a networking party so we'll probably just head there for a bit. Just to prove that I'm really out here, here's a stupid pic of me wearing
that stupid gray striped sweater that I always wear (and am wearing again tonight). Proof of the blue sky can also be seen.Jenny's more photogenic and hopefully and she'll be chiming in later as well.
Cheers.
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