vegas cinemagraphs

vegas...again

finally, a trip to vegas i actually enjoyed!  every year i attend the exhibitor show, where thousands of exhibitors in various industries descend upon sin city, to be educated and to get up to date with current and future trends.

at least that's what the show is supposed to be about.  however, having attended the last three years, i was all set NOT to go - feeling like the classes were basic, the exhibit hall was not representative of those current and future trends, and because really, i'm so over vegas. but, when another exhibitor friend, who is no longer on my same trade show schedule, asked if i was attending, i reviewed the class list and discovered a couple of new, potentially interesting options, and decided i would swing in for a couple of days.

one thing i have always enjoyed about this event, aside from the fact that it's the one annual event where my only responsibilities are to myself, attending classes and the like, is the opportunity to be around other people who do what i do.  even though i loathe traditional networking (the receptions, parties, round tables, dinner groups, etc.), i do appreciate the more organic opportunities to meet new people and to develop existing relationships, and this event provides a low stress environment to do that.

when i got in to vegas, i met up with my friend terry.  his former role had him exhibiting at many of the human resource shows we participated, and after spending 45 minutes in a lead retrieval line thanks to the utter incompetence of the staff, we began a great friendship, which, most recently involved him getting me on stage with keith urban last june!  i picked him up from his hotel and took him to my all time favorite breakfast place, hash house a go-go.  my first experience with hash house was in san diego, but as it turns out, it's only other locations are a couple scattered around nevada.

since it was after 1pm when we finally arrived and were seated, terry opted to try one of the stuffed burgers.  since i had never considered this anything but a breakfast place, i was extremely torn, and went with my good 'ol 'bigger than your head' pancake combo.  i don't regret my choice, but i am going to have to try one of those burgers!  we enjoyed our food, and each other as we got caught up on the last few months.

after brunch, i dropped him off at his hotel, checked in at mine, and spent the rest of the day doing nothing, other than waiting for the army wives season premiere (so happy it's back!).

the following morning i was up early for classes, after which, i met up with terry and mike, my exhibit house account director.  we switched exhibit houses at the end of 2010 and i couldn't be happier.  not only have they been absolutely professional in providing exactly the kind of support our program needs, but i genuinely enjoy the group that i work with.  i get excited about seeing my 'friends' at show sites, and especially enjoy opportunities to get to know them better socially, as well as professionally.  terry and mike had never met, so i was happy that the dynamic was natural and fun!

after lunch, mike and i walked the exhibit hall together, trying to discover new and interesting ideas.  i won't say that we were successful, however we did run into several colleagues, past and present, and enjoyed the brief catch up time.  though i had only intended to spend an hour in the hall, after four hours, we shut the room down and i headed back to my hotel to power nap and get ready for the evening's activities.

i had passively aggressively encouraged mike to "whine" and dine me, and he obliged, getting us tickets to see cirque du soleil's 'mystere'.  based on the timing (o and ka are dark that day), and the fact that mike had never seen a cirque show, and the ones i have seen were 'love' and 'elvis', it seemed like a good introduction to 'traditional' cirque.  i was uber-excited, and, while i found that there were some elements of the show that were strange and confusing, i absolutely loved the aerialists and acrobatics.  i was ultimately completely satisfied!

we enjoyed a quick bite after the show before calling it a night, but the 6am wake up call the following morning was still too early, and i skipped my first class.  i made it out of bed in time to hit my second class - a session devoted to new technologies and potential trade show applications - and was glad i did! it was the most fun i've had in a class since i started attending the conference, and it allowed me to fully confirm and explore my geekiness.

after class i briefly met up with terry to discuss our timing for the evening before heading to the exhibit house's las vegas warehouse.  since they are based in massachusetts, i hadn't had the opportunity to see the vegas location, and since i also needed access to our exhibit properties, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.  since many of the company's senior staff (including the president) were in town, they had ordered lunch in, and i appreciated the casual camaraderie before getting down to business.

we finished up at the warehouse and i headed back to the hotel to take another power-nap before heading out for the evening, which started with dinner at new york new york with terry before heading to the hard rock for one of the exhibitor parties.  mike was in attendance, as was dana, who designed our booth but is no longer with their company, and who, i was extremely happy to see.  i also ran into my friend david, an exhibitor with bank of america, who gave me one of my favorite moments of the night.

i'll admit that i tend to 'slum it' at conferences - t-shirts and jeans are the daily wardrobe, and even when we 'go out'  i usually play it pretty casual.  it's simply an exhausting process, and by the time my co-workers arrive, i've already been there for two or three days working very long very tedious hours.  i simply don't have the energy to 'party like a rock star',  so, my friend david, has really only seen me in 'slumming it' mode.  in this case, i had made an effort, so when he saw me, the first thing out of his mouth was 'you look beautiful!'  i thanked him and he followed with 'i like your hair like that.'  um, thank you.  'i mean you really ARE beautiful!'

what i so appreciated, was not the compliment itself, but the fact that he was so surprised that i might clean up okay.  maybe i need to make a little more effort :D

some of the other highlights came from being around so many men!  i know it sounds strange, but i think, because i work with so many women, i've forgotten how much i genuinely appreciate the low drama fun and playful company of men!  i also love to dance, and the men came in really handy for that;)

all in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable event.  i can't say that i learned as much as i had hoped to, but i did take advantage of the opportunity to really work that 'organic' networking:)

some of you know that there was a period of time where i really hated my current job.  during that time, the only reason i stayed is because i so genuinely enjoyed the people i work with, both at my company, and those i've met outside of the company through partnerships and other working relationships.  i have never at any previous job developed so many, what i consider to be, true friendships, which i'm certain will last beyond this job.

and, while those relationships pulled me through a tough time, they remain large contributors to my current general sense of satisfaction and contentment.  add to that a new support person (starting tomorrow!), and the ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to getting some balance back in my life, and i'm feeling pretty good about things these days.

comic-committment

i think that the nature of my job has made me increasingly commitment-phobic.  because i have to be away so often, when i am home, i have come to need the luxury of changing my mind at the last minute, and with inconsequential fallout.  i might want to participate in that particular activity or event you invited me to, or i might just want to watch tv and go to bed early.  and, since i won't know which of those things i actually want to do until up to two minutes before a decision is required, i find that i have become less and less likely to commit to activities and events which require a firm decision in some advanced time frame.

i give you this background primarily to emphasize what a big day today was.  it was the day that comic-con tickets went on sale - an event that takes place in july.  and i wanted in!

and, if only it were that easy!  but no. comic-con is the largest comic related conference in the world, and it is huge.  over the years it has evolved and become more and more popular, which  i think that can be attributed largely to the presence of well-known celebrities.

while i am not a particular lover of actual comic books, i have long been enamored of the film versions of their print predecessors...with a plethora of superhero tv and movies growing up (x-men has always been a favorite), it is hard not to relate to the genre. in fact, when i think about all the ties i have to this comic con world, there are far to many to count. like the stars.  star wars and trek that is.  and my long time love of fantasy fiction. and syfy televison.  and most things nerdy and or geeky.

couple that 'traditional' comic con legacy with the fact that more and more often popular tv shows and movies are creating comic book versions of themselves, which gives so many more people an excuse to put on their nerd hats, or their storm trooper costumes, as the case may be.  some of last year's panels (all of which included the stars of the show), other panelists, and screenings included: castle (helloooo nathan fillion), dr. who, true blood, chuck, torchwood, big bang theory, the river, eureka, being human (hey sam huntington, let's hang out!), lost girl, stan lee, terra nova, sanctuary, joel mchale, joss flippin' whedon, once upon a time, vampire diaries (how YOU doin'? ian somerhalder), snow white and the huntsman, colin farrell, grimm, fringe, alcatraz, nikita, person of interest, and mythbusters.

and you wonder why i am geeking out?  needless to say, since moving to california, attending comic con has been on my bucket list.  it takes place in july in san diego - a mere hour and a half from my current home, and it just seemed silly not to take advantage of it.  i got on the bandwagon way to late last year, so this year, i started my research early - which paid off.

because it is such a hugely popular event, which without fail, sells out, you have to register for a member id.  anyone can register for a member id, and it doesn't cost anything to do so, but you HAVE to have one in order to have the RIGHT to purchase actual tickets.  and you can only purchase tickets for those with a member id.

i registered my member id a few months ago and i knew that the cut-off for ids was coming soon, so i solicited a few friends i thought might be interested in participating and got one firm taker.  she registered for her id, the registration closed, and on thursday i received an email saying that tickets would be going on sale this morning.

nothing like short notice!  the email announcement included my user id and last name, for ticket purchasing purposes. they had dropped the 'van', no doubt because of the space, but at least i had the 'correct' information.  my friend also provided me her user id so that we wouldn't both have to be sitting at our computer first thing on a saturday morning.

the alarm went off at 7:45 am this morning, giving me just enough time to wake up before putting my happy fingers to work.  the registration link had been provided in the email, so in one window i 'loaded it' and refreshed it a couple of times while in another i copy/pasted it and did the same thing.  at 8:01 am i was in.

i closed the secondary window as the instructions made it clear that if the system found duplicate ip addresses logged on at the same time, you would be kicked off.  but i was in. sort of.

i attempted to enter my log in information and was told that something was not correct.  i was copy/pasting it directly from the email sent to me, and it was not working.  while quashing a major panic attack, just for kicks, i entered my whole last name, space included, and voila, i was the 3,537 person in the virtual line, and boy was i relieved!

am i being over-dramatic?  probably.  but i had done my research, and i knew that by 20,000 people, the 'good' days of the conference would likely be sold out.  i also knew that those 20k people would probably be processed through the system in a matter of two  hours or less.  the comic-con folks had communicated that if your place in line was under 40,000 you would probbaly be able to get 'some' type of ticket, but since you have to purchase for each day you want to attend, the implication was that only the craap days would be left by then.  they had also warned that once you were in 'line' you were going to want to stay there, and depending on your number, you could be 'staying there' for 3-4 hours.  what the heck, i had nothing else pressing this morning.  but perhaps you can see why that '3,537' number was such a relief!

i had selected and purchased tickets for myself and my friend by 8:11am. mission accomplished!

what i would later learn is that the link provided in the email was passing through an analytics site, which got completely bottle-necked.  but, because i had copied the direct link into my browser, i bypassed the analytics and went straight to the registration.  this is still causing major web drama and a lot of complaining, but i don't have a ton of sympathy.  my feeling is that if it's important to you, and you want it badly, you look for alternatives, and, in the immortal words of tim gunn, you make it work.

fortunately, i WAS able to make it work.  it turns out, every ticket was sold out in an hour and twenty-three minutes.  there were roughly 40,000 tickets available, and the last i heard, in that hour and twenty-three minutes, some 210,000 people attempted to get a ticket before they closed the system for good.  needless to say, i am excited!

i wasn't originally planning on dressing up, but since my friend will be going as the tardis from dr.who, i may pull out my own version of amy pond.  we shall see.  but the best news is that i didn't die. committing to something nearly five months from now did not cause me to burst into flames.  so, maybe i will try it again sometime...