My Philly Trip: A Photo Essay

I've been a little busy lately. In fact, yesterday was the first day in October that I had off. And I relished in it. But in the mean time, my busyness has made for some fun pictures of what I've been doing. Here are some from my work trip to Philadelphia where I was at a conference with 9,000 nutritionists. And I still had a plethora of Diet Dr. Pepper. Turns out even nutritionists love soft drinks.

A giant paint brush with a dollop of paint

Ben Franklin cranking away at being a craftsman. (Before his whore-y Paris days)

Philly City Hall-- I saw it at least twice a day because I tried to walk from my hotel everywhere. 1) I hate cabs. 2) I was trying to stay somewhat active. 

The famous LOVE statue. It made me miss Chef.

The booth is where I spent most of my time. The robot was a visitor from a neighboring booth. People loved the robot. 

My friend Meredith who found the BEST place for us to eat dinner.

The outside of Tulala's Garden. It was just as cute on the inside and MAN was the food delicious. Couldn't have had a better meal.

Philly was fun and I was also lucky enough to meet up with (but not take pictures of which is stupid of me) my friend from my college internship, Beth. I also had the joy of meeting Beth's baby, Adelaide, and her awesome husband Tim. All in all my only complaint was that it rained. And for a girl who lives in sunshine and was walking everywhere, this was an adjustment. But I look forward to going back again and actually seeing more sights!

Dallas Exploration

The former Texas School
Book Depository

I've been busy in Dallas. I always get a little wound up trying to get stuff done before an event and I had my event this morning. It's my first big event at this job so it was really important that it went it perfect. And it went pretty well--not perfect, but pretty well. Two hitches: 1) the hotel would only let us rent so many microphones because they were hosting multiple events for the same conference at the same time. So our panelists had to pass them back and forth which drove me (and them, presumably) nuts, and 2) We are at a HUGE conference with three hotels that are "official" headquarter hotels. But none of them are really within walking distance of each other so our guests had to take shuttles to the convention center and then another to this hotel to get there. Basically, it meant that of our 296 RSVPs we had about 230 or so guests. That's a much bigger dip that at my usual events, but it's been duly noted.

However, despite all that, the event was lovely. The panelists were engaging and our staff rocked it out in helping. Overall, I was happy. . . and relieved. I took materials to our booth after the breakfast, unpacked what I needed to and then walked the convention floor. One BIG bonus of this convention is that publishers are often giving away uncorrected proofs of books and I scored six new novels. I probably could've taken about 6 more, but I have limited suitcase space. After the walking, I decided that I needed a break. I've been working since Thursday with convention stuff during the day and playing catch up on actual work at night. So I took another stroll around Dallas and decided that I couldn't leave town without visiting the sixth floor museum at the former Texas School Book Depository. I obviously wasn't alive when Kennedy was assainated,  but those pictures are so ingrained in America's history that I was really touched. The place is really well done with lots of photos, video and a self-paced audio tour. Very awesome. If you're in Dallas, check it out.

Here are some pictures from my time here:

The sixth floor --I'm at the turn of the motorcade looking up at the School Book Depository.

Another from the sidewalk in front of the grassy knoll up at the school book depository.

The School Book Depository is the brick building on the far left.
You might be able to see the "x" on the street on the right side of the picture that marks the spot of the first hit.

From under a tree on the grassy knoll looking at the spot where President Kennedy was shot.

What I love is that they actually do have a banner that reads "Grassy Knoll" on the grassy knoll.
It's like walking into live map.

Some art outside an office skyscraper that I thought was kinda cool.

A snapshot from the event this morning. Yay!

I did do some work while I was here :) Me at the booth

That's How Dallas Rolls: Christmas Decorations still out.
The city was taking them down when I was walking today.

Vegas is Bizarre

Don't get me wrong: I like Las Vegas. It's kinda un-American not to. But it's not my favorite place in the world. It's so bizarre. It's a mix of people who are dressed to the nines in couture, or spandex or in their track suits. It's for the young enough to enjoy the party and for the old enough to enjoy the gambling. It's got luxury out the yang, but everyone here is looking for free money.

I've been here since late Saturday for work and it's been a fairly good time. I wish Chef would've gotten to come along, but at the same time I also know that I've been working for a lot of this and we wouldn't have had as much time together as I would've wanted. Our work events have been successful and I've enjoyed getting some time to know some of co-workers better.

The one thing that tips Vegas to the negative is the way it's one giant frat party no matter the hour. I had a man offer to buy me a drink as I was walking through the casino in my gym clothes to work out. . .at 6:30 a.m. I also had a man offer to buy me a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes as I was wondering through the store. That's slightly better than the offer of a can of Natty Light that I got in college, but I'm fairly certain that the college frat boy and the Jimmmy Choo guy both had the same end game in mind. And I'm not that kind of girl.

Anyway, one more day and I'm back in Chef's loving arms. Tonight I've gotten back to my room early, got room service on its way and have a bath calling my name. Not too shabby an end to a long few days.

Things You Can Tell From a Booth

If you've never worked retail or had to work a trade show, job fair, health fair or career corner, you really should be made to. Mostly because if you do and then you go to a conference or any other thing that has the word "fair" in the title to make it sound more lively, you would feel some empathy for those people who are stuck in a booth with a smile on for 10 hours a day.

It's been 4 days here and most of 3 in the booth plus one day setting up the booth. I'm about over working it. It's grueling. There's about 5 minutes of customer interaction and 55 minutes of getting interrupted every 2 minutes by people who just want to look at the stuff behind you. So you can't really read or mess around on the computer for any significant stretch of time.

But there are things that you can tell from a convention booth. I can spot a Gender Studies academic professor or researcher from 10 paces. I know if someone is French by the squinty look they give me when approaching the booth. I know exactly how many times I can look at my watch before it's time to take a walk outside for a break in the day.

They are life's little lessons of observation and survival. And kind of fun. When not boring.

Racking Up Some Frequent Flyer Miles

So there are a few things that have been rolling lately. Mostly out of town. In my new position I have the opportunity to see some of the US that I haven't seen before. Mostly some east coast cities. But tomorrow I get to head to an old home, of sorts. Or better yet, I get to see a person who is like a home to me.

I'm heading to New Orleans tomorrow for a conference and get to see my friend Wendee. I'm excited about that. Business travel isn't the most exciting thing, despite the romanticizing of it. There's always a lot of things to do during the day and by the time you finish up answering emails that have piled up during the day, you're tired and ready to grab a bite and hit the hay.

But business travel in a city where you have friends means you get to a dinner out with someone and an excuse to delay work. Plus you get to see someone you might not be able to for a while. It's the best of both world and a better balance.

So not only do I get to add some frequent flyer miles but I get to explore work and catch up with friends.