A little more to tell
Ok, well, I'm still feeling like shit (to put it mildly I think the next time I cough my lungs may suddenly come flying through that new hole in my ribs) to the point where I stayed home today, so please don't expect anything resembling Pulitzer Prize quality. Thank you all for the well wishes, hope they start rubbing off really soon! Here goes. I thought if I went step by step it might be easier than remembering things out of order.
Other than arriving way too early at the airport everything went very smoothly in terms of the flights, though there was a hairy moment in Newark where I had to go through security again (changed gates) and I thought I might miss my flight, but other than that, we even arrived early in Vegas. For those of you who haven't been yet, I doubt you'll ever see an international airport closer to the downtown area. Honestly, I'd probably vote Las Vegas' downtown area as most likely to be crashed into -- even on the ground it's about 5-7 from the airport to the strip. Very cool! Oh, and if you end up going, check and see if your hotel allows check-in at the airport - I had my room key and got early check-in, all I had to do was go straight upstairs! (If you stay at Bally's INSIST on the rooms in the North tower. I saw both N & S tower rooms and it's very true that the North ones are much nicer.)
So upon arrival in my room, I sat down, hooked up the net, let Eric know I hadn't died or anything and called Debbie from Cafe Press. I headed down to her room where I met all those people I told you about in the first entry and we went for a champagne brunch. Bad idea on an empty stomach as you never get to see the bottom of your glass until you leave the restaurant! I think almost all of us were tipsy to outright drunk! lol Our waitress was funny also, hiding people's food on them and stuff :P
After that we hung out in a lounge for a while at which point I decided to go take a nap for a bit since I was pretty much running on fumes at that point. When I got up and got ready, it was time for a bit of a nosh, at Nosh, a sandwich joint in the hotel and then gambling time. We started by gambling at Bally's until Debbie got back from a show which is when we hit the Stratosphere hotel. This is the one with the rides on the top. Check it out - you couldn't PAY me to ride the rides or look out off the roof, but then again I'm terrified of heights :) After that we hung out at The Top Of The World (restaurant and bar) until we closed the place and then it was off to the Palms (which is where the show Inked is filmed) to gamble more. I did quite well for a while but then lost it all - but I had a blast so that's all that counts.
Sunday was get up late day (around 11 am) but after I got up we hardly stopped as we set up the Cafe Press booth for the show most of the afternoon. I had just enough time to take a quick nap, shower and eat before it was time for the conference to begin at 8 pm with Speed Networking. Now, I signed up for this and put names of people I wanted to meet like a good girl and I'm assuming others did the same with me because I had 8 names on my list. Of those 8 however, 3 showed up. I also blew one off but because I had 2 meetings set up with the same company (I did that just in case I didn't get matched with one of them) and Jen had someone interesting on her list in one of my redundant spots. I asked the 2nd guy to offer my apologies to the first at least :) Kind of annoyed me though when I SAW at another meeting one of the people I was supposed to meet and she acknowledged it and subsequently didn't show. Some people have a lot of nerve.
On the upside though, I met someone very interesting at all the no show tables and even 1 FANTASTIC contact for a new merchant that I never would've met otherwise. I mean, I met the PR guy who kept chasing me the next few days so I could properly meet the Aff Manager - which I did finally on the last day. (He was also on my plane but wasn't sitting near me.) Their stuff will fit across several of my active and upcoming sites which is awesome - plus the aff manager hinted that a better commission could be negotiated for some products where there is a better margin. So if their stuff does well for me (and it will from the sounds of it) it could pay the cost of the trip right there!
On that note, this entry is quite long enough again, so I'll leave you with, next installment will include details of Day 1 and Day 2 sessions, though by day 2 I wasn't attending much anymore.. lol Hope you're all having a better day than me!
Tara :)
Other than arriving way too early at the airport everything went very smoothly in terms of the flights, though there was a hairy moment in Newark where I had to go through security again (changed gates) and I thought I might miss my flight, but other than that, we even arrived early in Vegas. For those of you who haven't been yet, I doubt you'll ever see an international airport closer to the downtown area. Honestly, I'd probably vote Las Vegas' downtown area as most likely to be crashed into -- even on the ground it's about 5-7 from the airport to the strip. Very cool! Oh, and if you end up going, check and see if your hotel allows check-in at the airport - I had my room key and got early check-in, all I had to do was go straight upstairs! (If you stay at Bally's INSIST on the rooms in the North tower. I saw both N & S tower rooms and it's very true that the North ones are much nicer.)
So upon arrival in my room, I sat down, hooked up the net, let Eric know I hadn't died or anything and called Debbie from Cafe Press. I headed down to her room where I met all those people I told you about in the first entry and we went for a champagne brunch. Bad idea on an empty stomach as you never get to see the bottom of your glass until you leave the restaurant! I think almost all of us were tipsy to outright drunk! lol Our waitress was funny also, hiding people's food on them and stuff :P
After that we hung out in a lounge for a while at which point I decided to go take a nap for a bit since I was pretty much running on fumes at that point. When I got up and got ready, it was time for a bit of a nosh, at Nosh, a sandwich joint in the hotel and then gambling time. We started by gambling at Bally's until Debbie got back from a show which is when we hit the Stratosphere hotel. This is the one with the rides on the top. Check it out - you couldn't PAY me to ride the rides or look out off the roof, but then again I'm terrified of heights :) After that we hung out at The Top Of The World (restaurant and bar) until we closed the place and then it was off to the Palms (which is where the show Inked is filmed) to gamble more. I did quite well for a while but then lost it all - but I had a blast so that's all that counts.
Sunday was get up late day (around 11 am) but after I got up we hardly stopped as we set up the Cafe Press booth for the show most of the afternoon. I had just enough time to take a quick nap, shower and eat before it was time for the conference to begin at 8 pm with Speed Networking. Now, I signed up for this and put names of people I wanted to meet like a good girl and I'm assuming others did the same with me because I had 8 names on my list. Of those 8 however, 3 showed up. I also blew one off but because I had 2 meetings set up with the same company (I did that just in case I didn't get matched with one of them) and Jen had someone interesting on her list in one of my redundant spots. I asked the 2nd guy to offer my apologies to the first at least :) Kind of annoyed me though when I SAW at another meeting one of the people I was supposed to meet and she acknowledged it and subsequently didn't show. Some people have a lot of nerve.
On the upside though, I met someone very interesting at all the no show tables and even 1 FANTASTIC contact for a new merchant that I never would've met otherwise. I mean, I met the PR guy who kept chasing me the next few days so I could properly meet the Aff Manager - which I did finally on the last day. (He was also on my plane but wasn't sitting near me.) Their stuff will fit across several of my active and upcoming sites which is awesome - plus the aff manager hinted that a better commission could be negotiated for some products where there is a better margin. So if their stuff does well for me (and it will from the sounds of it) it could pay the cost of the trip right there!
On that note, this entry is quite long enough again, so I'll leave you with, next installment will include details of Day 1 and Day 2 sessions, though by day 2 I wasn't attending much anymore.. lol Hope you're all having a better day than me!
Tara :)
posted by Tara at
12:15 PM
1 Comments:
Thanks. Honestly I'm at the point where it really hurts too much to cough. And I'm on contract with the job so no sick days :( To make matters worse, hubby has to go into work early for the next month (I start at 10:30) so no ride - I can't walk further than 10 feet w/o a 5 minute break and a huge coughing fit... lol So I'm not sure WHEN exactly I'll be back at work. Hopefully I won't get fired!! I can't imagine having this for 2 weeks though, especially with a CB and 3 kids... lol You're a saint!!
Make a point of going though hon, even if you're not a "super" affiliate yet. Keep an eye on Shawn's blog for free passes that he sometimes gives out, buy the plane ticket with credit card points and then you'll just have to worry about the hotel ;) Just GO!
Tara :)
By
Tara, at January 16, 2006 1:24 PM
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