Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Saga I

I should have been updating all weekend instead of saving it til the end. When you mix my memory and my ability to procrastinate you get a lethal cocktail.





Thursday, July 17, 2008
I woke up late and was on the road by 7am. I made the decision to take the 5 and not think about the bridge on the way. I would cross that bridge when I came to it (Pun totally intended).



Getting in and out of the Malibu has been a slight problem for me. First of all it is a low sitting car and my knees do not care for that. The other is that being a person of stature (ok fine tall and fat, but stature sounds so much nicer) I usually have to put the seat as far back as possible in any car I drive. In the Malibu I didn’t have to go all the way back but I did have to put it pretty close. The seat being back that far actually puts it behind the door jam, so when entering and exiting, my hip bangs against it and I am now the proud owner of a beautiful purple and black bruise on my left hip. That is the only complaint I would have about that car.



Does everyones front passenger seat look like a techie threw up? Other than that the ride was wonderfully smooth. I am not completely certain of the actual gas mileage, I will figure that out on the ride home, but I can say I made it from Glendale to the hotel without running out of gas. (*now that I am home it looks like I averaged about 38mpg) I don’t see a close gas station so I hope I can make it a little farther when I leave.




I must admit the part of the Malibu that I was most pleased with (well, besides it being a free rental) was the XM radio. It was so nice to A: not have to search for a station; B: have so many great stations to choose from; and C: be able to do it all from the steering wheel. I listened to Robin Williams comedy act (uncensored) and kept switching between the 70’s and 80’s stations. I heard “The Streak”, “Spill the Wine” and “Convoy” within a one hour span of time. I almost called a sister. “Ethel! Ethel! Is that you Ethel? Put your clothes on Ethel!”


Traffic slowed down just over the halfway point so I pulled over for lunch hoping to wait out the traffic. Nope, an hour later they were all still sitting there. Seems somebody had the bright idea to put all the cars in one lane at some point down the road. Idiot! No worries, I have my XM to listen to.


Ok, ok, now to the part you all have been waiting for, I have begun to see signs that point me towards THE BRIDGE (dun dun dun)! At the first sight, my hands tighten on the steering wheel. My pulse races and my breathing is quickly catching up to my pulse. I can see the BRIDGE now and it is looming in front of me. It is not 10 lanes side by side as I had envisioned, but 5 lanes going one way. I maneuver my car to the middlest lane and just go trying to concentrate on keeping the eco light lit the entire time and gauging the distance via the On Star (Oh, did I forget to mention the On Star, yeah I used that for turn by turn navigation and it is so much better than a GPS system because mainly it breaks into the radio and announces you next move). Anywhoo, I made it and was very proud of myself. I immediately made the obligatory phone calls to those that would be proud of me and they dutifully were.






Upon arriving at the hotel there was a mix-up with the reservation (since I was a late addition to someone else’s room) but it soon was straightened out and I was happily ensconsed in a room that made Erika’s Chicago room look like a shelter, oh wait, nevermind it looked like a shelter before mine mocked it. After a quick relax and freshen I am whisked from my room by Erin (@QueenofSpain) and taken to socialize in the lobby. I so don’t socialize.




I did find my way to the momCentral party and picked up my first bag o’ schwag. BOOKS! Lot’s of them! I am such a material girl. I can’t approach someone I read everyday face to face, but stick a table of schwag in front of them and I can talk my head off. I head back upstairs to lighten my load and meet my room mate Karoli. We head out to the Newbie reception which is on the 32nd floor to which the only access is an outside elevator that shimmies and shakes. And did I mention the outside part?! Ugh. But hell, I did the Bridge I can do some stupid elevator. The intent (or so I thought) of this reception was to bring together a bunch of people who had never been there before and try to give them an orientation of sorts. I didn’t get that feeling from it at all. It was a bunch of people milling about. There was no facilitating, no orientating, no nothing, from what I saw. It was hot and crowded and loud so we each picked up a free drink and headed downstairs to The People’s Party. Guess what? It was hot and crowded and LOUD! But it had a great schwag bag and free drinks (alcohol is plentiful, water and diet soda not so much. More on that at Macy’s). A little networking and meeting of people was happening but really how can you network inside a frikkin’ woofer? It was way to loud for me and I headed back up to the room for a well deserved sleep after a very long day. Did I mention the Heavenly beds?

5 comments:

  1. Oh, free alcohol and food, yum yum. I enjoyed your tweets from Blogher, and I am super jealous!

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  2. yay on the bridge/elevators, and so sorry again about the bruise! can't wait to read the rest of your saga. - Robyn @GM

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  3. Dang I totally missed schwag except for the standard-issue BlogHer bag.

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  4. In my estimation that trip over the bridge was a great leap forward into normal development, no knock intended. If you can conquer that there are others that you can handle. Go for it all.

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  5. I didn't get the free books from momcentral! Envious. Were there any good titles?

    T.

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