Category: flotsam

flotsam, travel, ups and downs

The trek

aka gringita

The conception was 6 years ago. I was in Ireland on a tour, and there was one group of brothers and sisters all on the tour together. It turned out that one of them had, in turn, taken each of their nieces and nephews on a trip of their choice as they graduated – and after the first one had chosen this tour, all the others did too. Now that all of them had gone, all of their parents who had never been, were now doing the same.

My oldest niece would have been just 12 then. But this idea of taking them on the adventure of their choice as they graduate – I loved this. Continue reading “The trek” →

there is something wrong with me, ups and downs

In which I am my very worst self

aka gringita

I spent last week at a conference. I went last year too.

The content on the whole is great. They have amazing keynote addresses (which this year even managed to be on topic) and amazing tech presentations. The breakout sessions turned out not to be as relevant to our role but they set up a “garage” area that was more in our sphere and that was cool.

Don’t I sound positive, after the fact?

It was great… it’s great BIG. Estimates varied from 12-14000 attendees.

All in all the event is too big for me – I feel lost in conferences with several hundred attendees, let alone several thousand. And they had growing pains of their own, little nitty things that added up to not a great experience.

Things like asking the people who were in for Training the day before the conference to get there 1-2 hours before we needed to be there, and then not letting us into the training rooms on arrival because they were still being set up.

Things like simultaneously asking everyone to come in and register a day early to get better positions at the concert night, causing a huge rush during training registration and sessions.

Things like having that rush correspond with not just 1 registration line but also separate lines for swag and concert entry. The entire facility was just a sea of snaking lines, and that was just the prelude to the event itself.

Ostensibly the theme of the event was Breakthroughs but I would say the real theme was lines.

My second day (the first day of the event proper) didn’t go much better. The coffee reception didn’t exist because we all needed to queue up for keynote seating. (I didn’t grab the awful hotel coffee because I was headed over to the reception).

No. Coffee. For. Me.

That line:

  • Had us standing on a concrete slab for over an hour (my back and feet in agony before we were done.
  • Didn’t have any separators to keep people in queue, so later arrivers were able to swoop in and get ahead of people who’d been there longer, waiting.
  • Didn’t guarantee a place in the keynotes because they had either oversold the conference or not set up enough seating inside. I got in, barely, and ended up in one of the farthest back rows, with easily hundreds of people still behind me. Some of them ended up in an overflow room, watching the event via streaming video. They were not pleased.

Continue reading “In which I am my very worst self” →

exploring and revisiting, there is something wrong with me, travel, ups and downs

Disembarkation, Departure and Disease

aka gringita

We have to be out of our cabin by 8am so the stewards can prep for the next people.

Breakfast is a simple affair- half staff at the kitchen and dining because this is their crazy day.

I’m not that hungry, and just want a bit of protein and caffeine and some water for my slightly scratchy throat. Continue reading “Disembarkation, Departure and Disease” →