Boston: Day 1
Today was the first day of the conference. It was a rough start to the morning after only getting a couple of hours of sleep. I was really disappointed when I tried to take a water taxi to the convention center but learned they don't open until 7am and I needed to get to the convention center early still to register. The land taxi was much less exciting other than the stupid credit card thing deciding not to work. It's so convenient...when it works. When it doesn't, it means I sit there outside my destination feeling like an idiot before I give up and throw cash at the driver. I get reimbursed either way, but it's easier to deal with a credit card receipt than a cash one.
Registration was quick as almost no one else was there early. Apparently many people had too much fun at the Counting Crows concert the night before. Breakfast was decent and quick. The first breakout session was probably the best of the day and even it wasn't particularly detailed. The second session was after the first keynote and was even less exciting. The last session ended early and was a complete waste of my time. The first keynote was neat only because I sat with my account rep and the CEO is a decent speaker. That and it was awesome being able to make fun of my rep because he didn't understand the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference the CEO dropped. The second keynote was pretty lame; trying to be humorous with Seinfeld-esque pre-recorded skits. But at least it discussed an actual product so it was somewhat informative. I bailed on the conference after the third breakout session because the third keynote wasn't of interest and neither the last breakout session nor the evening festivities were a draw. I was much more in need of a nap.
And nap I did. I got back to my hotel room and crashed. I'd planned to just sleep for an hour or two and then go walk around the neighborhood taking pictures. Instead I slept until my account rep woke me up for dinner plans he hadn't even told me about. I threw on clothes and hopped a cab to the Capital Grille. That place was amazing. The food was really good. Apparently it's where the vendor hosting the conference takes all their customers when they come to Boston. The waiter confirmed that probably 80% of the people in the restaurant at the time were employees or customers. He also turned out to be a WoW player and had overheard me discussing the game with one of the other customers at our table so he had to tell me about his son playing and how his son got him into the game. After dinner we closed out a local bar before catching cabs back to our respective hotels.
The evening was way more fun than the day. We'll see if I'm still as jazzed about things when I'm waking up again in a few hours and tomorrow's a pretty full day of potentially great sessions.
Registration was quick as almost no one else was there early. Apparently many people had too much fun at the Counting Crows concert the night before. Breakfast was decent and quick. The first breakout session was probably the best of the day and even it wasn't particularly detailed. The second session was after the first keynote and was even less exciting. The last session ended early and was a complete waste of my time. The first keynote was neat only because I sat with my account rep and the CEO is a decent speaker. That and it was awesome being able to make fun of my rep because he didn't understand the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference the CEO dropped. The second keynote was pretty lame; trying to be humorous with Seinfeld-esque pre-recorded skits. But at least it discussed an actual product so it was somewhat informative. I bailed on the conference after the third breakout session because the third keynote wasn't of interest and neither the last breakout session nor the evening festivities were a draw. I was much more in need of a nap.
And nap I did. I got back to my hotel room and crashed. I'd planned to just sleep for an hour or two and then go walk around the neighborhood taking pictures. Instead I slept until my account rep woke me up for dinner plans he hadn't even told me about. I threw on clothes and hopped a cab to the Capital Grille. That place was amazing. The food was really good. Apparently it's where the vendor hosting the conference takes all their customers when they come to Boston. The waiter confirmed that probably 80% of the people in the restaurant at the time were employees or customers. He also turned out to be a WoW player and had overheard me discussing the game with one of the other customers at our table so he had to tell me about his son playing and how his son got him into the game. After dinner we closed out a local bar before catching cabs back to our respective hotels.
The evening was way more fun than the day. We'll see if I'm still as jazzed about things when I'm waking up again in a few hours and tomorrow's a pretty full day of potentially great sessions.