My Week in Instagram -- San Francisco for SugarCon

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you know I was in San Francisco this week.
My colleague and I went for a conference called SugarCon, for SugarCRM, a CRM system that our company uses and we administrate.
He does the back end high tech code stuff and I do the front end modifications,marketing,  daily administration, and yelling at our sales people to use the system.
It's a good system.

Heres my week in Instagram - Sorry about all the food pictures, I just had to show all the lovely things I experienced -- and yes, food counts.



1) My trip started out with a trip to the airport. When I first arrived, TSA was closed. For some kind of break, apparently?  When I finally did get through, as the only person in line (gotta love small airports), I was asked to step aside for a pat down screening. Why? I was wearing sequins. My favorite shirt got me a pat down from TSA. Then, I get through security, and my flight was delayed almost two hours. Needless to say, I got myself a margarita. I earned it.

2) Croque Monsieur  sandwich. After flight delays and waiting for our rental car for an hour (which the company then upgraded us up to a Mercedes SUV), we didn't make it back to our hotel until after 1 AM. We decided that nothing was open at 1 AM, so we ordered room service. I had a Croque Monsieur. Which is just a fancy ham and cheese sandwich. But it was amazing.

3) The view from my hotel room. 3rd floor. Not too shabby.

4) View from the Top of the Mark restaurant.  It has glass on three sides and you can see both the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate. Pretty amazing view. We stayed for breakfast.

5) My name tag from the conference. I was just glad to have made it there safely. We got lost and I was traumatized by San Francisco drivers. Cabbies, I am talking to you here!

6) Guy Kawasaki keynote. Amazing speaker. He gave us all a copy of his book. I brought back one for my boss. We are going to read it.

7) Pizza from room service. It was amazing. I need the recipe.

8) Lots of Sugar at SugarCon.

9) The Garden Room at the Palace Hotel.

10) Have you ever seen this guy? There was a guy doing that at Fisherman's Wharf. When my love first saw this video on YouTube, he was addicted. So I had to buy him one. Had to.

11) Bittersweet chocolate cake. I need this for breakfast.

12) The lobby at the Mark Hopkins. We are talking seriously fancy here, people.

13) At the airport ready to go home!

14) Flying from LA to Visalia. I couldn't resist getting a picture of the ocean. I miss the beach.

15) The tiny plane that we took from LA to Visalia.

16) Ahh. Home. Looks so much different from being in the city. But I am glad to be back!

This trip had some hiccups, but I am SO glad we went. We learned quite a bit. Now it is time to put that learning to good use and get our program running even better!

What did you do this week? 

I've Learned in San Fransisco So Far

... If you get back to your hotel after 1 AM, your best bet is probably room service.

...It is better to close your eyes while being driven around in cabs. Those people are crazy.

...If you have a room at the Mark Hopkins, or even if you don't, go see the Top of the Mark.. the view is amazing!

...Get a phone with a better battery. Playing with twitter all day tends to drain it.

...San Fransiscans (Correct me if I'm wrong here?) like Macs.

...Wear great shoes, walking uphill hurts. And makes my feet swell.

 

.. More to come, and pictures!

Five for Five: Words

Words are one of my favorite things.

Seriously.

As a graphic designer, part of my job is to work with text. I love playing with different fonts and using the tools available to me to adjust the spacing between letters, between words.

Through this you can make words into art.

As an avid reader (read: addicted to my Kindle), words can make or break a story. Give William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway the same view and you will end up with two totally different accounts. Words make a difference.

Have you ever met someone who is just gifted with words?

Not exactly someone who is like an English teacher, but someone who always knows exactly what to say?

Who, me? No, no, no. I am NOT one of those people.

I trip and stumble over words like.. like I do over my feet.

I usually know what I want to say, but it comes out in jumbles. My brain has the words down pat. Organized and orderly. Somewhere between there and my mouth, my thoughts get jumbled. I try and say one thought while thinking of another. Doesn't always work well.

I had to take speech classes when I was a kid. I talked too fast. Still do. I think most people get the point that I am trying to get around to.

This is why in school, I would take an essay over a speech any day.

My brother on the other hand? Complete opposite.

He is very eloquent. He says what he means the first time. His voice does not quiver. He does not stutter.

He just can talk. He gets his point across quickly and painlessly. I think being in the military really helps with that. The military has really helped shape my brother into a man, which is scary to me, but that's a whole other story.

My dad is the same way.

Come to think of it, my mom has the same ability.

What makes me so weird?

Linking up with Link'n Blogs