#BlogHer10 Memories Part 4 – Hacking, Switching Sessions and NYC Pizza!

After lunch, it was time to go back to some more sessions. I split up from B and CutestKidEver as we were interested in different sessions. Before going to my session, I noticed a spot where BlogHer attendees could write some witty sayings down so others could see. I remembered a week or so back where WhyIsDaddyCrying asked a BlogHer attendee to stand up during a session and ask “Why is Daddy Crying?” I said I would but quickly realized I was a lot braver on Twitter than I was in real life. Still, I could write the question here for all to see. And so I did. (Photos were taken later by B.)

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This job done, I attended “Fight Spam and Hackers! Plugging Security holes in Your Social Media Life.” Now, I’ve been interested in security matters for a long time. I might have been a bit advanced for that session, but it was still interesting. My only complaint was that I sat down on the right side of the room near some surge protectors to plug in my laptop. I was told that the right side would be for a CSS workshop and the left side would be for the security Geek Lab session. So I went to the back near a wall outlet, plugged in… and was told that the wall outlets were for AV equipment only. Really? A Geek Lab without access to power? I puttered along on battery power, coming dangerously close to empty before the session ended. Still, it was great session and I was given an idea for a future series of posts by Amy Leis of Amiable Life.

While talking with Liz Henry (who ran the session) afterwards, I ran back into B and CutestKidEver. CutestKidEver was planning on going to the Eden Fantasys’ session titled “Bringing Sex Out of the Closet.” B wanted to go to the Geek Lab session about how to take great pictures. I had decided to go to the Family Foodies one.

Before I went to the Foodies session, however, I stopped by the Eden Fantasys table outside of their session. There, by the table littered with toys of the adult variety (nice euphamism, huh), I got the chance to meet Jenn aka KissMyKitty. As I said in Friday’s post, I had worked with her for my massage oil review. We had kept just missing each other previously. We chatted for a bit and she gave me a recommendation for something to buy B. (Insert evil grin here.) Eventually, I moved on to the Foodie session.

During the Foodie session, I began getting odd tweets from B. It seems she made a last minute change in plans and snuck into the sex session right behind my back! I tried to be interested in the Foodie session, I really did, but it just didn’t seem to catch my interest. So I snuck out and joined B and CutestKidEver in the sex session. (Ok, that just sounded really wrong!)

Unfortunately, my wireless network went down and wouldn’t connect. (Please, no cracks about being unable to “keep it up” during the session…. B already made those!) The helpful Hilton network guy came to help me. Now picture this: The guy had to come into a session where a lot of sex talk (including lesbian-type stuff) was going on. Nothing X-Rated, mind you, but still on the racy side given the subject matter. And the guy helping me has a yarmulke on. Yes, an Orthodox Jewish network technician braved the sex session to assist me in my wireless network! Now that’s dedication.

Due to my network troubles, I wasn’t able to pay attention as much as I would have otherwise. Thank goodness, CutestKidEver live blogged it. At the end, anyone who hadn’t gotten a swag bag (like myself) was invited up to get one. I took a peek inside and saw that this was one swag bag that the kids definitely wouldn’t be playing with! This one was for grown-ups only! As we left the session, we ran into Jenn again. I introduced B and CutestKidEver and we took a photo with her.

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We passed by the food area on our way to the Expo and noticed that snacks had been put out. Pretzels, popcorn and the like graced the tables. It all looked good, but we were still stuffed from lunch. That didn’t stop me from taking photos, of course!

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Then, it was on to the Expo where we saw many different products and talked with many different people. I’m ashamed to say that I was so involved with connecting with people that I neglected to take many photos. At least my Photo Geek FAIL meant that I socially won (aka made some good contacts and saw some great products). I did take a few photos, so here they are.

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After this, we headed to the Sheraton for the Sweets in the City event. Here, we were tempted with cupcakes (which looked delicious, but we were still stuffed), got to play a Beamz (extremely cool instrument which plays music via a computer depending on which laser beams you break – wish I could do a review of this one), and got some great swag including a Perplexus (review of that coming up).

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We headed back to our room, dropped off our heavy bags and then B and I decided to go for a walk. We were getting hungry and also wanted to see the M&M’s store and the Hershey’s store. First, we headed towards Broadway. We spotted where The Late Show with David Letterman tapes (sadly, no Dave sightings), saw where some Broadway shows are performed (sadly, didn’t have time to take in a show) and browsed the Hershey’s shop. Then we went across the street and enjoyed three floors of M&M shopping.

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After this, with some (purchased, not swag) bags in hand and our tummies finally rumbling, we walked to Ray’s Pizza and got a few slices. We brought them back to our hotel room and enjoyed some NYC pizza before resting up for the next day.

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Aloha Friday: Meeting In Person at #BlogHer10

While at BlogHer 2010, there was a small list of people that I wanted to meet. It wasn’t really formal, written out, or set in stone, but more of a general mental list. Three names were prominent on it, though: Dadarocks (aka Adam Cohen), KissMyKitty (aka Jenn) and AnissaMayhew (aka… well, I guess she’s self-explanatory).

I’ve worked with Adam in the creation and running of DadRevolution, but had never met him in person. I was able to remedy this at the Ralph Lauren party and again at Sparklecorn.

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I’ve worked with Jenn during my Eden Fantasys review. I got to meet her just before the "Bringing Sex Out Of The Closet" session. Prior to this, we almost met a few times but always just missed each other. It was quite the meeting as we discussed "presents" I should buy my wife. I later saw her at the Eden Fantasys "decorating" party and at Sparklecorn.

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I’ve followed Anissa’s husband, and later her, from her stroke through to the present day. I even got to see her three times during BlogHer. Each time, I saw her though, my mind went blank. I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out what I was going to say. To keep from completely embarassing myself, I just walked by. Note: This wasn’t due to anything Anissa did or said. A lot of other people went up and talked to her and I never saw her being anything but gracious. I just had a mental freezeup and didn’t know what to say.

Luckily, I met a lot of the people on my mental list and a lot of people who I hadn’t planned to meet pre-BlogHer. I’m now following a lot more people on Twitter, made some great connections, and have a stack of business cards to go through. (I will go through those! I promise!)

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Have you ever been at a loss for words when you saw someone you really wanted to meet and talk to in person? How did you handle this?


Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha Friday by Kailani at An Island Life

Aloha #51

Eden Fantasys Review: Good Clean Love Gift Set

I’d like to preface this blog post with a warning. There will be links to some sites that might not be considered safe for work. They aren’t porn or anything, but they do point to a shop that sells toys of a kind often used in the privacy of one’s bedroom. Just a warning to save those link clicks for when you get home. Now on to the review.

I’ve got to admit, I love giving B massages. However, sometimes it can be tough to massage for long. Dry flesh (hands) plus dry flesh (back) equals friction. We’ve considered massage lotions in the past, but B’s skin is highly sensitive. We buy everything we can fragrance free, especially if it will be touching her skin (like laundry detergent). So rubbing a scented massage oil on her skin never seemed like a very good idea. » Read more

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