I woke up this morning in a bit of a funk. My next post will elaborate.
After packing my bag, I went downstairs to the conference area for breakfast. Feeling rather anti-social, I pretty much kept to myself. I was really feeling over it and just didn't feel like small talk or shop talk. The opening plenary session was engaging, but didn't really offer any new ideas. The final breakout session was different. I expected it to be boring, but it really stimulated some thinking.
Despite feeling anti-social, I was very happy when a guy came up to me and told me that I was "dead-on" in some remarks I had made in a session yesterday. That made me feel good. A bit later a woman with whom I talked yesterday saw me and asked me for my business card. She said that I was doing some really interesting things in my shop and she wanted to stay in touch. Again, nice gratification.
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With the conference behind me, I started to head north. Before hitting the 405, I meandered around Newport Beach. The beach area, that is. It was nothing to write home about, but at least I can say I did it. I traveled north to Santa Monica. The pier was cool, but quiet. Then I hit the Third Street Promenade. It was pretty much the same as any mall in the country.
Here's a few pics I took.
Back in the car, I checked my Blackberry to find a cranky email from my boss. That set me back into a funk. He wasn't wrong with his complaints, but he was partly to blame. 'Nuff said. The bad thing about traveling is that sometimes things back in the office can unravel. There was some of that going on.
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With tons of time to kill, I went back to West Hollywood. Ho hum. Checked out A Different Light Books, but didn't get anything. Bored, I decided to just go to the airport, which is where I sit writing this. The place is dead. At the security gate there was just one guy ahead of me. That's it.
So now I'm sitting here, writing this, and finishing off some pizza from CPK. There's a cute guy a few tables away, so I clandestinely snapped this photo.
I have three and a half hours to kill before my flight leaves. Maybe I'll do some work. I want to tire myself out so maybe I will be able to sleep through most of the flight. It gets in at 8 a.m., and I have to go to work at least for a little bit.
I'll be zonked, but will be very happy to be home. I hate traveling alone.
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