SXSWi - Round 2

As long-time readers may remember, I ventured to my first SXSW Interactive conference two years ago. (For full details of the adventure, click on SXSW in the Labels menu to the right.) As I am preparing for my second time around, just six short weeks away, I was thinking of a couple of things that I had learned. I thought I'd summarize them here in case anyone out there was going for the first time and needed some advice:

1. As I started putting together my schedule, I chuckled when I remember adding the daily yoga sessions offered to my schedule. I remember thinking how nice it would be to do that everyday. The reality was that I did enough walking to get my exercise for the week and never made it to a single yoga session.
2. Speaking of walking, I had heard in advance to bring really comfortable shoes. This is not a lie. I thought I had brought good shoes the first time and I was sadly mistaken. You will be standing, walking and dancing all day - invest in something awesome or you'll regret it.

I bought these super comfy flats with Nike Air technology to keep me comfy and stylish this year.

    3. Bring your chargers with you during the day. The places to plug in and juice up are endless, as is your constant usage of your phone to look things up, direct yourself to the next venue, check in and tweet, which will eventually wear your battery down.

4. That said, leave as much crap as you can do without in your hotel room. You will likely shift from panels to parties and who wants to be that guy/girl wearing a backpack while dancing. Enough said.

5. It has often been said that one can attend SXSW without ever buying a ticket. Taking in the chance meetings of like-minded people just hanging out in a bar nearby the convention center, soaking up the atmosphere of the week, can be of huge value if you want to save some dough.

6. I really like my sleep but this experience was worth having well outside of my normal sleeping hours. The organizers are smart and kind enough to schedule little prior to 11am.
7. Run, don't walk to the keynote sessions. They fill up fast and then lead to the dreaded overflow room where are are stuck with a less-than-awesome experience (you can watch things on a t.v. at home).
8. Buy the shuttle pass if your hotel is on the route. It's cheap and runs pretty much all the time. They are fairly efficient and you don't have to wait long. A great buy.

In all, it's a great time. If you have any tips to share newbies, feel free to add them below. See you there!

Home for the Holiday

This Thanksgiving, I really wanted to continue our new tradition of going away for the holiday. Since Brian's family lives close and I usually get to see my family at Christmas, it makes sense to spend the bonus time off of work off somewhere exploring. This year, Brian wanted to stay home and, as much as I hate to admit it, my plans of Bermuda were not very practical with my present work/school load. So we stayed put. Brian decided to make it a hybrid holiday and we did a little family time and getting away in our own city.

We spent two nights at the art deco hotel, Hotel Phillips in downtown Kansas City. The room was nice and they had cable, so I was happy just sitting on the couch watching some HGTV. It's certainly been awhile since I was able to just kick back and relax.

After a delicious breakfast at Room 39, Brian sent me off to spend the day at The Spa at Briarcliff Village. I had a massage, facial, manicure, pedicure and a soak in these three tubs (all different temperatures.) It was a pretty nice way to spend a day off of work and school.

After a relaxing day, we had dinner at Aixois Brasserie. I had a delicious beet salad, the filet of salmon and this amazing pot de creme au chocolate. Yum! I also had a French 75 (champagne, Beefeater gin, simple syrup, and lemon twist). Okay, two of those.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and are moving into a lovely holiday season! My parents are coming from Maine to join us for Christmas, so more Kansas City adventures to come soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Passports with Purpose

Hello! I have missed you all so! (School is officially over for the semester in a couple of weeks, so I plan on catching up with you soon.) In the meantime, I wanted to share something cool with you that intersects my love for travel, winning prizes, and supporting clean water through Water.org.

This awesome group of bloggers is doing a campaign to raise money through an amazing online auction. For $10 you get one entry to win prizes that range from clothing to trips to gift cards. You can see the full list here. As you prepare for the holidays, this could be a great way to win something great for yourself or to giveaway to someone else while giving others the chance at a new life through access to water and sanitation. The prizes will be drawn in advance of December 25th, so you will even have time to shop in the chance you don't win a riverboat cruise for your sister-in-law. Can't wait to catch up with you soon!

Repairing Rockslides - Part III

Sorry for the delay, here are some general shots from the trip:

This is a 3D version of Yosemite. I am pointing out our work site for the week.

The infamous Half Dome - not a bad thing to gaze upon as you are working all day.

Our abode for the week. (Not pictured - lots of bear boxes to store food, toiletries and anything with a scent. By the end of sorting through things, most people ended up with everything in the box just to be on the safe side. No bear sightings were had.)

In review, the trip was great. I would highly recommend a trip through REI Adventures. It was nice to have someone sorting out all of the details, cooking our meals, hauling in water, and getting us a behind the scenes, non-touristy experience of Yosemite. I would imagine the same principles would apply to their other trips. Dreaming of a trip to Peru or Antarctica with them next. Thanks for stopping by!

Repairing Rockslides - Part II

A pictorial review of the work we did this week in Yosemite:

The aftermath of the rockslide; this used to be a trail through the forest.

Clockwise (from top left): my dad and me in front of the rubble, big pieces of granite, the big pieces of granite after I broke them up by hand (no power tools/equipment allowed back on the Federal trails), progress on the trail where we sanded over the granite gravel, wheelbarrows lined up ready for rocks/sand, my dad winching a giant boulder off the trail.

My "getting-things-done" face as I winch a tree from the ground. Grrr!

So, to recap, we shoveled lots of sand and rock, winched giant boulders from the trail, winched this tree growing in the middle of the trail, moved logs and brush off of the trail, hid pseudo-trails with camouflage to discourage off-trail camping, and blew up granite with shotgun shells and explosive boosters (not pictured, need to get that photo from my dad's camera). In all, it was a lot of work but I think we managed to get maybe a quarter of it done. The trail is supposed to open back up in mid-October. Thanks for checking in. Tomorrow I'll share some non-work photos!

Repairing Rockslides - Part I

So I survived five days of Yosemite, and being offline - the latter being a lot easier than the former! When we arrived to the park, we set up camp, met the other 17 volunteers, and attended our orientation. We learned that our project for the week was going to be helping to open a section of trail that had been decimated by a rock slide three years ago. The welcome wine and beer came out shortly after and we were off and running for the week. Due to a slower-than-death internet connection in Fresno, here's one photo to get things started, more to come tomorrow!

Me and my dad, Day 1, all ready to hike to the work site. (So this is where they steal photos for portrait studio backdrops!)

Pre-Adventure in Fresno

If you ever have a few hours to kill in Fresno, CA, and you're hungry, look no further than the Hunan Restaurant. If it's possible, this is the most nondescript place from the outside - think alcove in a half-abandoned strip mall with only a rug on the ground with the name of the restaurant. (Thanks Yelp-ers!) When I walked in and looked confused, the host/waiter assured me that they were indeed open (I was the only one there, but it was a little after 5pm and my stomach was still on Central Time).

First up were freshly made wontons. While a little greasy, they were delicious.

Then came the peach prawns (sorry, they are slightly out of focus). Oh man, were these good! Crunchy and creamy with the slightest hint of peach. Worth going back for.

If you come at the right time of year, on the right day of the week, you can also check out this really cool sounding place, Forestiere Underground Gardens. Apparently some guy, who had mad skills as a subway digger, carved out acres and acres of earth from the 1920's-1940's to create a dream world of underground Mediterranean gardens. The website looked awesome and it was ranked as one of the top 5 things to do in Fresno, but alas it's not open on Tuesdays in September. If you are ever nearby, you should check it out and let me know what you thought of it.

Hope to see you back on the blog sometime this week - if the camp store really has the wi-fi it's rumored to have. Thanks for checking in and now I'm off to San Jose to collect my dad and we'll be off!