Early to Bed, Early to Rise

It's the morning of Day 3 at the trade show. It's 6:30 in the morning as I start to write this. Yes, I'm up early. Yet this is actually the latest I've gotten up the past several days!

For several days before this I've been getting up at 5:30am if not earlier. I didn't need to get up early. I didn't even try to get up early. My body was just like, "Ha ha, no more sleep for you!"

At least I got to bed early. Or, rather, I was tired out early. Thursday night I was in bed at 9, Friday at 10. Both were evenings I opted not to party with colleagues at the trade show, choosing instead to eat by myself and then retire to my room.

Last night I did finally go out with colleagues. Six of us had a nice dinner at a pleasant restaurant a short car ride away. It was no big evening, though, as we were back at our hotel just after 8pm. A few of my colleagues still had to work on some slides for a presentation they're giving this morning. One colleague and I went to the bar for a night cap after that, but even so we were back in our rooms by 10. And I went to bed at 11. That was my Big Night Out.

Well, the upside of "Early to bed, early to rise" is... I don't feel ragged. Trade shows are often grueling experiences for staff working the booth because long days on our feet are combined with trying to keep up with regular work (e.g., answering emails) and too many social expectations late into the evening. Skip being social and the rest becomes a lot easier.

Trade Show's a Wrap. Heading Home.

Well, the trade show's a wrap. Today, like the past few days, we folded things up a bit early. WIth a stated end time of 2pm we started packing at 1pm. By then maybe 1/3 of the companies exhibiting were already gone. We rolled out a bit before 2.

I'm at the airport now, cooling my heels. No, I didn't walk to the airport; I already did that 1.1 mile walk with suitcases in hand. Once was enough. But my heels are still hot (literally) from all the standing at the show.

While I'm sitting here at the airport with time to kill— my flight departs at 5:10pm— I'll share a few pictures from this trip. I didn't feel like posting these earlier this weekend because after long days of work I was ready to do anything but be reminded of work.



This pic (above) is the room I had at the LAX Hilton. It was fairly nice. It was room, and as a corner room it had windows on two sides. It was noisy, though, because one window looked out over the airport and the other window...



...looked out over one of the main approaches to LAX.

Jet noise was fierce at times. I was able to ignore it, though, because it was kind of a dull roar. I live near train tracks so I've gotten accustomed to the sound of enormous vehicles going past.

I won't share a picture of my company's booth here (I choose not to identify my employer on this blog) but here's a pic of the seminar room where I taught a workshop on Friday:



This picture isn't of me, nor does it show my workshop. It's the one before mine. My workshop was less well attended than this one.

Well, it's still about 2 hours 'til boarding time. I'm looking forward to getting home.