Is there really a “trade show season”? I’ve heard this referred to time & again, but I seem to go year ’round so I don’t know what that season is! Yes, soon it will be time for me to hit the road again and make my rounds of the country in search of truth, justice, and the American Business Way!

Actually, both of the conferences in my future take me to Boston, MA. I’m hoping since it’s on the coast that it won’t be as muggy and terrible as when I visited New Jersey in 2006 for a film festival. That was awful. I’ve never been to Boston, so I’m excited. This next trip is quick and won’t allow for a lot of time to see any sights except in the evenings, but for the second show I’ve worked a day or so in to see some stuff.

First stop, the HOW Design Conference May 18th through 21st. I’m on booth duty the entire time, so no sessions for me. Which makes me sad, but I’m relying on a co-worker that is attending the sessions to take good notes because I’m sure it’ll be interesting. In a geeky designer way. In booking this trip, it was pretty last minute for the company to make up it’s mind in who would be sent, so costs were pretty expensive. I managed to get one hell of a deal on a flight for $380 on Hotwire, a feat which seems to not be repeatable as looking for the flight for my second outing only returned prices in the $420-460 range. Since it was also the last minute and there has GOT to be some other conferences or events going on the same week, almost every decent hotel in the area was booked solid or $500/night. So we’re staying at the Best Western near Longview Medical for $300/night. Never have I stayed in such a poorly valued Best Western – but we’ll see.

Next on my list, the always great Affiliate Summit. I won’t be attending this as a representative of PsPrint. This is on my own dime. I’ll be going as a member of the press, and will be reporting live (hopefully) on the sessions I attend and the different events I go to. I’m stoked, and BIG Shout Out to Missy Ward, one of the co-founders, for helping make this happen for me. I’ve booked my hotel already, luckily getting on on super fair group rate of $189/night at the Seaport Hotel where the event will be happening. As I mentioned above, I tried to get a great deal on a flight booking 3 months in advance, but still only got higher…so I’ll watch the fares for awhile and see what I can do to swing a cheaper flight. I’ve built a day into my schedule out there to HOPEFULLY see some cool Boston stuff…maybe if I win the lottery I can go to a Red Sox game at Fenway! I’m really excited and can’t wait.

And BEST news of all, the wonderful Scott Jangro found out the problem I was having with the RSS feed – Revver & PodPress were just not playing nicely together. It has been fixed so PLEASE remember to subscribe to my RSS feed!

Be sure to share some travel tips with me!

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Some good stuff going on this week… and I’m going to throw in something fun that has some social media implications…

• Scott Jangro jumped into the podcasting world with a good set of rambles. He gets fairly personal, talking about the inspiration his daughter has given him & some general rambles about what’s going on in his life.  I really like this type of podcasting.  Great first effort… PodPress FTW!  I hope more are coming.
• My new favorite term is Internet Rubbernecker. I may just changed this weekly post of mine from “Cribbed Content” to “Internet Rubbernecking”. The term was apparently coined by this article over at Wired.com (if it’s from somewhere else, my apologies – I’ve never heard it before). The article points out (yes, go READ it first) that this YouTube lash back video is probably not the best legal move the scorned wife could have made, but it makes me wonder how strong a factor the internet’s court of public opinion might now sway the case? Food for thought in this day & age of social media run rampant.
• Mark Wielgus from 45n5.com called out Joel Comm’s latest AdSense eBook marketing as shady and deceptive.  The background basically is that all the ads say just $9.95 for this eBook but once you buy it you’re automatically enrolled in some other program that charges you $29.95 per month.  NOT COOL and I have to agree with Mark’s assessment in his video.

I’m keeping it short & sweet this week and ended on what I hope is an uplifting note.  Everyday I go to work and I have to reconcile two facets of myself to get through the day – the part of me that went to college and got my degree in theatre so I could make a living on my own terms – writing and telling stories and entertaining people  – and the part of me that wants a better life than my parent’s had with more money and gadgets and opportunities and keeps me working in marketing- sitting at a desk all day working a set schedule on someone else’s terms.  I know I’m not the only one out there with this daily grapple.

Earlier this week Sam Harrelson recorded an Affiliate Fortune Cookies episode that I just got around to listening to last night.  In it, he describes his own college decisions, how high school superlatives have affected him, and how all that attempts to reconcile into who he is today.  It was a tough listen for me only because of the state I was in on Thursday – wondering if this blog is worth putting so much energy into and assessing why I do this.  This brought me to a good place and I’m okay with where I am… so if you’re finding yourself at a crisis of faith regarding your career, definitely give this a listen.  At least you’ll understand that it’s not just you.

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