my day - yesterday which is actually today for you

Pretty quite day here.

I spent most of my day here at the convention, walking around and speaking with vendors and stores.

My second class – digital technology went pretty well. EXCEPT that I could not get my technology to work. For some reason (I still don’t know why) when it comes to putting the Luci software on a projector it gets distorted and becomes panoramic! I was so embarrassed, I blew my cover as a technology expert! But, they loved Luci (of course). I had some good objections to the idea and was able to easily overcome them. Out of the people in my class, I think that about half of them “got it” and will adapt to digital. The other half did not get it right away or they got it but, did not think that it was for them. Hopefully within 6 months they will get it and be ready for Luci. When talking about other kiosks, the race is on and scrapbooking is it, As far as Whitech and Fuji and Kodak go.

I have another class to teach about sales goals! It always kind of cracks me up that I speak about things that I did not practice. Here I am a person who gets disgusted when the computer does not do what I think it should do (usually because what I think it should do is impossible to do), shuns the techno world and would rather stay with a manual type writer or even better pen and pad – speaking about technology and grasping it and embracing it and bringing it into your world!! Then speaking about budgeting – if there was money in the kitty than I could afford the new paper line or sticker line. A budget is a grid with numbers that makes someone feel that their time was well spent – not something to actually follow. What do you mean I can only spend $50,000 at CHA?? Oh well! As my mom always says “do as I say not as I do”!!

I have breakfast scheduled again with Kris. I am really interested to hear what he has to say about the show and how things are going. I am eager to speak with him about Luci and how he sees a program like that working for him.

Then I have a second breakfast with Bill! He is SOOO tall, I did not realize how small I am compared to him. He said to me today that my eyes twinkled when I talked about Luci, I had to smile about that. If he thinks my eyes twinkle when I talk about Luci, they must go crazy when I talk about my kids



In the class room, they have these little dishes with Mentos in them. They are so cute! Every time I see someone pop it in their mouths, I want them to take a sip of soda, tilt their head back and watch the soda shoot out of their mouth! I can’t wait to get home and do the diet coke and mentos experiment with the kids. Before I left we watched this on the google videos, how people take a stack of mentos and put them in a 2 litre of diet coke and the coke explodes out of the top. Ryan and Adam loved watching this – we were amazed at everyone’s technique.

At Jeanne’s booth today, I met a very interesting man named Nik. We had lunch together with Jeanne and it was, profound. He took a photo of me that I think turned out pretty cute, he is a professional photographer. Right before he snapped the photo he said “OK big eyes!” and it worked. My eyes are usually squinty (one of my least favorite features) and in this shot, not so bad!



I have really taken to shooting myself with the camera. I may have to get a new camera with the flip view but, I kind of like experimenting with my camera for now. Anyway, I took this photo as I was walking into the convention this morning. That’s me standing just in front of the pillar. The glass windows are up about 3 stories and reflect the ground in them. I looked up to see myself and thought it was an interesting shot.



Here are photos of my room. I think I have a photo of the hotel from the outside that shows the window up the fourth floor.






One thing I have just started getting used to is walking on the left hand side. Sometimes I will be walking along on the right, minding my own business and I look up and see a crush of people coming at me. I have to quickly skoot over to the left side to avoid being crushed. In my best American I say “sorry” so that they know I am an American and not an idiot, although to some Australians, I don’t think it makes much of a difference!

The other thing about opposites are the escalators, here you go up the down side and down the up side. Very confusing!!

This was our scene at lunch on Darling harbour



Okay,
I am going to run to the gym, if it is lame I might run around Darling Harbour

more random shots

Sorry for the Kangaroo Porno!! This guy was cracking me up, he was going after all of the other kangaroos and we couldn't figure out why and then, we figured out why!!!!



I just loved this display! It would make a great scrapbook page.

funny shots around Aussie

Talk about job satisfaction. This is the guide that took us up the climb for the bridge. At the top she says "welcome to my office"! She is so passionate about her job and enjoying what she was doing - it really showed. She never stopped smiling, never once faltered or questioned what she was doing.




Yesterday when I left my hotel in the morning, there were 3 workers STANDING around a manhole, much lilke they do in the US obviously one guy is down in the hole working and the other three are up top! When I came back in the afternoon to change my clothes, this is the scene that I saw!! It cracked me up - where did they go????



This is marketing at its worst. This guy who was entertaining and doing a magic show, had a captive audience and was able to communicate the point of his show....that Sandisc would not try and trick you, they were a trustworthy company....the sales guys stood around and watched him. There must have been about 10. So it worked in getting a crowd of people to the booth but, after the show everyone turns on their heels and walks away...the 10 sales guys, still standing there!!!

They do have a cool new product that is a flip memory card that folds in half and becomes a USB - no adapters for your computer!



Russ gave me some great advice before I left about where to go and what to do, I think I have done alot of his suggestions. i love this picture because even though the corn is out of focus you can see my shadow! This picture also reminds me of an ear of corn from when Adam was little, he was an adventurous eater and had takend this ear of corn and demolished it, Mike took a photo of the corn on the table afterwards and had it as his screen saver for a while.

song in my head

"woke up this morning, feeling fine" That is all I can remember from this song but, it keeps spinnng through my brain.

it is a first here in sydney, a cloudy day and bummers I can't find Mike to say good morning so, I will have to say it here first!!

2 things that are great about Australia:
1. A rainy day in Australia hasn't dampened my spirits :) and it looks as though the sun might come out today after all
2. they have a carafe of hot tea along with the coffee at breakfast and it was brewed to perfection! Sometimes with my own tea bag I get distracted and leave it in the water too long and the tea tastes so horrible - there is not enough splenda to make it better!

While I was at breakfast I was thinking about the kids - I totally miss them. THere was a little girl picking out fruit with her "mum" and she kept saying "and that one, and that one and that one" It just reminded me of Daisy!!

Well, I do have some blogging to catch up on and more pictures to share so, I will "get on with that" but, YOU won't read this unitl you have seen the pictures - so, hope you enjoy them! I am sending everyone a cyber huggie and big kisses - especially for the kids, that little spot on their left neck under their ear just before they shrug up their shoulders, yeah that's its!

final thoughts

What a day! You will read about it in my posts below. I am soooo tired and ready to crash! What a great day, I am in love with Sydney, even the corn on the cob on a stick!! I hope I get a bit more sleep tonioght but, i am a little anzious about my classes tomorrow. Have a great day in the US! Let me know what you think of my blog that I have stolen from Mike.

Ryan - congrats on your report card! I am so proud of you:)

Adam - did you find a new shooter? They have bommer rangs here that you would love. Maybe Daddy can tell you about them.

Hugs and Kisses to everyone - please have a hugging moment for me and send me your squeeze! I love Ya

Mommy and Kesley

this morning in Aussie

Another gorgeous day in Sydney – even better than yesterday. The temperature is warmer. I was up super early but, got to talk with Mike and that was great.



Made it over to the convention center with time to spare to get set up for my class. Bad news, 35 people signed up! Yikes, quick make copies and get set up. HUH? Need to get the IT guy to hook up your mac. Okay

8:35 – no IT guy and only about 6 people in class. Relax Relax Relax. They speak engilsh and one is even smiling. Okay – Here I go!!

Well, about 10 minutes into the class, I do a quick recovery because I was crashing. I had visions of being cut off at my knees by the boomerang I had seen at the gift shop yesterday. No one was nodding their head like my comments were hitting home. I did not have my power point to relie on so, I relied on honesty and my smile! Thank GOD for my smile!



I had sufficiently revcovered and was able to talk about stuff they could relate to, I relied on the attendiees to share information and I think all in all it went well. The reviews were satisfied, not like the 100% I got from my Orlando class but, I’ll take it. I still have 2 classes to nail.

I have 15 minutes before the show opens and I ran to starbucks for a taste of home. But, being the adventuraous gal that I am I had to try the banana frap. The monkeys would have loved this. After a few sips, I have to pinch myself. I am in AUSTRALIA sipping a Frappe in Darling Harbour!! I am going to go jogging tomorrow around Darling Harbour!





The one bright spot of my class was Lance from Rusty Pickle – happy to be here! We are going to meet up later, talk a little business and then walk the bridge for twilight or at dusk! Tonight just might be perfect for weather, it is not as windy as yesterday so, I am not as nervous!

A little tid bit of information that I learned was that it is 24 hour flight to Europe from here. And this lady told me this morning that she would never go!! Can you imagine??

I am off to call Mike and the kids, I hope they are awake!!

today

The rest of the show went well. I had a chance to walk around and talk with people about scrapbooking and the kiosk. I have some ideas.

The most powerful part of the show was a photo gallery that was set up. I am not sure if it was to show off the camera, photographer or film process because I was so drawn into the photos. The first aisle just seemed so tragic. I felt like such a dork crying over the photos but, they were SO amazing. It is truly an aspiration to take photos like these professionals, they truly captured the emotion.

The first group was about a little 12 year old that died because of the Tsunami and how she was laid to rest. Another group was about an area that is affected by Agent Orange and how it has affected the generations since and lastly the straw that broke my gushers was of a little boy tying on his fathers tie. Pretty classic type of photo. Except the dad's arms are gone and the child's look is so worshipful of his father. How can circumstances and humanity be so harsh? I know how I feel about just viewing the photos, what must the photographer feel?


Here are some photos of the show

something to do tonight

What else do you do when you are in australia at night? Scare the pants off yourself and go for a night time stroll over the Bridge that is over 400 feet high!

I met Lance from Rusty Pickle after his class was finished and we raced for a taxi. We had a few minutes to take photos of ourselves before we climbed over and took our first steps to fulfill our destiny!





First you pay about $130 dollars to climb across a bridge and then you sign your life away!



Just before you go over the bridge you have to change into these tight suits and get geared up with a geek light, headphones fuzzy hat etc. and you have to hand over your camera!

oops! here are the pictures

OMG can you believe this???

I did it! I walked the bridge and I have pictures to prove it!

Darling Harbour

I can't remember which pictures I picked - maybe just shots around the harbor


Yes, it is amazing. Not Grand Canyon amazing but, National Monument amazing. The man who designed it has actually never set foot inside! I hope I have time to get closer.

You can walk across this bridge for $150! It is 87 stories high and I honestly would tackle it. The view of the harbour is beautiful on the ground, I can only imagine what it would look like atop that bridge!


I am babbling and can't type properly. I have so much more to blog about and I will get it all out tomorrow!

Kesley

off to explore

Jeanne and I went to the Torango Zoo across the harbor. You can walk in with the red kangaroos and the Emu's - very cool. We saw the Koala bears, the Nemo sea gull and wallabies. I was constantly reminded of the beauty of our surroundings.






Around the harbour are water taxis, this is how we got back from the Taragon Zoo!

Exhausted but, trying to stay awake, Jeanne and I walke through China Town. Australia China town is not different than any other China town I have been to.

On my way to the hotel, I realized that in Australia, they drive on the different side of the road!!

I am getting too tired to write too much more so, I will leave you with snip-its from my day!

In Australia

Okay, I just realized that my blog was going backwards. I am too tired to fix it but, maybe Mike can tomorrow:) or today.

These are the pictures from when I first arrived. Customs went smooth (except for later when I thought I had lost my driver's lic.- quite a scare!) my driver was there to meet me, Mahammed Ali!! He was from Pakistan and was a great ride!

I got right to my hotel, was able to check in, take a shower, IM the kids and meet Jeanne Reed, the only other person I know in Australia! All this before 11:00 AM!

What a day

My first impressions were that Australia was beautiful and the people are as lovely as their accents! I love it here and could not wait to explore!

I was amazed at how similar it Australia was to America. There are so many differences but so many similarities. Imagine if you will San Francisco but, so much greener and better and newer!