eCommerce Part 1

So I never did give my report on eCommerce last week. It was INSANE!! I'm still not sure where my time went.

We left Sunday morning, and the airport was crazy!! In trying to figure it out, we finally realized that Sundance had just ended. There was also some kind of outdoor convention thing that had happened the week before. It took over an hour to get through ticketing and security. Thankfully, we made it. We got to DC, and I was in charge of the shuttle. I had made a reservation ahead of time, and silly me...I thought that meant that a shuttle would be there for me (they ask for all the flight information, so I figured they would know whether or not the flight actually made it). We ended up waiting about 45 minutes to an hour for the shuttle after getting our luggage. Gah. So much for reservations.

We got to the hotel, and it was pretty nice! We got all checked in, and decided to all head to dinner. We went to a place called Clyde's, and I have *never* had worse service. We called ahead of time to make sure that a group of 18 would be ok. 45 minutes after we got there, a few of us were finally seated. The rest were seated about 10 minutes later, and we still hadn't even seen our server, let alone even water. Another 10 minutes pass, and the group that was there after us was served their water and they got their drinks ordered. Meanwhile, those of us who were seated first...waited. The bad thing is that 2 of the guys sitting with us needed to get to a meeting. We finally communicated that, and they were able to order and get rushed out. The rest of us ended up being at the restaurant for 3 hours total. So much for having time to do anything else! We got back to the hotel, and a bunch of us hung out playing Guitar Hero. Someone actually packed up their PS2 and guitars, and they rented a large tv for the room for $75 a day. Crazy! It was a lot of fun, though :-)

Monday morning we had a meeting at 10 before sellers showed up for the conference. A few of us met up at 8 to see how far we could walk and how much we could see before we had to be back. It was a lot of fun (even though it was COLD). After that, the whirlwind began. I went to our meeting at 10:00 then had time to quickly grab lunch and eat in the lobby. My sellers were already showing up, and I was meeting with them all afternoon up until the cocktail reception and dinner. It was SO much fun to see them all, though! Some of them I had met before, and others I hadn't. I'm not going to lie, it was GREAT to see the people that I've met before, because they all just told me how fabulous I look ;-) I don't ever feel that way, so it was fun to hear. We had our dinner and were able to be done for the night at about 9:30 or 10. Knowing how long Tuesday was going to be, you would think I would have made that the end of my day. Of course not! A group of us decided to grab a taxi and head up to the Lincoln Memorial. We got there around 10:30, and wandered around taking pictures. We then decided that it was time to head back, and we couldn't catch a cab for the life of us! We checked with the information booth that was there on the grounds, and they told us where to stand. We did that. We saw cabs passing another corner, so we went there. Nothing. Someone dialed 411 to get the number for a cab company and got voicemail. We went back to the information booth and they gave us another number, and the number was no longer in service. The guy then suggested that we head down to Constitution Avenue, thinking we'd have better luck. On the way there, we found another information booth. We figured we should get the number for ANOTHER cab company just in case. The guy at that booth told us that even if we DID have a phone number, no cabs would pick us up from the Lincoln Memorial because there is no address there. *blink* REALLY?!? NO cab can pick you up from the Lincoln Memorial by calling?!? Huh. We finally made it to Constitution Avenue and caught a cab about 2 blocks down (after Lance rolled his ankle, of course). I have to admit, though...it was a lot of fun watching all the guys chase after cabs that were driving by, hehe.

Tuesday was an early morning. We had to be down for breakfast by 7:30. We ate and had to socialize, and we couldn't sit with our "friends", we had to find lonely members and go talk to them. Last year, that part killed me. I hated walking up to people that I didn't know. I have this tendancy to assume that no one would want to talk with me. This year it was no problem at all! I would just walk up to random people and start talking. It was a LOT of fun :-) It was a day full of not fun announcements for the company, and long classes and complaint sessions, but we made it through. We did the dinner thing, then a performance by "The Capitol Steps" (I wasn't too impressed...but I don't get into political stuff much so I had a difficult time finding the humor). Then came my FAVORITE part of the conference. Karaoke!!

Ok, I'll pick up where I left off later :-) It's time for me to hit the gym before heading home!