All posts by Howard Tayler

First Session, Last Session

This BrainShare has been a unique one for me. With my change in job title there has been a concomitant change in responsibilities, so I no longer need to meet with analysts and press. Then there was the discovery that one of my two sessions could be better covered by one of the guys we flew out for lab duty.

The upshot of all this… for the first time in 7 years of presenting at BrainShare conferences worldwide, I’m only doing ONE session.

And I’m only doing it once.

And I just did it.

This, as you might imagine, is both a huge relief and a bit of a let-down. The rest of my time here will be spent meeting with customers, schmoozing, and (if there’s any justice at all) getting some actual WORK done while I hide here in the “Speaker Ready-Room.”

There’s a video from last year’s BrainShare Europe right here. I’m told I’m in it, but I don’t know exactly WHERE, so you’ll just have to watch the whole thing. It’s only 35.7mb… I have no idea how LONG it is.

–Howard

Jet-lag plus sleep-deprivation

I managed to NOT take a second nap on Saturday, staying up instead and watching The Matrix: Revolutions. I had a room-service pizza for dinner, got online for a while, and then went to bed around 10pm.

I fell right asleep. The three Excedrin PM I took with my pizza may have had something to do with it.

I was awake by 8:00am, and went downstairs for Hotel breakfast. I talked with my new boss (and former employee) Bryan for a bit, and then headed back up to my room to work on my session for a bit. Then I laid down and took a nap.

No lie, following 10 hours of sleep and a meal, I took a nap.

I got up, got some more work done, and took ANOTHER nap.

It was 2:30pm before I finally finished napping and got properly out of bed for the day. I have a feeling I’ve been pushing just a little too hard for the last few days, and the jet-lag ganged up with the sleep-deprivation. Granted, the diphenhydramine citrate MAY have had something to do with it, but that stuff usually wears off after 12 hours.

Anyway, I feel great now (except for the fact that I’d rather be home than be here in Barcelona working. Oh well.)

–Howard

Hotel connectivity sucketh

I just shelled out 64 euros for a week’s worth of internet access from the hotel. This is easily twice what I’ve paid in the states, and for service that is beyond lame.

I don’t know how much actuall WORK I’ll be able to get done across this link. Oh well.

The flights were long. I’m jet-lagged. I met Schlocker “Lars D.” for lunch on La Rambla at a little catalan place that made some great paella. I need to get some sleep now, and sleep solidly until tomorrow.

–Howard