Hello, is this thing on?
Well, so much for carrying on with the live commentary - the hotel's gateway server was down for all of Sunday, so I wasn't able to log in (except for the short amount of time I was able to get on and charge my credit card) all day. Sunday was typical for a the second day of a trade show - slower than the first day. It was also DH's birthday, so I had to call and let his friends know they weren't to kill him in their game of paintball; I guess it is the guys' equivalent of a birthday spanking!
Things finally wound down to the offical close and then it was time to break down the booth. That went fairly fast, then several of us gathered in the lobby for a designer pow-wow. It is actually quite difficult to maintain both the creative and the business end of being a cross-stitch designer simultaneously. And, there are lots of critical business decisions that have to be made: everthing from what a pattern cover layout/size will lookout to what trade shows to attend. Of course, there is not a single path to success - what makes one show successful to one designer will not make it sucessful to another. Anyway, the discussion was good, although ordering the pizza was a pain (and its own lesson in marketing).
Monday, I wrapped up my packing. Nick Smith (of Dragon Dreams fame) was kind enough to run me to a shipping center so that I could send my big packages home. I had enough time to lend a hand to Connie (of Needleworks by CJ) for her packing and help people corral carts for loading. Then it was time to catch the shuttle to the airport - it was there that my adventure home would truely begin!
I arrived at the airport at 12:30, but my flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 3:45. No problem, I thought. Time to get some lunch, read my book, do some stitching. The flight wasn't delayed, so I filled the time, got on the plane, and got settled in my seat and was looking forward to getting home and having some real Tex-Mex for dinner. It wasn't until we were on the tarmac that they told us it was storming in Houston and we couldn't take off from Charlotte! So we waited a bit. Then the pilot turned off the engine to save gas; then the plane got hot, so he took a show of hand to see who wanted to stay on the tarmac (saving our place in line) and who wanted to go back to the gate. We waited on the tarmac some more. Then we were third in line to take off - we got out on the runway and then the pilot said we were either going to take off or go back to the gate. We went back to the gate. The airline employees were extremely considerate through the whole thing and kept us informed, and by going back to the gate at this point (to get more gas and wait another hour for the storms to clear out of Houston), we were able to stretch our legs and get some dinner since the flight was now so late. By the time we got to Houston, there was no signs of the storms that had kept us waiting almost 3 hours in Charlotte!
By the time I got home, I was exhausted and ready for bed. I said hello the the cat, and then crashed for some well-desrved rest!
Things finally wound down to the offical close and then it was time to break down the booth. That went fairly fast, then several of us gathered in the lobby for a designer pow-wow. It is actually quite difficult to maintain both the creative and the business end of being a cross-stitch designer simultaneously. And, there are lots of critical business decisions that have to be made: everthing from what a pattern cover layout/size will lookout to what trade shows to attend. Of course, there is not a single path to success - what makes one show successful to one designer will not make it sucessful to another. Anyway, the discussion was good, although ordering the pizza was a pain (and its own lesson in marketing).
Monday, I wrapped up my packing. Nick Smith (of Dragon Dreams fame) was kind enough to run me to a shipping center so that I could send my big packages home. I had enough time to lend a hand to Connie (of Needleworks by CJ) for her packing and help people corral carts for loading. Then it was time to catch the shuttle to the airport - it was there that my adventure home would truely begin!
I arrived at the airport at 12:30, but my flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 3:45. No problem, I thought. Time to get some lunch, read my book, do some stitching. The flight wasn't delayed, so I filled the time, got on the plane, and got settled in my seat and was looking forward to getting home and having some real Tex-Mex for dinner. It wasn't until we were on the tarmac that they told us it was storming in Houston and we couldn't take off from Charlotte! So we waited a bit. Then the pilot turned off the engine to save gas; then the plane got hot, so he took a show of hand to see who wanted to stay on the tarmac (saving our place in line) and who wanted to go back to the gate. We waited on the tarmac some more. Then we were third in line to take off - we got out on the runway and then the pilot said we were either going to take off or go back to the gate. We went back to the gate. The airline employees were extremely considerate through the whole thing and kept us informed, and by going back to the gate at this point (to get more gas and wait another hour for the storms to clear out of Houston), we were able to stretch our legs and get some dinner since the flight was now so late. By the time we got to Houston, there was no signs of the storms that had kept us waiting almost 3 hours in Charlotte!
By the time I got home, I was exhausted and ready for bed. I said hello the the cat, and then crashed for some well-desrved rest!
posted by crosseyedkat at 3:01 PM
View blog reactions
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home