laboratory [lab-ruh-tawr-ee]
a building, part of a building, or other place equipped to conduct scientific experiments, tests, investigations, etc., or to manufacture chemicals, medicines, or the like
Synonyms include: workshop
a building, part of a building, or other place equipped to conduct scientific experiments, tests, investigations, etc., or to manufacture chemicals, medicines, or the like
Synonyms include: workshop
automation [aw-tuh-mey-shuhn]
the technique, method, or system of operating or controlling a process by highly automatic means, as by electronic devices, reducing human intervention to a minimum
Synonyms include: mechanization, computerization
I'm back from my conference and here's what I did...(I had a laptop at the booth with me. Thanks, Jovi!)
1/27/08, 12:40 pm - Right now I’m at the Palm Springs Convention Center for yet another wonderful conference. The random theme of THIS convention: Lab Automation. I have yet to figure out what this means so I’m hoping that by Tuesday night (after the conference is over) I’ll have a clear explanation for you all that won’t sound so *snore* hahaha. Anyhow, I’ve been sent here because I’m the new advertising coordinator for the publication that we promote at this convention every year. Are you ready for the publication's title? The Journal of Biomolecular Screening (subheading: Advancing the Science of Drug Discovery). Again, I can’t completely explain the mechanics of this science yet. I coordinate all the ads that go into this journal and I could do well to describe the ads to you all, but that’s it. The ads are all quite interesting actually; very eye catching. Who knew that ads for biomolecular screening could be so vibrant?!
Anyhow, I left Glendale at around 7:00 am this morning. I would’ve left sooner if mom and dad weren’t pushing to make me eat breakfast before the drive. I prayed and prayed that it would be a pleasant ride to Palm Springs. The last week has been wrought with such stressful driving due to all the rain. Thankfully, the rain subsided for most of the drive; acting fickle quite often between freeway interchanges – 134 East to the 210 East to the 57 South to the 10 East – rain, sunshine, cloudy, bright, sprinkle, etc. In any case, I got here in 2 hours.
It took me about 3 hours to set up the booth, then I headed to “Downtown Palm Springs” to find some lunch. Downtown Palm Springs is basically one street, lined with various shops and restaurants. I ate at this one Italian restaurant; had me a calzone yummy! Then I decided to walk it off, feeling very tired, very full and never wanted to lie down more. But with 3 hours to kill, I had to do something so I walked into one boutique that had some really cute dresses in the front window. When I saw the prices on the merchandise though, I said hell no and left. I had about 3 more blocks left to walk until the end of “Downtown Palm Springs” when I saw it; a familiar place that could do nothing less than comfort me like home: Coffee Bean!
Hahaha! I ordered my vanilla latte and sat for about 45 minutes and wrote…wrote…and wrote some more. I was writing so fast I could hardly believe it. I haven’t had one of those awesome spells in months!! It’s too bad I had to leave. Oh well…
Anyhow, I left Glendale at around 7:00 am this morning. I would’ve left sooner if mom and dad weren’t pushing to make me eat breakfast before the drive. I prayed and prayed that it would be a pleasant ride to Palm Springs. The last week has been wrought with such stressful driving due to all the rain. Thankfully, the rain subsided for most of the drive; acting fickle quite often between freeway interchanges – 134 East to the 210 East to the 57 South to the 10 East – rain, sunshine, cloudy, bright, sprinkle, etc. In any case, I got here in 2 hours.
It took me about 3 hours to set up the booth, then I headed to “Downtown Palm Springs” to find some lunch. Downtown Palm Springs is basically one street, lined with various shops and restaurants. I ate at this one Italian restaurant; had me a calzone yummy! Then I decided to walk it off, feeling very tired, very full and never wanted to lie down more. But with 3 hours to kill, I had to do something so I walked into one boutique that had some really cute dresses in the front window. When I saw the prices on the merchandise though, I said hell no and left. I had about 3 more blocks left to walk until the end of “Downtown Palm Springs” when I saw it; a familiar place that could do nothing less than comfort me like home: Coffee Bean!
Hahaha! I ordered my vanilla latte and sat for about 45 minutes and wrote…wrote…and wrote some more. I was writing so fast I could hardly believe it. I haven’t had one of those awesome spells in months!! It’s too bad I had to leave. Oh well…3:55 pm - So I’m sitting at our booth, #364, hanging out until the exhibit opens at 4:30. It looks like I have about 35 minutes left to collect and share my experience so far; can't be on the laptop the whole time...can I? The nice thing about this conference is that I’m not the only attendee here representing the company. One of our acquisitions editors, Nancy, will be here with me, in addition to our sales rep, Nicole, who flew in from Pennsylvania, and a representative from the Society of Biomolecular Sciences, Betty, who came in from Connecticut. I’ve gotten a chance to talk to her a lot today. She’s a riot so far!
The exhibit’s only open for 3 hours today and then I have to check into my hotel. Check-in wasn’t until 4 pm and since the exhibit began at 4:30, I didn’t want to take any chances with time so I got dressed in the convention restrooms. I chose one of the bigger stalls and as quick as Superman can change in a phone booth, I went from a frumpy little girl (in brown warm-ups, a green Paul Frank anteater shirt – I looked like a freakin’ tree – and some Adidas) to the professional (in black slacks, button-down polo, vest and flats).
Uh-oh..the convention has commenced. Gotta go fake the funk now, without being too obvious of course =)
The exhibit’s only open for 3 hours today and then I have to check into my hotel. Check-in wasn’t until 4 pm and since the exhibit began at 4:30, I didn’t want to take any chances with time so I got dressed in the convention restrooms. I chose one of the bigger stalls and as quick as Superman can change in a phone booth, I went from a frumpy little girl (in brown warm-ups, a green Paul Frank anteater shirt – I looked like a freakin’ tree – and some Adidas) to the professional (in black slacks, button-down polo, vest and flats).
Uh-oh..the convention has commenced. Gotta go fake the funk now, without being too obvious of course =)
1/28/08, 10:45 am - Geekfest – day 2. hahaha! I should stop saying that. Geeks are people too. =) So allow me to be superficial for just a sec. At the neuroscience conference, I was telling all the girls about all the nice-looking neurosurgeons, neurologists, and neuroscientists walking around. Who knew McDreamies could exist in real life?! So Lab Automation certainly has a lot to live up to and, I have to admit, so far so good. I know seriously; leave it to me to attend a conference and check out guys. Hey man, when it’s in front of your face it’s in front of your face! What’s a girl to do? The booth to our right is being manned by this hot dude (who looks to be in his early 30’s), spikey hair, wears glasses (uy ve) and then he opened his mouth to speak and…BRITISH ACCENT. Oh buddy, you had me at “cheers!”
Damn, today’s gonna be long as hell. It’s only 11:15 am and I have to be here until 6:30. AAAAAAHHH!! I’m freakin’ starving too because, unlike the conferences at the SD Convention Center, there aren’t any snack bars around here.
Ho hum…come on people (or as Iya’s niece Samantha would say, “Ta mon!”), stop by and talk to me, ask me about our journals. I promise I’ll make up something really cool! Hahaha!!!
Ok dammit, I better go…though I’ll probably be back in a bit.
12:15 pm - Building bridges – isn’t that how all relationships (social and business) start? You find something in common with someone, even the most random points of interest, and next thing you know, half an hour has passed and you’re still conversing. When I first saw Julian yesterday, (he’s in the booth to our left), I immediately thought – European. In style, attitude and well, I heard his accent (Germanish), it was a no-brainer. Homeboy’s about 6 ft tall, dirty blonde hair in gel-tastic disarray, and he is Australian-Swiss. How random. In the 20 minutes that we got to talk, I learned that he was born and raised in Switzerland but has dual citizenship. He moved here to Santa Monica last year and just found a place in Marina del Rey that he'll be sharing with one of his friends emigrating from Switzerland. He misses home every time he sees the mountains here and appreciates Starbucks not for its quality (he’s European for crying out loud), but because it’s something regular that he can rely on. He also thinks that Americans are unable to cook vegetables properly. “I hope I don’t offend you,” he said, “but here vegetables are either over or undercooked.” No offense taken, Julian. Thanks for the note.
And his colleague, Rich, was here when I was setting up. He’s from Chicago so we talked that city up too. I love that traveling has proven to be so beneficial to my ability to make connections.
2:35 pm - Talk about not having enough to do! It’s ok though. Every few minutes I’ll walk around the booth, smile at people, talk to Nicole and Betty so they can re-cap their conversations with potential advertisers. And I finally got something to eat – thank God! The society who’s holding the conference had boxed lunches for everyone here. That’s like 4,600 boxes! Plus they have a refreshment stand somewhere and when I say “refreshments” I mean beer and wine. Yesterday, every other person was walking around with either a Corona, a Heineken or a glass of red wine in their hand. Talk about pleasing your attendees. Unfortunately, I’m still taking Naproxen so alcohol is a no-no.
Damn, today’s gonna be long as hell. It’s only 11:15 am and I have to be here until 6:30. AAAAAAHHH!! I’m freakin’ starving too because, unlike the conferences at the SD Convention Center, there aren’t any snack bars around here.
Ho hum…come on people (or as Iya’s niece Samantha would say, “Ta mon!”), stop by and talk to me, ask me about our journals. I promise I’ll make up something really cool! Hahaha!!!
Ok dammit, I better go…though I’ll probably be back in a bit.
12:15 pm - Building bridges – isn’t that how all relationships (social and business) start? You find something in common with someone, even the most random points of interest, and next thing you know, half an hour has passed and you’re still conversing. When I first saw Julian yesterday, (he’s in the booth to our left), I immediately thought – European. In style, attitude and well, I heard his accent (Germanish), it was a no-brainer. Homeboy’s about 6 ft tall, dirty blonde hair in gel-tastic disarray, and he is Australian-Swiss. How random. In the 20 minutes that we got to talk, I learned that he was born and raised in Switzerland but has dual citizenship. He moved here to Santa Monica last year and just found a place in Marina del Rey that he'll be sharing with one of his friends emigrating from Switzerland. He misses home every time he sees the mountains here and appreciates Starbucks not for its quality (he’s European for crying out loud), but because it’s something regular that he can rely on. He also thinks that Americans are unable to cook vegetables properly. “I hope I don’t offend you,” he said, “but here vegetables are either over or undercooked.” No offense taken, Julian. Thanks for the note.
And his colleague, Rich, was here when I was setting up. He’s from Chicago so we talked that city up too. I love that traveling has proven to be so beneficial to my ability to make connections.
2:35 pm - Talk about not having enough to do! It’s ok though. Every few minutes I’ll walk around the booth, smile at people, talk to Nicole and Betty so they can re-cap their conversations with potential advertisers. And I finally got something to eat – thank God! The society who’s holding the conference had boxed lunches for everyone here. That’s like 4,600 boxes! Plus they have a refreshment stand somewhere and when I say “refreshments” I mean beer and wine. Yesterday, every other person was walking around with either a Corona, a Heineken or a glass of red wine in their hand. Talk about pleasing your attendees. Unfortunately, I’m still taking Naproxen so alcohol is a no-no.
1/29/08, 10:53 am - Alrighty, Julian the Swiss-Aussie and I are officially homies. We’ve only been here for 25 minutes this morning and I’ve found out that he’s getting married in Switzerland in August, to his girlfriend of 4 ½ years, who is studying to be a nurse. After she’s done with that, she’ll either move here or he’ll move back to Switzerland. Must be nice to be you, buddy. Out of all the conferences I've been to, the people I've met here have definitely been the friendliest!
Ok, only 5 1/2 more hours before I get to tear down this booth...
***And that was my 3 days in Palm Springs...hooray!
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