Here’s what we did…

Sunday 8/19/07
We arrived at about 3:30 and pretty much headed to the above mentioned “Fairmont Bar”. I hate that the batteries were dead in my camera because I missed out on some great photo opportunities. Anyway, the place was packed. We hung out there for quite a while, and then headed over to McCormick & Schmick’s with Cesar, Dax, Dave, Daron, Brandy, Danny, Todd, Bob Wilson and Jeff Manson for a great steak dinner. After dinner we headed back to the Fairmont and saw the BOTW guys, Frank Watson, Vanessa “the” Fox, Dustin Woodard, Becky Ryan, and so many more fabulous SEOs. I mean really, I can’t remember who else, but there were a lot of people down there. I don’t think the bartenders knew what hit them, but with 477 martinis on the menu, how could they not expect they’d be the most popular hotel? Note to self…stay at the Fairmont next year!

Monday 8/20/07
After a slow start, Dax, Cesar, Greg and I headed over to Johnny Rockets for lunch were I tried to eat this burger, but the whole thing kept falling apart. It’s a good thing because I had to save my appetite for the Japanese dinner hosted by Allen Dick of Vintage Tub and Bath. We really had a great time and even though I didn’t win anything, I’m glad Todd Friesen walked away with his power drill. After dinner we headed back the the Fairmont and went to Joe Morin’s suite. Well, the party got a bit out of control and security kicked us out, but not before we had some great conversation with Dave and Gary of Joebucks. Thanks for all the advice guys, and Gary, congrats on your marriage!

After being kicked out of Joe’s room we headed downstairs to the bar where Dax had a crowd around him while he was playing the piano and not getting in trouble by hotel security for doing it. (The Fairmont rules!) He had a martini glass turned into a tip jar and walked away with $65. Sweet. Who knew that moments later he and Dave would be fighting and throwing water on each other? Yep, Michelle Robbins and I sat in the splash zone while they fought over Mojito’s and threw ice water at each other. Where was my video camera? Ugh!! Well, Dax might have won that battle, but I have a feeling the war isn’t over.

Tuesday 8/21/07
We attended the big “Are Paid Links Evil?” panel that seemed to be the hit of the conference. The panel was stacked with big names in the industry, Matt Cutts, Todd Malicoat, Todd Freisen, Greg Boser and the crowd went wild when Michael Grey started his presentation with “Google is not the government!” The session was filled with controversy and debates that won’t be dying down anytime soon.

Later that evening we headed over to the Google dance. We were running late as it was, then I realized, I left my ID in the room, so we had to go back. Everyone else went on ahead and Greg was not happy that we were at the end of the bus line at almost 8pm. Then suddenly out of the blue, this black Excursion limo pulls up and there is Brandy Shapiro screaming our names, so we ran like idiots to the limo and hopped in. That was one of my favorite moments. I asked everyone in the limo if anyone took photos of us running toward them, luckily nobody did, or at least I haven’t seen any yet. I got one of them though.

The Google dance was fun. I met Patrick Sexton here and learned that I have great eyebrows. Also chatted with Chris and Danielle Winfield, (probably one of the best looking and nicest couples of search).

The night continued as we headed over to the Best of the Web suite for more socializing and cocktails. Brian and Greg are excellent hosts and it was really fun to hang out with everyone.

Wednesday 8/22/07
I attended a couple sessions, ‘SEO Q&A on Links’ and ‘Search Engines Q&A on Links’. Both sessions covered various topics, but of course the “paid links” topic came up again.

The best part of the session for me was meeting Tamar Weinberg. I’ve always seen this blogging queen at work, but this was the first time we met. Did you know she publishes her posts right before the Q & A in most sessions? She doesn’t even use Word, she types on Notepad. Damn girl, you are good!

After the sessions we headed back to the Fairmont bar and spent some time with Emilio and Rob from Blogsvertise. Tim, Doug and Wade ended up showing up and we all agreed that we wanted sushi before we headed over to the Search Bash. Rob and Emilio had never had sushi before, but seeing as how we forced them into going, they had to try it. The outcome was very funny. I feel bad because we forgot to tell them to leave the wasabi off their sushi. Ooops.

After dinner we walked over to the Search Bash. As always, this is a fun party. The sumo wrestling was well under way when we arrived, but I got to see Neil Patel go at it against Ken Jurina. Ahh, poor Neil, he did try though. Later we got to see Dave Naylor vs Tim Mayer and Tim’s stealthy moves proved to work since all he did was step aside as Dave charged him.

The rest of the evening was filled with watching people dance, cocktails, and more cocktails. We left at about 1:30; right after Aaron Baker from Pepperjam was nursing his broken arm. Ouch! Good luck with that Aaron! Hope it heals quickly so you can get back to training. We never made it to the MSN thing afterward since Greg had a 9am session.

Thursday 8/23/07
Greg was out the door by 8:30 and I just couldn’t get up. As always, by the end of the week, I’m pooped. He went off to the Googleplex for an evening of Werewolf while I stayed back and went out to dinner with Cesar, Rebecca, Matt and Pat. By the way, if you’re ever in San Jose and have a hankering for some good sushi, go to Fuji Sushi. Have you ever seen a Caterpillar Roll like this?

After dinner we went “where else”? The Fairmont bar and met up with Brett, Brent, Neil, Rhea, Carolyn, Dax and Greg. I had some great conversation with Brent Csutoras about life and work. Thanks for everything Brent!

Friday 8/24/07
Heading home. Back to reality!

Oh, by the way, if any conference organizers are reading this, you know what would be really cool? A conference on a cruise ship. Cough…to Alaska…cough. I’ve really been wanting to go there.

Through the eyes of another SEOWife, here is a recap of her experience at SES New York. I always say that behind every successfull man there is a good woman. Thanks J for being my first guest blogger.

As the wife of the illustrious, ShoeMoney (aka Jeremy Shoemaker) I get to attend SES once or twice a year. I always like SES NY as my best friend lives there and plus, you can’t beat NY for fun.

We arrived Tuesday morning. We checked in, stashed our bags (cha-ching, 10.50$ for bag storage) as our room was not yet ready. Jeremy scored me a pass at the speaker check in. I felt pretty cool sporting the offical badge, like I actually belonged among all the on-line experts at SES. Once we got a room, we took a nap. We had gotten up at 4 am to drive to the airport and had nearly missed our flight (yes, I was driving, yes, I took the wrong route to the airport, yes, I should have driven faster) We did make the plane, but just barely.

Tuesday night, we attended the always enjoyable PepperJam/Vintage Tub and Bath dinner. It was a very high-brow event what with the champagne and cheese tasting sponsored by igourmet.com. The cheeses were especially delectable. To add extra polish to this classy event, ShoeMoney stripped to his boxers so he could be photographed in a claw-foot tub working on a laptop. He choose to do this while I was otherwise engaged so I don’t have photos but would LOVE to see one!

The Chinese auction at the dinner is another event we always look forward to. The last two times, we have won the babyage.com prizes. Jack Kiefer, from BabyAge, is like my personal baby equipment guru. But alas, this time, the Britax Carseat went to another worthy parent. But we will be back in the game next time!

We ended Tuesday night at our favorite NY pub, Old Castle. We discovered the OC last year and were anxious to sample the ambiance again. There were many worthy and interesting conversationalists present including Neil Patel, Naylor, Dave Dellanave, and Patrick Gavin.

Wednesday, I spent most of the day on my own while my honey, ShoeMoney prepared for his presentation that afternoon. He and I went down a little early and I got set up to video tape the session. I really love to hear my husband talk…he is such a natural at public speaking. I am really proud of him. He quotes my dad during the talk which always makes me smile. Look for his presentation on youTube and ShoeMoney.com.

Thursday, ShoeMoney manned the TextLinkAds booth and promoted his new Ebay Affiliate System, Auction Ads. I kept him supplied with the REAL secret behind all his success…Diet Pepsi and Chocolate. I even did a little meet and greet myself to get people interested in Auction Ads.

Thursday night, we rolled out to Hooter’s with Dillsmack, Marcus and a few others. Many of you may not be aware of ShoeMoney’s love of Hooter’s. We don’t have one in our town so he loves, loves, loves to go to them when we travel.

Friday I hung with my girlfriend and met up with Jeremy and Dillsmack later at Buddha Bar where they were having dinner with Azoogle Ads reps. But we were all shot from a busy week and called it a early night.

Saturday, the best event was coming home and seeing Juliet. She let out a happy yelp to see us, Mom and Dad, home at last!

The first day is always fun because you get to see old friends and everyone is really hyped up about the week to come. The activities for this conference included a MSN party, a dinner with Allen Dick and of course the nightly winding things down (or up) at the Old Castle. That’s really were you can get all the juice about what’s happening and apparently there was a lot happening this trip.

Here’s how our week went…

Monday 4/9/07
We landed at JFK at 3, got to the hotel by 4, and down to the lobby bar by 4:30. We chilled there with DaveN, Oilman, Jen, Vanessa (the Fox), Darin, Brandi, Intern Eddie, Sandra from Looksmart, the Mozzers and a few more SEO peeps. We left there and headed over to the Iridium Jazz Club in Time Square for a scrumptious dinner and an evening of jazz with the famous Les Paul. After the show we headed back to the Old Castle to finish the evening with some Stellas.

Tuesday 4/10/07
We went to the dinner party sponsored by Allen Dick of Vintage Tub and Bath. The party was held in a Manhattan Penthouse so we could all enjoy the view of the city while we mingled. It was elegant from start to finish. Thanks to Allen for throwing such a memorable event. The ride to and from was also a time to remember. We were shuttled there on this amazing party bus that was kindly provided by Ken Jurina of Epiar. I had never seen anything like it. There were neon lights and great music. It was really a rock star way to travel.

Wednesday 4/11/07
We headed over to Caroline’s on Broadway to watch a comedy show. I’m always afraid to sit too close to the comedians because I don’t want to get picked on for anything. Fortunately, there was another group of SEO peeps in the crowd and they took all the heat. I don’t know who they were, but one of them was so drunk and started heckling the comedian to the point where it was stupid. Shortly thereafter, she was escorted out. Good, back to the show!

After Caroline’s we headed over to The Old Castle which was pretty packed. We then headed back to the hotel lobby lounge to finish chatting and enjoy our “chicken and rice” when suddenly while minding our own business we were harassed by the Hilton security team. Things got kinda ugly…more to follow on the soon to be released YouTube video.

Thursday 4/12/07
The moment we had been waiting for had finally arrived. Dinner at Esca. It really couldn’t have been more perfect. The moment we were seated, the one and only Chef Dave Pasternack was sitting at the table next to us with a friend. He was very welcoming and took pictures with my SEOH. Dinner was fabulous and the service was out of this world.

Friday 4/13/07
Heading home. Back to reality.

Here are the pictures I took at the conference.

my SEOH.

Now I really like him!

After DaveN was done we hung out that evening in the bar with a pretty large group. After last call, SEOH, DaveN and I headed over to the Hard Rock Casino where things were going great until I was accused of cheating. Yes, cheating! After too many Stellas and too much wine, apparently I thought I was doubling down on my hand in black jack. The dealer paid me on it twice until the manager came over and asked me to pay back 20 pounds. Before I knew it my SEOH and DaveN were behind me throwing money and cursing in my defense. We figured we’d better get out of there quick, so we headed back to the hotel. It wasn’t until the morning after that I realized I wasn’t doubling down at all. I still feel that it was the dealer’s job to tell me I wasn’t playing correctly. I mean I placed my money behind my original bet. It’s not like I tried to stack it on top. Oh well, at least I walked out ahead 50 pounds.

Tuesday 2/13/07
We hung out again at the Isle Bar. Early in the evening I noticed this guy kind of checking us all out. He casually moved over closer to where we were sitting. I turned to my SEOH and let him know that I thought he was headed our way. Sure enough, this guy comes over to the table and would you believe it? He only offers to buy a drink for my SEOH. As if the rest of us there were invisible. Not only was this guy rude enough to do that, but he had one of the worst euro mullets I’d seen. Needless to say, he didn’t make a very good first impression. The girls at the table couldn’t get far enough away from him.

The group was larger than the previous evening. I got to meet another SEOWife which was pretty cool. Jeff Rohrs brought his wife Jenny. I had a fabulous time talking with her and I’m hoping she’ll attend more conferences so we can hang out again. The crowd thinned out after last call, but the die hards remained. It was Calum, Frank Watson, Dave Naylor, Dax Herrera and us. By the time we realized the time (4am) we were so hungry we decided to stay up and wait for the breakfast buffet. Keep in mind that for us it was really our day time since we were 8 hours ahead in London.

Wednesday 2/14/07
My SEOH had his last session in the afternoon. Before going out to dinner we hung out with Dax Herrera, Jen Slegg, Dave Naylor, Vanessa Fox, and Matt Cutts at the Isle Bar. After cocktails we decided to head out to dinner and ended up at Canary Wharf. Behind the Four Seasons on the wharf there are some nice restaurants and bars. We wound up at this Italian place called Zizzi. The food there was the best we had eaten in London. A far cry from the fish n chips with mushy peas we ordered at the Isle Bar. (The fish still had the skin on it before the deep fried it, yuck!)

After dinner we headed back to the hotel bar and met up with Frank again. I’m not sure how, but somehow he talked my SEOH to taking me to Paris the next morning (which was in about 4 hours). Not only that, but Frank offered to pay for Rebecca Kelley and me to go. Frank’s generosity and spontaneity left us with an experience we will never forget.

Thursday 2/15/07
Off to Paris with Dax Herrera, Rebecca Kelley, Becky Ryan and Scott Willoughby. Paris was amazing! Thank you so much Frank! Hope to see you at SES New York!

Upon our return from Paris, we managed to find the strength to head over to Danny Sullivan’s suite for dinner and drinks. The room was filled with some of SEO’s finest. Once the food and drinks ran out, we all said our good-byes and headed off to sleep.

Friday 2/16/07
Heading home. Back to reality!

Overall, it was one of the best conferences I’ve been to. Hope you like the pictures!

So this weekend I took a couple online tutorials and learned some basic WordPress stuff. I did quite a bit of WP hacking. I learned how to download plug-ins. I added a stats plug in to my blog. I “ftp’d” it myself. All the years SEOH used that FTP acronym a lot. Now I know how to do it on my own. Pretty sweet.

I even added a calendar at the bottom of my blog. I know it would’ve been better on the side in a sidebar, but this template doesn’t have sidebar, so baby steps.

Anyhow, I’ll go ahead and pat myself on the back. Geez, this stuff really isn’t rocket science! Ahhh! Just kidding!

We are flying out on Air New Zealand. I’ve never flown that airline before, but the price was right and their website sold me. It was $300 cheaper to buy from their website than it would’ve been through Expedia which is what I normally use.

At any rate, the weather in London in Feb will be cold. Not as cold as New York in February though, so that will be nice. I’m bringing my camera, so I will be able to update my blog with some fun pictures. Hopefully I’ll meet some new SEO’s that I can add to my favorite peeps section.

TaTa!

Arrived in San Jose Sunday. Went to a party hosted by BoDog.com.  Great party.  Good snacks and an open bar.  Two must haves at these search parties.  They had the party at the Hotel Valencia.  It had a nice patio as well so if you needed air, you could chill outside.  Not too many people out of control at this party.  I think, just one drunk guy that threw up outside.  Not too bad, I mean it was the first night.  Anyway, they had a Texas Hold Em table set up and since it was free, I spent most of the night there.  Made some new search friends, wish I could recall their names right now.  At any rate, made it back to the room safe.  Conference starts Monday.

Monday, didn’t make it to any sessions.  Went downstairs to get our badges and network a bit.  SES San Jose has about 6000 attendies if you can beleive that, so there are alot of search people to talk to.  Not to mention, some great vendor booths. 

Monday night we started the evening at the Yahoo party.  The cool thing about Yahoo parties is they always give you some cool shwag.  This year we got these cool pens that lit up.  Only problem was you had to take them apart to add the batteries.  There was like 8 batteries.  It was comical and took a while, but we figured it out.  Too bad I don’t know what happened to the pen.  The party was held in this small courtyard at this really cool hotel.  For the life of me, I can’t remember the name.  Anyway, when we walked in we saw all the purple table clothes with waiters walking around with Yahootinis.  They were sugar rimmed with vodka and some other sweet stuff.  Yum!  Hung out with Shoemoney a bit that night.  Heard about his new baby.

After leaving the Yahoo party, we stopped for dinner, then on to the Ask.com party.   Ask.com throws great parties.  I’ve been to SES NY where Ask(formerly Ask Geeves) had William Hung (you know the American Idol reject).  It sounds corny, but it was really alot of fun prior to Mr. Hung’s arrival. At any rate…the Ask party was also an open bar.  They had these cool bartenders that did some tricks with fire and these women that stood on the bar and gave shots to some of the guys.  If you search hard enough on Flickr, I’m sure you’ll find photos.  Try searching for SES San Jose 2006 or some form of those words.  Speaking of photos, there was also a photo booth in the back.  I’m sure some hysterical pixs came out of that machine that night.  With the Yahoo party and the Ask party on the same night, we had way too much too drink.  Don’t really remember getting back to the room.

Tuesday, we were off to the Googleplex.  Let me remind you that was the whole reason I wanted to go.  Well, it’s big.  Really big.  When we arrived we were greated by Googlers clapping for us as we walked up the stairs.  Okay, that was kind of weird, but it kind of made you feel good.  They gave us free t-shirts, beer and wine.  I guess my biggest dissappointment was that there was too many people there.  Apparently, they invited all the Google employees as well.  All 5000 of them.  It was way too crowded and didn’t really have a personal, easy going feel.  The worst part is they closed the bathrooms and made everyone use those nasty porta potty things.  Needless to say, we were outa there.  Ended up back at the hotel bar for a bit, then an early night.  Which was good because we needed to conserve our energy for the Webmaster Radio party on Wednesday.

WMR throws great parties as well.  But to know Darin and Brandi, that’s no surprise.  What was a surprise is that they had Sumo wrestling.  That was hysterical.  It was funny to see people wrestling each other and rolling around on the floor with those big suits.  Meanwhile, there was great music and dancing and of course an open bar as well.  We spent the evening with some of our friends Todd Friesen, Jen Slegg and the TickCo gang dancing, socializing and of course watching some of the drunk seo girls make fools of themselves.  That’s always fun.  Overall a great night.

Thursday night-last night.  Took it easy went to dinner turned in seeing as how we had to be at the airport 3 hours early because of the no liquid thing.

As far as the conference itself.  I went to three sessions.  Every time I go, I learn something.  At the last conference in New York, I decided I wanted to start blogging.  Blogging seems to be the "in" thing right now.  Everyone has a blog.  I talked about it for months, himmed and hawed.  After San Jose, I did it.  I’m a blogger.  Now when I go to the conferences, I won’t just be a SEO wife.  I’m a blogger. 

I’m definitely bringing my camera to the next one.  Way too many good photo opportunities missed without one.