BlogHer - conference - Comments

Thanks for the correction

Britt Bravo — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:13:36 -0500

Hi Kerry,

Thanks so much for the grammar reminder. I always make that mistake.

Embarassing!

Britt

You and I ...Met at The SF Writers Conference

Kerry On — Sun, 31 May 2009 20:17:45 -0500

Kerry On

Hey Britt~

Love your BLog and all the terrific info you share. Many thanks....

The English major in me - and the fan - wants to call your attn to your headline

Proper english

Join BETH and ME

SF Fan,

Kerry

Where's cool?

sylinthecity — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:27:22 -0500

For anybody who knows a student about to study abroad or a young traveler on a budget, a new website is launching and it's called Where's Cool? It is not a travel blog per se, but the aim is to have young people from all over the world submit their own personal low-cost travel tips and make recommendations about places they think are cool. Sort of like a wikipedia, but with photos and profiles (like facebook). According to the founder, the goal is for this place to be a grassroots point of reference for travelers who want peer advice from lots of different perspectives. (btw, this is not my personal site, just spreading the word!)

http://www.somewherethesunisrising.com

My Big Suggestion

Principled Discovery — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:21:51 -0600

My big suggestion would be to come to Kansas City. It is right here in the Heartland, and it has plenty of conference space. And lots of bloggers who are willing to drive a few hours, but may find the 2-3 day drive West or East a little difficult.

Plus it is only 45 minutes from my parents. I know you just forgot to include my schedule in this year's line up of events. :)

chicago trip

aftercancer — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:39:06 -0500

Thanks for the tips. Krolls looks like fun. And Lara did you see the special Gioco has going on where if you spend $20 on a Sunday through Thursday (dinner I think) you get a $50 gift certificate for Opera, their new Chinese place! I'm only going to be in town for a few days and I'm thinking of going and leaving a gift certificate as a tip for the hotel housekeepers or something. Thanks for the advice folks!

Kate

I blog at http://www.aftercancernowwhat.wordpress.com

Here's another suggestion

LilSis — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:33:08 -0500

Hi,

My stepdaughter works downtown Chicago. She knows her way around downtown so I asked her for some suggestions. First of all, she did say that you'll be staying in a safe, convenient neighborhood. Close to all the museums. If walking alone, she suggests that you stay on Michigan Avenue where there are alot of other walkers. Some of the side streets can be very dark.

She says that Krolls is either walking distance or a short cab ride from where you'll be staying. She says it's a fun place to go even if you're alone.

People are typically very friendly, so if you find yourself having dinner alone, just sit at the bar and you'll most likely meet some new friends!

I just got back from Chicago a few weeks ago and had a great time. Hope you have a fun, safe trip. Write back and let us know.

LilSis

www.bigsislilsis.com

Gioco

Laracolvin — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:12:48 -0500

I went here last year and loved it. It actually has an original "speakeasy" room in it. Very cool atmosphere and good food. It is in the South Loop - not too far from where you are staying. I don't think you can go wrong with it. The same owners also have another restaurant, Opera, which is jazzed up Chinese food.

And if for some reason you make it out to Oak Park, my friends own a great Italian Bistro called Trattoria 225 on Harrison St.

You'll have to report back after you visit and tell us how the weekend went! Enjoy.

Lara

Notions of Identity

ideas

aftercancer — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:47:57 -0500

Denise and Lara,

I am trying to prepare for the weather. I used to live in Upstate NY near the Canadian border so I've been there before. Not vegetarian or vegan. It looks like I'm really only looking at two dinners so I'd like to get a sense of "Chicago food". I've been thinking about Wicked so there's another endorsement. I appreciate the link to the events. That's the kind of resource it's hard to find sometimes on the web.

Kate

I blog at http://www.aftercancernowwhat.wordpress.com

Here's a link

Laracolvin — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:13:18 -0500

You'll be staying in a great location in Chicago when you come. I'm including a link of events for that weekend, and on that page there are additional links.

It will be brisk, so along w/a windbreaker bring scarfs, a hat and gloves! And definitely use the concierge at the hotel for transportation questions. You probably won't need more than a few cabs if you stay downtown. Millenium and Grant Park are both lovely, as is a walk along the lakeshore.

But Wicked is also finishing its run -- and it is fabulous!

Here's the link: http://chicago.eventguide.com/days/81108.htm

Have a great trip!

Notions of Identity

It's freezing here in the Chicago area

Denise — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:22:54 -0500

I'm not sure where you live now but wherever it is, unless it's snowing where you are - it will be colder here in Chicago than you're used to. The wind... oh the wind... ugh.

Do you want to see a play? Do you want to do any shopping? Are you a club person? Are you a veg*n? Do you have any food loves/hates?

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

LOL

Dawniemom — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:31:16 -0500

Me too! Ok, not the grandparents (cuz that would be weird, cuz they're ummm departed) but me too! Boston - excited - nervous - WITH NOTHING TO WEAR. :D Enjoy the trip down too - it's beautiful right now!

The Midwest???

the farmers wife — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:17:19 -0500

Looks like the midwest is high and dry on this one. No Chicago? No St. Louis or Minneapolis?

Suzanne, the Farmer's Wife

I join you in the detox.

Liz Rizzo — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:51:55 -0500

I actually left BlogHer thinking that that's the last time I let myself eat like that. The minute I'm away from my normal life it's crap food, crap food.

I was bloated from the carbs by the second day because I usually do South Beach and my system was in total shock. Next year I am scouting the hotel restaurants and if I have to pay $20 for a breakfast with eggs, then that's what I'll do.

Avoiding the sweets... that's another whole challenge!

Liz Rizzo

I blog at Everyday Goddess.

Followup report on accessibility guide

Liz Henry — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:15:00 -0500

I'd like to follow up with my actual experience of accessibility of the hotel.

First of all, when I said this about parking:

"In the garage, there are at least 5 van-accessible parking spots, on
level ground right next to the entrance, with a marked crosswalk."

I was wrong. There are marked spots, but they are unused by the hotel as anything other than road. Instead, they have valet parking. The crosswalks are ignored. That caused me a lot of stress as I got in and out of cars. I think that walking people of around 5 or 6 feet off the ground might not feel that stress, but from lower down, it is hard not to have crosswalks. I freaked out at one point when a cab was coming right towards me and the cabbie didn't seem to see me. (I flipped off the driver and yelled, and then was very embarrassed.) I also kept going out the side doors, and completely forgot (!!!) about the entrance on Geary that doesn't go through the parking garage. So, don't forget the way to the sidewalk! Ha! Also, I did not realize that parking was expen$$sive! I ended up parking elsewhere, and taking a cab. That worked well.

The conference was mostly very compact. I had an easy time getting around. The bathrooms were reasonably close to where all the action was. Carpets were (as predicted) somewhat exhausting to wheel around on. As we left i cheered and said goodbye to the horrid thick luxurious carpets with a lot of joy.

Room reservations. I explained on the phone and then when I arrived (before checkin time) that I did not want an ADA room with a roll-in shower and shower bench. I prefer a regular room with a bathtub. My priority is that the room be as close as possible to the elevator. I can manage a bathtub, and I can walk around a room (usually). Unfortunately in between when I talked with the desk and when I actually checked in, my mom checked in. And they confused me with her sort of, and then she said Oh that's my daughter, and they said Oh My Gosh but she does not have a "wheelchair accessible" room, and my mom said Oh, better change it then. They all had the best of intentions, but they erred in not calling me on my cell phone to check. I lucked out in having a nice person (Alex) help me at the desk when I did check in. He listened to me, did not TELL ME what I needed, did not act annoyingly confused when I explained my preference, and then he got me a super great room. He even flirted with me by complimenting my awesome triceps and not in a gross way either. Thanks, Alex!

I will add to the note about room reservations that the hotel has two blocks of rooms and two main areas. One is the Tower. It's on a different side of the hotel than the main lobby. The main part of the hotel is where most of the conference stuff happened. So, I also lucked out in having my room be in that section. Otherwise, it would have been very hard on me to run back to my room and rest, or get things that I'd forgotten. And if I'd been on crutches instead of the chair, it would have been impossible.

There were secret extra elevators, which I used quite a lot!

The room itself was very nice. It was room 825 and had a view of Union Square. I could have fit a power chair into it, with a slightly tight squeeze between bed and chest of drawers but then there was a wide turnaround space. My small manual chair fit into the room just fine.

The room service staff were extremely nice, brought the dinner to my bedside and offered to raise the table height for me if I needed it.

Bathrooms were very good except for the first floor main lobby, which had kind of small stalls but again not impossible for my itty bitty manual chair.

Next year I will coordinate with our conference planner to put up a few "consider using the stairs" signs.

I was bumped, jostled, leaned on, pitied, advised, and asked rude questions about 1 million percent LESS than last year and than all other conferences except WisCon. Thank you, everyone! You were so full of manners! You all got down to my height to talk! I didn't get a crick in my neck (though I ruined all your knees).

Meanwhile, most of my visibly disabled blogherista sisters were hanging out in Second Life. Jennylin and Aleja from GimpGirl ran a session and helped to organize transcriptions of some of the other sessions and keynotes.

-----------------
Liz Henry
lizzard@bookmaniac.net
Contributing Editor, World and Latin America

Power Strip Packed

Mistiejourney — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:08:34 -0500

What a great post - I'm a Walkie, but I learned more about the Westin than I ever did staying there!

And if I see sparkly wheels I'll come up and say hi! And you won't know me, but I'll say hi anyway! : D