BlogHer - san francisco - Comments

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

I will as soon as I get

Super Jive — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:06:23 -0500

I will as soon as I get home!

SJ also writes at I, Asshole.

Make it vertical

Liz Henry — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:45:07 -0500

I overheard someone in the hall saying "Wait! make it vertical, for the header!" before they took their photo...

----------------
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

Guide to SF With Kids

debbiedubrow — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:16:29 -0500

I just updated my own Kid-Friendly guide to San Francisco. The guides include restaurants so good you would eat at them even if you were flying solo, tons of activity ideas, and important information like how to get from the airport to the city center with a carseat-aged child. We even have printable maps with 1/2 day outing ideas (including activities and food) around the Westin.

I hope you will check it out:

http://www.deliciousbaby.com/journal/2008/jul/13/blogher-kids-check-out-our-san-francisco-kids-guid/

and feel free to send me email if you need more help... if you have a question about something it is a safe bet that some other mom does too.

Debbie Dubrow

debbie at deliciousbaby dot com

Say Yes to Airport Layover in SF

Nancy Brown WhataTrip — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:44:07 -0500

Hey Pam,

I wrote a post on my "What a Trip" blog about what to do in SF if you have an airport layover. I mentioned a couple of walking tours available in Chinatown and North Beach, as well as stopping for an Irish coffee at the Buena Vista across the street from the Cable Car turnaround at Fisherman's Wharf.

Nancy Brown

What a Trip

BART question

Elizabeth@Table for Five — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:43:54 -0500

For anyone else who is wondering about BART, their website is http://www.bart.gov, and you can use the Quick Planner to see schedules. It looks like it takes about 30 minutes for the ride itself, not counting getting from the terminal to the train and then walking from the Powell St. Station to the hotel.

Now I wish I was landing sooner than 2:30, by the time I get to the hotel, it will be time to leave for the 5:00 parties!

Elizabeth blogs at:

Sparing you photos of my feet

Pam — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:47:01 -0500

I had a date downtown last week, yes, it was a week ago now, and I put on these cute new shoes I have. And they TORE up my feet something terrible. I spent the 4th of July hobbling and I wore Birkenstocks to a wedding on the 5th, Birkenstocks. Never mind that it's the Pacific Northwest and an outdoor wedding on wet grass, even I know that Birks are not shoes for a wedding. Duh. Why was I wearing them? Because I could not wear anything else because my feet were all torn up.

I am not immune to the charms of cute shoes. But the time to break them in is well before you want to be swanning about a fabulous city, not DURING that time.

Don't MAKE me send you photos of my feet. They're not bad feet, but they're still sporting one giant healing blister. I'll do it.

Nerd's Eye View

Please DO call it "Frisco!"

CityMama — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:12:59 -0500

As an ex-long time San Francisco resident, one of things that used to bug me about the city was its smugness, especially over the "Frisco/Only tourists call it Frisco" thing. SF is beautiful and has lots to offer, but it's not the most friendly city in the world, and sometimes SF just needs to get over itself. I called it Frisco all the time, just to be a pain in the ass...but I'm kinda punky like that. ;-)

Great round-up, Pam!

Stefania Pomponi Butler

I blog:
CityMama
Kimchi Mamas
MOMocrats

I need a rascal.

Maria0305 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:49:06 -0500

I think I may collapse from the hills if I walk too much. I have less stamina and energy than my 70 grandfather.

I also hear that for breakfast Dottie's a can't miss. There's a long wait, but they say it's worth it!

- Maria

http://immoralmatriarch.com

i know, it is

alyssaroyse — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:15:56 -0500

so why do i insist on gorgeous and sexy and ridicuous foot wear?

for you all, i'll wear my dansko clogs. :)

and yes, BART is awesome.... i think that in the conference guide, they reccomend it. i always take it from the airport into the city. easy as pie and cheap.

____________

Alyssa Royse

Just Cause It: A Web Site To Save The World

Start Her Up: A Blog for Women Ent

Don't forget BART!

Hedonia — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:39:25 -0500

It's very easy to take BART directly from the airport into downtown, dropping you mere steps from Union Square. CalTrain's great, but requires a lot more connection effort.

And for you walkers, if you have some spare time, check out the freewalking tours from City Guides (www.sfcityguides.org). Fun for the whole family!

Wear Comfy Shoes

Pam — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:35:05 -0500

"Wear comfy shoes" is awesome advice for living, in general. :)

Nerd's Eye View

Wear Comfy Shoes

alyssaroyse — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:26:37 -0500

I go to San Francisco often, and love it. The best thing about it is that you can walk anywhere and get killer exercise (those hills are not just on post cards!) From the Westin in Union Square - where we'll be - it's an easy walk to Chinatown, which is fabulous.

I'm pretty sure Suzanne mentioned something about a walking field trip to Good Vibrations - totally awesome woman owned and run sex toy shop - which is about 10 blocks or so from the hotel. (If she's still doing it, I'll go too! Feeling squeamish about the idea? I assure, no one can get you over that like Suzanne and I!)

Totally worth walking to North Beach - which, if you've gone through China Town, you're almost there - and stopping into cool book stores, bars and....

Oh goodness, just bring comfy shoes, just in case. Granted, this conference is so cool you may not want to leave, but just in case.... (But please don't wear running shoes with a skirt, Susan W, any advice here?)

BTW, no matter how great a shape you're in, and how well you know the city and how often you walk it for hours on end, pink cowboy boots are NOT comfortable walking shoes. In case you were wondering.)

____________

Alyssa Royse

Just Cause It: A Web Site To Save The World

Start Her Up: A Blog for Women Entrepreneurs