I woke up half an hour earlier than normal today. Considering that I went to bed just after 02:00 this morning, getting up at 06:30 was a challenge.

I wore my black pantsuit with a beige blouse today. I was thinking about wearing my black shoes with chunky heels, but opted for my black leather Mary Jane shoes. The fact that I was going to a trade show implied that I was going to be on my feet. There was no way that I was going to wear heels all day.

I don't recall driving downtown during rush hour in this city. I took Kingston Road down, which was a mistake. Luckily, the moocher had given me a call near my old high school. So, we chatted for a bit. We were discussing parking lots to try out. I was going to try one of the two lots that I use when I visit Massey Hall. He told me he was going to park by the St. Lawrence Market.

Well, I had to park in a lot on Bay Street, which is typically my third choice. I paid my $12 and cut through the Atrium on Bay to get to the subway station. It was spitting rain.

I took the subway down to Union Station. On a dry day, when I'm not pressed for time, I would have walked it. The subway seems the same, but it isn't. The doors on the trains seem wider. The chimes are still there. You get the announcer telling you the next stop, like it has for at least a decade now. Additionally, it actually says that you have arrived at each station. That's great.

So, it took me what seemed to be forever to reach the Metro Convention Centre. I figured out where iPod boy had dined last year before a Jays game. There's a Canyon Creek right on Front Street, along with a number of other eating establishments, like the Loose Moose (I believe that used to be on Eglinton, but who knows?), Casey's, and East Side Mario's.

Getting my vendor pass was interesting. The person locates your name in the database, and then sends you over to the printers. I then went upstairs and chatted with the IT guy who always smiles. I also said good morning to the new girl. Sadly, blabber girl was there and started talking to me.

I immediately started taking pictures of the booth. I am writing a press release on this event, so I need some imagery. The moocher came in well after 10:00. He was assigned to show one of our products. I was assigned to be the greeter. Um, I wasn't expecting that.

Here's an incident I wasn't expecting, either. The vice president of sales, the new girl, and I were all talking in front of the tower in our trade show booth. There was blabber girl, trying to shove something through the crease of the tower. She just didn't feel like going around the booth to put whatever she was holding away.

Blabber girl wore a tight pair of black, low-rise pants, and a cropped black blazer with a tube top underneath. Well, she crouched down and showed a lot more than just her thong. We were all quiet and shocked. I had my camera in my hand, but did not budge to take a shot. After all, I didn't want the lens to crack so soon.

Finally, the VP had a chat with her. All blabber girl could say was, "Oh, that's good to know." Seriously, I think she was disappointed that none of the guys had seen that.

She is truly a slut. She started to suck up (literally and figuratively) by vacuuming the carpet. She then chatted to a number of people, mainly the bigwigs. Too bad she simply comes across as being an airhead, which is pure fact.

The moocher needed some water, so I went to fetch some at Timothy's. All the vending machines in the building weren't working. I bought a chocolate macadamia cookie and two bottles of water.

The moocher and I met a woman with whom I had corresponded through e-mail. We both remembered the e-mail exchange. Her place of employment and mine are business partners. She demonstrated her product to us and we all chatted. I did my first business card exchange in my life. Wow, am I cool or what? Ha!

The product manager joined us. We walked over to where a former colleague was. He has since joined a competitor. He saw us and waved, with his trademark sparkling smile on his face.

The president came in a few hours later. The moocher pointed out that he actually wore the same suit for his awful TV appearance. Tacky as ever, the president brought the plaque, recognizing the fake business award that I single-handedly "won" for the company. I'm so glad that I had taken pictures of the booth before he had arrived with that piece of crap.

Naturally, no one thought about ordering lunch for us. I started eating my cookie at around 13:00. Roughly an hour later, a guy working at the show asked the IT guy and me if we had eaten. We hadn't. He told us to help ourselves to some sandwiches, for there was tons of food left in an area where you needed a food ticket to go munch in there. Cool!

Later on in the day, after doing another tour of all the booths, my boss called me over. We had a good chat. He asked what my thoughts were about the company's marketing. Essentially, we are the only two people who create marketing material. I pointed out that our booth looks horrible in comparison to those around ours. First off, the folks who had designed the fabric murals decided to piece together a couple of squares, which was a tacky move to begin with. The graphics on these murals were fading, too. I told him that the company needs an image -- even a gimmick! The cool booth next to us went with a great blueberry theme. Its logo and booth design were slick. They had gel stress balls that smelled like blueberries. There was even a blueberry slushy machine. It was great!

My boss said that the president doesn't like giving out pens. I said to him that the president's opinion didn't matter here. Everyone at this show had pens and cool handouts. All we had were brochures and business cards.

I grabbed an extra scented stress ball for the sales coordinator. I learned that the IT guy can juggle. Man, is he talented. It was pretty slow at the show. It was great, however, to chat with my colleagues. The vice president of IT talked to me, admitting that his developers weren't great at writing down information. They would rather code. I appreciated his candor. A few of us got to talk with a man who puts graphical wraps around many of our products. He was a delightful guy to listen to.

Oh, so while a number of us were snacking of roasted vegetable and roast beef sandwiches, the product manager and the new girl were getting food for us. They came back nearly an hour later with really good pita wraps and bags of chips. I had a chicken marinara pita, which was tasty.

15:00 had finally arrived. The moocher and I left fairly promptly. We walked eastbound along Front Street. He was parked a couple of blocks away. We said goodnight. I continued to walk in the rain, without my umbrella, to Union Station. I then got back to my car and sat there, removing my wet blazer. I then fetched my umbrella and my bag containing a clean change of casual clothes, and changed in a washroom at the Atrium on Bay.

The president's son (PS) called me about half an hour later. He left work early. I swear that he doesn't have any sense of direction. To get him to meet me at a parking lot that he has been to before was annoying. He eventually did find it and helped me pay for evening parking.

We had dinner at the Pickle Barrel. I had the spaghetti with meatballs and he had a chicken wrap. We both had smoothies for dessert. I tried the new green tea variety, with a mint leaf on top. Yummy!

We then went shopping for a bit, before trying to figure out where the stage doors were at Massey Hall. We eventually found them, but were instructed to come back at 18:40. So, we went shopping some more and came back.

We were guided to the area where we had to line up for the Jann Arden meet-and-greet event. Yay!

Graham Powell, the professional photographer in Jann's band, came over to take pictures of her happy fans with our badge numbers around our necks. He came up to us and said that he just wanted to take a picture of our ID numbers. I asked if he didn't want to take our mugshots. He said he was going to do that, too. He's cool. It's neat how he had found my blog a few months back and I was now talking to him in person. Heck, he was going to take our pictures with Jann!

I had brought Jann's first book with me for her to sign. A woman ahead of us said that she had got Jann to use a gold marker. That would work nicely when she signed the black side of our laminated badges.

Finally, the moment had arrived. The conversation went something like this:

"Hi, Jann!" I said.
"Hi," she said, shaking my hand. "It's nice to meet you. What's your name?"
"I'm Watty."
"Watty it is!" she exclaimed, as she signed my badge with her gold pen.
"Yep, I've been Watty for a bit now. I like it," I said. Reflecting on what I had just said, that sounded dumb. I still carried on. "Can you sign my book, too?"
"Sure!" she replied, without any hesitation.
"I was at Sherway Gardens a few years ago, when you were doing a book-signing tour for your second book," I said. "Now, both books have your signature in them. I have a collection!"
"Aw! That's so nice," she said sincerely.

She went to sign PS's badge. He didn't say much, as expected.

"Well, thanks for coming to my show tonight," she said. "Shall we get our picture taken together?" she asked. We did. Graham took the picture. Jann was in the middle and we were all doing side hugs. It was wonderful.

"That's so much for coming to my show," she said. "I hope you enjoy yourselves tonight."
"I was here last night and you were terrific," I said. We were just starting to walk away. Jann stopped me and loosely grabbed my right arm.
"Now I'm gonna have to tell some new jokes," she said. That made me laugh.

We headed over to the merchandise stand. PS bought a black t-shirt. We then made our way to our seats. Third row. Practically smack in the middle of the row. Cool.

It was a wonderful evening out. I snapped pictures like crazy. Jann was wearing a completely white pantsuit outfit, with her blazer being shorter than the layers of clothing underneath. It was a wonderful look on her.

She did change up the jokes and told some of the ones last night, too. She sounded even better than last night, if that's possible. I think this was heightened by the fact that I had just shook her hand and had talked to her.

As for the lucky folks who had the opportunity to sit next to Jann while she sang "You're so vain," they were a cheerful gay couple. They were hilarious, making faces and singing to the lyrics. One of them pretended to be riding a horse when she sang, "And your horse naturally won." They had really good singing voices. At the end, each guy sang a lyric as Jann skillfully moved the microphone from one guy to the other. Even Jann made the remark that they were the best singers she has had so far this tour.

At one stage, Lyle Molzan's wife (or wife-to-be? I have no clue) came on-stage with their new baby, Henry. It was a great moment, for it was the first time Henry has actually been at a concert.

The concert was terrific, as expected. I'll certainly remember this one. It's not every day that you meet a down-to-Earth singer who truly appreciates singing to an enthusiastic crowd.

After the show, PS and I walked to my car. I drove him home. I was impressed that he didn't fall asleep. He told me that he was laughing so hard that he couldn't. It just goes to show you that Jann can heal anyone.

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Song that's stuck in my head: Jann Arden's "Could I be your girl"
Yummy food eaten today: Green tea smoothie
What I crave: This night to last

Recent thoughts:
Readings, lights, and random thoughts - 2009-03-15
Thoughts about work, school, and peeps - 2009-03-09
Working from home and a mini life update - 2008-12-19
The weekend is here! - 2008-01-06
A new year - 2008-01-01