I attended Adobe MAX in Los Angeles this year with my friend and coworker, Erin. My purpose at the conference was to focus on learning Flash Catalyst and to develop more web design/CSS skillz.
I’m just a girl who wants to be a better nerd.
Erin and I made friends with the locals. Everyone from Los Angeles was super happy!
The stage in the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE was cool, but had no bearing on the presentations like it did last year. I wish the speakers had interacted with it more, I guess.
Erin and I met Kevin Lynch (Adobe’s CTO)! He’s definitely the right kind of “celebrity” for Adobe-loving nerds like me.
Erin picked this woman as her favorite bartender.
Like last year, I drew the Pearson VUE logo on the community chalkboard. Gotta represent, yo!
Celebrities that attended include Mark Hamill (accompanied by Chewbacca and Darth Vader, with Queen Amidala and Obi Wan Kenobi clones) and John Mayer. I don’t care about either of them, but I do care about…
Stephanie Sullivan, the goddess of CSS! If you’re a web designer, you need to read her book. I have learned so many practical and useful tips. It was very cool to talk to her a bit this year—we kept running into each other! It’s a small MAX, after all.
The MAX bash wasn’t quite as crazy/cool as last year’s (though can anything beat the Cal Academy?). Erin and I checked out all of the entertainment (the Conga Room, the Grammy Museum, and the ESPN Zone) then spent most of the evening on the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE plaza, listening to the live band (fronted by an Adobe employee) and chatting with new friends.
Ok, so maybe I was drinking a few beers, too. (I paid for that the next day.)
Erin and I drooled over this car for a while. We asked if we could get in, but they wouldn’t let us. Dang.
I don’t think I’ll be attending Adobe MAX 2010, but who knows? It’s a whole year away.
I brought home a bunch of fun stuff, including a fully autographed copy of Stephanie Sullivan and Greg Rewis’ book, a coffee-splattered attendee badge, and silly little buttons (“Kiss Me, I’m Suite” and “I Weave Dreams” are the cutest). All in all, a good conference. Using what I learned this year, I’m working in Adobe Illustrator and Flash Catalyst to develop a departmental holiday e-card. Wish me luck!
So here I am, in Honolulu, and I already have way too many photos to share and stories to tell. I never got around to telling you about Adobe MAX or the MAX Bash or all the free crap I took home from L.A. last month. I got busy, but I still intend to tell you about these things.
But for now, I will just tell you that even though the ocean has been beating me up for the last two days, I am having such a supremely awesome vacation. I am happy to be with one of my best friends, Jen; I am happy to be getting multiple days of sunshine—it’s the summer that Minnesota missed this year; I am happy to sleep on this hard bed because I can hear tropical birds and see coconut trees and geckos on the wall and it is very amazing to be here.
Yesterday I saw a sea turtle, which was just about the coolest thing. Have you seen Finding Nemo? The turtles are the best part of that movie.
I miss everyone at home, but I have free wifi when I’m chilling at Jen’s apartment and I’m texting updates to Flickr and Twitter. I feel fairly connected, though the 4 hour time difference is just enough to make things awkward.
The wind is picking up now and the sun is setting a bit early today, but I think I’ve gotta grab my camera and go snap a couple more photos outside. Aloha!
When Erin landed at LAX, she called her cousin, Chris, who lives in Aliso Viejo. We were lucky enough to get him as a tour guide around Laguna Beach for the afternoon!
Erin and I took the 405 to the Pacific Coast Highway near Long Beach, then cruised… I also made Erin take photos out of the window as we drove.
I can’t wait to take a million more photos like this one in Hawaii. (Two weeks!)
Our first stop was Wahoo’s Fish Taco on Fashion Island. We later met Chris, his wife, Stacey, and their adorable chihuahua, Bruiser, there.
In this photo, Erin is actually sitting in the sun because she’s freezing and needs to warm up (she later changed her outfit—you’ll see). California was surprisingly chilly during this visit.
After I took this photo, Chris told me about polarizing lens (it would take the reflection off of the water). I found one when I got home (it’s Karyn’s) so now I need to learn how to use it.
I was all shocked. “Who puts a merry-go-round in the outdoors like this?? California is crazy.” Then Erin reminded me about the merry-go-round at Como Zoo. Oh, right.
This photo was Chris’ idea. I should hang out with other photographers more often—they have good tips!
Everything on Fashion Island was too expensive. I wanted to buy things to take home for family and friends, but figured I would get them better, more expensive gifts from Hawaii instead.
After wandering around Fashion Island, we all hopped into Chris’ car and he drove us to Laguna Beach. This time I took photos out of the car window.
Chris told us this house had been vacant for a couple years. If no one else wants to live there, I guess I will.
Can you believe how much birds can poop? Good thing they have a rock to poop on instead of using the beach.
There was a surfer pretty far out in the water here. I tried to get a photo, but he kept falling into the water. I’ll get some surfer photos in Hawaii, hopefully.
Why don’t I live here? I love the ocean.
I let Chris hold my camera while Erin and I waded around in the Pacific Ocean.
For dinner, Erin and I got ourselves back into downtown Los Angeles and our concierge recommended Bottega Louie a couple blocks away. Now I recommend it, too. The food is so tasty and the restaurant has a fun atmosphere!
Next up: what I learned at Adobe MAX. (It’s about time I review all of the materials I brought home!)
Before I whisk you off to Laguna Beach, I’d like to remember the view from my hotel room on the 21st floor and my tiny bit of aimless wandering that I did before Erin arrived.
I was up very early in the morning because of the time change. I had some time to enjoy a cloudy sunrise.
My hotel room faced an easterly direction.
I was still amazed by the giant advertisements.
I didn’t eat at either of these places (again due to the line out the door), but I heard that the Pantry was fantastic.
I hadn’t planned on visiting Santa Monica, but I’m very glad I did. It was so beautiful.
From Hollywood, I got on the 101 going north with the intention of taking Barham Boulevard to get a closer peek at the Hollywood sign or maybe visit Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
I blew past that exit pretty quick—oops. So I got on the next exit with the intention of turning around onto southbound 101 and finding Barham Boulevard that way.
No luck: I got lost driving around Universal Studios.
I’m not sure what happened after that… I think I somehow got into the neighborhood north of 134, then ended up taking that to 101 again, which I thought would take me southbound.
Boy, was I wrong.
Somehow 134 had magically turned into westbound 101. This freeway business is insane in Los Angeles.
So there’s me: driving on these crazy interstates with crazy Californians in my car from Massachusetts and my maps from Hertz. I managed to navigate myself onto southbound 405 without incident. I decided then, since I had come all the way over here, I might as well go see the ocean.
I hopped onto highway 2 and cruised towards the Pacific.
Getting back to downtown Los Angeles was pretty straightforward, but took a while since everyone else was going there, too. Oh, well. The beach was well worth the trouble!
I found a meter to park at but only had enough quarters for an hour, so I started walking with a purpose towards the pier. I didn’t think I would make it all that way, but I had a half hour to try to get there (and a half hour to get back before getting a parking ticket).
During my walk, I found this bridge that went down the hill, over the Pacific Coast Highway, and led me right to the beach. Of course I had to go down (I was well aware that I would have to go back up, too).
Dang, it was just so perfect. These photos make me happy.
I thought the seagulls’ tracks in the sand were pretty funny.
I stood in the tide for a few minutes, before I had the same feeling when I stood in the Atlantic: where’s the bathroom? Bad planning—I had to walk all the way back across the beach (which basically meant I would be leaving).
But I knew I’d be visiting another beach the next day, so I was sort of okay about leaving so quickly. I guess I had to get back to my car before the meter police showed up, too.
But it was hard to go since it was pretty perfect out there.
I had missed a couple photos above the hill, though. This is Santa Monica.
These are pelicans, but they looked like pterodactyls.
I noticed that the sun was quickly sinking into the ocean, so I found a spot along the rail to watch.
It took less than 5 minutes for the sun to completely set.
I wish I had been listening better. I was distracted by the fact that everyone else had also stopped to watch the sunset.
It was a very lovely afternoon.
Next up: driving along the Pacific Coast Highway and exploring Laguna Beach.
