WOW! #SQLSAT160

That is my one word description of #SQLSAT160.

Our 8 hour drive to Kalamazoo was interrupted by Kerry getting a speeding ticket in Kentucky.  Fun times! Then there was the intended stop in Indianapolis, Indiana to see my grandmother who is still in the hospital after open heart surgery.  She’s ran into a sting of little issues that kept setting her back. I was happy that we stopped on our way up.  Then we arrived in KZoo to find that some jerk set off the sprinklers and 1/2 the hotel was damaged and shut down. Since we were checking in early we got a room and an upgrade to a suite. WHOO HOO! However this means our #sqlfamily is getting moved to nearby hotels.  I have to commend Fairfield Inn for doing such a great job of seeing that everyone had a place to sleep.

Friday we did some shopping during the day. First on the list was BEER! There is a beer that Kerry claims to be his favorite, it’s Edmund Fitzgerald made by Great Lakes Brewing. We can’t get that beer here in TN so while planning our trip I did some research to find that they do have it in MI.  We hit up Drakes only to find that the beer selection was OVERWHELMING and AMAZING! Hard not to buy tons but knowing we have to haul it around for 10 more days in the back of the car really kept us in check.  After that we hit up the mall to find me a couple long sleeve shirts as it was way colder than I had planned on.  I really did pack capri pants and short sleeve shirts with sweaters. Tick colder than that. While at the mall I knew there was a Gloria Jeans retail shop and was more or less wishing they had some of my long gone K-cups. Wouldn’t you know they did!!!  See what planning a head does for ya. 4 boxes of coffee were purchased and I am enjoying every drop.

Friday night Tim Ford (@sqlagentman | BLOG ) and his AMAZING wife Amy had all the speakers over to their house for the Speaker’s dinner. What a saint that woman is.  It was a great meal and we had a wonderful time hanging out. The 2 highlights for me may seem a bit odd to most but I am weird and it’s okay.  First they were face timing with Yanni Robel (@yannirobel | BLOG ), Yanni is a dear member of my #sqlfamily who couldn’t make it to KZoo, suddenly from across the room I can hear her say “Where is Tamera?”  It warmed my heart to know that she was looking for me. So yeah, WOW! And the second memorable event was when Josh (@joshuafennessy | BLOG ) gave me a bag that contained my speaker shirt. He was excited as I was but for different reasons. This was my FIRST speaker shirt and it was AWESOME!!! Kerry keeps saying he needs to thank Josh because “his wife looks hot in that shirt”.WOW! I love that jacket so much I just wear it everywhere.

Saturday we are off to the races! Or #sqlsat160.  The venue was really nice the weather however was not. Cold and rain made up most of Saturday. The good news there was hot #slqlearnin.  @sqlcheesecake made this wonderful looking cheese cake and left it in the speaker touch down room. WOW did it look good! I am sorry to say I didn’t have any because I have worked so hard to loose weight this year I didn’t want to start slacking so early in the trip. Many folks tried it and said that it was GOOD! I mean WOW #sqlfamily is so awesome. They served a wonderful lunch and one that vegetarians could be happy with, guess it helps when someone on the committee is vegetarian.  My session was in the last slot of the day. WOW, is that a terrible spot to be everyone is ready to be done and they are looking pretty tired.  There was one woman in my session that nodded often so that helped me get through, thank you to whom ever you are.

There was actually a storm that blew in that had some adverse warnings with it.  Kerry & I were monitoring the National Weather Service & local radar. I had even found shelter areas. Whew that blew over.

WOW How could I forget this:

I got to sit on the WIT panel during lunch, it was amazing to be a part of such an incredible group of women. I felt honored to be included.
The After Party was to be down at the Kalamazoo Beer Exchange. It is an interesting idea where the price of beer changes based on purchases made in the last 15 minutes. They have monitors with the changing prices just like the stock exchange. I am very sorry to report that we had a beer and that was all. It was extremely busy and we never got a table.

After waiting several hours Tim says “Screw it let’s go home and eat left overs” (Tim discussed this with Amy first so no worries there). So here comes another WOW! what troopers, they let 20 people or so return to their home to eat. Being good sports Kerry and I stopped by this little store to get some goat cheese, you see we had wine jelly in the room. This place was bigger than WOW. It was like a crack store for Tammy.  I picked up some cheese, some goat cheese, some salami and even another handle of Kraken. Then we return to Tim and Amy’s to eat left overs. YUM! Then yet another WOW! We proceeded to play a game called Cards Against Humanity. It is free to download which is what Jason Strate (@stratesql | BLOG ) did and then he sent it off to Kinkos to be printed. With such a mix of people I was pleased to see everyone playing, having a good time and no one getting offended or upset. WOW I didn’t know that was possible. We played this for hours, until Tim finally told everyone to go home! That wasn’t until after a trip to the hot tub. (I just stood in the rain and talked to everyone while Kerry was out front talking to Eddie – let’s not talk about what Eddie was doing.) The game if you are wondering is much like Apples to Apples with a raunchy twist.

WOW what a wonderful weekend and a great time spent with #sqlfamily. I don’t think I could every thank Tim and Amy for everything they did. I mean the free pep talk did wonders and they were by no means obligated to do so. The great job that Josh did keeping things organized and going well. The PASS community corner letting me stop by and help out. WIT letting me sit on a panel. I mean WOW! I just can’t say thank you enough and I can’t possibly tell you what a great time I had or how honored I was to be there.

LOVE MY #SQLFAMILY!!!