Finally, the end of a very long day! With the exception of a nap taken yesterday in the late afternoon,
Mack and I have been up ever since. We departed Calgary at 7 am and arrived in Los Angeles a little past nine. With Los Angeles being the closest arrival point to Ontario given our recent flight rescheduling, we had to rent a vehicle to get us to the convention center which was roughly 60-80 miles away. The shuttle to the car rental location took us down a road lined with palm trees on both sides and having only seen such a place on tv and movies, I couldn't help but to smile a little as it felt a little surreal - also in no doubt due to my lack of sleep as well. However, the palm trees and other vegetation alike were rather deceptive. It gave the impression it was amazingly warm outside when in fact, it was rather chilly.
Los Angeles also seem to have quite a sophisticated road infrastructure. Interstate roads spanned 5-6 lanes with 1 to 2 lanes reserved for car pooling. Often, the roads would diverge taking you down another path but eventually merging back. Driving also seemed a little faster compared to Edmonton.
Mack did the driving and I know he was a little timid (as was I!) doing his first merge on the interstate but after awhile, he became at ease and at times even cut other people off. Speaking of driving fast, we came across a railroad crossing and with barely enough notice from the horns, the train, towing no trams, just zoomed past us at an incredible speed. I've never seen a train engine go so fast in Edmonton even in the country side let alone in the city!
We got to the convention center a little later than expected but quickly got setup. There were quite a few people with many of them from respected media outlets. The ethusiasm and feedback for our products and services have been quite positive and even has
Mack and I eager to head back to Edmonton to finish off development. By the end of the day, our voices were both a little dry having talked so much.
Ontario seems to be much more business oriented as there were many offices and industrial zones but we could not find a restaurant even after driving for more than 15 minutes. However, there were tons of no name burger outlets such as In-n-out burgers, Andy's burgers among countless others. Surprsingly enough, they all seem to attract decent amount of business which made us wonder why there were no McDonalds in sight. In either case, we settled at Quiznos and enjoyed some Starbucks afterwards.
Tomorrow is the final day of the
expo and is also the day of our 30 minute presention on stage of our products and services. It also happens to be our last day in California so rest assure, we will be visiting Hollywood!
Wondering what we are doing at the expo? Check it out at
http://www.paramagnus.com/podcasting/beta
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