So after a glitch during check in ,that was 100 percent my own fault, we get to the room and before I let the kids out of their carrier I do a room assessment to make sure it is ferret proof/safe. For those that have been following this blog for awhile know how I do that but for those just joining this is what it includes.
Trash cans up high
Toilet seat down
Any ledges accessible to ferrets cleared off and one or two towels placed underneath to soften any falls.
Cords lifted up and if need be twist tied together to keep little ones from chewing on them.
Nope not done yet…
Lay on belly and look under anything that has an opening. Glad I did this as under the bed was several tiny rubber bands like the ones you put in a dog’s or baby’s hair, these can cause a blockage, or a choking hazard very easily in a ferret, along with a couple of very stale food crumbs. Found the same under the dresser along with some chocolate chips and a bottle cap. Before anyone says that housekeeping should have done a better job let me say that where these items were no vacuum cleaner would have gotten to and most don’t travel with tiny little slinkies like I do.
Once all of the perceived dangers were removed I let the kids out of their carrier and the first thing they did was to check out under the bed and the dresser. Then it was to look out the window of the eighth floor. 
You wouldn’t know that this was overlooking the parking lot the view was amazing. While the kids checked out every little nook and cranny I finally got to take a few moments and clean up from my long drive. Note to self either give yourself an extra day for driving or take two and have a hotel stop scheduled lol.
Before the Keynote session we got to see a live press conference with some of favorite people that being Tom Colin, Yvvone DiVita, Caroline Golon, and Steve Dale just to name a few. 
The exhibit section was open and we got to see our sponsor from last year, Marshall Pet’s Linda Cope, and Marylin ate up the attention. 
We also saw Rocco from To Dog With Love 
who thought Marylin was a great new friend.
We got to see Snotface Critter again and from the way Manny and him went at nose tapping you would have thought they had never met before. 
then it was time for the Keynote session with Dino Dogan, Chole Divita, and Lena West 
or so we thought. Lena had an emergency and wasn’t able to make it to Blog Paws but in true Lena West style she left us a great message via video and once again her advice resonated with me. I am still trying to figure out exactly what my competing commitments are but I feel I am getting closer to that goal.
Dino also gave some interesting insights about how, and who we should blog for as did Chole with a suggestion about having a spreadsheet with some very valuable lessons. All of which I took as notes on my notebook computer that is over five years old.
The reason I am stating the age of the computer is that during the Keynote it started to make this awful whine that could be heard throughout the room and I was in the very back. The whine got so bad that I had to leave the session before it ended in hopes of figuring out what was wrong with it. Back in my room I saved my notes and powered down the computer and went back downstairs to mingle with old friends and make some new ones.
Manny, Marcuz, and Marylin stayed upstairs to play in the room one of their favorite spots was the ultra soft bed 
The next morning the computer was still doing that awful whining so much that I had to shut it down and leave it in the room. So I could focus on the sessions I wanted to go to. When I came back to put my notes in a more readable order from my journalistic handwriting I was greeted by this screen that said “The file Windows Config was not found” WHAT!!! My computer decided that this was the time to die…nooooooooooooooo and so now I am without a way to tweet, post on Facebook for the moment. Not a good feeling to say. But I went to lunch and back to some sessions that I wanted to be at but I am sure my notes aren’t that good as my mind was split between a dead computer and what was being said.
I know that I am glad I went to Debbie Glovatsky’s session on how to take great pet photos. While she uses an Nikion camera and I use a Cannon they are simular enough that I could follow along with my camera during the session. I am one of those learners that are visusal, audio, and tactical in short that means I need to see, hear, and do to understand something completely.
Debbie’s three rules were:
Lighting, Focus, and Get Down.
Lighting didn’t mean the use of flash in fact she says DON’T USE FLASH unless you are a professional that knows how to make it work for you. No lighting has to do with the use of natural light.
Focus was to know what you want your subject to be along with what is in the background/foreground that could distract from the photo. In other words make sure there is no clutter around the area you are going to shoot. Also realize that you may not get the perfect shot on the first try. The one photo she showed she snapped 112 photos before getting the perfect one.
Get Down made so much sense when she explained that you need to get down to the animal/pet’s level. We all giggled when she said “You might have to invest in kneepads.” I couldn’t wait to try some of the other tricks she talked about and I will too in another post. These are two of the photos I took after the session.
I also attended both of Steve Dale’s sessions and have a mound of paper to go through again but with the amount of information he shared I am glad to have all the reference to go back to.
I also did Pawject Runway and while I had thought Marylin would be doing that she and Manny made it very clear they were done for the day so Marcuz got to participate and he was very well behaved and let me dress him up in a blue and black swirly sarong with lots of glittery stuff. I think we both had a lot of fun and our friend Emmy took some pictures for us.
We didn’t win but it was fun. Afterwards we went back to the room and Marcuz went and found his siblings to cuddle up with and take a well deserved nap.
I spent most of the evening messing with my computer pushing diffent combinations of buttons until one of the asked if I wanted to reset my computer. Swallowing the lump in my throat because I knew that meant losing everything that was on my computer I hit the yes button and then miricle of miricles it asked if I wanted to backup the files again I said yes not fully believing that it would save anything. After an hour the computer rebooted to the clean background of a brand new computer. It still whined and I was afraid to unplug it I looked through and found the file that said backup and expected it to be empty but I was pleasently surprised to find that most of the files were saved. What a relief.
I decided to take the morning for me due to the amount of stress I had put myself under from the long eventful drive to Blog Paws the dying computer, and a credit card issue of my own making that was resolved but that doesn’t mean I was having a bad time I was having fun but also know when I am at my introverted level of dealing with people and there were a lot of people this year and I wanted to be ready for the Red Carpet that night. So I basically vegged in the room and the kids loved it as they had my full attention for a couple of hours before passing out in true ferret style.
Before we knew it Blog Paws had passed and we were at the finale which is always the red carpet event for the Nose to Nose awards. This year Blog Paws donated a bullet proof vest to K9 officer Spenser who is only 2 years old and has been on the job for just over 3 months. 
Thanks Kevin from @dogdancingguy for snapping the photo.
So this was just the preview of other post to come eventually. The next one will be about our trip home.
Have a Chittering Good Day,
Jo
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