Well, I am back and I am tired. I have to say that I am one of those that is flat out terrified of planes…I hate them, so the fact that I went to SMX should tell you that I really wanted to go. I had to drink before I got on the plane and I about broke my husband’s hand, but I lived…thank GOD!

Some People and Pics

Anyway, I have already said that Chris Winfield and his wife were super cool and very kind. They remained that way. I do have one really interesting picture of them. It looks like his wife is going to poke him in the throat and Chris kind of look like he sees it coming (look at his eyes). It could also be a ninja move, but she is nice and would never do that. It is just a funny pic from the SMX after party. NOW, if you decide to save this pic please know that Photoshop edited the name…I wouldn’t have named it that. Chris, if you want the full 20MB shot for the photo album let me know.

The Super Cool Dave Conklin and David Brown

I can’t tell you how many times I said, “There’s Dave and David!” Dave introduced himself and to my husband and I it feels like we have been friends forever. Super nice guy and he has 4 kids, God bless him! Send some work his way! Anyway, both Dave and David were welcoming, kind, funny and great people. I will miss Dave’s funny stories (until he starts IMing me or something!).

This photo has, in order left to right,  Jim Boykin, David brown and Dave Conklin

Jim Hedger

Jim is my buddy…I didn’t take a picture of him though cuz I forgot…BUT, I still consider him a great friend. He found me out of nowhere and started posting my articles on Site Pro News and all heck broke loose. Thanks Jim. We had a fabulous expensive dinner (J/K- New York Pizza, but it was good) and then hit the SMX after party. He is a great guy and I have only seen him be kind to everyone and to be honest that wasn’t the case with all the people.

Martin Bowling – Super Nice Guy and KEY Player in the Big Watah Scandal!

Martin is the nice guy on the left in a white shirt and jeans (if you don’t know who he is). Danny Sullivan is in a brown suit on the right a ways back. It was weird to see him in a suit. His wife is really, really nice.

Martin is cool and funny and played a large part in the Big Watah scandal…it is not my story to tell. See BigWatah.com and watch for updates. This is a fun and crazy crowd and it really was a great time.

Marty Weintraub

I have known Marty through the blogosphere for awhile. He has always been kind and funny, but I didn’t get to meet him in person until now. If you aren’t reading what Marty writes you really should.

Eric Lander

Well, I read Eric’s Blog on my iGoogle and I read Search Engine Journal, so I knew who he was. He was a great speaker at SMX and when I had the chance I said, “hey”. Like David Brown, Eric was genuinely nice. Obviously a guy that has been in the industry a long while and is well-respected, but was in no way condescending or rude. If you don’t read his stuff you need to, so go!. He also has the same haircut, or lackthereof, as my husband. Another plus 🙂 Eric, I forgot to take a pic!

Some People I really Enjoyed Meeting

You know, to me guys like Matt Cutts, Danny Sullivan, Bruce Clay etc. are like the coolest guys in my geeky little computer/SEO/Star Wars world. So meeting some people I think are really awesome was great. Now Matt Cutts wasn’t there and my husband was real mean and kept going, “Look! It’s Matt Cutts!” Just to see my head spin around like Linda Blair.

Rand Fishkin

It’s Rand Fiskin…it is like meeting Han Solo! Or Yoda! You have to compare him to Yoda after Linkscape…(Yoda is on my desktop and my motto came from him. This is a big compliment)

In case you don’t know, he is newly married and showed us a picture of his wife during his portion of the session. He even said, “Isn’t she beautiful?”, as he went back to her slide…women love that crap, Rand! Your nice guy meter hit the roof with that one! Really nice guy! (Rand, after 17 years of marriage all I can say is it only gets better)

Ok, again, bad photo…this time blame it on this stuff called “Malibu”…I am telling you these folks like to have fun!

StuntDubl

Again, nice guy! He looks about the age of my oldest son, but nice guy.  If you think you are big into SEO or anything related to it OR if you offer it as a service and you don’t know who Stuntdubl, Rand Fiskin or Bruce Clay are, you may want to take that service off of your Web site.

You can see a half headshot of Dave here. Markus941 is behind him and holy crap! Who knew he lived in the same city I do? Not me or him! His mouth hit the floor when we said where we were from.

From the White Hat Session

Kimberly Krause Berg and Kate Morris. Two really nice women. It is always cool to meet people and then they end up being so nice. Stephan Spencer was also very, very nice.

Avinash! Great Book! Thanks

Can’t forget the Apogee girls [That is what my husband and I called them! 🙂 ]. See them in the pic right behind me? They were very nice and cool! Roger Montti was very friendly too. I have to go to bed…

SMX East was a lot of fun.

Melissa – SEO Aware