At Affiliate Summit East in Boston, ShareASale handed out special “got babies” tees, in which I had my god-daughter, Merin, model for me (isn’t she cute?) I didn’t let her keep the SAS-Boston shirt though, as I have a friend (a fellow Kiwanian) who has a little boy named Boston.  It was too boyish for the little Hannah Montana fan anyway.

I also scored a new black tee, prepackaged as ShareASale’s signature star.  I had Merin hold it in the picture, then washed it before taking my mug shot in it, as opposed to my previous white ShareASale tshirt.  I suggest yellow tees made up for the next run since yellow is their signature color associated with the star logo. And well, I’ve been told yellow is a good color on me.

It was great to see Brian, Carolyn, Sarah and David in Boston! Yes, I missed you Nate. I have yet to meet Michael, Brian’s brother, though.  A couple years ago at an Affiliate Dinner in Chicago, I remember asking Carolyn why Michael never attends functions.  Carolyn had me believing that Michael was a figment of Brian’s imagination – that Brian was really Michael.  And I believed her, as it all made sense why I had never met him! You had me going, Ms. Carolyn!  I guess Michael was in Vegas, but I missed him! Maybe next time?!

Anyway, if you aren’t associated with  ShareASale.com yet as either an affiliate or a merchant, you are missing out!  They are the best network at listening and implementing everyone’s ideas! I got invited to the ShareASale Think Tank 2008 in San Diego next month (last year in Scottsdale was AWESOME), but I am disappointed that I will be unable to attend – my son is a senior football player, and I don’t want to miss the Parent’s Night game!  I will get to see the ShareASale gang earlier that week though as I’ll be in NYC for Affiliate Summit Social Media (ShareASale will be hosting another fabulous party) and SMXE.

On a final note here is the screenshot from ShareASale’s website yesterday in rememberance of 9/11…

ShareASale will be closed for the day of September 11, 2008, in memory of those lives lost, and to honor the heroes from that morning and thousands of other mornings when peace was chosen over war. The events of September 11, 2001 touched millions of us both here in the United States of America, and abroad. For each life that was stolen, a memory and a legacy was left behind to carry – and for those who carry them, life has changed forever. Each year, we close our offices today and we encourage others to take this day in rememberance not only of what was lost, but also in celebration of everything that we have in our lives. The families of victims from that morning would give anything to spend one morning with their loved ones, we encourage you to go out and live today to the fullest that you can. Affiliate Marketing can wait until another day.  We will never forget those who lost their lives, or those who gave their lives in the hope of saving another.

Way to go, ShareASale! And thanks for the shirt/s!

P.S. What do you think of my new Wordpress theme? It’s GenkiTheme (Fixed Width)

Wow, just got back from Affiliate Summit in Boston.  Kudos to Shawn Collins and Milly Missy Ward on another job well done.  I always leave with fresh ideas, new friends and additional motivation.  I uploaded some (not all to protect the not-so-innocent) pictures of the event to Flickr and Facebook.

I arrived on Saturday, and the first omen that it was going to be a great Summit was that my luggage was not lost!*  Took a water taxi to the Seaport Hotel just in time for the Affiliate Dinner.  The “roast” of Connie Berg was the best one yet! 

Sunday started early by having brunch on the CAMA Cruise. Note - if you have the tendency to get seasick, do not set sail aboard while nursing a hangover. Then after stuffing my bag with schwag at the Meet Market (and meeting with my mentee, Cindy), the ever so popular and funny Mr. Jon Levine and I decided to take in a few sites since neither of us had ever been to the Tea Party city.  Ate at America’s oldest tavern, Bell in Hand, and ducked out of the rain at the Cheers Bull & Finch Pub.  Returned in time for the ShareASale Under the Stars Party – Brian and the gang know how to throw the greatest parties!

Monday’s keynote, Major Mayor Corey Booker was an excellent speaker.  I can seriously see him running for President someday. And I can’t forget to give some link love to MC Jim Kukral even if he can’t dress himself properly (more on this later). I presented on the “Content that Kills” panel with lethargic Lisa Picarille and Angel Djambazov (more on this later as well).  I have to say the most heated session to attend was the Performance Marketing Alliance Q&A.

I thought the prices in Boston were rather reasonable ($10 water taxi, $1.50 Diet Dew).  But eating at Morton’s Steakhouse (wonderful food) threw that judgement out of the water.  Luckily a nice OPM treated some of us affiliates out to dinner.  Following dinner was the Linkshare party (Gilbert’s vodka = not so good) and then the talented Brian Littleton on piano.

I slept in Tuesday morning (or tried to, thanks everyone for the wake up calls).  Then headed to lunch and the exhibit hall for more networking.  I now have several more tshirts for my Free Shirt Friday posts.  Tuesday night, thanks to Shawn and Missy (or is it Miley now?) for the Boston Red Sox tickets at Fenway Park.  It turned out to the be an excellent game after the Texas Rangers decided to kick it in gear during the rain and give the Red Sox a run for their money.  Drinks atop the Baseball Tavern were awesome as well.

I had this brilliant idea that I should just stay up all night long as I had to get up at 4 am anyway for my flight. But at 3 am, I decided (and acted on that decision, see I listened during the keynote) that an hour nap may be good idea.  So although I’m suffering from sleep deprivation, I’d do it all over again in heartbeat.

See you all in New York City in October???

*My luggage has been lost on the way to the previous two Affiliate Summit East’s, both in Orlando and Miami.  After my luggage was damaged in Vegas earlier this year, I invested in new luggage that surely radiated new karma.

**I wrote the above post while on a layover at O’Hare in Chicago but was too cheap to pay for internet access for an hour.  So, my new luggage ended up coming back more damaged than my last suitcase!  It was the first time I’ve used it, so should hopefully still be under warranty.  Maybe the amount of schwag in my bag was too much – I was 11 lbs. over the weight limit, and they didn’t bat an eye.  The TSA also didn’t catch a whole bottle of water I had left in my carry-on (accidentally obviously), and they let it go through.  Hmmm… feel safer now?