I’ll start with the most exciting part of the trip:

I met Stan Lee!  Yay!  So for a bit of background, I flew down to LA for a little over a day to go to the California Bar IP Section’s conference on Entertainment & Media law.  The conference itself was interesting, and I got to see a former colleague of mine and have a nice lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel.  Stan Lee was speaking at the conference, and although his talk had pretty much nothing to do with the law, it was still really interesting.  Afterwards, I ran out to meet him and basically giggled like a silly fangirl the whole time.  But that’s ok.  I got his autograph as well, and picture and autograph are getting framed and going up in my office soon.

So, on to the other details of the trip.  I flew Virgin America for the first time, which was pretty good.  The planes were brand-spanking-new, which was a nice change of pace from American, which I usually fly.  There’s a TV in the back of each seat, which allows you to watch cable TV, movies, play video games, and listen to music.  You also order snacks and/or meals through it.

I tried out everything on my flight down–there was some lag in the system which made listening to the classical music a little annoying.  But the TV seemed to be coming through pretty well, and the video games, although basic, included an anagram game which I find highly addictive.  Unfortunately, on the flight back, we got the plane with no electrics.  But after a multiple-hour delay due to fires in NorCal, I was just happy to be going home.

On to the hotel.  The hotel was amazing.  I stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where the conference was taking place, and it was one of the nicest rooms I’ve ever stayed in.  It was enormous.  And had a massive balcony.  And the bathroom was the size of a normal hotel room.  And there was a foyer.  And a walk-in closet.  Seriously, it was ridiculous.  I didn’t want to leave!

But eventually, I must.  So after they kicked me out, I went down to Rodeo Drive for some shopping.  I stopped at a couple of stores, but as I’m trying to save money, I didn’t buy much.  My most important stops, however, were the two big cupcake shops there–Sprinkles and Crumbs.

We’re getting a Sprinkles here in Palo Alto soon, which is exciting.  I ate the red velvet cupcake from there last night, and it was very tasty!  Pictured here, clockwise from top left are, ginger lemon, strawberry, pumpkin, and red velvet.

One thing I don’t get is, the name of the place is Sprinkles, yet the majority of the cupcakes there are topped with smooth frosting and their trademark little dot design.  Where are the sprinkles?  I mean seriously, people.

I also stopped at Crumbs, which is apparently a NY based chain, which some people claim is much better than the more famous Sprinkles.  At Crumbs, I opted for the variety pack of mini-cupcakes, so I could try a lot of different flavours.  In retrospect, this was maybe not the greatest idea, because I feel like I’m not getting the complete cupcake experience.

So far, based on the three mini-cupcakes I’ve had from Crumbs and the red velvet one from Sprinkles, I’m preferring Sprinkles.  The Crumbs ones I’ve tried had a buttercream frosting that I found reminiscent of the sort of frosting you get on grocery-store cakes–the kind that tastes like it’s probably made with shortening rather than butter.  I don’t really like that kind of frosting.  I’ll wait until I’ve eaten them all to make final judgment though.  And buy new fat pants, lol.

Anyway, that about sums up my trip.  There are more pictures of both the hotel room and the cupcakes on my flickr page, link on the right.

Excelsior!