Sign of the Times 13

Yeah ABC News

I am very happy to admit that I was wrong. In my previous post I mentioned that the news outlets would not mention anything about Senator Obama's speech and commentary by Dr. Dobson. I thought it would not be mentioned because of how it relates to religion.

But I happily admit I was wrong. I was watching ABC News this evening and not only was there a segment on it with sound bites but it was on at the beginning, where they put top news stories.

So, KUDOS to you ABC News!!!!!

Politics as Usual

If you know me then you know that I am very strong willed and minded. I love to debate and enjoy a really good discussion. I am also not very political. During an election year I do my homework and research who I think would be the best candidate. But I don't usually do more than that. Unfortunately this year I have to admit I am not very enthusiastic about either candidates. Both candidates have their pros and to be honest a lot of cons. Unfortunately this seems to be one of those years where I think for many people it is going to come down to who is the lesser of two evils.

Now having said that and admitted that I am strong willed, I also admit that I respect other peoples opinions and agree that they have a right to have that opinion (even if it does not agree with mine).

Now I do subscribe to the not talking about certain things philosophy (of course it does depend on who I am having the conversation with) but I feel the need to share. If you have visited my blog before then you know that I was rooting for Mike Huckabee. I liked his way of thinking more than any of the other candidates. Unfortunately he was not long for the race.

Now, like many of you I was waiting for the outcome of the Obama/Clinton weirdness. I thought both had interesting ideas as well as scary ideas. Now that Clinton has dropped out that leaves the race between Obama and McCain. Neither of which in my opinion are good candidates. I am one of those people that doesn't vote strictly by party. I vote either way - I think of myself as a democratublican. I'm not big on McCain and I am not big on Obama - both have good ideas and both have lousy ideas. It was down to who had the least bad ideas. Until today.

Now I am still not big on McCain - but after hearing Focus on the Family this morning I do know that I am totally NOT for Obama. Before when I heard Obama speak I found him to be very energetic and a motivational speaker. He has said some very interesting and relevant things during his campaign. Which is why I was considering voting for him. However, on today's broadcast Dr. Dobson responded to a speech given by Obama regarding his views of the role of religion in government. After just a few minutes of listening to Obama speak - I was very angry. Angry enough to pass on the link for the audio and to get it out that this is the way this man thinks. You know this is not going to be on the evening news or even discussed anywhere else. Which is a shame - that we are prisoners of our own media - and we are only allotted what they think is important or relevant.

But that's another post. It goes without saying that I was very surprised how someone can come across as so intelligent and yet be such an idiot. This same man that goes to church and claims to be a christian has shown his true self. Words fail me. I don't want to say jerk or fool - but this is a man that is bent on deceiving people and has reduced peoples faith to a triviality and has made a mockery of the bible and people of faith. Hypocrite comes to mind as well as other words. I am thoroughly angry and I am glad that now I know. Before I voted and possibly made a huge mistake.

Please click on the link and listen to the comments made by both Senator Obama and Dr. Dobson. Then make up your own mind.

http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000007665.cfm

Today's soapbox brought to you by The People Who Want A Decent Presidential Candidate To Show Up Before We're Dead Committee. :-)

Sign of the Times 12

I found this one in Sevierville, TN on my way back from conference last week.

While you wait for your car to be cleaned you can get a spray tan. That's service!

Although if they did the auto detail to the person that might not be so bad, I could do with a hand wash and wax and my car could use with a tan. :-)

On Vacation

My boy is on his way to Florida to visit with the in-laws for a week. He is flying into Ft. Lauderdale and will return next Wednesday. I am hoping that he has a great time, even though I will miss him very much. This is his first time away for more than a couple of days. And I am stressing. Not only will he be gone for a week, but he is flying for the first time, will be in another state, etc...

I think I am actually handling it well and in front of him I have been very controlled. I didn't want him to remember me panicking or crying and I know that I have to let go and let him grow. I mean he is 14 and I think I have done a pretty good job in raising him thus far. Of course all of those outside influences, but I know I can't make all of the decisions.

The goal is to raise them and then let them go so they can continue the cycle, right?

A Few Photos - Courtesy of Gatlinburg

Conference Day 4

The last day is probably the best day - because you know there is an end in sight.

Thankfully all of the problems had been taken care of previously so the day went smoothly. We had out 2 sessions in the morning, air working, handouts ready, people happy that it would soon be over (that includes staff and attendees).

It got over at 11:00 am and by the time we packed up everything I left the hotel around noon. I drove into Pigeon Forge and stopped at Denny's.

Ok, let's talk about Denny's for a moment. Denny's. Denny's. Denny's. I miss that restaurant. In Florida you can find one almost on every corner. In all of TN there are only 2. 1 in Pigeon Forge and 1 in Memphis. Me I live no where near either one. It's a tragedy really. I love their clam chowder which used to be only served on Friday's. I was there on a Thursday and was hoping that maybe I could get some. I looked at the menu and they have actually moved Clam Chowder to Wednesdays through Friday. Hope high I asked and wouldn't you know they were out and waiting on the truck to bring some. Ok, I did not let the depression set in - I moved on and ordered the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich. They have improved it. It used to be on a hamburger bun but now it is on ciabatta bread and was so unbelievably YUMMY!

After lunch I drove home in my nice little state car that I really thought about keeping. It was a nice drive back with a kickin stereo and me doing 80. It was a very nice way to end a conference that will probably end up being the one that I talk about as being the low point. The good thing though is that everything that I did was good and everything that went bad was way out of my control. I can live with that quite comfortably!!!

I have to say though I am glad that it is over and I don't have to start worrying about another conference for a couple of weeks. I can wind down from this one and get all of the paper work and do all the final things that need to be done before I have to start thinking about the September and October conferences. And with that I heave a deep sigh and say Woo Hoo!!!

Conference Day 3

Oy! What a day. We had breakout sessions, which means that the main room is split into separate rooms and each room has different sessions throughout the day. Now on a normal day, this would have been fine. However, one of my speakers cancelled at the last minute, so we decided to run the DVD from the May conference (same speaker). Only no one could hear the sound because we couldn't get the sound going in the house system. We ended up having a microphone next to the speaker in the laptop. The people in the back couldn't hear and the people in the front said that they could barely hear a thing. I ended up taking names of people that wanted me to just send them the DVD.

Next, one of the other speakers decided not to come and not let me know. She however sent a replacement. Problem was that the replacement she sent was the speaker that we used in May that no one liked because she was unprepared and did not know what she was talking about. Then to add insult the other woman says that she didn't bring the handouts that were supposed to go with the session. So of course another list was started for people who wanted a copy of the handout.

Now, to be honest all of this I can handle. There is really nothing that can be done but to go with the flow and hope the attendees aren't that whiny. BUT, there is more. The major issue was that we had no air. Yup, that's right. It was 95 degrees outside, I have almost 300 people attending and we have no air. Needless to say that hardly anyone was happy. Apparently, Monday when that storm went through it blew out two of the units of the hotel. The ones that controlled the a/c in the meeting space. I think I handled it well, I was very apologetic and stayed calm and nice. I got up several times and spoke to the crowd and apologized and tried to be accommodating (as much as they would let me).

The hotel did not step up until Wednesday afternoon. Up until then it was we can't find a problem, even though it is a sauna in your meeting space. Anyway, when they finally admitted there was a problem, one of our tech staff had had a hissy fit on the phone with out deputy director (who was at another conference in Gatlinburg). So he came over and even though I had things well in hand - it looked like he came over and saved the day and the damsels in distress. The hotel is going to comp our meeting space but most importantly for my attendees they received free baskin & robbins ice cream and could make sundae's.

They got the air fixed in the evening before the dance (yes we have a dance). I was a little afraid that it would be hot and then no-one would show up. I mean who wants to dance if it is a sauna. But it was fixed by the time the dance started at 9pm. I actually went down and stayed until midnight. I even danced. Thankfully no-one had brought a camera to capture those moments on film. It was a lot of fun socializing and hanging out.

Conference Day 2

Well today was the setup, get everything ready, register people, have some sessions and listen to the complaints.

I actually had a good nights sleep, which is unusual on my first night at a conference and hotel. The bed is comfy and the pillows are nice. I got up at 6am (EST) and got ready. The shower lived up to my expectation. Water pressure was good which as you may know is very, very important at a conference.

Went downstairs at 7:30 and partaked of the free continental breakfast. Got to love free food. At 8am I went over to the room where the conference is going to be held. I set up the registration table and unloaded handouts and other things that the clerks might be interested in.

Registration began at 10am and that started what seemed like a never ending stream of people trying to get their packets and information. The first session began at 1pm and by that time I had handled complaints, rooms, vendors, breaks, av equipment, etc...

Introductions went well and we had a person from the department of tourism come and speak and welcome us to Gatlinburg. She left some interesting flyer's about all of the places to go and see downtown.

Sessions went well too. Unfortunately the air conditioning in the room was not working due to a storm last night - so the room was very very hot. Maintenance came several times and finally we were able to get a large fan and that helped a little. Hopefully they will be able to have it fixed before our tomorrow sessions. 300 hot and sweaty clerks means 300 cranky clerks.

We were able to fix the hospitality suite by removing the couch and putting in a table. Now there is room for seating as well as the food.

After our last session, me and Taylor (tech guy) talked about tomorrow and what we are going to need AV wise. After I got back to my room I decided to go out and check out downtown. I ended up walking 2 miles. I saw most of downtown and took some pictures, my batteries ran down though. And not just in the camera.

So I'm back in my room looking at all of the lights of downtown, hearing the screaming from the haunted house and the music from the different attractions.

First day of conference, second day of trip. Thank God it's time for bed. :-)

Conference - Day 1 (Travel Day)

I picked up the state car and was surprised to actually have a pretty decent car. It is a Dodge Avenger. Nice stereo, nice pick up and very comfortable. I wonder what the penalty is for keeping the car longer than I'm signed up for. :-)

Anyway, I wanted to leave the office around 9am since Gatlinburg is about a 4 hour drive and EST. Of course with all the last minute details and little fires that had to be put out I actually left around 9:30am.

The drive to Gatlinburg is a nice drive. It is still technically spring, even though it has been in the 90s, and the flowers are still in bloom and everything is so green and new looking. After you pass Crossville on I40 you start to leave the hills and enter the mountain area. There is a spot when you are at the top of this mountain and you come around this curve and you can see the valley from the road - it is such a breathtaking view.

I made it to Knoxville and they have closed part of I40 down till next year - so you have to take this detour. I was a little worried about it, anxious that I might miss the exit for 441 - but it was a decent detour and they had lots of signs. The drive on 441 heading towards Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg is an interesting drive. Other than the houses, it reminds me of one of those drives that you used to take with your parents when you were a kid. A 2 lane road in some parts and nothing on the side of the road except some mom and pop places.

Sevierville and Pigeon Forge were really clustered. You are only allowed to go 35 mph in the downtown area, which is a good idea because of all of the amusements and sights. But somehow at 2pm I didn't expect that much traffic.

Despite traffic I made it to my pre-conference meeting with the hotel. We are staying at The Edgewater in downtown Gatlinburg. It is a nice hotel and my room is very nice. I have a nice view of the mountains.

The pre-con went well and everything seems to be ready for tomorrow. The rooms, the breaks, the sessions. The only problem we seem to be having is with the hospitality suite. It is in part of a suite and the common area is where the actual hospitality room is going to be. The room is smaller than they are used to so the hospitality committee is not happy. The hotel and I are trying to accomodate them in their requests but there is only so much that we can do. Since most of the clerks come in tomorrow we have some time to come up with ideas to make the room work for their needs.

I'm going to stay in tonight - I'm tired, it was a long drive and the bed looks really comfy.

Let the conference begin! (after nap time)

TN State Museum

I walked over this afternoon during my lunch hour and experienced part of the TN State Museum. Which is free by the way. It is in the TPAC building which is right across from where I work. Right now they have an exhibit going on about impressionist painters. One of the major artist being shown is Renoir. It is only going to be there until Sunday, June 8.

I only had about a half hour to walk through the section. It was not enough time for me to really look at each painting/sketch, but I did view all of them.

I'm going to have to go back tomorrow to get a good look and to take my time. I like to take my time and look at each one and get close and see the brush strokes and really look at all of the details. I might even bring my husband and kid - they need some culture anyway.

http://www.tnmuseum.org/

Sign of the Times 11

Pretty much says it all

The Boy is 14!

It is hard to believe but my boy is 14 today! It hardly seems like it's been 14 years since I had 18 hours of labor. But that is what he tells me.

Happy Birthday Pookie!

The Fluffy

This is the fluffiest member of our family. His name is Leo. Patrick bought him from the shelter in Nashville 4 years ago. He is the largest of our cats and is probably the meekest. He is very sweet and loving, faithful and has a tender heart. Don't be fooled by all that fur, he loves treats and that is partly why he looks so big.