Orlando Conference!

Guess where we went this week?

(Ok, so yeah, this looks like Savannah, but it's not.)

It's ORLANDO!

We went down to Orlando on Monday through Wednesday, because I was scheduled to speak at a national conference there. See? Here's my little presentation thingie on their website:

http://www.aaohn.org/education/symposium-expo/Advance_Program/Tuesday.cfm

I did two presentations, one on Plain Language and one on Presentations (I call it my Presentation Presentation). They both went quite well. I had about 50-60 people in the Plain Language class and about 130 in the Presentation class. I had forgotten how much I enjoy speaking to groups like that. Anyway. Here's the only picture I got of the conference center:

It was BIG. The hotel was right next to it, but because my classes were on the opposite side of the conference center building (and I am not exaggerating at all - they were in the far corner!), it was about a half mile walk just to get to the right room. We got a lot of exercise, but not enough to compensate for the delicious food that we absolutely buried ourselves in. Yum. More on that later.

Here is a picture of the hotel, from the pool area:

The pool area was nice, and the hotel looked really pretty on the inside, but the rooms were just average. Nice, but not incredible. Also? Everything cost a ton of money - guess they expect people who stay there to be able to afford it. I dunno. It did have seriously snazzy furniture in the lobby though:

Love those chairs!

We went out the first night to an incredible Greek restaurant called Taverna Opa. I HIGHLY recommend this place if you're going to Orlando. The food was amazing - we had gyros with lamb and beef, and they tasted like the ones I had when I was actually in Greece. They also had baklava. YUM.

There was also a belly dancer. I tried to get her picture with Noel in the foreground, but the flash wasn't cooperating. See her in the background, with a sword on her head?

Here's a better picture of her:

One other fun thing was the floor decoration. :) We overheard the manager say that they weren't allowed to break plates on the floor like they're supposed to, so instead they would throw handfuls of napkins into the air and they settled on the floor (or your drink, or your head). Then people would get up and start dancing. Fun stuff!

I guess I should include a photo of myself. This is me cheesing it up in the hot tub. Good stuff!

Just call me Busty Sinclair.

One weird thing we saw in Orlando was a hands-on museum that was designed to look like it was picked up by a tornado and dropped intact but upside down into the city. How cool is this?

I loved that the palm trees by the building are still hanging there upside down. We didn't go in (they were having some fancy-schmancy conference cocktail party going on when we went by there). Anyway, it was certainly interesting!

So we got back Wednesday evening and I had to go to work on Thursday to the boringness of everyday life. We had a great time though - the weather was beautiful, the presentations went well, and much food was enjoyed by all!

The end.

A Story of Springtime!

Ah yes, chickadees. It's that time of year. Spring! When the weather turns nicer (except for the cold spell we've had for the last 2 days - freezing last night! Brrr!) and my general feeling is one of not wanting to be inside. I get antsy, ready to move, ready to go, wanting to not sit in an office and file papers. It's hard! I suffer miserably! I'm like a child who is impatiently waiting for summer break to arrive, fighting my urge to heed the siren call of verdant growth!

Everything is frolicking!

Bright green tree frogs are singing! Butterflies are fluttering their way from flower to flower! Ladybugs daintily flit from one leaf to another! It's lovely! It's magical! It's enchanting!

So I go outside! I want to be part of the effervescent life of spring! I run outside, ready to frolic as well as any fuzzy caterpillar! (Do caterpillars frolic?) I want to be one with nature! I want to breathe in the deep scented air of spring!

I throw open the door and leap into the great green yonder!

And immediately lose a pint of blood, because every mosquito and sand gnat within a 5 mile radius can smell me coming and hone in like bloodhounds (pardon the pun there).

Then in a flank attack, every particle of pollen that was released around the house mysteriously finds its way into my nasal passages, where it attacks my sinuses like so many fluffy golden viking berzerkers.

So I frolic my way back inside to the couch and Spike Channel's CSI marathon and my knitting bag.

Cue Benadryl.

The End.

It's raining, It's pouring, the old man is snoring!

See this?

Yeah, we're right in the middle of that. Helloooooooo flash flooding! Also possible tornado problems tonight. Hurrah!

Also, please see the following link:

http://www.wtoc.com/global/story.asp?s=10119103

That's where I was today - shaking hands and explaining to children at a local middle school how important water is. And getting my picture taken by the media. 2 news stations were there, so I expect to be on the tv news tonight too. Looking slightly pudgy. Sigh. I must lay off the doritos. Sersely. One of my coworkers told me that tv cameras make you look 25% bigger than you actually are. Which makes me wonder how much (or little) do those teensy little women on the weather channel weigh? Because...wow. Eat a burger. Take mine. No really.

What else is happening here other than doritos and rain? Hmm...knitting. I've been knitting a lot lately which is nice. :) Surprises! So I can't elaborate. But I will be taking pictures.

Also yesterday was a big family holiday for us: April Fool's Day. My sister came up with a fun idea - get everyone (everyone!) to tell my mom Happy Birthday, despite the fact that her birthday is actually in May. hee hee. I sent an ecard from the kittens, and one of Rachel's friends made her a little cake and brought her a balloon. hee hee. Fun stuff.

Of course, Noel got me good by pretending his arm was broken at work, and I went running for my car keys before he started laughing. And then I kicked him soundly in the rear end. Because yes, he got me good! Not many people can - I'm usually pretty cynical. However, I am apparently also gullible when not properly caffeinated.

On a totally different note a blog I've been enjoying lately is http://www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com/. Hee hee. You should check it out if you have time.

Also, a great knitting blog is http://www.brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/ - this guy is a phenomenal knitwear designer. Gorgeous stuff - I love me some aran cables and this guy has serious talent. Too bad we're about 3 weeks away from sweltering down here!