Spring Break... err... conference

I feel like I'm on vacation right now. In reality, I'm in Norfolk, VA, for this big all-staff conference of the whole Eastern Region of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), with different people giving different talks on different stuff, which is all fine and good and mostly quite interesting, but I'm only giving a short (5 min) presentation at one talk in the last session on Friday. So, I'm not exactly stressed about this. Especially since I already have my talk down pat, and there are so many "networking" opportunities, which really mean free food and booze, and I like all the people I work with. The "dress code" is business casual, and this being TNC, about 15% of the folks here are in blue jeans. My boss went and got a new pair of sneakers for this, I was impressed.

So, Cheyenne and I got here around the same time, and we're rooming together (I know, having a roommate on a business trip is weird, but we chose to do this), so that worked out. They overbooked the flight down here, so we both took the bump and a $400 travel voucher (each), got to Norfolk by 2pm, wandered around for a while, got ice cream, ate a lot of sushi and drank lots of sake. Not a bad day for a Tuesday!

We also got a sweet room up on the 23rd floor, we both walk in, look at each other, and exclaim, "I've never stayed in a room like this!". See below for the view.





So, after the sessions today, and the "networking" cocktail hour, the whole eastern region of the company (some 600 staff) head to the barbeque. I see a guy in a sequined tuxedo, and somehow this doesn't strike me as strange. It strikes other people as strange, though, but then we realized he was part of the band. A word on this band. Their name is "Right On". They play '70s music. They're wearing sequins and shiny turquoise pants and the keyboard dude is wearing knee-high, sparkly-gold, platform high-heeled boots. I was thinking to myself, these guys are ridiculous! Then I thought some more to myself, and I realized, the only way you'll ever get a bunch of work people to dance is to have the band be more ridiculous looking than a group of hippies and lawyers mingling and sort of bouncing up and down in their best "white guys can't dance" moves. It was great, Cheyenne started the party and soon we had the whole Eastern Resource Office (my office) out on the dance floor. Not something I thought I'd ever see... but smiles all around, so it can't be bad!

Have I mentioned, I love my job?


Cheyenne checking out the workstation in our sick hotel room...