I'm Ba-ack!

I have finally recovered from not enough sleep and way too much alcohol. The conference went very well, and even my biggest stickler of a client laughed with me and got a picture of my team. They even joked about the project that we've been working on (and missing deadlines on) for the last 6 months.

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The food was all really good throughout the days. I think I could have eaten 6 pounds of that spinach/avocado/tomato salad. Mmmmmm!! It was also nice to hear the customers talk about the good food after last year's complaints about the chicken on the first night.

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On Monday night, we took them to see an IMAX film at the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum. We saw "Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D". The last time I went to a 3D movie, I had just finished high school. It turns out, being able to see out of both of your eyes is rather important to being able to resolve 3D images. In the previous experience, I became nauseated and had to step out. Seeing 2-3 copies of every image is very disconcerting. Well, I'm happy to report that the technology in the glasses has improved quite a bit. This time, the glasses filtered out most of the other images, and while I didn't see anything in 3D, I generally only saw one instance of the picture. Regardless, with Tom Hanks and Morgan Freeman narrating, I fell asleep about 10 minutes in, and woke up just before the closing credits. Was I drunk? No. Tipsy, but not drunk enough to pass out. Just tired from smiling and talking to everyone and trying to remember all the names and all of that.

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My presentation during the second day of conference proceedings went okay, but I was reminded of what a boring presenter I really am. I got lots of comments about how informative my session was, which is code for "it had information, but not much else." I tried to be lively, but I really felt like I was assigned a boring topic. And when you feel that way deep down, you're pretty doomed to fulfill your prophecy. I think I've got a (mostly) foolproof way to avoid having a presentation to do next year.

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We ended the conference on Fat Tuesday on 6th street, so that was a little crazy. After the planned festivities, a group of us ended up at the Rainbow Cattle Company for some dancing. I have to say, my first experience at a gay club went well. However, I did find myself wondering why I've never seen an unattractive gay man.

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The Wednesday after the conference found me drinking as much water as I could possibly fit into my stomach. I spent the rest of the day (that I wasn't in the restroom from the excessive water consumption) trying to relearn how to type and fix things for customers, etc. I'm pretty well back to normal now, and getting all the things done that I promised to them during the conference. I really enjoy this conference every year, even though it generates a ton of work for us all after we get done with it. We call it our "Job Security Conference."