I Went To A 5-Day Workshop And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt

And I had to pay for the shirt myself. However, the folks at the world-famous Colgate Bookstore let us in even after they had closed for the evening and were most gracious and kind and helpful, so that makes up for it a little. And it's really a very nice t-shirt. To tell the truth, Southern Man is a bit daft about t-shirts. Don't ask how many boxes of them are stacked in his garage. I think he hopes to make a quilt or ten out of them someday.

The Alice / ACM Java workshop is over. I dare say it was the least professionally-conducted workshop I have ever attended. For what we paid, I expected a lot more, and I do mean a lot more. One of my traveling companions wants to write a hot letter to their dean, and we may do just that. However, it wasn't a total loss, as the other participants were just wonderful folks, a lot of fun to be with in both work and play. So instead of being all twisted and bitter about it, whenever I think of this workshop I'll just imagine that I'm back at Nichols and Beal and raise a quiet toast to new friends, well met. Our many evening conversations meant more me more than words can express and even though we are now scattered to the four winds I hope to see all y'all again someday.

Flying back was a bit of an adventure. American's flight schedule was its usual chaotic mess and there were lengthy delays at both Syracuse and Chicago O'Hare. At Chicago we actually had the plane and flight crew ready to go but had to wait a couple of hours for an apparently indespensible flight attendant to make it in from wherever it was she was stranded. Southern Man and his luggage finally made it home at about three a.m., tired but happy to be back in his own bed (not to mention his own air-conditioned bedroom). The dorm rooms at Colgate were, shall we say, not particularly comfortable.

The proposed Missouri trip with my son to see Hawthorne Heights is, alas, cancelled - I have too many appointments on Monday to even try to get out of town. I promised him that we'd catch them next time they were in the region. It also looks like I've been drafted to go to yet another workshop this week, a one-day affair in a nearby city. I also have a weekend trip to East Texas coming up, and during the week after that I've got to move the rest of my stuff out of my wife's house, and then I have to start getting ready for the fall semester...so it will be a busy couple of weeks. Oh, yeah, there's all the divorce stuff to deal with, too. Great, just great.