November 17, 2010
Dear Everyone:
Last week’s ARMA International Conference (Association of Records
Managers and Administrators) in
San Francisco was loads of fun.
I had made a reservation at the hotel for Saturday night, since
the Conference officially began at 7:30 AM on Sunday.
On Saturday, I first went to my hairdresser for my usual four-week
haircut. Then I went up to
“Jeannie’s” for lunch, did some shopping before I got home to start
packing. (At least I had
already done all the necessary laundry.)
I can only conclude that I am out of practice when it comes to packing.
I used to be able to do it in under an hour.
By around 6:00 PM I called the hotel to let them know that I was
“running a little bit late” but was definitely coming, so they wouldn’t
give my room away. The
person on the phone assured me that they would put me down for a “late
arrival.”
I finally got out the door around 7:45 PM.
Got to the hotel by 8:30, but couldn’t figure out how to get into
it. Usually there’s some
kind of a driveway where you can park while you check in, then drive
into the garage. I finally
found the entrance to the garage which is when I discovered that the
garage had “valet parking only”.
(“Jeannie” told me later that a lot of hotels are turning to this
for “safety reasons”; also, they make a lot more money that way.)
My original plan had been to leave a lot of things in the trunk of my
car; I could just go to the garage whenever I needed anything.
With the valet parking, this was no longer an option.
Instead, I pulled out everything, which the valet loaded onto a
cart. $5.00 tip to the
valet.
So it was a bit after 9:00 PM when I finally checked in.
“Peter” kept tapping his keyboard, looking for a room for me.
Thank goodness I had called ahead.
Eventually, he affirmed that all the “usual” rooms were taken, so
they “upgraded” me to a “hospitality” room.
On the 21st floor.
My “luggage” (all that stuff on the cart) would be delivered to
my room.
When I got to the room, I discovered that it had no less than three
doors; two to the hallways and another to an adjoining room.
There was a living room, with a sofa, two chairs, a settee, and
double-decker coffee table.
A tiny kitchenette. A large
flat-screen TV.
Then the bathroom, which took up a third of the space, followed by the
bedroom which really did have a “Murphy bed”, which could be folded into
the wall, if necessary. And
another flat-screen TV. I
figured the length of the entire room was a bit longer than my
condo at
home. In fact, the whole
room was almost bigger than my place and had windows on two sides.
Clearly, I had got the “party room”.
Too bad I didn’t have a party to use it.
By this time, the bellman had arrived with all my “luggage”.
$5.00 tip to the bellman.
I unpacked, settled in, took a shower, watched a little TV (on
two screens) and went to bed.
Sunday morning I got dressed for “work” and made my way down to the
lobby. I was going to ask
directions at the Concierge desk, but saw some people walking by with a
familiar maroon canvas bag in hand.
I had helped to “stuff” those bags the weekend before.
I followed the bags.
Did I mention that it was pouring rain at the time?
I knew the forecast called for rain, so I had an umbrella.
When I found the entrance to “Moscone Center West” (down a block,
across the street, down another half-block) there was a stand inside
holding long clear plastic bags marked “Wet Umbrella”, big enough for a
standard, or even a larger umbrella.
I grabbed one and stuffed the wet umbrella inside, then made my
way to “Registration” to check in and claim my own maroon canvas bag.
These bags are an integral part of the Conference Experience.
In the past, they contained a huge binder with the printed
handouts for all the Educational Sessions, plus lots of freebies.
This made the bag very heavy.
The typical attendee would drag the bag back to their hotel room,
pull out the binder and set it aside.
Not-so-typical attendees would even extract the handouts for the
sessions they planned to attend and take them with them for notes and
such. (More recently, the
binders were replaced with CDs, which weigh a whole lot less.)
Now the bag would be ready for the Expo Hall.
This is where all the vendors would have their booths set up with
helpful materials and lots and lots of freebies.
But I knew better than to take a bag in there.
One of the things I had packed with my “luggage” was a folding hand
truck and a sturdy cardboard box, with lid.
I put these together Monday morning and wheeled them to the Expo
Hall.
Up one aisle and down the next, I walked with my cart, picking up pens,
yo-yo’s, the occasional “rubber” sumo wrestler, flashlights, etc.
I stopped to talk with one vendor if only to get a “rubber ducky”
(can’t have enough of those) who actually remembered working with a
paralegal that I had worked with from time to time.
She knew I worked for Company because it said so on my badge.
As far as I know, I was the only Company person there, and not on
behalf of the Company.
When the box was full, I hauled it back to my hotel room, then devoted
myself to attending any educational sessions that were presented by
people I knew and/or looked the least bit interesting.
I was somewhat surprised at how many people I did know,
considering that Company chose to blow off the opportunity entirely.
I hadn’t realized how many people in the
Records Management
Community I was familiar with.
Tuesday evening, I packed everything I didn’t need that night, or the
next morning, then called the valet and requested my car.
Once the car arrived, we loaded everything including my laptop
hidden inside the “goody box” into the trunk.
$5.00 tip to the valet.
Wednesday morning was the end of the Conference.
By that afternoon I was on my way home.
The following Saturday, I took the “goody box” to “Jeannie’s”
place. She promptly took
ownership of all the pens, doodads, Frisbees and rubber ducky.
Some may become “stocking stuffers” this coming Christmas.
The cats liked the rubber ducky.
Programming Note: I’m off
again next week: Three days
vacation, plus the two days for
Thanksgiving.
So no Letter.
Everyone have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.
Love, as always,
Pete
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