July 31, 2015
Dear Everyone:
Last week I drove up to
Portland, Oregon for the annual
ARMA* Regional
Leadership Conference (RLC).
This year the Powers That Be (PTB) decided to combine the
Pacific Region
(Arizona,
California,
Hawaii,
Nevada and
Utah) with the
Great Northwest
Region (Alaska,
Idaho,
Oregon and
Washington).
Still not sure exactly why they did that, other than to reduce
travel times for the PTB who come to all the various Regions.
The trip itself was fairly uneventful, if you don’t count not finding
the hotel in Grants Pass, which is about 50 miles north of the
California border. After
wandering around in “downtown” Grants Pass for a bit, I decided to
follow the old adage: “When
all else fails, read the directions.”
Turns out, I should have taken the exit
before Grants Pass, vaguely
in the general vicinity of the tiny hamlet of
Rogue River.
The next morning I took the precaution of memorizing the Google Map
directions to the hotel in Portland:
Take I-5 North to
I-405 North, then take Exit 1B at 4th
Avenue to Lincoln Street. It
was as I was rounding the curve on I-405 to the 4th Avenue
Exit, and realized that I had about three seconds to get across two
lanes of merging-in traffic, that I suddenly realized, “Hey!
I remember this!” 40-some
years ago, when I was attending
Portland State University, I used to
take this exact same route to the school.
It wasn’t called “Interstate 405” then, but it was just as
treacherous then as it is now.
Once I was off the freeway, it only took about a half-dozen trips around
the block to finally spot the hotel (in a classic
you-can’t-get-there-from-here position between 4th and 3rd
avenues) and find a way into the parking lot.
The Leadership Conference went about as they usually do.
My room wasn’t quite the furthest from the meeting space.
My electronic room key did work, most of the time.
As usual, the places chosen for the “evening before Get Together”
and the “Fun Time Dinner” were too far away to walk to for anyone over
30.
By the way, we apparently have a new term for the “more mature” people:
“Seasoned”. Maybe it
has something to do with “salt-and-pepper” hair.
As for the two-day Conference itself.
We found out that ARMA now has a Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
The organization has always had a President and various Board
Members and Committees and Departments and such.
And the people filling those roles have to know a lot about
Records and Information Management (RIM), not to mention be elected by
the overall members who are all there because of RIM.
Businesses have, over the years, discovered that “promoting through the
ranks” doesn’t always work out all that well.
Knowing how to run a copy machine doesn’t automatically mean you
know how to run a Copy Center.
Sometimes you’re a hit; sometimes you’re a miss.
Knowing all there is to know about RIM doesn’t mean you know how
to run an international organization, even if it is a non-profit one.
So the PTB decided to hire a “rent-a-CEO”.
We’ll see how that goes.
Meanwhile, at the Conference, the hotel squeezed twelve round tables
into a typical meeting room.
Then the PTB told everyone to keep switching tables so we could meet as
many other people as possible.
Confer about typical issues, none of which were settled in any
way, of course. (How do we
get more of our members to “participate”?
Have you tried bribery?)
Nevertheless, I met a number of people I wouldn’t have otherwise and,
apparently, have acquired a new BFF**.
She’s emailed me three times so far this week, asking for advice,
which is flattering in and of itself.
Once the Conference was over, I stopped by “Diana’s” place (our brother,
“Byron’s” first ex-wife) for lunch and to see all of her kids and all of
their kids. Lots of
great-nieces and great-nephews to keep track of these days.
Coming from a large family means an even larger extended family.
I had a much easier time finding the hotel “in” Grants Pass on the
return trip. After that it
was a breeze sailing down I-5 to the
Bay Area and home again.
Spent most of the time listening to
CDs and
CNN on the car radio.
Lots of talk about the Interminable
Donald Trump.
I have a theory about Donald’s famous hair.
When Donny was about ten years old,
Walt Disney released a series
of TV shows starring Fess Parker as “Davy Crocket, King of the Wild
Frontier”. Every kid in
America wanted an “official Davy Crocket
Coonskin Cap”.
I have no idea if little Donny got his Coonskin Cap or not; but
it looks to me like he’s still wearing it.
(“Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee, Greenest state in the Land of the
Free…”)
Love, as always,
Pete
**BFF = Best Friend Forever
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