Power to imagine, courage to act.

This past week, Jess and I (along with some of our colleagues) went to the ACPA Annual Convention in Metro D.C. To say the convention was in Washington D.C. is a little bit misleading.  Despite being in the hazy midground between Maryland and Virginia, the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center is just barely conveniently located to Washington and all of the good things there are to do there.  This didn't prevent us from enjoying ourselves and taking in some of the springtime traditions of our nation's capital.

Things I Liked About Going to the ACPA Annual Convention:

1. Jess, Laura, and Kate presented.  ACPA is one of our profession's biggest stages, so to present there is something of a big deal.
2. I went to lots of good sessions, and I left the conference with some new ideas.  Even though for the most part these new ideas aren't in line with what I am able to do in my current position with the university, eventually I may be able to apply them.
3. Sightseeing in D.C. was fun.  For some reason I really enjoy navigating public transportation when we travel.
4. My interview with GWU went well.  
5. I got to see some old friends I do not see very often.  It was great to see Josh, Shandol, and Kristen in particular.
6. I helped with mock interviews at placement, which was a lot of fun.  When I signed up to help I did not know that I would actually be facilitating the interviews, but I did and it went well. I like helping people with those sorts of things.

Things I Liked Less About Going to the ACPA Annual Convention:

1. Things were expensive.  For instance, a cup of yogurt with granola at the Gaylord was $5.00.  Jess and I planned for this, however, by packing our own snacks, beverages, and breakfast foods.  Take that, Gaylord!  The hotel was expensive, conference registration was expensive, parking was expensive . . . attending was certainly an investment in your professional development.
2. There were almost too many options when it came to sessions during each time period.  There were page after page of sessions to choose from, which made it very difficult to choose just one for each timeslot.
3. Although there was wifi in the hotel, I couldn't get it to work in the conference center side of things.  I had visions of using Evernote to keep track of what I did at the convention, but that did not happen.

As you can see, the things I liked outnumbered the things I did not.  As of now, we are planning to attend the 2010 Convention in Boston, which is great because it is in a wonderful, accessible location. I am not really a big-city person (a Facebook quiz actually suggested that I should live in the country), but Pittsburgh and Boston are two legit cities where I think I would enjoy living.  

Jess and I are both on the doot this weekend.  Here's keeping our fingers crossed that it is a quiet, uneventful weekend!