The 2008 Charleston Conference is now over and I am happy to be home, and as always, it was great event. I wish I had had the energy to "blog the conference" as it was happening, but I am not that kind of blogger/writer (yet?). I had the ability -- I took my laptop and stayed in a hotel with free WiFi. However, this is not a habit I've developed yet and I did not have the mental focus. I am required by my new employer to provide a written summary report of my experiences at any funded event I attend. I totally support this requirement for a number of reasons. I have frankly seen too many colleagues spend too much time doing nothing at conferences or focused on shopping or playing golf or worse. I definitely think it's important for conference attendees to expect that they be accountable. Perhaps in the future I can develop this required report from a blog rather than a report after the fact. That might be useful, although I find reports written afterwards to improve with some distance and that includes certain positive qualities that may not be possible without reflection. This whole dynamic needs some exploration, but not here or now, though maybe later.

This is not a report of the Charleston Conference, by the way. It's more about the experience of going to the conference now that I am at my new job. That experience was gratifying in so many ways:

-- I was told by a number of colleagues in a variety of ways that I seemed:
Happier
More relaxed
Exuberant
More confident
More centered

How great is that? I certainly felt all those.

One thing I have noticed since passing the big 5-0 is that I focus more on reminiscing about the past. I guess that is one of those natural progressions of age. One evening a group of us were at the Swamp Fox restaurant bar at the Francis Marion Hotel and we interacted with some locals - I believe they were awning salesmen or something like that -- one of the guys "Dirk" was born in 1970 (according to his SC drivers license) - and I was struck by the fact that I was in high school when this guy was born!

There are some other topics I want to talk about here but since I just got home and am tired, I should save them for tomorrow.

I am really surprised that anyone reads this blog. Several people at the conference told me they do!

Good night!