Bullets of conferencing

• There is a conference on campus.
  
• I am attending said conference.
  
• Free coffee is lovely in the morning and throughout the day.
  
• Cookies would be nice.
  
• Or Brownies.
  
• Muffins?
  
• Cupcakes?
• Pecan squares! Lemon bars!
  
• I enjoy sweets.
  
• I prefer tables with my chairs when attending sessions. The smaller workshops I've attended have sometimes utilized tables and I find I'm more comfortable and focused when I have something on which to lean.
• There were no tables at this conference.
  
• This made me sad.
  
• And I was already reeling from the lack of cookies.
  
• I sat shoulder to shoulder with Boss and a stranger.
  
• I was sometimes squished.
  
• I was often uncomfortable.
• When either of them would shift or lean, I would have to compensate with my own movement, often to a less comfortable position.
• I didn't like this.
• If - as a speaker - you are allowed 30 minutes, please take no more than 35.
  
• 40 tries my patience.
  
• 45 pisses me off.
  
• 50 makes me fidget, glare and internally call you a whore. If your talk is that awesome - and some of them were incredibly good - let the organizers know you require more time so some is scheduled.
  
• If - as an attendee - you need to leave during a session, please be courteous.
  
• I will be jealous when I see you go.
• Since I'm sitting next to Boss and other senior people in my department, I can't go.
• Therefore, perhaps you could not let the door slam behind you.
  
• Or not return with precious soda which I cannot obtain until the speaker who is 20 minutes over his scheduled time finally shuts up and I can run to the refreshment area to find drinks, but no snacks.
• My campus does free lunch well. Most noon seminars offer food and it's often excellent. Therefore, I was expecting to be impressed by the catered box lunch.
• I've had pizza and Thai and any number of awesome sandwiches.
  
• At a Matlab seminar, I had this great wrap with these super-thick tortilla chips.
  
• It was like they took the extra parts of the wrap and made them into crispy chips.
  
• Which must have required frying, but they weren't greasy at all!
• They were paired with this really nice, fresh, chunky salsa.
  
• I loved those chips and will forever regret that I didn't at least remember the name of the restaurant on the box.
  
• I wanted those chips again.
  
• I was sad when I saw lunch contained bags of Lays.
• Not that I don't like Lays, but I wanted the homemade tortilla chips.
• I also wanted something more special than a sandwich.
• But the bread was very good (it was wheat with some wonderful crunchy yet chewy inclusions) and the flavored mayo was delightful.
• And I finally got a cookie, which pleased me.
• I have this futile hope that tomorrow there will be piles of baked goods and the special tortilla chips.
• Joe got up once to ask a question, realized someone was almost at the microphone, then nearly fell down in his hurry to return to his seat.
  
• I was sort of pleased because Chris was coming to sit with me and Joe demanded Chris come up front without inviting me. So maybe he deserved to fall.
  
• But I also wondered if he was trying hard to make a good impression and got overly nervous, and felt sort of badly for him.
  
• I'm very tired - I think I'm a bad scientist and just can't tolerate such long days of information.
  
• I'll test this again tomorrow.
• Because I'm usually pretty tired.
  
• Maybe I need to take vitamins or some extra 'not be so tired' supplements.
• Or get more exercise.
• Or strengthen my core muscles so I'm not so uncomfortable sitting without a table on which to lean.
• I talked to Mom and she sounds much better tonight. The prayers seem to have helped and she seems nervous, but prepared.
  
• She called on the way home from dinner with Dad and sounded stable.
  
• The thought of losing her makes me nearly hysterical. So I try to calm down and tell myself that it's not time yet. Everything will be fine.
• She's due at the hospital at 12:30 tomorrow afternoon. Surgery takes 3 hours, then 2 hours in recovery. If you wouldn't mind thinking good thoughts or offering prayers, I'd continue to be grateful.