It's Not Necessarily a Good Thing

... to be up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday. So it was my first face to face Exec. Board meeting with the Sisters in Crime New England -- at 7 a.m..  Those of you who know me, know that I am fully into REM sleep at 7 a.m. even if I have showered and dressed.

So I go to the grill at 6:33 a.m. (hard to believe, isn't it?) and it was locked tight as a drum. COFFEE!!! Luckily, the little Starbucks in the hotel was open.  How they can call a small coffee a "Tall" is beyond me.  Particularly since this is a conference (we filled the whole hotel) of wordsmiths, I would have thought they could have at least made funny names, i.e. Small Masquerading as Tall, or some such thing.

When I finally get into the private room in the grill (nice!) I plug in my Netbook (which I'm using now) and set out a sign up sheet. This activity apparently pisses off the President because everyone has a name tag (most of which I cannot see) and they will introduce themselves (which is not conducive to getting spelling correct). 

It was a productive meeting which ran a full hour.  It also ran 15 minutes after my diruetic had kicked in. I know, I know, too much sharing. But it was not pleasant to stay longer for pictures. I was, however, determined to be in the picture.  

I was on the union executive board for 7 years and they only managed to get me in one picture which has now been burned, I assume. It didn't matter how many side events or seminars I attended, I was never in the photo. I will no longer be a ghost drone.

Yesterday was great: I leisurely made my way here and had lunch at the hotel with some lovely ladies who invited me to join them. I met up with my roommate, Dusty.  I went to a discussion of 'how to revise your manuscript' by Barbara Ross. It was very informative and utilitarian. Barbara informed us that she had had a knee replaced 3 weeks ago -- but she stood the whole time.

Right now, I'm "cutting class" because I need some quiet time. We have heard the winner and runners up of the Al Blanchard Award and various notes. I just couldn't face the panel in the ball room which is too hot and too noisy for me.  I went looking for the crime scene which was supposed to open at 9 a.m. but there was nothing there at 9:30 a.m., so I guess I will just vege out with you here.

Having a roomie is not so bad. I will, however, use ear plugs tonight. And I won't drink a bottle of water before bed ... I considered a nap now, but I assume the cleaning crew is there and I can't tolerate several conversations in Spanish. I cannot even tolerate English at this point.  Is it too early to start drinking? As Dr. Phil says, 'You know the answer to that.'

The remnants of the breakfast buffet is still out, so I have had a lovely plate of melons. We got breakfast at the meeting, but it's not really comfortable for me to meet, type, and eat at the same time.

I just spent a ridiculous amount on books. The most expensive was Hank Phillipi Ryan's new book and I don't see her here -- meaning the chance of an autograph is slim. I'll have to spank her. I bought Kate Flora's (with 4 other authors) under the pseudonym of Thalia Something.  My failing memory is one of many here -- the book seller couldn't remember the price of a book that she had just looked up.  I forgot, this is a 'real' bookstore and I had to pay tax. I don't pay tax for the Library because it's a non profit.  Sigh.

It's way too difficult to upload pics from my phone, so I'll do that after I get home.  Speaking of phones, Dusty plugged in her phone in the room to charge it and it started ringing.  Earlier in the day, I called her and I got a man who said his number is not even close to what I had dialed.  I think there's some weird wifi devil here. Dusty was able to plug in her phone in the bathroom with no ill effects.

I have determined that these luncheon plates are designed to make your silverware hit the floor. The woman across from me has just lost her fork to the floor. That's two for both of us.

I think I'll go see if the crime scene is up.  I may sneak back into the ball room, but at the moment, talking heads is not my thing, Baby.