Sundance....



I just returned from a trip to Park City, Utah. I went for a natural resource professionals conference. I find conferences, in general, to be painful. My brain gets overloaded with ideas that fly right out of my head the second the conference concludes. This one became increasingly painful as the expectations for me to "network" increased exponentially as the conference droned on. I met some feds. I met some NGO folks. I met some academics. In all instances, I was a good bit younger and female which, apparently, makes it OK to stare unabashedly at my breasts. I served as the designated driver for the group of five that I traveled with because the second we stepped off the plane, the conference became their booze cruise. Things became increasingly more excruciating due to the fact that Park City, Utah is in the top five most beautiful places I have ever been and I was stuck in a hotel trying to keep a smile plastered on my face while business cards filled my pockets. The free time I ended up having was squandered away in sleep. Networking wears my ass out and I am DEFINITELY not skilled in such endeavors. The last day of the conference came and I started counting down the seconds before I could leave. What a shame. From here on out, I will only attend conferences in places like Hot Springs, Arkansas or Macon, Georgia so that there will be nothing else to do than waste two hours listening to some over zealous educator spout off about marketing tactics and needs assessment. Blah! Blah! Blah! I may be having a career crisis. Love the research...hate the sales pitch. I can't even stand when the sales people at the Gap try to offer me "socks to go with that T-shirt." How on earth can I be expected to "sell" my research? I need a gimic. Ugghhh!