Sunday, as I mentionedd in a previous post, I drove out to Little Rock for the American Water Works Association Southwest Section annual conference. As you might expect, the Southwest Section consists of Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Yeah ... I'm not sure how it got that name.
Anyway, I finished my presentation on Sunday night, then gave it on Monday. The conference ended at 4 (I left the last "social hour" about 30 minutes early to get on the road), and I got home about 9:30.
I learned a few things at the conference. I won't bore people with details, though.
I also was impacted by the government shutdown ... kind of. There was supposed to be a presentation about climate change, extreme runoff events, and source water quality. The presenter was a PhD who works for USGS. So, he didn't show. I'm a little confused by this. Apparently, he lives in Little Rock. Is he not allowed to volunteer his time while he is "on vacation"? Could he have come and talked if he wanted to?
The strangest thing that happened was that they ran out of box lunches at lunch on Tuesday. I was talking to a fusible PVC pipe rep, so I was a little late getting in line. But, there were about 10 other people who were looking, unsuccessfully, for food. It was ridiculous. We had tickets for everything ... there should have been a lunch for every ticket! It isn't rocket science.
Anyway, I met some nice people. The fusible PVC pipe rep lives in Pittsburgh now. I talked to the YP (young professionals) Committee Chair about possibly helping with an AWWA student section at OU, if there is student interest. I also talked quite a bit with a rep who sells pumps, valves, tank mixers, etc in OK. He is someone I was vaguely familiar with, but it is good to put a face with the name.
So, all in all, it wasn't a bad conference.
Ahhh ... the other major issue was that it was really cold in one of the rooms. It happened to be the room I went to most of the second day, so I was pretty cold by the time lunch (or lack of lunch) rolled around.
Oh ... and I won a door prize. I won a Central Arkansas Water Nike polo. CAW is the water provider for Little Rock and North Little Rock.
6 comments:
I read that furloughed workers are forbidden to volunteer and can be fired for doing so.
That would explain it. So, furloughed workers can get a new job, but they can't volunteer? Hmmm. ... excellent system.
Sounds like a good trip. Does the polo fit?
It does.
But is it something you will wear? Or is it dorky looking?
I'll have to post a pictuure, I guess. It is basically just a red polo shirt with the Central Arkansas Water logo on the left chest (I think). It might have something on one of the sleeves, as well, but there isn't anything overly dorky about it.
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