I decided to drive myself to Greensboro for UNC Cause 2008 instead of riding with a work companion in case I need to head to Jacksonville for any reason over the next couple of days.
| UNC Cause 2008
This year’s conference will be held in Greensboro, NC from November 17th-19th. This year’s conference theme is “The University of North Carolina Tomorrow: Striving for Excellence Through Technology and Collaboration”. This year’s conference is being hosted by the Central region including the following universities:
Visit the Fall 2008 conference website at http://www.uncg.edu/cause08/. |
The approximate 1.5-hour drive was uneventful.
I passed a billboard advertising near Burlington that indicated a Harry & David store at an upcoming exit, and I zipped in and out of there to pick up six jars of their Pepper & Onion Relish for dip I’ll take to upcoming holiday parties, including our work pot luck in December.
When I got to the Marriott, I ran into Stan, with whom I’m sharing a room, up near the conference registration table. He told me that he had shared his room last night with a guy named Joe, who would be moving out today to go to another room, but that his stuff was still in our room.
I got my stuff from my car and while I was putting it in the room, the door opened and a man came in.
“You must be Joe,” I said.
“Yes,” he said, “I’m the guy that slept with Stan last night,” he said jokingly, and in search of something less awkward than, “Well, I slept with my boyfriend last night, too,” I managed to utter, “Whatever works.” I tried to say it with a smile in my voice.
While attending a couple of sessions, I ran into Jan, who told me that she ended up getting a room to herself and that I was welcome to camp out with her for the three days if I wanted to. So, when I saw Stan again, I said, “Joe does have another room to go to tonight, right?” after which I was going to add, “Because I can move in with Jen if he doesn’t,” but he jumped right in with, “Oh yeah. He’s going to get his stuff out of our room this afternoon.
Later in the afternoon, I ran back up to the room, and when I opened the door, I saw a body lying in the bed that I thought was mine, but wasn’t sure as Stan had never indicated which bed he’d slept in the night before.
The body’s feet were hanging off the end of the bed (Stan is quite tall), and his bare toes were sticking out from under the sheet. My first inclination was to check for a toe tag on one of his big toes. I’ve been watching too much Six Feet Under, evidently.
I tip-toed pass the body toward my bags which were by the window, and when I got past the feet I looked up at the head, which was under pillows in such a way that I couldn’t see the face until I was past the body—and lo and behold, it was not Stan at all. It was Joe.
Since the room had been made up already, I wondered two things: (1) Is that man sleeping in my bed, under my sheets?” and (2) “I thought he was moving to a different room.”
Later when I ran into Stan, he assured me that Joe did have another room, and told me that they were up very late last night preparing for a presentation they had to do today, and that he (Joe) was beat. “So, I told him he could take a nap in the room. I told him to sleep in my bed.” And that’s how I found out that the other bed was mine.
Don’t get me wrong, I really like Stan, but I think that sleeping with people you work with, and hardly know all otherwise, is just plain awkward. I am definitely going to consider paying the extra the next time there might be a conference to get a room to myself if that’s allowed by the State.
The conference started at one o’clock, and after a Chef Salad lunch at a nearby small restaurant, I attended the following sessions today:
| Time | Title | Sponsor/Host/Presenter |
| 1:00-1:45 | Microsoft SharePoint: What can you do with it? | Microsoft |
| 2:00-2:45 | Introduction to Novell’s Web-based Social Networking Solutions | Novell |
| 4:15-5:00 | Gaming on Campus | UNC-Chapel Hill |
From 6:00-8:00 was a reception, which consisted of heavy hors d’oeuvres and two free drink tickets, all sponsored by Cisco and NWN. Let’s just say that some “ticket-brokering” went on during the course of the two hours that afforded cost-free drinks for the duration.
After that a bunch of us went over to Natty Greene’s, about a four-block walk from the hotel, where more complimentary adult beverage consumption ensued. Unfortunately the tickets only bought beer here, which is low on my list of preferences; however, it combined with one of my highest, if not the highest of my preferences—free—so I drank it all night.
Once again, tickets abounded and another two hours or so of imbibing ensued, ending with the purchase of two of their soft pretzels to act as an alcohol sponge in my stomach, and watching some very fun games of pool among various conference attendees from NC State.
All in all, an informative day and a fun night.