day at a conference

Last week went very quickly because it was broken up with a day (Monday) at the annual technical writers' conference, held this year at the Dan Carmel hotel up in Haifa. I wasn't interested in what I assumed would be a major yawn of a day, which forced me to get up at the crack of dawn in order to make the 1-1/2 hr. trip and arrive by 9am. But my boss is very into spending her budget on us getting every possible enrichment going, and insisted my colleague and I would have a nice day and enjoy the free lunch. What a surprise when it turned into a very pleasant day, some interesting lectures, and great snacks and lunch. I met a few new people and also ran into several people I've met through the years and got reacquainted with. By 6pm I'd certainly had enough, but it wasn't a bad way to spend a work day at all. Also very nice, I managed to get a ride up and back with another writer from Raanana who was a very competent driver, a good thing, since it rained all the way back.

And it's been back to very cool or even rainy weather ever since. The joke's on me, cause I was sure it would be smooth spring-summer by now. But that's fine with me -- the cool weather means I can still wear the winter clothes I just bought on sale! [smirk]

In fact, it would be great if the cool weather would last another couple of weeks until Purim, otherwise I'll be roasting in my costume. On the 24th the company's throwing its annual Purim party, and I've been putting together a costume for the first time I can remember. Apparently, they have some very good prizes for best costume, so I'm making an effort. I already bought a long black wig and some other accessories to go with my long black dress -- anybody want to guess who I'm going to be? I had lunch with a male colleague one day this week and went to look at costumes with him at a local toy store. He became very intrigued when he saw the whip I bought and started being very helpful with eager suggestions of handcuffs and metal-studded chokers and belts. A dwarflike father of three, he was the last person I would have expected to be into that stuff, and now we have a laugh together over "our little secret" when we meet in the halls. Never underestimate your office mates!

This week will be another very nice one: I'll be there only Sun and Thurs, as I'm spending Mon through Wed at a course on FrameMaker, the program we like to use instead of the very buggy Word. This is such a sweet deal: instead of expecting me to have this skill under my belt when she hired me, my boss just says, "No problem, we'll send you to a course." These things cost thousands of shekels, so it's quite a nice gift. And at the end of the month, my colleague and I are going to yet another one-day seminar being offered as a tech. writing refresher. Life could be worse.