(no subject)
I can't believe that today is only my second full day here. This conference has been so intense it feels like I have been here for a week.
First, I found my other black sock! Today I actually felt like I looked professional and I didn't have to walk slow so that my socks won't show. I went to some interesting presentations in the morning about managing a federal grant and one about dealing with aging HIV populations. They both were pretty interesting and informative.
Then we had lunch. The food at this conference has been terrible. For lunch we had a crappy salad that came with a crab cake. I don't really like crab cakes anyway, but to be on the safe side i couldn't eat it. I can't imagine that they could possibly keep 2,000 crab cakes at the right temperature and not poison me. Normally I don't worry about this kind of stuff, but I don't think eating room temperature sea food is ever a good idea.
I think they are providing crappy food so that people will eat at the three restaurants in the hotel.
Some pictures from lunch:
These pictures don't really do it justice. The room we are in is huge. There are about 2,000 people here. This picture is of the stage and that screen is probably 200 feet long.
Here are some more panels from the AIDS quilt. They have them hanging up all over. Again you really can't tell how huge the room is. Here is some info from the website for the AIDS quilt
"Each "block" (or section) of The AIDS Memorial Quilt measures approximately twelve feet square, and a typical block consists of eight individual three foot by six foot panels sewn together. Virtually every one of the more than 40,000 colorful panels that make up the Quilt memorializes the life of a person lost to AIDS."
so each panel is 12 feet and there are 5 panels that take up a small part of the wall space in the room.
After lunch I had a presentation about Dental Case Managers and it went really well. People seemed to enjoy my presentation. The audience laughed when they were supposed to and I got some good feedback so I am happy with how I did.
After my presentation I went to a presentation by Ryan White's mom. It was really incredible. She talked about Ryan's life and her life as his mother and what her family went through. She showed a short documentary about him and a video Michael Jackson made for him after he died. The time that she spent telling her story was by far the most touching and amazing part of the presentation though. It was sad and funny and inspiring. There was not a dry eye in the place. It was really inspiring to listen to her tell their story. It really made it much more personal. Working in this field Ryan White is just a name i hear all the time like HRSA or DHS. It was just an incredible experience to get to listen to his mom talk and to really understand what they went through. Its sort of hard to describe.
After this presentation I had to go stand by my poster for an hour and a half which was fine. I spent some time talking to people about my program and the agency.
Tonight I think I am going to stay in and relax. I am exhausted. My big plan for the evening is to watch tv and sleep. Yesterday and today have both been 12 hour days so I am ready for a break. Tomorrow I have a shorter day so I think I will venture out of the hotel to the Smithsonian. I think I am going to go to the natural history museum. The Smithsonian has 19 museums here. Tomorrow I will post some pictures of my adventures out side of the hotel.
First, I found my other black sock! Today I actually felt like I looked professional and I didn't have to walk slow so that my socks won't show. I went to some interesting presentations in the morning about managing a federal grant and one about dealing with aging HIV populations. They both were pretty interesting and informative.
Then we had lunch. The food at this conference has been terrible. For lunch we had a crappy salad that came with a crab cake. I don't really like crab cakes anyway, but to be on the safe side i couldn't eat it. I can't imagine that they could possibly keep 2,000 crab cakes at the right temperature and not poison me. Normally I don't worry about this kind of stuff, but I don't think eating room temperature sea food is ever a good idea.
I think they are providing crappy food so that people will eat at the three restaurants in the hotel.
Some pictures from lunch:
These pictures don't really do it justice. The room we are in is huge. There are about 2,000 people here. This picture is of the stage and that screen is probably 200 feet long.
Here are some more panels from the AIDS quilt. They have them hanging up all over. Again you really can't tell how huge the room is. Here is some info from the website for the AIDS quilt
"Each "block" (or section) of The AIDS Memorial Quilt measures approximately twelve feet square, and a typical block consists of eight individual three foot by six foot panels sewn together. Virtually every one of the more than 40,000 colorful panels that make up the Quilt memorializes the life of a person lost to AIDS."
so each panel is 12 feet and there are 5 panels that take up a small part of the wall space in the room.
After lunch I had a presentation about Dental Case Managers and it went really well. People seemed to enjoy my presentation. The audience laughed when they were supposed to and I got some good feedback so I am happy with how I did.
After my presentation I went to a presentation by Ryan White's mom. It was really incredible. She talked about Ryan's life and her life as his mother and what her family went through. She showed a short documentary about him and a video Michael Jackson made for him after he died. The time that she spent telling her story was by far the most touching and amazing part of the presentation though. It was sad and funny and inspiring. There was not a dry eye in the place. It was really inspiring to listen to her tell their story. It really made it much more personal. Working in this field Ryan White is just a name i hear all the time like HRSA or DHS. It was just an incredible experience to get to listen to his mom talk and to really understand what they went through. Its sort of hard to describe.
After this presentation I had to go stand by my poster for an hour and a half which was fine. I spent some time talking to people about my program and the agency.
Tonight I think I am going to stay in and relax. I am exhausted. My big plan for the evening is to watch tv and sleep. Yesterday and today have both been 12 hour days so I am ready for a break. Tomorrow I have a shorter day so I think I will venture out of the hotel to the Smithsonian. I think I am going to go to the natural history museum. The Smithsonian has 19 museums here. Tomorrow I will post some pictures of my adventures out side of the hotel.