Boston Conference

I was in Boston from Thursday night through Saturday night for a conference of regional archivists.  I went because although I graduated with a MA in Archives I am technically not part of that field professionally since I work as an object cataloger at a museum.  The institution I work for is not very generous with professional development opportunities so I went on my own dime using vacation time.  Given that expense, I had hoped the conference would be really great.

My evaluation:  it was okay.  It was nice to see some people from grad school and spend some time with an old classmate (we roomed together) but other than that I was disappointed.  The sessions I attended did not meet my expectations and a large majority of them ended up being discussions about topics that were not well described by the session description.  Like you attend a session that was supposed to be about combating professional complacency and it ends up being a bunch of new graduates talking about how to find a job and one presenter who went on a tirade about global warming.  Yeah, I was confused.  Out of all the sessions I attended only one wasn't super boring.  I left not having gained any practical knowledge.  That being said, I'm not totally disappointed that I attended.

I got to stay in downtown Boston which was cool, even though I had no time to explore the city beyond the hotel.  I was able to practice my social skills by being forced to walk up to random groups of strangers and try to start a conversation.  This is no easy task for me and it took a lot of courage to do so at the reception on Friday night when I was flying totally solo.  I joined a table and introduced myself and chatted with a girl in graduate school.  I then joined a team for trivia.  We failed miserably but I did get a few of the answers right.  It was fun.

Rather than going back to the hotel room and enjoying cable TV for the rest of the night (which I really wanted to do) I forced myself to go with a friend to a bar and "watch basketball" with another colleague in the profession.  It wasn't half bad and I got a free Shirley Temple. 

I was super glad when the conference was over and I was headed back to Brooklyn.  I'm a home body and I missed my Buddy.  I was so happy to get home and end Saturday night with a nice warm dinner Dan made all by himself in the crock-pot.  What a guy. 

I would love to return to Boston but this time with Dan and with no professional obligations just touristy fun - now that would be worth my time and dime.

And here is some proof that the snow accumulation is Boston was real.