Cache of the Day - Attending a National Conference

I recently had an opportunity to attend the National Conference of SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management. It was held in Chicago and it was such a great opportunity to network with other HR professionalisms and to advance my skills and knowledge in the profession.

The four days were jam-packed with sessions and workshops as well as key note speakers. Sydney Poitier opened up the conference on Sunday. We were able to see a Lionel Richie concert on Tuesday night. And I was most impressed with our speaker Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential historian, who spoke on the qualities we look for in a president and in particular to the qualities of Abraham Lincoln.

We had an intense schedule but we still made some time for Chicago-play, which included awesome restaurants, a boat ride on Lake Michigan and the Chicago river, and a much anticipated trip to Greektown.

The week was intense but worthwhile, and I felt like I gained such knowledge and can bring that information back to our local chapter of SHRM.

Cache of the Day - Roller Derby

I guess I always thought the roller derby was for big, bold, brazen women who were just looking to get into a fight with other big, bold, brazen women....and I was right!

We recently went to a roller derby meet and witnessed - right there in the "Suicide Zone" how the roller derby works. Actually, the "jags" were quite exciting and it was amazing to see how competitive these women are.

Check out these pics of the Bleeding Heartland Rollergirls out of Bloomington, Indiana!

The Bloomington team won and I'm glad because I would not have wanted to mess with them if they didn't!

Cache of the Day - Summer Fun

Check out these photos of Stacy and I and Taylor and Davie at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio last week - home of the world's most horrifying roller coasters.






They weren't so bad, really, and actually lots of fun. I liked the Maverick the best (see below).



Taylor and I still prefer Space Mountain in Disneyland as our favorite roller coaster of all time.








Let me know about your most exciting roller coaster experience.

Cache of the Day - Brain Games

Once a year, the Lawrence County History Museum hosts a fundraiser called "Brain Games", and corporate teams throughout the area compete - in a Jeopardy style competition - for the opportunity to claim themselves The Brainiest.






There was a spot opened up on a realtor team and they needed an extra contestant, so Joe arranged that I fill out the team of 5. Although we didn't win, we did pretty darn good.
I've also mused that I would enjoy being a contestant on Jeopardy, but this is probably the closest I would come. What is "she's just not fast enough on the buzzer"?

Cache of the Day - Derby Madness (and Sadness)

I don't know what it is about horses, but I have loved them my whole life. I love the power, the grace, the spirit. And when the Kentucky Derby rolls around, I celebrate like it's a national holiday.

This "first Saturday in May" was this past Saturday and Eagle Pointe (where I live) had a Derby Party at the Eagle's Nest. In addition to the comfort food (lots of potatoes and ham and barbequed green beans), we had an open bar with - of course - Mint Juleps (among other libations, since Mint Juleps taste TERRIBLE!!!!).

They also had a Derby hat contest (which I didn't win...but I was close!), and a great auction for the horses that were running.

We watched the race, where I was cheering on Eight Belles, because of her stats and, yes, because she was a girl out to beat the boys. And she beat 18 of them by coming in second! That was so cool. Until they discovered that she had broke her two front ankles and they had to euthanize her (thus the "sadness" in this cache). Of course, I cried uncontrollably.

I actually had a chance to go to the Kentucky Derby in 1992 and it was one of the most memorable days of my life. I can't wait to go again!

Cache of the Day - Birthday Fun

Thanks for all of you who joined me for the "birthday crawl'! Despite a couple of setbacks (Trulli Flatbread - our first location - decided they needed to close for two weeks and THEN I had the date for Dot Dot Dot wrong and we ended hanging out at the Bluebird for a random band and then onto Sports with no band) we still had a good turnout and I LOVED hanging out with a wide diversity of friends.


Here are some shots from the night:











Shannon and Lara on the left and Ryan and Gretchen Bass on the right, with Stacy (aka "Bono") at tutto bene.
















Also at tutto bene was Sharon and Michael (left) and Brandon and my nephew Eric on the right.




Jeff, my buddy from Sunrise (and mountain bike riding pal) joined the group at The Irish Lion (see below). To the right is Travis, who brought along his friend Brian (left), and my good friend James is on the right. Travis said he would bring along Bill Clinton, but Travis is a liar.







Yes, everyone is wearing crazy glasses, which they found in their "party box". If you wore the glasses, the party seemed funner.







I enjoyed the whole evening! Thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate!

Cache of the Day - Bloomington Business Expo

The Bloomington Business Expo is sponsored by the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce and features over 170 exhibitors and is attended by over 3,000 visitors. Employment Plus had a booth this year and here are the girls ("assume fighting position") that were partially responsible for greeting attendees and letting them know of our products and services. Here is Sarah, Elizabeth, me, and Gahimer.

It's also fun to see what other businesses have got going on. I really enjoyed the "hook" that this local financial institution had to draw people in. I had 15 seconds to gather all the "cash" I could while it blowed around the booth. I was able to stuff something like $473 into my fanny pack, which wasn't enough to win "real" cash, but it was still lots of fun.

Thanks to Deb Owen for snapping the money booth pics. Visit her other great shots by going to her site http://debowen.typepad.com/photoblog/