7:45am

Wake Up Call! The Homewood Suites by Hilton is a great place to stay. If a location exsts in the next city you travel to I recommend it. Why am I staying here? Well, the Doubletree was double-booked so I had to find somewhere to stay double fast.

8:38am

The complimentary breakfast here rules. Sure it has a nrmal continental breakfast spread, but this also includes a warm breakfast menu with items like fresh-made waffles. (Note to self: Introduce Waffle Eating contest at PDI next year in Kansas City).

8:55am

I just registered at the MOSAC2 PDI and said hello to all of the cheerful assistants at the registration table. It didn’t take long for somebody to hurl an insult my way about the Kansas City Royals. (Oh yes, I forgot that the St. Louis Cardinals are one game away from a World Series victory but we’ll get to that later). You may get it this year Cards’ fans, but all I have to say is remember 1985 baby!!!

9:25am

Man, it’s good to be here. I’m sitting in on a DESE workshop about grant requirement updates. The DESE crew is in the house...Jay Acock, Anne Reader and Jimmy Reed. Anne and Jimmy are presenting solid information for the grantees in attendance.

9:30am

Anne just mentioned that her DESE colleague-the person formally known as Cindy Waibel-is on her honeymoon. I sure hope it’s somewhere warmer and drier than STL. When will it stop raining? (Oh, just so you know, Cindy last name changed to Heislen.)

10:17am

Enjoying the first break of the day. You can never have too many of these you know?

10:19am

Strolling through the Doubletree with my partner in crime from KC-Angelina Garner, Region VII Afterschool Regional Educator- talking shop and trying to figure out who is in attendance at the PDI. Also I checked out the silent auction items and chatted up a storm with PDI vendors trying to get some free stuff. Free stuff at conferences is a must!

10:28am

Running to the MASN workshop that is being facilitated by Harry Kujath and Jeff Buehler. I have to get a good seat for this one...plus I kind of have to be there since I’m an ARE. That wouldn’t look good if I didn’t show for this one. That reminds me, do I have my name tag on? (Which also reminds me, for my readers that don’t know anything about me and I’m sure that 99.9999% of you don’t. I am the Manager of Youth Worker Training for YouthNet of Greater Kansas City, am an Afterschool Regional Educator for the Missouri Afterschool Network and serve on the board of directors for MOSAC2. So you can see the predicament I’m in come Saturday when college football is on. I won’t be able to sneak away for anything because of the multiple hats I’m wearing this weekend. I know, I know, ”Would you like any cheese with that wine?”).

11:15am

Harry & Jeff make a great team. They remind me of other famous, dynamic duos. The likes of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Batman and Robin, Crockett and Tubbs, Tom & Jerry, the Olsen Twins, Paris and Nicole, Bennifer, and Chuck D and Fla-va Flav!!! They’re good. Hey I wonder what’s for lunch? Will it be buffet? If it is look out.

12:05pm

Wow! Look at all of these people. It’s good to see people from all across the state. Man, I am hungry. The free homemade waffles at the Homewood Suites didn’t cut it.

12:45pm

Michael Morrow-keynote speaker-is throwing out a ton of facts and statistics about our profession. This is good info about the landscape of our profession. Lunch was good. Dessert was even better. I’m working on my second piece of strawberry cheesecake.

1:30pm

Leaving the luncheon a little early to room host for Shayla Hale and her Cinema Scene Investigation workshop. I’m looking forward to this. Anytime you can incorporate movies, candy and activities, its all good.

2:05pm

OMG. I just saw a scene from Remember the Titans. Scenes from that movie give me goose bumps. The scene that gets me is when the team has to run during the middle of the night across the country side to a grave sight, which just so happens to be the site of one of our country’s deadliest battles, the Battle of Gettysburg. Wow! I mean talk about drawing the parallel between the division of our country at that moment in history and the division that kept that team apart for the first half of the movie...wow. I’m speechless.

2:55pm

Shayla’s workshop rocked! I can’t believe she left me in charge of handing out the candy to the participants. I need to also figure out where I’m going next. I’m torn between two workshops: Cheryle Martin’s workshop on Marketing Strategies for Afterschool Programs and Dr. Bice’s workshop on Preparing for Today’s Diverse Families? Forget it. I’m doing both.

3:18pm

It’s good to see a fellow ARE present and represent, but I’ve to sneak out of Cheryle’s shop and head over to Dr. Bice’s deal to listen in on their conversation about diversity. That’s the downside to a great PDI, it’s hard to hit all of the workshops, especially if they are offered during the same session. Oh well, what are you going to do about it?

4:00pm

Alright it’s been roughly 4 hours since my last meal and I need a fix. No more workshops to go to and now I’m being bombarded from colleagues about wanting to know what the social calendar for the evening is. What am I...the party planner? I hear that there is a social for participants in the large ballroom. I’ve to check it out, I heard there is food there.

4:40pm

I just polished off my fourth plate of food...(yeah that’s right, #4). I’m enjoying the company of my fellow board members and MOSAC2 members plus I can’t leave out the appetizer buffet. I heard there is a cash bar around here somewhere. That’s okay, I don’t want to look too hard for it. Apparently, this is the time when you get to see the real side of people. Mix in food, no work, drinks, music and jokes, it always adds up to good times. Can you say Youth Workers Gone Wild?

6:00pm

The Improvisational Comedy Troupe is great entertainment (not to mention the conversations at the tables) but I’ve got to get out of here. I’ve been on-the-go all day plus I heard there’s a sale at Macy’s! Being out of town gives me every excuse to eat a ton of food and shop like there’s money burning a hole in my pocket.

7:35pm

Finally, I have arrived back at my hotel...Chez Homewood Suites. I also forgot to mention they have there own social hour(s) for guests. Seriously, I recommend Homewood Suites by Hilton. If I could live here I would. This should be the last entry for the day...

8:35pm

On second thought, I’ve got to get out on the town and take in the World Series. If there is another thing you should know about me, other than loving food, it’s loving sports. I love just about every sport-with the exception of hockey. I know...it’s just like I committed a crime or something, but hey what can I say? I didn’t grow up playing it, listening to it or watching it, so it didn’t make it into my sports vernacular. (Sorry Mr. Fowler...maybe I just need to be exposed to the sport more. If KC lands a team, I promise to go to at least six games).

6:55am

Is it time to get up already??? Holy Cow. It seriously felt like I just laid down a few minutes ago. The six hours of sleep I crammed in last night will definitely come back to haunt me. (In case you were wondering about last night...I’ll save you all of the boring details, but it can be summed up in two words...AWEsome baby! With a capital A-W-E! I really felt like I was a part of the World Series action last night. Even if I am from KC.

7:30am

Checking voicemails from last night...four missed calls. My friends that are Cardinals’ fans decided to call and leave messages detailing how great of night it was for them. Apparently, basking in the glory of a Cardinals’ World Series win wasn’t enough, they had to call and leave messages. Not only did they rub it in but they also threw in a couple of cheap shots about my beloved Royals. (Get it all out of your system now fellas).

7:32am

I can’t believe David Eckstein took home the most valuable player award for the series. And did you see the hot, canary yellow 2007 Corvette that came with it? I couldn’t help wondering...can he reach the pedals???

7:50am

(Entering the Doubletree Hotel) Everyone looks so wide awake and cheerful. Do they realize it’s ten ‘til eight in the morning? Wow.

8:40am

“Woohoo!!!” has officially become the slogan for this year’s PDI. I’m calling it now, we should market this. Can you see it on the front of a t-shirt? Or maybe this could be packaged as an energy drink and marketed to youth work professionals? (I do have to thank Vanessa New and her table for giving us the official “Woohoo!!!” for the weekend).

8:50am

“Woohoo!!!” has officially become the slogan for this year’s PDI. I’m calling it now, we should market this. Can you see it on the front of a t-shirt? Or maybe this could be packaged as an energy drink and marketed to youth work professionals? (I do have to thank Vanessa New and her table for giving us the official “Woohoo!!!” for the weekend.)

9:03am

That late night Dominoes pizza is kicking in...I don’t know about you but when I’m starving I’ll eat just about anything.

9:10am

Brad Barton: “Ladies and Gentlemen...” Vanessa New: “Woohoo!!!” Attendees: “HaHaHa” (Laughter)...cue the blinking applause sign...followed by a round of applause.

9:30am

Attendees are making for the exits like it’s a full fledged prison break. Brad was excellent and all but sitting for a solid hour and a half is a bit much.

10:50am

It’s been approximately 80 minutes since my last entry. Let’s just say I made three phones calls: one personal, one work related and the other to one of my friends that called last night and left a rude message. He preceded to rub in the most current events about baseball and also informed me that I’m going to miss out on all of the big college football games today. (Perfect.)

11:30am

I ran into Heather Otto (fellow MOSAC2 board member). She’s walking through her awards presentation that will also be highlighted during the luncheon. The slide show presentation looks great. Now all we have to do is configure her laptop with the LCD projector and make it run through the audio/visual table that’s set up in the front of the room. She certainly asked the wrong person to help her on this. (Asking me to help her with this task is like trying to ask the Detroit Tigers pitching staff to field the balls hit back to the mound during the final game of the World Series. It just doesn’t look good).

11:50am

I just got word that I’ll have five minutes to jet through the presentation on MOSAC2’s new website. Nice. A new website in five minutes...impossible. Normally, I don’t think things are impossible but this will definitely be a challenge.

2:40 Pm

It is time to slow down and catch up. The Awards Luncheon wasn’t all about awards (because we only handed out one award...so misleading. We have to do a better job of recruiting and marketing this piece of the PDI...sorry I got off on the wrong track). The lunch, and the two five-minute presentations from Veronica Knight-MOSAC2 ED-and yours truly didn’t go unnoticed...I think. But to try to follow the opening act was extremely difficult this year. The entertainment definitely stole the show. Anytime you get a group of 2nd and 3rd graders to perform the “The Munchkin Land Song (Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead)” from the Wizard of Oz automatically qualifies itself as being the highlight of the weekend. (I would have loved to see the MOSAC2 board of directors perform the same routine in costume...that would have been awesome). And I would be a fool to forget to mention the Lindbergh Strollers from Lindbergh High School. They brought the house down. Unbelievable. I’ve heard plenty of bands and musical troupes put their own personal spin on “Devil Went Down to Georgia” by the Charlie Daniels Band. But this group rocked (normally, I wouldn’t say that about a bunch of violinists, but there were plenty of witnesses that would agree). And they didn’t just stand on stage and jam, they walked, danced and pranced throughout the audience. It seemed as if each table had their own, that was playing in-sync with the rest of the group. I’ve never seen people give a longer standing ovation. Unbelievable.

2:50pm

Instead of rushing to another workshop I think I’m going to catch up with fellow Afterschool Regional Educators. Networking is important to my vital existence (that and I like to socialize).

4:00pm

I feel like I’m slacking but I’ve no time for entries because we are off to a board dinner that should be excellent. Somebody mentioned something about Imperial Gardens and IT being one of the biggest buffets every created. (Seriously, I think I’ve gained 10 pounds from all the food that I’ve eaten since Thursday night. The scary thing is that the PDI isn’t over yet, I’ve a couple of more meals to go).

6:00pm

I feel like I’m slacking but I’ve no time for entries because we are off to a board dinner that should be excellent. Somebody mentioned something about Imperial Gardens and IT being one of the biggest buffets every created. (Seriously, I think I’ve gained 10 pounds from all the food that I’ve eaten since Thursday night. The scary thing is that the PDI isn’t over yet, I’ve a couple of more meals to go).

9:10pm

What can be said about Imperial Gardens? Nothing negative, that’s for sure. This place is home to the largest buffet this side of Vegas, hands down. It had everything from Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese food. You could even create your own meal and have it cooked on an enormous Mongolian style grill. They even offered food served Americana for those people that can’t go a day without eating pizza, chicken and fries. (Just thinking about all of the food I consumed is giving me a headache. And, I didn’t even bother to venture over to the dessert table). I’m all done. Check please.

7:00am

I’m done with this wake up call business...I can’t believe it’s the last day of the PDI. Where did all of the time go? I don’t know if much more could have been crammed into a span of 72 hours (and that goes for food as well).

7:30am

PDI attendees are filling into the main ballroom for the Annual Meeting/Breakfast. Again, I’m surprised that so many people are up this early-all just to attend a meeting, but it’s important that they are here. It gives the board a chance to meet face-to-face with its membership. (This is why I’m here.)

7:45am

The annual meeting is about to begin and I must say that I’m not too crazy about sitting in front of everyone for breakfast. I get the whole meeting thing and joining the executive committee as newly elected President-Elect (by the way I heard the election was pretty close; only a few votes separated me and some guy named Homer Simpson) but sitting on stage and eating food at the same time while people are watching...talk about awkward.

9:00am

Overall, this PDI experience has been great! The planning committee worked extremely hard, the members seemed to enjoy themselves and take away valuable information, tons of food was consumed, conversations were had, and jokes and stories were shared. I would say all in all, it was a success. I can’t wait until next year (Kansas City here we come). I’ve to help out with one more workshop and wrap things up to call it a day. After all, it is Sunday. See you next year.