Thank you all!

[Linda]

I'd like to thank everyone for the kind words and thoughtful gifts I was given at TAM. A day at the spa is just what I need after this and if I ever get caught up with the paperwork sitting on my desk, I'm going to take a day off and use it! The "virtual" Amazon gift certificate is also a wonderful present.

I want to thank everyone that pitched in and helped out....especially Hal. Believe me folks, this conference would not have happened without him. I don't even want to start listing all the things he helped with, because I'd forget too many. His humor, grace, intelligence and strength are awesome and I'm proud to call him friend. Paul: thank you again for the bookmarks, the name badges and all the copying. Lisa, Ed, Scott, Charlie, Sid, Luke, Walter, James, and anyone else I've missed....thanks for helping out with the merchandise sales. We'll organize that better for next year. If anyone took their evaluation form home with them, please fill it out and send it back to me. These forms are very important to us, as is the thread that Hal has started.

I do think we're going to have to find a different hotel for next year as I'm expecting 400-500 people, and nice as the Renaissance is, they really won't be able to handle that large a crowd. We may have to raise the registration fee to go to a larger hotel, but we'll try to keep it reasonable.

I'm sure I'll have more to say later, but for now, I need to return to my work and get caught up. Thank you all for coming and I look forward to meeting even more of you next year. And I hope no one caught my cold!

 

[darling]

Linda. Thank you. Take a day off, enjoy the spa.

Your work will still be there when you get back


(maybe if we lost the tables, we could fit more people into that conference room?)

 

[Guest]

Linda, don't thank us. We thank you.

I've been to a lot of conferences in my time, and this was the best put together one I've ever attended.

I almost didn't make it. On Tuesday evening, I came down with flu-like symptoms. I was very ill. I went to the doc on Wednesday, and he gave me some pretty good stuff to keep me going. I still thought about not going out of fear of starting a plague or something. Plus, I dreaded the long flight from the west coast while being that ill. And the flight turned out even worse than I thought it would be. If a window of the plane had popped open over the Continental Divide and sucked me out, it would have been an act of mercy.

Then it was off the plane, and to the hotel. A very, very hot shower, and some of the meds. Then it was off to the Foundation for the web broadcast.

Because I had been ill, I had not eaten since Tuesday. My appetite came raging back during the shower at the hotel, but there didn't seem to be any time. Everything was rush, rush, rush.

Thank goodness you had ordered pizza to arrive before the webcast! If you hadn't, I would have been in need of serious medical attention. So I owe you my life.

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

Thank you Linda.

You are the axle around which the machinery of the JREF functions.

And I wish to echo Linda's thanks to all those of you who helped out. I was more of a spectator, much less a participant or organizer for TAM. Thank you all for making this wonderful weekend happen.