At the end of October I went to the LDS Education Conference which is held in Boston every other year. Basically, I wanted to see friends I don't have the opportunity to see very often because I live in the Midwest and they live on the East Coast. And let's face it, when you live in New York, Boston or DC you don't think 'Ann Arbor, that's where I'd like to spend my vacation' even if one of the coolest people to walk the face of the earth happens to be living in Ann Arbor. It just doesn't happen.
Now, while the conference was interesting and inspiring, my favorite part of the weekend was the time I spent with my family on Friday. My friend Dan and I flew into Boston around noon and went to Wagamama (tasty) with my mom and sister, Julie. Afterward we went to Modern Pastry because the people who know prefer it over Mike's. It's just better. They fill the cannolis after you order them. That's all I got to say about that.
Next up was a trip to the Museum of Science to see the Harry Potter exhibit. Those of you who know me well know how much I LOVE Harry Potter. I have lost track of the number of times I have read the books. I've been to 4 midnight book releases. Deep and abiding people, deep and abiding. The exhibit was a collection of props and costumes from the movies and was a heck of a lot of fun.
After the museum we met up with my dad and went to dinner at the Union Oyster House. It is the oldest restaurant in the US and in my opinion not as tasty as Wagamama. After dinner we may have gone back to Modern Pastry for round two but I can neither confirm nor deny these rumors.
To cap off a lovely afternoon and evening of magic and food we went to the Garden and watched the Celtics destroy the Bulls. What a day.
As for the conference, it was all about missionary work and innovation. Elder Ballard was there for bits of it. That's about all I have to say about that. There was also a masquerade ball at the Harvard Club. Between the conference and party there were a series of events that made me want to sit down on the sidewalk and cry but we don't need to go into that here. Like I said, Friday was the best part. I had never been to one of these big, multi city YSA conferences and I don't think I will ever go again but I am sure to go back to Boston to hang out with my family. Live and learn.
Last year, after we moved into the new building, the new cafeteria management people had a lot of difficulty with their demand planning ... especially when it came to the diet coke. We were always running out. This year they have improved their forecast and ordering levels and I have only noticed a handful of out of stock situations. I took this picture during Fall A finals week. What I love about this picture is that they increased the facings from the normal 3-4 to 11. This speaks volumes about the consumption patterns and the positive correlation between stress, time pressure and diet coke.
