After a leisurely start to Day 1, I regret that today’s session (the first official day of the conference) started bright and early at 8am. Which translates to 5am my time. Which means we woke up at 3:30am my time to get ready (showered and dressed) to start the day.

We went down to the plenary event (which included breakfast - thank goodness for coffee), and listened to Chrissy Gephardt (yes, daughter of dick Gephardt) speak. No offense to her, but I think she must have been asked to do this at the last minute. In the program guide it said “speaker to be announced”, and it appeared as though she really was not prepared to talk to us. Even some of the questions were diverted to the facilitator, Wes Combs.

What I did find interesting, however, is that she, and the president of Out & Equal (Selisse Berry) did share some common non-verbal communication. Let’s see if you can spot the similarity.

Uncanny isn’t it?

After the first plenary, we went to workshop #1. I chose a workshop called The Importance of Human Capital. It was supposed to be a workshop telling us how to use quality methods like CMMI and Six Sigma to quantify the value of people in the corporation. It did not achieve the stated goal. It was basically and hour of introduction to quality analysis, and information on the Malcolm Baldridge award. Very disappointing.

After lunch, my second session was about the New York Times, and their use of media to support GLBT issues through time. It was a somewhat boringly delivered presentation, but the information was very interesting. Too much preparation by the panel caused it to be less interactive than it should have been.

Afternoon plenary (presented by Dell) was a musical presentation by Bernice Johnson Reagon and her daughter Toshi Reagon. Very entertaining and enjoyable.

We had a dinner break, then came back for the evening entertainment. It was a three part session, with some native dancing from an India troupe, a comedy troupe from the DC area, and the band Betty (who has been featured on the L-Word).

Although the first sessions I attended were not what I would call superb, I am looking forward to the sessions tomorrow, including an executive manager panel in the morning.

We arrived in Washington, DC yesterday, got a good night’s sleep, then got up today for our pre-conference leadership seminar presented by the GLBT Learning Institute of UCLA.

Very disappointing. We did not learn anything from this session that we haven’t learned from any number of company management training sessions.

I really don’t want to say much more - it’s feedback more appropriate to give directly to our corporate diversity team, but again, very disappointing.

After the session, Rachelle and I joined the rest of the folks from the company at Buca di Beppo (which stands for Buca’s basement I think) for dinner. Unfortunately, the only way they could accommodate 21 people was to put us at four tables next to each other. It wasn’t very social.

Anyway, we sat with a couple folks and chatted for a few hours through dinner - unfortunately had to sent my plate back at one point because they didn’t tell us that the cannelloni had meat in it. Me and my special needs :-).

Tomorrow starts the main conference. We’re going to spend a few hours tonight going through the conference book to determine which workshops we plan to attend and then it’s to bed. We’ll be up bright and early for the breakfast and 8am plenary session.

Rachelle and I arrived safely in Washington, DC for the 2007 Out and Equal Workplace Equality Conference…

It was a long trip, getting up at about 5am to finish packing before Rachelle arrived to get me at 6am. Flight departed at 8am - thankfully a direct flight to Washington Dulles, then a cab ride over to the wrong hotel, then another cab right to the correct hotel.

The highlight of the flight was the VAST amount of space I had to use my laptop. As you can see I was able to full open the display, and it couldn’t have been more ergonomic. That … person … in front of me apparently didn’t feel he had nearly enough room in Economy Plus, and so he needed to recline his seat back into the economy section.

We got two movies on the flight - Fantastic Four, Rise of the Silver Surfer (which I watched with no audio but still completely understood the entire movie), and Blades of Glory, which I watched with audio and laughed through the entire thing.

After we finally arrived at the correct hotel, we found ourselves on a smoking floor. We went right back to the check-in desk and found a new and fresher smelling room. This room has a semi-lovely view of the Washington Monument…set against the um…boring skyline of DC.

We went down to the hotel restaurant and had some drinks and delicious baked brie, then did a bit of work before heading to bed.

Tomorrow we have some free time in the morning, then have a special leadership seminar for our company, provided by the GLBT Leadership Institute of UCLA.

“The law and their own safety demands that they be given a degree of respect, and the sleazy activities of Ronald and Megan Dible could not help but undermine that respect.

His activities were simply vulgar and indecent.”

This morality lesson comes to us from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, who apparently believes that a married man and woman having consensual sex, recording it, then displaying it on a paid website is “sleazy“, and the man (who happens to be a cop) should be fired for it.

While I won’t comment on whether I believe this is sleazy or not, or whether it’s vulgar and indecent or not, it’s not as if these consensual adults are out in a park having sex in front of anyone who might walk by.

• They have chosen to start their own business (isn’t that the American dream after the house and 2.3 kids?) and make a little supplemental income for their lives.
• They are both adults and in a consensual relationship.
• They don’t appear to be part of one of those religions that believe sex is only for procreation.
• They aren’t doing anything groundbreaking - pornography has been around for a LONG time.

What is the big deal? Is it because, heaven forbid, some of his coworkers at the police station subscribe to his porno site and will lose respect for their peer after seeing him fully naked? Is it because adults in the community who are interested in pornography subscribe to the site and might think differently knowing it’s a cop? Is it because he’s noticed when he’s out with his wife shopping at the grocery store and people say, hey I saw them online doing naughty things - yeah, I subscribed to it, but it was still naughty.

How many sites out there are specifically related to “men in uniform” anyway? Tons. It’s a fetish.

I just don’t get what the big deal is…

Would you travel?

Would you immediately start looking for a new job?

Would you sell-off possessions?

Would you be happy?

As I start to look at re-branding this blog, I wanted to take a moment to call your attention to what I feel are 16 of the most interesting posts that have flowed from my brain in the last couple of years. You may not find all of them hilarious or funny, as many of my posts tend to be, but you might find them interesting.

Insightful, inspiring, informative. The 3 I’s of blogging. Well, interesting as well, so really the 4 I’s of blogging. My four eyes. You get the point.

So without further or farther adieu or adoo, here I present them for your review:

1. Back before my wordpress migration, I did a 5 post series on the 2006 Out and Equal Workplace Equality Conference. You can start at the beginning when Rachelle and I arrived in Chicago, enjoy our adventures at a disgusting restaurant called Stetson’s, and revel in the magnificence of us meeting Mr. Sulu of the Enterprise.
2. Continuing on the multi-post theme, who could forget the 5 days of Victoria, BC. Not only did I finally get to meet Bobby Apperson, but we once again experience the awe inspiring Butchart Gardens.
3. Next on the list is an informational page about the Randompedia, the Random Encyclopedia. Are you looking for things you’d never find in wikipedia? Look no further/farther.
4. A pivotal point in my life centered around an event in November 2006. NaNoWriMo, the writing competition to complete a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Well let me tell ya, I didn’t just complete it, I blew it out of the water in 12 days then started on the next one! Here’s the post that started it all. (And the post about my first book published on amazon.com)
5. Ready for something spooky and scary? How about the story behind one of my favourite holidays? Hellaween! (I also shared the true history of Valentine’s Day too, but it’s not one of my favourite holidays because it’s not really a holiday. However, Easter is.)
6. The list wouldn’t be complete without at least one GLBT informational component, and what better than a warning that you should not do business with the gays. Ok, maybe two components - especially a warning about hate crimes.
7. The Hellaween season continued with a quick movie review. Some of you might recall the 8 Films to Die For series, and specifically, the movie Unrest. Yeah - I tried to forget it too. Here’s the review.
8. One of the longest series posts that I’ve done here is the Childhood Journal. After receiving a stack of old notebooks from my parents, I realized there was a goldmine of interesting writings from yours truly back when I was a wee little boy. Here’s the one that kicked it off, which includes a link to the entire series.
9. Ok, so GLBT is a common theme here, and so I should probably fill you all in on what it means to be a Friend of Dorothy.
10. Want to know how to make the world a better place? Try Star Trek.
11. I don’t just care about making the world a better place, I also want to make your lives and relationships better. Who knew that you could learn so much about a relationship from your toothbrush?
12. One of the most popular posts I’ve ever done was about throwing a wine party. It’s really quite easy, and I’ve provided simple instructions on making it a memorable event.
13. Some of you were probably wondering when I’d get to this one, and number 13 is probably appropriate for it. That’s right, it’s my American Idol series.
14. Time for a meme. I’ve done quite a few of these, so I’ll lump some together into #14. What’s on your iPod, iTunes Meme, and What’s On Your Desk.
15. Sometimes it’s important to share your dreams. For some reason I felt compelled to share one of my most bizarre ones with you.
16. Finally, I provided more education, in a post on 8 Quick Tips for Aspiring Amateur Photographers. We don’t just provide entertainment here, we also educate.

So there you have it. 16 posts (actually 22 but in a list of 16) that resonated with me and with my readers (based on a very scientific process that I developed just for this post). Have a great time browsing around, and remember that these are just a sample of what we have to offer here at Digital Heath.

Also remember - safety first!

Yes, it’s another one of those reveal personal things about yourself meme’s. And no I’m not immune to doing it :-).

This one was easy though, so here goes. On your desk at work, select 5 items that would not typically be found if you went to a coworkers desk. They can be things you’ve brought in from home, or unique items that you’ve created while at work. What are they, and what purpose do they serve.

1. despair.com print - “Individuality - Always remember that you are unique. Just like everybody else.” This is probably my favourite demotivator from despair.com. If you haven’t been to the site, you’re missing out on one of the most creative companies on the planet.
2. Two bottle caps from SoBe LEAN beverages that both say the same thing - “is everyone taking crazy pills?” I blogged about this one a while ago, so it was funny that I got an identical bottle cap today on my diet green tea beverage.
3. A cranberry orange candle from Illuminations - travel size. No, I don’t burn a candle at work, but it has such a magnificent aroma, I sometimes take the lid off and just experience the magic. And sometimes, if the trash hasn’t been removed from the previous day, it’s necessary.
4. Four boxes of Crystal Light On-The-Go, in various flavours. I have orange, fruit punch, raspberry lemonade, and peach tea. That’s so I can refill my water bottle from the fountain, add a packet of powder, and have a delicious non-carbonated beverage while staying hydrated.
5. An “emergency response team” orange vest. It’s a mesh thing with yellow and grey stripes that is meant to be worn in the event we have an evacuation. People see that and know I’m in charge. Actually, I’m no longer on the ERT team, but I still have the vest, just in case I want to go save someone.

Ok folks - get to it.