Dangers of Letting Us Out

Ladies of the GC

Dawne, Delia, and I are a dangerous group of ladies but especially when we're allowed to take a road trip and room together in Birmingham, Alabama for a genealogy conference. There was a lot of food, conversations, laughing, and work at this event. We had numerous food moments on the road trip alone, such as the wish for a Long John Silvers followed by a parting of the clouds revealing a LJS at the next exit, our ice cream stop, candy bar runs, and our KFC experience. We visited KFC in Kentucky, where the floors, chairs, and tables were covered in grease, we fought the flies for our food, and a young man in neon green socks thought it was easier to hop around with his knees locked in place rather than pulling his pants up. At the conference, many activities took place around food, including a required rib dinner at Dreamland BBQ with Kris, dinner at a Thai restaurant with Dawne's group, crawfish, shrimp grits, lobster macaroni, every food category at Casey's Sports Bar, Delia's never ending patience with my morning coffee ritual, a cheesecake run, and gallons of sweet tea.

The service at the hotel was mixed and created much drama for a number of people including us. I was forced to use my "you're a fucking idiot" voice while keeping my calm when speaking to the front staff when we found ourselves locked out because the hotel checked us out on Friday though we had a reservation through Sunday. My frustration was exacerbated when our room was not serviced for a full day. A slow build-up led to the grand finale. After two conversations with the front desk and one with the valet, I was positive we knew the parking rules until the parking garage refused to allow us to exit the premises without paying though we had already paid the parking fee for the week. I had a stern conversation with the front staff, who refused to refund me, but two managers later, they finally refunded the parking fee. Unfortunately, we had this same conversation again the next morning when I checked out. At the same time we were having bad service, we also had amazing service. We ate a meal a day at the hotel restaurant, Casey's, and received fabulous service every time. The valets and bellmen were phenomenal with unpacking our van and keeping track which three rooms all of the ACPL packages were assigned. And our shuttle driver, Eddie, deserves a customer service award for driving us twenty minutes out of the way and picking us up from the Cheesecake Factory.

Many great conversations were held over the conference week as well. Of course there were the badly behaved comments: "that's what she said" or he said jokes, "the device" jokes, geese pooping colored cubes, and "heavy, slippery, and my side was wet" (a description of the coffee splattered banner). Among all of this craziness, we attended sessions, met new researchers, and worked the Fort Wayne booth. Delia found time to be interviewed by the Birmingham News, while Dawne was the spokesperson for the FGS 2013 Conference. Several moments will remain fresh in my mind, such as Lou's hug and comment about being proud, Sharon's remark about the board, George's excitement at my UDC acceptance, Dawne's campaign, Amy's annual opening session commentary, and my roommates continuous kindness and friendship. The perfect ending to the week was Mich's visit; fab food; watching the Alabama vs. Michigan game with Kris, who is a huge Michigan fan; Mich's cousin, Alyssa, taking us to a local bar; and spotting the SEC headquarters.