A Tired Beyond Caffeine's Reach

I'm home from the conference and it was engaging and inspirational and exhausting and everything else I'd hoped for. People I liked became really good friends and people I only marginally knew became people I really liked.

My presentation - which covered ways to improve your writing, including style guidelines - was a hit. So many people complimented me on it. Many said I made them laugh. The Irish guy who runs our European office said, "I can't imagine anyone else could have made such a boring topic so entertaining." (Compliment? yes/no) My boss wants me to do it on video so they can post it to the company intranet.

But my favorate compliment came from a woman on our team whose parents were both English teachers. She said to me, "What I loved most is that you were so passionate about it. You don't just know it - you love it!" And I do. I love words. Words are my everything. It makes me happy when people get that about me.

I had another favorite comment this week. One of the young, fresh-out-of-college girls in the department came up to me completely out of the blue (I hadn't even met her yet) and said, "I'm a big feminist, and I just love a strong woman, and I can tell that you're going to be a good person for me to know in my career here." Music to this big feminst's ears.