Normal Life, Kind Of

This update is not very much about my health, but is about our attempt to lead a normal life.  The oncology doctor and nurse urged us to live as normally as possible while going through this chemo.  Stay as active as you can. Keep as upbeat as possible and don't obsess about the longer term negatives that come with a cancer diagnosis.

With that in mind, Kath and I decided to honor our commitment made a year ago to work the CPSE (Center for Public Safety Excellence) vendor booth at the ICMA Annual Conference in Charlotte,  North Carolina. We have done this the prior three years with Paul Brooks, the CPSE Executive Director, and Cliff Jones, former CPSE Board Member and retired Fire Chief from Tempe, Arizona.

Basically we work together to provide City and County Managers and Assistants with information about how the non-profit CPSE programs can help make their Fire Department better by detecting issues before they show up in a real event. They also improve accountability to the citizens they serve. The accountability and transparency issues for local governments are current hot topics. And with Fire Department's significant budgets, a City Manager needs to be paying attention.

Anyway, we flew East on Saturday and met up with Paul the next day to set up the booth before the start of refreshments for attendees at 5:00 pm. By the start time, Cliff joined us and we were ready to go.

We talked to quite a few people, got some promising contacts, and visited during the breaks.  We did this pretty much all day on Monday and Tuesday and closed the booth on Tuesday at 2:00 pm when the exhibit hall closed.  the other guys were able to leave for home later that day, but our flight was not until the following day (Wednesday).

Some other highlights:  

We went to a Sacrament and Testimony meeting with the BYU Alumni group on Sunday morning  It is always a highlight to hear for lots of successful people.  Not a one of them talked about their accomplishments, but nearly everyone talked about how they used the gospel in their workplace.  Several talked about how they served missions in North Carolina (wonder if any knew my niece Meredith!).

We went to dinner as a group on Sunday and Monday evening.  One was to the Black Finn and the other was to 5 Church.  Both had lots of selection, good wait staff, and good food.

On Wednesday morning, Kath and I went to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.  North Carolina is NASCAR country full of fans.  We are not followers and don't have favorite drivers but it was interesting to see the history over the 70 years since the bootleggers drove the country roads evading the law.

Came home late on Wednesday.  A good trip and I'm glad it worked out so we could go.