My First Day at the Roanoke Conference!

Hi Gang...I'm here in Roanoke attending the New Horizons Conference. My blog today SHOULD be called "How NOT to pick a motel when you are at a conference in Roanoke". Sorry but I just have to fill you in on this place. My boss Myssi told me months ago to make sure I pick someplace fairly decent. But did I listen? Well let me describe this as best as I can. 1st of all I went through a certain online motel reservation company so no matter what there are no refunds. Keep that in mind as I proceed. I pull into my motel...I won't mention any names but it's a pretty well known chain. ...ANYWAY it's situated between a Checks Cashed Here store on the right and a Get $ for Car Title store on the left.  I tried going into the lobby but realized I needed to be buzzed in first. I also noticed a snack area next to the lobby with vending machines. There is a thick glass 'window' with one of those metal 'speaking holes' and a drawer which pushes out much like a bank drive through separating the snack area from the lobby... I assume to keep people who need change for the machines at bay. Anyway this afore mentioned certain online reservation company somehow had cancelled my reservation so I spent the next half hour trying to fix that problem. But I finally did get my room. It was a non-smoking room...only I guess they didn't tell the last occupant that. Oh also the desk where I'm writing this... the lights above the desk don't work although a think they are trying because there's this loud electrical hummmmm coming from the fixture. Lesson to be learned here? LISTEN TO YOUR BOSS. SHE KNOWS BEST!

Seriously, the conference is pretty neat. I attended a three hour hands on workshop on Blackboard Collaborate and I can't wait to bring back some of the many tips I learned. I'll be teaching a Collaborate for Student course next week so I'll keep you posted. Tomorrow I'll be attending several other Bb and tech sessions and will fill you in on what I learned tomorrow evening.

Right now I'm going to lay back and tune into March Madness and...wait a minute...there's no remote. Sweet:)