The presenter was a gentleman called Wayne Pepper, who was engaging, entertaining and obviously knew his stuff. He walked us through a lot of different ideas and despite using Powerpoint slides managed to keep things entertaining and interesting. Not all presenters can do that - I can't tell you how many times I've fallen victim to "death by Powerpoint" syndrome.

Anyway, Mr. Pepper had a great presence and use of humor and - thanks to my experience in Toastmasters - I enjoyed watching him present as much as I did learning more about the GTD methodology. On the whole, it was a day well-spent.

Here are a few other things I've learned over the last couple of days as a result of this trip:

• I can't be taken anywhere: when we walked into the Hotel Max, there was a rather large painting of a naked woman on the wall. My response? "Hey look! Boobies!" (No, I am not proud. :) Actually, it was a beautiful painting once I stopped to really look at it, but I just wasn't expecting to see larger-than-life breasts upon entering the hotel. Only slightly disconcerting.
  
• You know those crosswalk signals that beep or ding to let vision impaired people know it's safe to walk? Well, I am hear to tell you: those suckers are LOUD. My hotel room was on the 6th floor of the Hotel Max, and even with the windows closed, shades drawn and the Loudest Air Conditioner Ever(tm) turned on low, I still heard "ding, ding, ding... ding,ding, ding... ding, ding, ding" all night long! I'm going to be hearing that in my head for the next week.
  
• These swanky, upscale hotels get you coming and going: parking was $30, not including tip, using the wireless Internet connection was $11.95 (and am I wrong in thinking that if you're paying through the nose for a hotel room the Internet connection should be free?), medium-sized bag of gummy bears was $5, 16 oz bottle of water was $4... It didn't end there, but I just can't bring myself to tell you about the vibrator and batteries they had for sale in addition to the (standard, these days) "intimacy kit" and lots of mini-bottles of alcohol and other snacks. Criminal. I'm obviously in the wrong line of work; I need to be in the upscale hotel business. Except that I like to think of myself as a rational human being. (Details!)
  
• The Hotel Max? It was okay. My general feeling upon checking out was "eh." Which means, for the price I expected a bit more. The sheets were high-thread-count, but they were rough and scratchy. The mattress pad got all bunched up when I climbed into bed and it didn't seem to do anything but get MORE bunched up throughout the night, despite my attempts to smooth it out. The flat-screen TV was cool, and the room was adequate, but I don't know that I'd spend my own money there.
  
• My body does not like dairy. I mean, I knew this. Obviously. But it became startlingly clear Friday morning when I got up and realized I'd forgotten to pack my little container of Coffeemate. So I brewed a mini-pot of coffee and used the half-and-half the hotel provided. And... about an hour later? Headache. The very same headache that didn't seem to want to go away when I was in Pittsburgh! I've been suspecting this was the cause for the last couple months (I've continued to have these headaches off and on), but now I'm quite sure it's the case since I'd not had any dairy in a couple of days and nothing to eat before drinking the coffee yesterday morning. So that sucks, but at least now I know.
  
• I'm a sucker for pretty organizing stuff. Doesn't seem to matter how much it costs; if it's high quality and makes me feel happy using it, I don't seem to have qualms about ciphoning budget dollars out of "Groceries" or some other "Required For Being Human" budget category and into the "things I don't really need" category. Sigh. Thank god I have a "for random stuff" savings account.
  
• I should have gotten the sushi.