International Convention Rundown

I’m back from [Circle K International] convention in Orlando. It was a blast and I wish it could last for weeks and weeks but, in some small way, I’m pretty glad to be back at the house too. The absolutely amazing thing — and I’ll probably get chastised for it too — is that I never made it to any of the Disney attractions.

My Dad, Brother, and I drove back from Illinois to Alabama on the 5th. We stopped every 5 minutes and it took a bit longer than it should have. I left a good bit of stuff here in AL when I went home for the summer, and when I got back I had to move it into a bigger room — Michael moved out, and I got the room I should’ve had from the beginning.

We were expecting folks from The HEAD Tour on the 6th, so I had less than 24 hours to unpack everything move from one room to another and make as much of the house as I could presentable for seven guests. I managed to get a good bit done and around 7:00pm on Tuesday the 6th, seven crazy Circle Ker’s came rolling in in their mini vans.

HEAD Tour:
After arriving, getting to meet the members of our club board that we going to be hanging out with them, and getting their stuff unpacked, the 7 HEADers and the 5 UA Circle K board members loaded up some cars and headed out to dinner at Dreamland (which happens to be the home of the best ribs on earth). We gorged ourselves and started becoming acquainted with each other before heading over to SuperTarget to do some odds-n-ends shopping. We had to pick up some supplies so that I could fix the wiring in a light fixture in the room that the tour was staying in for the night.

We got back from Target and headed out to the bowling alley. Bowling was (as it always is) a good time. I’m one of the most inconsistent bowlers in the history of heavy round things. That’s ok… we had fun. It’s worth mentioning that the bowling alley played the macarena towards the end of our time there… this, of course, inspired several of the members of the HEAD Tour to do that silly dance. They looked to be having so much fun that a couple bowlers from a nearby lane decided to join them.

When we got back I finished the rewiring job, and got everyone all settled in. There was a bit of talking and then everyone went to sleep. Wednesday was an early morning (I was up at 5:55) — when you have 5 girls that need to shower before 8:30, you KNOW that’s going to require getting up before the world actually exists in the morning. We grabbed breakfast at Krispy Kreme and headed off to the Mercedes Plant for a look at the museum. A trip to the UA Bookstore, a look at our Circle K Office, a tour of one of our more unique service projects and lunch were the last things on the Agenda before we sent the crazy group on their way.

It was a great time and we were just thrilled to have them.

International Convention
We drove down to Orlando, stopping what seemed like very five minutes, but eventually made it there. Our first two nights in Orlando were before the convention actually started, so we stayed in a cheaper hotel. The first night was more of a lazy “get settled in” night, and we definitely needed that. Friday we all packed up and headed to Daytona Beach. I neglected to wear sunscreen, and that was pretty obvious by the next morning. (And, actually, is still obvious as I’m peeling like crazy) We got back late that afternoon, I spent some time in the pool at the hotel, picked up Morgan from the Airport (and took her to her hotel, after a bit of trial and error)and that was about it.

On Saturday we all transfered over to the convention Hotel. Within hours of arriving at the Caribe Royal, I ran into Hilary and got to meet several folks from her club (Megan, Ashley, Karen, and Alden). Cathy and I went to lunch with them. We walked. Far. It seems much shorter when your driver is going 85. It was a beautiful day, so a group of us hit the pool. Opening session was later that night.

The rest of the time in Orlando is kinda a blur, but I know that we elected new international officers, passed some amendments to the constitution and bylaws, and had a generally good time. My average bed time was something around 4:30 at that hotel. Hilary, Sarah, AmyGarrett, and a host of others are to blame for that. The new board is pretty good. I was happy to see Rupert elected President and Carrie (who worked on my campaign last year for international office) elected Vice-president. The Trustees are pretty good, too… of course, I think I would’ve made a few changes to the group… but that’s ok.

The Int’l President did take some passive-aggressive shots at me during two of her speeches, under the guise of complimenting my replacement (who certainly deserved praise, mind you, but the phrasing was quite conspicuous). Because I think so highly of Paul, I didn’t even think anything of these little digs until they were pointed out by other people. I’m not sure what Cindy thought she gained by doing that… but I suppose if it made her feel better, that’s a good thing. She really didn’t have much popularity to lose, so if you can’t fix that, you might as well feel good, right?

I ran a workshop at the convention for Club Presidents with the Immediate Past President of LSU’s Circle K. Caucuses for the candidates were a blast. There were several parties thrown in the Villas (the one that I actually made it to was a Toga party, and was lots of fun). The politics were crazy, as usual. I can’t really think of anything else to add. Maybe folks will add detail in the comments. This entry is already plenty long.

For those of you who don’t have a clue about Circle K, questions will be answered in the comments, if you have them.