Photo-A-Day #4323

I’m leaving Dad 2.0 Summit tomorrow. I had a different experience this year than the last. Last year I was a freshman making his way through the crowded halls of the upperclassmen, the veterans, those Dads that had many years of Dad 2.0 under their belts. I met many people and became friends with a few whom I would keep in contact with over the course of the next year. Some have become very close. I don’t have that closeness or ties to many other dads back home. Virtually none. I’m not much for the online groups and that is partly why I shied away from the conference to begin with. The other part was the M3 conference and the bad taste that left in my mouth. I had to give Dads conferences some time. Then the time slipped away. So, I am glad that I finally got it in gear last year and went.

I had applied for and won a Miller Grant. I had never met Oren Miller. From all I heard and saw at the conference in Washington he was Dad 2.0’s favorite son lost too soon. I felt myself feeling a little less for never having known him. Mind you, no one made me feel that way. I just felt that way, like I had missed someone quite special and I would never go to Dad 2.0 through that lens and experience.

But my trip last year was good and this year was really good. I got a roommate again, my friend Derek Wilmot. He and I had a great time together over the course of the Summit. It is always good to connect with a friend at these conferences and having a roommate was something that I balked against many times over but the past two times has been great, last year with Dave Taylor and this year with Derek.

Throughout the day yesterday I had many great experiences. I won a Nest Learning Thermostat from Rheem, and a $50 gift card from Russell Athletics, and yesterday Rheem gave me a $25 gift card to Home Depot. Facebook Live gave me a Mophie battery backup for doing a Facebook Live Session. Derek and I did one that was a lot of fun. You can see it here.

The rest of the day is recapped in today’s vlog. Next year is New Orleans, I’m not sure if it will be one I go to, but we’ll see. After all the February weather and leaving the family in a blizzard again, I may not be able to make it out again for a while.

Tonight was a great trip to dinner at Islands with Derek and Darren. We enjoyed dinner at Islands and it was a really tasty burger. Then we went to an Arc Light Theater and saw the LEGO Batman Movie. That was a fun movie but from my sheer exhaustion from the week I may have fallen asleep a bit. But I wasn’t snoring.