Where I've been the past 5 days...

I have just returned from the 2010 North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando, Florida. Four days of educational lectures/sessions on all sorts of interesting (and sometimes not-so-interesting) animal-health related topics.

But with these sorts of events come other things. There is the little bit of networking you can do to meet those in your field. There are the insanely overpriced sandwiches and sodas and, well, everything. There are the social events sponsored by the big-name companies.

And then there is the Exhibit Hall. Where vendors near and far come to exhibit their products and services. The Exhibit Hall- also referred to as the Free Shit Extravaganza. Seriously. I came home with so much stuff; some useful, some just trinkets, but all branded. I really would like to see the total amount of money spent on this stuff by all these companies. I will not need to buy a pen or a notepad for the next three years. I got a number of really nice and useful books- real, actual books on pain management, parasitology, animal nutrition and dietary management, the use of Sevoflurane, emergency medicine, and algorithms to aid diagnoses. Educational CD-ROMs on various subjects. I got a camping stool. A travel coffee mug. A stainless steel water bottle. A pair of Crocs. A couple T-shirts. A hat. A pedometer. A flea comb. Samples of soap, hand sanitizer, wound treatment sprays and lotions, odor removers, surface sanitizers, cat treats, dog biscuits, bird treats, natural calming supplements, feline probiotics. A laptop bag. A balance ball. A bunch of those reusable grocery-type bags. Keychains, magnets. Letter openers, luggage tags. A couple travel first aid kits. All sorts of little knick-knacks and what-nots. And did I mention the pens?? Absolute Heaven for a pen-fetishist like me. This Exhibit Hall was larger than a football field, a carnival of commerce, a veritable sea of salesmen and samples and soundbytes. Compounding pharmacies, major pharmaceutical companies, pet food manufacturers, pet product distributors, surgical instrument makers, digital radiology and ultrasonography manufacturers, pet burial bag and urn makers, dietary supplement makers, not-for-profit organizations, veterinary professional organizations, practice management software companies, book publishers, kennel makers, surgery table and light makers, colleges, the military, corporate veterinary hospitals, collar and leash makers, companies that make everything (3M), needle/syringe/tube/catheter/etc. manufacturers, pet insurance companies... you name it, if they do something or make something that could even be in the same building as an animal, they were there. And besides all the free shit, I did get exposure to smaller companies I had not heard of and information about what these companies offer- always good to know what's out there when actually working in the field.

I did learn some things from the sessions as well. I really enjoyed a few lectures on animal behavior given by a DVM. There were a few I wasn't so thrilled about, must most taught me at least one thing I didn't previously know. I was a little surprised at how basic some of the technician-track lectures were; a few in the 'advanced' and 'specialty' category were not much more than I have learned in my classes. I also found many of the DVM-track lectures to be less dry and with more humor- it was obvious that those were professionals who were used to lecturing to large groups.

We were allotted $15 per day to buy lunch at the conference. Now here in Athens one thinks, "Shit yeah. $15 is gonna get me a killer lunch! I'll hit up DePalmas or East West, maybe check out who's over at The Globe or Trappeze. No T-Stand for me today!!". But alas, in Orlando, at a conference, in a Marriott-owned hotel... not so. There, $15 equaled one sandwhich (hamburger, turkey/ham/roast beef, or caesar chicken wrap), a teeny bag of chips, a candy bar or cookies, and a can of soda. And then back at the hotel we were staying at, one of those little personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut was $6. A 20-oz bottle of soda was $3. Place be expensive.

And hell, I got to see Foreigner. Thanks to Bayer for that one; they were the Monday night entertainment. Unfortunately my camera died 15 minutes into the show. I was hoping to have video of my favorite cheesy Foreigner song, but no dice. Either way, it was awesome. In so many ways. The entertainment for the opening ceremonies was Martin Short. I haven't seen him in anything recently. He looked old. It was pretty good, and he resurrected a few of his past popular characters. But sorry, Mr. Short. You just can't top Foreigner.

So all in all, a pretty good trip. Fun was had, learning was done. But I am glad to be home. I missed my kitties and my ridiculously-comfortable bed. I missed drinking a beer and watching a movie and fucking around on Facebook and Blogger. I missed nice toilet paper.

Yeah.

Good to be home.