[Please pause for station identification while I try to figure out why my Web site is no longer responding.] 

In a mere week HICK Tech will be finished its second year. In the last week before the show I have only a few ends to clean up:

• coordinate a ride for three Toronto-based speakers
• confirm I really do want 400 cloth napkins from the rental company
• phone the caterer to confirm how many people I'm feeding on the day of the conference
• pick up the alcohol license from the LCBO so that my reception sponsor can pick up the insurance (the reception, of course, is completely unrelated to the main event for insurance purposes, LCBO purposes and many other purposes)
• phone Ruth to confirm my voice mail from today saying we need six more tables; also on my list for Ruth is confirming the Internet connection will definitely be working and that I will have a minor fit if it's not working
• pick up the goodie bags from The 100 Mile Market (and tell Barb and David how much I loved their elk at Rocky Raccoon tonight)
• print out a final registration list
• pick up the conference t-shirts (and my HICK Tech hoodie) from e-embroidery
• get stick-it labels for name tags (we don't do printed name tags because quite frankly I think it's a waste of money)
• send a cheque to the Paisley Advocat for some advertising I did with them
• finish writing my welcoming remarks
• figure out what I'm going to wear in addition to my amazing cowboy boots
• proof my final ad in the Sun Times
• add the sponsor logos to the program
• meet with my two AV dudes (Gary for day-of and Richard for post-production) to go over the schedule
• pick up a spindle of CDs for Gary
• hand off the routers to Mike so that we can have wifi at the conference
• email everyone to tell them about the pre-party on Tuesday night

It may seem like a lot, but they're all tiny little things that really don't take a lot of time and aren't too much hassle. It's just details. And the best kind of detail: they're tangible and very easily crossed off the list.

Today, and in addition to about three hours of pay-the-mortgage work, I got the following done:

• confirmed the energy audit of the venue has been done by the electrician
• left a message with Bullfrog to confirm they will be doing my energy offsets (which has to be done AFTER the conference because I have no idea how many times we'll need to run the dishwasher during the day) and to see if they can also do travel-related carbon offsets (I want Gold Standard for travel-related emissions and will likely end up using one of the companies off of David Suzuki's site)
• wrote most of the program that will be handed out on the day of (started in OOo, got irritated, and finished in Scribus)
• accepted a new sponsorship from Tara Tent and Party Rentals for cloth napkins (waste-free is a frickin' pain, but Donna is amazing to deal with), table cloths and glasses (which are not provided by the venue)
• confirmed sign locations for my primary sponsor
• heard back from an ISP that the building is not in a good location to provide additional wifi service to the conference (we're stuck with the City's pipes)
• phoned the hotel to see who had booked a room and who I needed to nag
• emailed driving directions to many of the out of town speakers ("How to get to Owen Sound using Tim Horton's as significant landmarkers")
• thanked the Sun Times for running a media release for HICK Tech
• emailed Yahoo! Canada about (hopefully) their replacement for Anjali who's had her baby boy early (congrats Anjali!! so very exciting!)

Things that I'm not doing but are being done by other people:

• confirming a second musician for the band (Bobby Dean Blackburn's son couldn't make it, so we're getting Bonita's hubby instead)
• deciding which song Charles is going to pipe us into the conference with
• following-up on last minute sponsorship deals related to food and food services
• picking flowers for the head table and the reception desk (fresh from an Owen Sound garden, no less!)
• and probably about a billion other things that my volunteers and sponsors do without even telling me about

<rant>I also got a few disappointing emails today from people who can't make it to this year's conference. The only thing that puts me into a snarky mood about this conference is the cavalier "oh can't come to HICK Tech this year, looking forward to next year" emails that I get. There are easily thousands of man-hours that go into this conference. Please do not ever think for a second that this conference will exist for you in the future if you do no invest in the present.</rant>

With that rant over I can say that I am pleased to tears with the people who are coming to HICK Tech this year. The conference has had a huge impact on the attendees from last year (and especially the women). This weekend I was talking to one of last year's attendees. We were talking very casually about her ISP and her connection speed and this and that and she stopped and said (something to the effect of), "Look at what I just said! A year ago I wouldn't have known any of those words! Can you believe what I just said?!" We both had a good laugh and I congratulated her and she beamed with pride. It's moments like that which make me realize the true value of this conference.

In totally unrelated news: Yesterday I found a dead mouse in one of the traps in my water heater closet. I left it there to fester because I couldn't bear the thought of how long it had already been festering. I think my logic was flawed as the mouse is still in the closet and I'm pretty sure it is still festering. It'll eventually disintegrate, right?

PPS The guinea pig, however, is not dead.