Day 22

Yesterday was my first day working the 5:30 a.m. shift at work. After work, I got the awesome opportunity to attend the 140 Character Conference Small Town at the Fox Theater.

I was under the impression that the conference would be about how to use Twitter and ...stuff...and...well, I wasn't really sure what it would be about, but I got a free ticket from my friend Patsy Terrell so I went. It was more than I expected it to be. The conference consisted of many 10-15 minute presentations by a variety of people - educators, volunteers, the Hutchinson Police Department, the girl who got Topeka to change it's name to Google, marketers, adventurers and farmers.

The conference was less about "This is the internet. This is how to use Twitter. This is how you use social media to make money." and more about "Hey, we have a never-before-seen opportunity to connect with people around the world in amazing and incredible ways. This is my story. This is something awesome that has happened because of this crazy technology."

The conference was organized by Jeff Pulver and Becky McCray. It was the first "Small Town" 140 character conference. Others have been in New York, LA, DC, Vegas and other large cities. At the end of the day, Jeff and Becky told us that Hutchinson had the 4th highest turn out (better than DC, Boston and San Francisco) and the most people still in the audience at the end of the day. They also told us that we had the best live vido streaming and wi-fi connection - thanks to my friend Ron Williams at HutchNet Wireless.

Yesterday I did pretty good, although I did consume a large amount of cheesy, creamy spinach dip and a croissant (as part of a turkey sandwich). Today I slept very late and had some white bean and chicken soup for lunch. The soup consists of mirepoix (onion, celery, carrot), garlic, chicken broth, about 1/3 chicken cut up into small pieces, and 3 cups navy beans. I made the soup Sunday for dinner and had some for lunch yesterday