<HTML>In a message dated 6/11/02 4:36:34 AM Central Daylight Time, dnereson@dimensional.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">I go every few years but can't afford airfare and lodging every year. #1 reason for not going is the blasted hotel cost ($$$$).  Not practical to stay in another hotel/motel 'cause you hafta get up too early to get breakfast and drive, walk (usually not close enough), or take public transportation over to the convention hotel for your first class, which is already early enough even when you're staying in the convention hotel.  </BLOCKQUOTE> I stayed at the hotel in 1978 in Cincinnati, but the rate was only $18 per night. In 1979 I stayed with my sister in Minneapolis.  But from 1980 (Philadelphia), to 1989 (Portland), I stayed in a camper on the outskirts of town. Yes, I had to get up at 6 AM, and either drive or take the train to get to the convention, but that was a sacrifice I was willing to make. Now I make enough money to afford to stay at the hotel. #<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">2 reason:  airfare  ($$$)  Could drive, and it's nice to have your own car when you get there (cheaper than renting one), but it's a loooooong drive from Denver, and more than a day's drive, which necessitates more lodging costs, unless you camp out somewhere, which I was more willing to do when I was in my 20's and 30's.</BLOCKQUOTE> If you drive, it takes two days each way. If you fly, it take two hours. (OK 4, by the time you go through security.) I can make enough money during the days I stay at home to more than pay for the ticket to fly. It's a no brainer. #<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">3 reason:  Classes start early, so you can't stay up late and enjoy the night life of Kansas City or Chicago or wherever.  Unless you stay extra days (more lodging and meals costs).  It would be nice if the convention were in a downtown Chicago hotel, but no, it's quite a ways out in the burbs.  Which is OK if you have your car or rent one, but on public transportation, there's just not gonna be enough time to go downtown at night, stay for any reasonable length of time, and get back out to the hotel to get enough sleep before early classes.</BLOCKQUOTE> It seems you go to a convention to enjoy the night life, not to learn. Yes, there are some neat places to go in Chicago, or KC, but similar places are also in Denver. But you can't get the education in Denver that you can get at the convention. #<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">4  gotta get somebody to watch the house, bring in the mail, feed my cat, water the lawn so it doesn't burn up, </BLOCKQUOTE> If you tell the police you're gone, they'll keep an extra eye out. The post office holds mail for a week. Board the cat, (it's tax deductible). Your lawn will survive for 4 days without watering. If anything, pay a kid in the neighborhood to do it, (again, it's tax deductible). #<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">5   I do lose some business, but not much ....</BLOCKQUOTE> But the money you will make from the education you got, will pay for the lost within a month or two. Then yu'll be making more money. <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">   I thoroughly enjoy the conventions when I do go, and I learn a lot, and it's motivating, career wise.  But every year is a bit much.          --David Nereson, RPT, Denver</BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"> </BLOCKQUOTE> Reno was the first convention I missed since I started going in 1978 in Cincinnati. I missed it a lot. (My excuse was that I was moving to a new job out of state, selling my house, etc..) I missed seeing my friends. However, I have attended 2 seminars to make up for it. David. You can always make up excuses NOT to go. But when there is a real good reason, you'll wish you could go. If you make it a habit, it will become the most important part of your life.  Because, you know what, it is. Wim </HTML>