Trip to Houston

The entire reason I flew to Houston was so that I could attend a conference.  The conference was the National Conference on LGBT (Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, and a Transgender) Equality and was called Creating Change.  The main reason I went was because I was presenting a workshop, but I found it to be an amazing conference for many reasons.

First, they had free, on site daycare from 8:30am-6:30pm.  Seriously!?  This was awesome.  I have never been to a conference or meeting where daycare was provided, especially free daycare.  I only needed it one day because my sister drove over to Houston to watch Evan the other days, but if they hadn't had it I wouldn't have been able to go to the daylong institute before she arrived.  I think all conferences should have that option!

Second, the conference was so inclusive of everyone.  Along with "scent-free" areas, the also had gender-neutral bathrooms.

If you zoom in, you can see why gender-neutral bathrooms are important.  I thought it was great and even better that we were at a the Hilton and they were willing to turn their bathrooms into gender-neutral ones.  And it didn't even feel different seeing guys in the same bathroom.  

At an awesome conference you are bound to see awesome people!  I ran into a good friend of mine and got to spend some quality time with her.  The last time I saw her was at the International AIDS Conference in July 2012, when I was 8 months pregnant.

This is definitely not a stellar photo of me, but at least we are wearing coordinating outfits....  I met her about four or five years ago when I trained her on an HIV intervention in Columbia, SC (not where either of us are from though).  She liked to run and we went on a few runs together, and you know how running really solidifies friendships. {And let's not talk about how I haven't run in two weeks and my half marathon is two short weeks away.}.  It was so fun hanging out with her and catching up!  And I have to mention that even people I didn't know we're super nice.  People came up to me and introduced themselves and were genuinely nice and warm.  It was such a positive environment.  I loved it!  And Laverne  Cox was there, from Orange is the New Black and she gave an amazing speech at the Opening Plenary.

The Plenary on Saturday was on HIV/AIDS and it was really good.  There was a guy illustrating the points being made through a drawing and it was the coolest thing ever.  He did two sheets and I only got a photo of one, but look at this amazingness!

I just couldn't believe he could capture what they were saying and simultaneously design and draw this cartoonish interpretation.  Skills people.

Evan had a great time too.  He got to hang out with my sister and go to the beach and  tour the USS Texas, a battleship that was in WWI and WWII.  Plus he hung around and was spoiled by his aunt, which is always nice.  When he is older I would love to take him to conference sessions, but not at 17 months.

So, that was my trip.  On Saturday afternoon we headed to Dallas to stay with my sister for two nights and that was a lot of fun.  On Sunday we even put a movie on and drank hot chocolate.  Fabulous.  I don't even remember the last time I did that.  Evan was napping in my arms, but it still felt good to not have anything pressing to do and to just be able to relax and veg on the couch.  That night we headed to my sister's friend's house to watch the Super Bowl.  I didn't get a lot of football watching in, but Evan did a lot of venison sausage eating.  It cracks me up what Evan likes and dislikes.  I'm not sure that I would have put venison on the "for sure" list if I hadn't witnessed his chowing down myself.

Upon my return my good mood was completely hampered by my old landlord and the fact that he shorted me some of my deposit money.  And you want to know what his reason was??  I didn't give him 30 days notice.  HELLO, he asked ME to move out and gave me six weeks to find a new place...and then he turns around and says I left without giving proper notice.  Haha.  It is so stupid it's funny.  But then it's not because it made me so mad.  I really hope karma nips him in the butt, and not even nips...bites really hard.  I am secretly thrilled knowing his electricity bill this month is probably close to $500.  I guess that's karma in a way...that he's stuck in the condo he didn't feel important enought to care about.

Ok, although this bus is frigid because it's about 20 degrees out and the heater seems broken, I am going to try to get to sleep.  Yet again I only clocked four hours and thirty-four minutes of sleep last night and I have a ton of work to do today.