COMPASS Conference Recap

I spent 3 days hidden away in the west Chicago suburbs at the annual Midwest Region COMPASS conference.  There are many things I learned, and moments that I will not soon forget.

Here are the highlights:


  1. Lesson learned: Being "work me" 24/7 for 2.5  days is really hard. 
  2. Again this year finding people to hang out with after hours (after my co-workers went to bed) was a challenge. I'm not saying this is the venue to get out and party, but when everyone goes to bed at 10 it is a little disconcerting.
  3. I'm relatively certain our ACT rep (Tim) looks forward to seeing what color my hair will be each time he sees me (it as been different each time in the past 5 years).
  4. The hotel is on the grounds of McDonalds corporate headquarters and "Hamburger University." The hotel used to be owned by McDonalds and used only for employees, but now it is owned by Hyatt. Still the Mcdonalds influence shows through out the hotel. They have classic pieces of art that have been altered to include McDonalds products. It is a cute idea, but really is just comes off as creepy in most of the pictures.



        5. ACT is finally going to make us a version of COMPASS we can use for students who need ADA accommodations.  I am pretty excited about this. We will have audio, braille and large print versions (for those who do not want to use Zoom Text). This is a huge. This also means we can kick ASSET to the curb (especially since we cannot use it for ATB after July 1.

      6. Lush un-discontinued my favorite lip gloss. I'm beyond excited (for those of you who know about my obsession with lip gloss understand how happy this makes me)

     7. My boss loves shopping at Urban Outfitters...hmm who knew?

     8. "Wow Jennifer, as much as you are taking care/watching out for us, you would think you have kids." Well I sort of am an honorary mom of:

This guy



and These guys


As a result, I'm used to to taking care of and looking after people. I do it kind of well...so yeah you'll have that.

  9) I *finally* found my Swavorski duck charm




      10. Last but not least, this conversation happened:
                 Lady from Owens: You know you look really familiar
                  Me: Um well I'm from Woodville, so that is probably why
                  Lady from Owens: Yeah that is probably it. Did you ever go to Owens?
                   Me: No, I went to EMU
                  Lady from Owen: Hmm well I wonder where I have seen you bef...
                 (woman gets that look on her face that the random strangers at Meijer do before they hug me...breaking Jenni rule #1) Oh, dear you are one of those poor girls from T.V. (hugs me...again violating rule #1) I really do like you better with darker hair.
                   Me: (pulling the woman off of me) um...thanks...but I need to go talk to Tim (our ACT rep who as now witnessed my distress)

Yeah...seriously...these things can only happen to me. :-)





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