— पांच हजार आठ सौ तीस —
Big news again! Not about yesterday this time, that was a relatively benign day—I rode my bike home from work; I made hot chocoalte for Shobhit and me; we ate leftovers while watching three episodes of the second season of
Poker Face on Peacock. It's still fun, and only slightly less good than the first season was. It was always ridiculous, so, whatever.
Anyway! I am finally for-sure confirmed to be going to the Co+nvergence conference held by NCG (National Cooperative Grocers) in August. Registration opened today, and I got virtually everything taken care of with surprising swiftness: my flights, which they pay for, are already booked. I leave Wednesday, August 13; and I return Saturday, August 16.
Now that I have been to this conference once before, the last time they held it, in 2023, to a degree I am now the person who knows a bit more about it—certainly more than the two others who are going this year, as neither have ever gone before: Frank and Amanda. (Noah was going to go, but he'll be going to a different conference in Denver the next week instead. I guess Justine suggested one of them go to one and they other go to the other; "divide and conquer" rather than both going to one of them.)
Beyond that, there are three key differences between Co+nvergence 2025 and what was Co+nvergence in 2023. Two of them are professional and one of them is personal:
1) The conference lasted three days last time. Four, if you count the very informal orientation-like meeting I went to on the day I arrived, which I will have no need to do this time. In any case, in 2023 I flew out there on a Tuesday, and the conference occurred Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. This time, the conference is only two days: Thursday and Friday. So, I fly out on Wednesday instead of Tuesday this time.
2) In the past, NCG would fly out up to two people
per member co-op store location. PCC had 16 stores in operation at the time (and will again this time, right after the new downtown "Corner Market" store opens, incidentally), which meant we could have sent as many as 32 people—we sent 22, including three from the office (Noah, Steven, and me). Bear in mind, PCC has quadruple the number of stores as even the second-largest of the NCG member co-ops, and this resulted in a disproportionately massive PCC presence at the conference. They changed the rule this time, to only
three people per co-op, regardless of size. This was a bummer on one level because it was really cool to get to know some store staff who I never see, but I thought about it, and I actually think this is more fair. It makes conference attendance and representation more equitable. Admittedly, it's easier for me to feel this way since I'm still going!
3) This is the personal difference: I am not extending my stay like I did in 2023. Last time, I booked my flights so I did not fly home until Tuesday the following week, and Shobhit few out to meet me on the Saturday most conference attendees flew home. I checked out of the hotel in Saint Paul that day, and that evening Shobhit and I checked into a hotel over in downtown Minneapolis for an additional three nights. And as for 2025, for some time I had this idea of an elaborate plan that included getting up to the north of Minnesota, a town called Baudette right on the Canadian border, where I could visit my mom's biological sister Cyndi, and maybe even throw in an excursion to the relatively nearby Winnipeg. All of that ambition flew out the window, though, after several conversations (and some arguments) with Shobhit about the expense. I became much more easily convinced of scrapping those extra plans when I figured out how I could barely manage to save a combined $25,000 over the next year and a half to cover much bigger trips to both Amsterdam (August 2026) and Australia (December 2027). I'd have to scrap one of those in order to make Baudette & Winnipeg work, and that made it an easy decision.
— पांच हजार आठ सौ तीस —
— पांच हजार आठ सौ तीस —
But! I am still making this work so I can squeeze in some further local sightseeing. I very deliberatedly booked a very early flight out of Seattle on Wednesday, August 13; and a fairly late in the evening flight back on Saturday, August 16. This is what that
should allow me to do:
First, my 8:05 a.m. flight on August 13, assuming it leaves on time, should land at roughly 1:30 local time at the Minneapolis - Saint Paul Airport. Optimistically, I should expect to get on transit that gets me to the hotel in Saint Paul by about 3:00. I'll drop off my luggage, then hop on a twenty-minute express bus to downtown Minneapolis, where I can hang out for a couple of hours before heading back. And if I do one thing while I'm there, I will check out the Minneapolis Central Library and get photos, which I never thought to do when I was there in 2023.
And second, I booked a flight back that takes off from Minneapolis - Saint Paul at 5:49 p.m. local time. Assuming I need to be through security by, say, 4:00, that gives me plenty of time to do what I want to do that day: I'll take transit (or a shuttle) from Saint Paul to the airport first, much earlier, where I will check my suitcase.
Then I can take the Light Rail Blue Line to Minnehaha Falls, which is only a 15-minute train ride from there and was on my list in 2023 but I was unable to get to. Ivan has recommended it to me several times and I'd like to finally be able to see it.
Anyway. Saint Paul also has its own Central Library and I plan to get pictures of that, but I'll have to look for a window sometime during the packed schedules on Thursday or Friday probably. It'll work out fine. It always does! Anyway I'm really happy this is confirmed now and I'm excited.
— पांच हजार आठ सौ तीस —
[posted 1:00pm]
