Christmas in April

The best thing about industry tradeshows is that they give you coffee mugs, and when you get home, you can drink coffee out of those mugs: real coffee, ground immediately before brewing, with plenty of real cream and sugar.

This morning's celestially blissful cup comes courtesy of the East Texas Oil Museum. Thank you! Well, it's not actually that great. It's not strong enough; I guess I'm out of practice. But that's not you guys' fault.

You're at the tradeshow to network, and they're there to increase exposure; but the most obvious result of this process is that you come home with lots and lots and lots and lots of stuff. Or rather, you don't come home with the stuff. There's way too much stuff for you to carry. So there's a mail-back area in the back of the arena where you pack large boxes full of the stuff and they ship it to you at work or home. Naturally there are reams upon reams of literature, and so many business cards that, if they were one-dollar bills, you could buy a mound of cocaine the size of Greenland. But there's also the stuff: tape measures, miniature tool kits, pins, clips, wristbands, magnets, flashlights, and squishy stress toys; mugs and travel mugs, water bottles, T-shirts, koozies, caps, toiletry bags and tote bags; beach bags, beach mats, and cooler bags; bottles of honey and hot sauce, bags of popcorn and spiced pretzel mix, and jars of salsa and pickled tomatoes; picture frames, calculators, pedometers, and little portable fans; stuffed animals, pink cap guns, and a hat in the shape of a winged pig; fresh-cut roses, and wildflower and herbs starter kits; and ooh, here's a really clever one: flash drives, emblazoned with the presenter's logo, and preloaded with information about the organization.

The boxes beat me home; so yesterday afternoon, when I really wanted to lie down and take a 36-hour power nap, Anna instead made me open them up and go through everything. She immediately claimed the pig hat, which is pretty cute.

I'd still be sleeping, but Eric went to his grandma's yesterday and left his alarm clock set. So thank God (well, thank the East Texas Oil Museum) for the coffee mugs. All our dishes are dirty.