NEUAC 2014

I had been anxiously awaiting this last week's trip to the National Energy and Utility Affordability Conference. The conference itself did not let me down. I only had two workshops that were not what I expected and I think I just didn't get as much out of them because we had went through the same processes, one was on propane. I was really wanting to move beyond last winter's fiasco because I felt like the State of Illinois handled our situation amazingly, as did our clients. That one and the one that I went to that our own deputy director ended up being the main speaker. I knew he was doing part of it, but he pretty much explained how we do things, and I am sure, by all the questions that were asked that some people got a lot out of it. So, eventhough I didn't learn much in that one, I did feel proud to know we have our act together.

I met so many people this year! This is the first time I had ever went to conference by myself. It forces you to interact with new people. I met people from California, Washington State, Idaho, Arizona, Texas, Missouri (including the LIHEAP coordinator from the county I am sitting in right now!), Michigan, Oklahoma, Washington DC, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Florida.  I had many great discussions with these people.

I guess two of my favorite workshops was one on outreach strategies and then a plenary session on generations. I am bringing home material that I can share with the field staff if they would wish to grow themselves. All in all, fantastic conference and just what I needed to get my "umph" back.

To top it off, I got to take Andrew with me. He enjoyed the World War I Museum, Union Station and Crown Center.

Tuesday evening was my "vacation" evening, we went to the Sea Life Aquarium at Crown Center and then I put him in charge of finding us dinner. He found a place called Jerusalem Cafe. It was AMAZING!! Then, get this, we are putting pictures of our food on facebook and Andrew's great aunt says, "my granddaughter works there." Really??  Out of all the restaurants in KC? How funny is that?  We asked our waitress and Michele wasn't there that evening. The next morning, I was friended by Michele, relation I have never met but really, how cool is that??

Of course, we had to get in on the BBQ contest. We had ate at Gate's before but heard there was an ongoing feud between Gates and Arthur Bryant's. We ate at Gate's again on Tuesday eveningSo, we were going to meet a friend of mine from IL one evening for dinner. We decided to try out Arthur Bryant's. Let me tell you, that place is so fast paced that they actually made me nervous just getting our order but I ordered the exact same meal I had ordered two nights before at Gates. Arthur Bryant's BBQ is definitely my favorite.  Yesterday before we left town, we decided to try Jack Stack. This place wins hands down for decor but I wasn't impressed with the service or the meal. I ordered what was  supposed to be a burnt ends dinner with a cheesy corn cake. Andrew ordered the same thing except with fries and baked beans. When our meals came, his had BBQ sauce on it, mine did not. The girl asked if we wanted BBQ sauce on the side, we said yes, she never came back. My "corn cake" was more like cheese soup with corn in it, I don't know where the "cake" part was supposed to fit in.  Anyway, really disappointed. And on top of everything else, it was by far, the most expensive.

SO now we are on to today. We are in Brookfield MO, we got here yesterday afternoon and spent the evening with Andrew's Grandma Virginia. We are leaving in a few minutes to pick her up and go see Marceline MO, the hometown of Walt Disney. We will head for home after lunch.


I will add pictures to this later,