Because Derek and I didn’t want anyone overloading our Google Form with too many urgent, off-the-cuff requests for advice, we gave out the wrong link yesterday for our new Ask Us Anything feature. If you followed the link, it went to our CMEpalooza Fall 2024 survey, for which we were hoping to squeeze out a few more responses. We are so sneaky!

But now that you’ve have some time to ponder, here is the correct link to Ask Us Anything. So please, don’t be shy. We are a fountain of advice (maybe not good advice, but advice nonetheless).

Click here to Ask Us Anything

Strangers ask Derek and I for advice all the time.

Just the other day, we were at one of our periodic planning lunches for CMEpalooza when our server sauntered over with a somewhat inquisitive look on her face.

“Do you mind if I sit down for a second?”

(Obviously, we were both going to tell her, “Yes, we do,” but she cozied up before we could say anything.)

“I have been eavesdropping a bit on your conversations about some sort of CMOpretzel kind of thing, and it’s obvious that the two of you are worldly and brilliant, so I’m wondering if you might be able to give me some advice about my roommate.”

It was the classic situation. One was neat, one was messy. One stayed out until the wee hours of the night, one liked to go to bed early. One ate all the food in the fridge whether she had bought it or not, one only ate what was hers.

“I really like her,” our server told us, “but I just can’t take this anymore. What should I do?”

Derek and I both looked at each other, simultaneously shrugged our shoulders and told her, “Move to another state, duh.”

Stunned by our brilliance, she got up with a strange look on her face, probably contemplating where she should move to next. Another life that had been invariably changed for the better thanks to our insightful advice.

Following this encounter, a lightbulb went off in my head. Why limit our life-changing advice to random strangers who are fortunate enough to cross paths with us on a daily basis? Why not offer our services to our adoring CMEpalooza fans?

So, with that in mind, we are launching a new blog feature that we are calling Ask Us Anything. Here is how it works:

1. You think of a current problem you are having that you want our advice about. Ideally, this problem will be professional in nature, but if you want our input on your nosy mother-in-law or any other pressing life issue, perhaps we can be helpful there as well.
2. Go to our Ask Us Anything form and submit your question(s). Provide us with as much detail as you want. Presumably, you’ll want your submission to be anonymous, so we’re also letting you pick out some sort of pithy moniker you’ll go by for our blog. If you can’t think of something, we’ll do it for you.
3. Derek and I will peruse the hundreds of expected submissions we’ll receive and select a handful to publicly respond to through our blog in periodic posts. Please don’t be disappointed if we don’t address your problem(s) right away. I am sure we’ll get to most everyone eventually.
4. We are going to take this semi-seriously. We are not Dear Abby or Ann Landers. If you have read our blog religiously through the years (and if you haven’t, shame on you), you should have a pretty good idea of the kind of “advice” you are likely to get from us. It is possible we’ll actually have advice that will help, but it’s also possible our advice will be completely nonsensical.

Let’s have fun with this, everyone.

Click here to Ask Us Anything

I saw my first Santa of the holiday season (complete with two “I wish I were any place but here” elves) on Saturday morning. It must not have been promoted very well because, despite a large crowd of people in the building, there was no one queueing up to sit on the big guy’s lap. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Santa’s beard was a bit scraggly and jet black, not exactly how he’s portrayed in the cinema. Just a guess.

But you know what never disappoints? No, it’s not Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story (Derek’s full 2,500 word review coming later this week).

It’s CMEpalooza. Big “CME” and little “palooza.” Yes, this is our way of reminding everyone not to send us emails this year about “CMEPalooza” or “CmePalooza.” It’s like the friend I have who continues to call me “Scot” in every text message he sends me. It’s been too long now so I really can’t say anything without unnecessarily embarrassing him. But we will publicly embarrass you this year if you botch “CMEpalooza” since we are telling you once again here how it is properly spelled. Derek suggested that we should tar and feather everyone who butchers things, but he’s been reading a bit too much about the Salem Witch trials, so we’ll probably come up with something less extreme (note from Derek: Why?).

With that, a few CMEpalooza announcements:

1. After much consideration, consultation with two psychics, and hours of debate, we have set the two dates for CMEpalooza in 2025. Our Spring meeting will be Wednesday, April 16, and our Fall meeting will be on Wednesday, October 22. Please mark your calendars. In the spirit of full disclosure, I’ll let you in on a little secret – we actually changed the initially announced date of CMEpalooza Fall 2024 last year. There was another industry event that was dropped onto the calendar after our announcement, so instead of creating a conflict and totally destroying any chance of anyone attending the competing event, we simply moved our event by a week. Did anyone notice? Not that we are aware of. So yes, while we fully intend for these 2025 dates to be set in stone, we’ll keep the cement wet in case we need to adjust things.
2. You may have noticed that the CMEpalooza Archive tab is missing a few things, namely the 2024 Fall sessions. There is a very good reason for this. That reason is as follows: Derek has been lazy. If the Archive tab is not updated by the end of this week, he tells me that I can tar and feather him during the opening session of the upcoming Alliance conference. Stay tuned everyone! (note from Derek: meh [shrugs shoulders])
3. On Tuesday morning (that’s tomorrow), our 2025 CMEpalooza Sponsorship Prospectus will be available on our Sponsors tab. For the lucky few on our email distribution list, you will get some sort of pithy message from me noting its debut. While sponsorship commitments always trickle in over the course of the next few weeks, this is just a reminder for anyone interested in one of our more glamorous sponsorship levels to act quickly since we have limited high visibility slots. We operate on a first come, first served basis, with no “savesies” in advance. But once the prospectus is publicly available, step right up.