The following is a factual statement: the #1 requested topic for CMEpalooza (Every. Single. Time.) is “More content about grants.” It doesn’t matter how many times we do one, people want more. With that in mind, now is your opportunity to get all your grants-related questions answered. The Grants Hotline is officially open and operators are standing by!

Our Grants Hotline session is scheduled for 11 AM ET during CMEpalooza Fall (Wednesday, Oct. 16), and the concept is fairly simple. Submit your question via one of the methods listed below and our expert panel will answer it*. That’s it, that’s the session. The more questions you ask, the more content we have.

*I feel obligated to state that your question needs to be related to the grants process, panelists can opt out of questions they aren’t comfortable answering, and we might not be able to get to every question. So for all you wisenheimers who want to come up with a “hilarious” question that you think will “make our day,” I mean, go ahead, but you’ll be wasting some of your wonderful creativity on an audience of, maybe, two people.

How to submit your questions:

Option #1:

Option #2: Text your questions to the Grants Hotline at 267-666-0CME (0263)

We are going to leave the Grants Hotline open until September 13, so you have two weeks to get your questions in. After that, you will just have to wait until CMEpalooza on October 16. Rumor has it that our fearless moderator will be showing off his Hotline Bling dance moves at the end of the session. Tune in to find out! (note: he didn’t actually tell me that he would be dancing, nor did I ask him, but he also didn’t not tell me that he would be dancing, so who knows?)

Momentum is only as good as the next day’s starter. – Earl Weaver

Exactly one month ago, Scott wrote a blog post trumpeting “We have momentum!” We then proceeded to write a grand total of zero blog posts since then. That’s some momentum. Personally, I blame the heat. It’s been so hot in Philly, the dog swore at me when I tried to take her out for a walk. Who knew greyhounds had such a potty mouth?

The good news is that, despite our lack of blog momentum, we have actually been doing some work behind the scenes, and our CMEpalooza Fall agenda is rounding into shape nicely. It’s not quite ready for prime time, but I thought I would at least give you all a sneak peak into what I think might be our best agenda ever (and yes, we say that every year). So, here are a few things you can expect in the 2019 CMEpalooza Fall agenda:

• An exclamation point in the title of a session
• A reworking of the lyrics to Drake’s Hotline Bling
• A Back to the Future II reference
• Pet rocks, mood rings, and Cabbage Patch Dolls
• A CME detective
• Quizzo!
• Mystery session(s) (to build suspense)

If that doesn’t get you excited for CMEpalooza Fall, then I don’t know what will. Fingers crossed, we hope to have the agenda close to finalized and posted in the next week or two. Stay tuned!

***

On a more serious note, I wanted to offer a brief tribute to my dad, Don Warnick, who passed away a few weeks ago. Perhaps this is a silly place to do such a thing, but Dad was extremely proud of CMEpalooza, even though he didn’t really understand how it worked or what I do. He was my sounding board when I first came up with the idea for palooza, encouraged me to give it a try even though I expected it to fail, and loved the fact that I was creating something new and unique. The least I can do is mention how important he was to me and to the development of CMEpalooza in one of my blog posts. I think he would have gotten a kick out of that.

We have gotten a bunch of new subscribers to the blog recently (now over 500 total!), so I thought I should throw up a quick blog post to welcome everyone and say hi. It also seems like a good time to let everyone know that we are bringing CMEpalooza to a close, and we will be transitioning this site into a full-time Philadelphia 76ers fan blog. We had a good run with the palooza, but now it’s time for us to focus on our true passion, starting with a detailed overview of who the Sixers should be targeting in free agency. Below, I have highlighted some of the top available backup centers that the Sixe.. um, hang on a moment…

…

OK, I am being told by Scott that we are not bringing CMEpalooza to a close and transitioning the website to a Sixers fan blog. Something about already having sponsors lined up and that people like CMEpalooza and don’t like my constant basketball references, etc, etc. I dunno, I usually tune out after about 30 seconds of Scott’s ranting, so I wasn’t really paying attention, but apparently we are still doing CMEpalooza Fall and even have a planning meeting scheduled for later this week. If, like me, you are disappointed not to read more about the Sixers potential free agency moves, feel free to shoot me an email and I will be happy to discuss.

As I was saying, the only things in life as constant as taxes and baseball is CMEpalooza. We will be back at it again on Wednesday, October 16 and will have an agenda for everyone…sometime before that. If anyone has an interesting session idea, or a speaker suggestion, or just something creative we can do, let me know. We need all the help we can get (note from Scott: Speak for yourself. I have enough ideas for both of us, as usual).

One idea I’m currently workshopping and plan to suggest to Scott for the fall is intro music for all our panelists. Who doesn’t love intro music? Frankly, I think every conference should do this when introducing speakers. I can’t think of any presentation I’ve ever listened to that wouldn’t have been immediately improved by the presenter walking to the podium while “Welcome to the Jungle” blared overhead. There is the small detail that we don’t use podiums during CMEpalooza — and it’s virtual, so no one needs to walk anywhere — but I’m sure we can figure something out.

(Side note: My intro music would definitely be AC/DC’s Thunderstruck, which I would also use if I ever decide to pursue a career in professional wrestling. I would have “The Thunder Down Under” written across the back of my wresting shorts and my finishing move would be the Thunderous Elbow Drop. After subduing my opponent with a Thunderous Elbow Drop, I would turn to the audience and yell out “YOU’VE BEEN” and they would respond by screaming in unison “THUNDERSTRUCK!!!” I’ve thought about this a lot.)

So, to recap:

• Welcome to all our new blog subscribers
• CMEpalooza Fall is October 16
• This is not a Sixers blog
• Send me all your good session ideas (not your bad ones)
• Intro music for presenters is awesome
• I may have shared too much about my future pro wresting plans

I think that covers all the important topics of the day. Have a great week everyone!