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.

A few weeks ago, Derek wrote about an upcoming meeting of the austere CMEpalooza planning committee that was on the calendar after weeks and weeks of coddling and begging. As those of us in the industry are familiar with, getting anyone to carve out time in their schedule for a planning call can be quite painful.

Well, imagine dealing with a whole cadre of egos (“My time is more important than your time”) where any affront is taken personally (“Wait, why are we rescheduling this meeting because she is unavailable? I told you I was unavailable, and you told me that was too bad. I hate you guys.”) and perhaps you have a sense of what Derek and I have to deal with on a semiannual basis.

OK, OK, so perhaps our planning committee isn’t quite as austere as I hinted at earlier. OK, OK, perhaps it is just Derek and I. Nonetheless, scheduling was a bit more challenging this year than most.

As you may recall from Derek’s near-catastrophic snafu with jury scheduling this spring, he is not always great at planning around important events in CMEpalooza-ville. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he bailed on our first meeting when he realized he had to see the dentist to get a few cavities filled. That’s what a lifetime of Laffy Taffy every night after dinner will do to your teeth, folks. (Note from Derek: Tough but fair.)

I was to blame (well, kinda sorta) for the second cancellation – water damage to our property caused by massive construction going on next door that is slated to be completed… oh, sometime in 2068.

But never fear my feathered friends, Derek and I persevered! Our personal assistants stayed with it, cross-referencing dates and times to find a Friday afternoon where we could both sit down and talk through ideas for CMEpalooza Fall.

But alas, another chink in the armor. Derek chose a Mexican restaurant near his house as our meeting spot. We show up. Oops. “I guess it isn’t open for lunch,” he says.

For some people, this would have been the last straw, but again, we persevered! Fortunately, another mediocre restaurant was located just across the street. What luck! OK, OK, there are lots of restaurants within a few blocks of where we met, but I’m simply trying to create some drama here.

Anyway, we sat down, ordered our iced teas and lemonades, and got down to business.

Let me approximate how these planning meetings typically go.

Me (rifling through many pages of notes and doodles during my preparation for the meeting): “So, what session ideas so you have for the next CMEpalooza?”

Derek (rifling through a blank notebook): “I dunno. Maybe something about grantors?”

Me: “So it’s on me again, eh?”

Imagine then my surprise last Friday when Derek actually had, gasp, several good ideas! I mean it everyone, a week at the beach must have sparked a few neurons into creative overdrive deep within Derek’s cerebral cortex. Between my mediocre ideas and his, we actually have a good collection of topics and formats for the Fall meeting (Wednesday, Oct. 16). We still need to flesh things out, get moderators/presenters on board, negotiate schedules, and everything else, but hey, at least we’re building momentum.

Let’s just hope life gets out the way for a while.

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!