A 100% accurate, not-at-all-made-up text exchange between Scott and I.

Derek: OK, the CMEpalooza Fall agenda is in pretty good shape. We still have a couple sessions that will need some updating over the next few weeks, but we can at least give everyone a pretty good idea of what to expect. I think we can go ahead and release it tomorrow. What do you think?

Scott: 

Derek: Hello? Anyone there?

Scott:

Derek: Hello? Scott? You there? Kind of important. Could use your opinion.

Scott: Sorry, sorry. Cell reception is a little spotty here in Italy.

Derek: Wait, what? Italy? What the heck are you doing in Italy? It’s agenda release time! No vacations, remember? We’re all supposed to be focused on the agenda — no distractions.

Scott: No, no, it’s all good. I’m totally focused on the agenda. I’ve been thinking about it all day. Look, here’s a picture my wife took of me deep in thought.

 

 

 

 

Derek: That is a picture of Pierce Brosnan drinking a glass of wine.

Scott: No, it’s me thinking about the agenda in Italy. A common mistake, though. People get us mixed up all the time. (note from Scott: just like people commonly confuse Derek with Patrick Dempsey. We all have our cross to bear)

Derek: Right. Anyway, what are your thoughts on the CMEpalooza Fall agenda? OK to send it out tomorrow?

Scott: I think the agenda is as fine as the glass of pinot grigio I am sipping in that picture.

Derek: Super. I’ll handle it from here. Go back to your deep thinking/wine sipping.

Scott: You got this, buddy!

While Scott is out touring around Italy, I’m here to announce the working agenda for CMEpalooza Fall 2024, There are still a few details needed to round out the final agenda, but you can see that we have tried to put together a program with a little something for everyone. We have traditional topics, original topics, and mystery topics. We have old TV shows (This is Your Life), old music (The Clash), and old party games (spin the bottle). We have old faces, new faces, and faces yet to be determined.

Though you may be distracted this morning by watching the hammer throw, sabre fencing, canoe slalom, or whatever Summer Olympic events are currently on, please take a moment to check out the Fall agenda and mark it on your calendar. We’ll see you on Wednesday, October 16!

 

The definition of gallivanting is “to visit or go to a lot of different places, enjoying yourself and not worrying about other things you should be doing.” The definition of traipsing is “to walk or move wearily or reluctantly.” I bring this to your attention because in last week’s blog post, Scott wrote that I spent the first part of July “…traipsing through the countryside of Ireland where the thermometer never cracked 65 degrees.”

This is incorrect. I was not traipsing. I was definitely gallivanting through the countryside (and cityside) of Ireland, enjoying myself and not worrying about other things that I should be doing. My wife, as usual, planned out an amazing agenda, which, as usual, she shared with me as a read-only Google doc. I’ve learned not to take it personally when she does this. It’s not like I would dare make any edits to the itinerary anyway.

As I was gallivanting around Ireland, I made note of several things that I found myself asking, why don’t we have this here? (by “here” I mean “the U.S.”) Here are a few examples: (please note that I realize that half of these examples are pub-related, and it’s only half because I held back other pub-related examples. This perhaps gives you an idea of what a good amount of my gallivanting consisted of. I’ll also note that some of these are not necessarily specific to Ireland and can also be found in the U.K. and other part of Europe. You get my point, though.)

Lager. But Derek, you are probably thinking to yourself, we have lager in the U.S. True, but not lager like this. In my neck of the woods, if you walk into a bar and ask for a lager, you are going to get a Yuengling Traditional Lager. It is amber colored and, how should I put this…not good. Order a lager in Ireland (or England., Scotland, etc.) and you get something light, bubbly, frothy, and delicious. It’s delightful!

Toasties. A toastie is basically just a grilled sandwich. Grilled cheese, grilled ham and cheese, tuna melt (true story: I had four tuna melts during my trip. I regret nothing.), etc. They’re basically a less pretentious panini. Yes, we have grilled sandwiches here, but toastie is more fun to say and in Ireland they are ubiquitous. You can walk into any pub and order some kind of a toastie and it will be great.

Hurling. No, not the kind of hurling you might do after having too many lagers and toasties at the pub. I’m talking about the sport of hurling. Have you watched this? I barely understand the rules or the scoring, but it looks to me like a cross between field hockey, lacrosse, and mixed-martial arts. It’s great fun to watch and I may have booed the bartender at the Hairy Lemon when he switched the TV from hurling to rugby. How will I know if Donegal won??

Whimsy. One of the places we stayed during our trip was the charming seaside town of Carlingford. In addition to beautiful views, hikes, and great pubs, Carlingford is also home to Ireland’s last remaining Leprechaun whisperer and, conveniently, the last living Leprechauns (there are 236). There is a cute little Leprechaun themed park which is very sweet and endearing. You can’t help but smile when you are there. We need more things like this in the world.

My sister is a college anatomy and physiology professor, and sometimes when she is telling me about different things she is doing with her class, I find myself asking, why don’t we have this here? (by “here” I mean “CME.”) There are so many different educators out there working in so many different fields, it seems a little silly to me that we don’t tap into more of these resources to find out what else is out there. We try to make an effort at doing this with CMEpalooza,, and you will hear from some new voices in the Fall agenda, but one thing we could do a better job of is busting outside of our CME bubble to find faculty from other areas. I would love to hear from anyone who might have good suggestions.

We hope to have an update for the CMEpalooza Fall agenda by the end of the month. In the meantime, I’ll be looking for some place in Philadelphia where I can have a decent lager and toastie while watching hurling with a Leprechaun.

I am a bit sunburned and my ears are clogged with ocean water after 2 days at the beach, so I’m a little crankier than usual this morning (and I’m usually quite cranky anyway). Plus, it’s still 95+ degrees here in Philadelphia, which makes us all a bit more on edge. I mean, I love the long days and nights of summertime as much as anyone, but it’s hard to enjoy being outside when you come back drenched in sweat after a quick walk around the block.

Derek was just whining to me about it’s been soo soo hard to readjust to the heat after spending the first part of July traipsing through the countryside of Ireland where the thermometer never cracked 65 degrees. Poor baby. Drown your sorrows in another pint of Guinness why don’t you, laddie? (note from Derek: excellent idea!)

Anyway, before my cranky-o-meter accelerates even more, let’s run down a few things that have been going on with CMEpalooza. But before we do, how’s about a quick top 5 list of the best ’80s songs with the word “summer” in their title, if only because I know how much I know it bothers Derek when I steal his “top 5” gimmick, especially with my questionable musical tastes:

5. Summertime (DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince) – Technically, this wasn’t an ’80s song since it came out in 1991, but I couldn’t find anything else for this list that I had heard of that wasn’t by Richard Marx, and I absolutely refuse to include Richard Marx.

4. Boys of Summer (Don Henley) – Even as a kid, this song depressed me. The book of the same title is quite good.

3. Suddenly Last Summer (The Motels) – I knew the song but have never heard of The Motels before. Let’s assume this was their biggest hit (note from Derek: it’s not. Their biggest hit was/is Only the Lonely.)

2. Cruel Summer (Bananarama) – The girl bands of the ’80s were the best. Love the outfits, ladies.

1. Summer of ’69 (Bryan Adams) – Bryan Adams was my favorite singer growing up (like I said, questionable music tastes), and this is probably his most beloved song. Even if it isn’t about the summer of 1969.

With that thought-provoking list behind us, let’s move onto a few announcements that are actually related to CMEpalooza.

First off, we’ve been working hard on the agenda for CMEpalooza Fall (Wednesday, October 16). We’re almost there. Hopefully, we’ll have something preliminary out in the next week or two. There are some typically quirky session concepts out there, and topics you won’t hear about in other venues. We march to our own beat (in other words, We Got the Beat).

Secondly, we wanted to announce a very special event that we are hosting this fall in conjunction with the Alliance Industry Summit (AIS) right here in Philadelphia. Thanks to an anonymous donation in memory of longtime CME professional Jason O’Grady, we will be hosting our very first CMEpalooza Trivia Night from 6-7:30 pm on Tuesday, September 17, in the Skyline Room at the Philadelphia Free Library’s Central Branch. It’s a short 5-minute walk from the conference venue and one of the coolest spots in the city, even if you are not as big a fan of libraries as I am. There will be Philly-themed snacks and drinks, as well as cash prizes for the winners.

Because this is the not-to-be-missed event of the year, we’ve invited some of Philly’s favorite sons and daughters to hang out with us on the outdoor terrace during breaks in the action, so this is what the general atmosphere may look like.

Derek is an introvert until the end. (note from Derek: Bryce Harper is allowed to come sit with me.)

Please note that you need not be attending AIS to come to our free event. We will have more details, as well as a link to registration, as the date approaches.