So I obliged my readers with the New York Chronicles, and now I'm going to impose the Northern Minnesota Chronicles on you. Yes, I just returned from my three-day trip "Up North," as they say around here, although one of those words seems redundant and I'm not sure which. The trip was fun, and definitely not as stressful as I had expected. You see, I was the organizing person for this conference of about 30 teachers from across the state. I've never met any of them before and I'd never been to this resort, so I didn't quite know what to expect.

Like everybody that I have met at my job so far, they were all very nice and welcoming. (I am still "the new guy" at my job, after all...) There's not much I can say about the conference itself except that it went off without a hitch. I felt slightly unprepared for this one, as if I had let my guard down after my first conference in January. But things went well, I received lots of compliments about how smoothly the event proceeded, including one from a person who said that I "must be able to walk on water." Hehehehe.... Perfection compliments--they get me every time!

But let's cut to the SCANDAL!!! Somebody ripped me off! Well, they ripped the place that I work for off. I brought a TON of A/V equipment and electronics up to the meeting, one piece being a laptop that I checked out for the trip. The laptop was used on the first day, after which I put it back in its case, closed it, and set it in the corner with a bunch of other stuff. Nobody needed it today, so I didn't think about it again until it was time to pack up. As I loaded my dolly with boxes of crap, I noticed a cord sticking out from underneath the skirt of one of our tables. Upon lifting the skirt (whee!) I found my laptop sitting on the ground, under the table, with all of the cords and papers and stuff that had been in the case on top of it. But the case itself was nowhere to be seen. We searched everywhere in the room for the case, asked the resort people if they had found it, etc. and had no luck. The case was gone!

I can only draw one conclusion from this sordid affair--somebody at some point after I put the computer away last night entered the conference room, took everything out of the laptop case, and ran off with it! Isn't that random? I mean, who on earth would steal a laptop case, but not the actual laptop?! And there was a ton of stuff they easily could have stolen from the room that was worth more... TVs, data projectors, portable overhead projectors, VCRs, etc. But no... they took the laptop case. If anyone has any leads on the case, please let me know. You may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1000 and can remain anonymous. Don't worry: in my mind I have already composed the sassy e-mail that I am going to send to all of the people who were there this week, subtly implying that one of them was probably the culprit and that it would behoove them to just turn themselves in NOW before things get any deeper. Crime doesn't pay.