Your first thought MIGHT be - big deal, rain in CA. Well, here in paradise it often IS a big deal. We can go months without rain and then all of a sudden it happens, and everyone freaks out on the freeways. And we get mudslides, etc.

But that's not what this is about.

I just got back from the Blogging Conference up in LB starring Rain City Guide master, Dustin Luther. Dustin's "hold on to your seats" rapid-fire talk was inspiring, filled with tips, advices, cautions, wisdom, and much more. It was entertaining! Insightful! For someone who was not a blogger yet, this may have been overwhelming, but at least I have some experience in my newbie phase so most of it made sense...but the learnings were incredible.

BTW Dustin talks like he is seeking a world record on rapid speech...you know, the commercials on TV or radio where at the last minute they have someone spewing out all the disclosures faster than you can listen.

But it rained there. It WAS a big deal.

Before I go further, I apologize for excluding any other Rainer's who were there that I did not meet. I'm sure there were others attending but there was only so much time to chat.

So, in addition to hearing from Dustin, this was a great opportunity to meet, face-to-face, live, in person, some of the AR bunch (and I captured a few on film...well, digitally). And there were some scintillating conversations (I love to throw in a 4-syllable word now and then to sound intelligent).

Roberta Murphy, Brian Brady, Jeff Turner, Bill Leider (you know, Jeff and Bill of RealEstateShows fame - they were off to sequester themselves to judge the Localism in Motion contest), Marlene Bridges, Lynda Eisenmann (I know both Lynda and Marlene from my work in the CRS Chapter), Laurie Manny, Jonathan Washburn and Sara Washburn, and Kaye Thomas.

So do you spot some of the folks I mentioned? BTW these were posted WITHOUT asking permission, so if anyone objects, I will remove them promptly - but everyone behavedand there's nothing embarrassing, so...).

For those who weren't there, you missed a great session. but I bet we'll hear from others who were there to share their thoughts.

Jeff