I’m in New Orleans for the annual meeting of the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative. This travel day has been odd and more than a little nerve-wracking, with a surprise ending. Snow threatened to cancel the travel–a flight out of Dulles at 4:45 p.m. just when the snow was predicted to be coming down at 2 inches per hour–but suddenly the snow stopped, visibility improved pretty dramatically, and the flight left and arrived on time.
Then the cab driver took me to the wrong Holiday Inn in the French Quarter. Fully luggage laden, I walked four blocks, one of them across Bourbon St., to get to the right Holiday Inn, the “Chateau Le Moyne.” There I learned that they had run out of rooms, so they had to upgrade me to a suite. 
I figured it would be a double room with some nice furnishings. It’s not. It’s a suite. The ceilings are at least ten or eleven feet high. There’s a huge sitting room, a huge bedroom, a little pre-bath closet area, and an undistinguished bathroom. The bathroom is a relief, actually, since the rest of the decor, though undeniably sumptuous, makes me feel I’m cheating if I don’t expire of absinthe poisoning on the bed. Were this to occur, I would already be lying in state, I assure you.
I’m here only one night, then over to the conference hotel, where the accommodations will be dismal after this exotica. That’s eXotica. The other was outside my window shortly after I got here: the Krewe du Vieux, q.v. Welcome to the Big Easy.
How will they keep me on the farm after this?
EDIT: One small but vital clarification–this suite cost the same as a standard room. The hotel gave it to me as a free “upgrade” because they had run out of other rooms by the time I arrived and checked in. That’s the first time that’s ever happened to me, but apparently it’s not uncommon.
Yes. But is there wireless?
Good one, Kevin.
Actually, there was wireless in that room, and very good wireless it was too. At the more expensive Hotel Intercontinental, both wired and wireless cost extra. At least there’s free wireless in the NLII meeting areas.
Having a wonderful time, Kevin. Wish you were here!
Interesting…the financial state of public education is, at best, abysmal, yet there seems to be an abundance of money available for blog registrations, conference fees, suites, etc.. I am glad to see that the tuition I pay for my son to attend UMW is going to better HIS learning.
I certainly understand TGAMM’s concerns and I’d like to reply to them briefly, hoping that he or she will return to see this. It would be even easier to have a dialogue with a name and email address, but perhaps this comment will suffice. I hope the information will be helpful and perhaps address some of TGAMM’s criticisms.
I pay for this blog out of my own pocket. Even if I didn’t, the cost is minimal: about 100.00 a year for a domain and space on a web server. Eventually, I’d like this capability to be part of a suite of online services we offer all faculty, staff, and students at the University, as some institutions already do (see the University of Minnesota’s “U-Think” blog site for an interesting example).
The conference fees are included in UMW’s membership in the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative. By taking five faculty and one Instructional Technology Specialist to this conference, UMW provides crucial faculty and infrastructure development in a very cost-effective manner, and exposes some of our best teachers and staff to the very latest, most cost-effective means of providing high-quality education to all our students. For a school with minimal resources such as ours, the 5000.00 per year we pay to belong to the NLII, which includes five free registrations for this annual meeting, is a great way to maximize the few dollars we have and spend them where their benefit is greatest.
The suite was an accident, as I tried (and obviously failed) to make clear in the blog entry. The upgrade was in accommodation, not in price. I paid the same rate I would have paid had I been in a standard room. In fact, that suite cost about 60.00/day less than standard rooms in the official conference hotel. I felt the entire situation was faintly ridiculous, and that feeling inspired the blog, but tax- and tuition-payers should be assured that there was no extra charge involved.
And yes, the tuition you pay for your son is, in part, going to better my learning. As my expertise increases, the value of your tuition dollars goes farther, and the education your son receives is, at least potentially, better: better because I’m up-to-date on vital developments in the profession of higher education, better because I’ll be more informed about information technologies and thus help prepare your son to be a vital contributor in an increasingly technology- and information-driven world, better because I meet talented professionals from all over the world whom I will invite to interact with my classes (as I already have), and better because any time I learn something, I’m going to share that with my students, and we’ll both benefit. I’m happy that part of my hospital fees go to educating doctors and surgeons, and that part of my lawyers’ fees go to educating lawyers, because their benefit directly translates into my benefit. I’m paying for their expertise, and expertise needs constant development because knowledge is increasing and changing. When my wife and I send our children to college, I hope their professors’ ongoing education is a high priority for the institution. Otherwise, our children won’t be prepared for the world and the lives that await them after graduation.