A is for Amanda, B is for Boredom, C is for College Art Association

Things slowed down considerably after the first critique. Some artists were chomping at the bit to start working on their next project. Others (like my artists) decided that they needed a good week or two to mull things over. I was grateful for the break from printing... for a few days anyway.

Patrick's girlfriend Chelsey came down for the weekend and we hung out quite a bit. I somehow managed to convince them to join me for a minor league hockey game in nearby Rio Rancho. It was the New Mexico Scorpions versus the Colorado Eagles in hot CHL action. So exciting!!!



The game was fairly lopsided with the Scorpions losing something like 5-0. But the good news was that they were having Skate with the Scorpions after the game. We hurried down to the bowels of the Santa Ana Star Center to get complementary skates, but I was the last person to get a pair. Patrick and Chelsey watched from the stands as I took a few runs around the rink:



Unfortunately, getting the last pair of skates also sometimes means getting the last pair of skates that may or may not actually fit you. The things were killing my feet, the ice was rough from the hockey game, and I was certain that I was going to bite it. I didn't stay on very long... just long enough to take a few pictures in front of the mascot.



I was hoping to make some progress with my artists before I left for CAA on Tuesday but still didn't get a whole lot accomplished. I set out Tuesday evening to Dallas and had an okay flight but an awful encounter with the SuperShuttle out of Love Field. I had prepaid for the shuttle under the assumption that a taxi into downtown Dallas would be much more expensive. But after I waited AN HOUR for the shuttle to pick me up, and after finding out the taxi only would have cost between $5-10 more, I was regretting the decision.

CAA is the College Art Association and they have a conference every year with art panels and things. The main attraction is the interview center where schools interview for teaching positions. In the past it was common for people to go to CAA without an interview lined up, show around their portfolio, stalk interviewers at their hotels, and hopefully leave with a job. But nowadays its a lot different. Not as many schools seem to be interviewing at CAA, it's all done online, and if you don't already have an interview lined up, there's not really much reason to go.

My main purpose in attending the conference was to hang out with my old grad school buddy Kathy O'Connell. Here is Kathy in her power jacket and fashion accessory wheelchair:



Also staying with us was Ms. Charletta Nicole Hogan, who was a few years behind me at the University of Wisconsin. Nikki and I share a love of Mountain Dew and Powdered Donettes.



I somehow managed to convince both Kathy and Nikki to draw on some litho plates for me:



The hotel we stayed at was The Adolphus, which despite being a conference overflow hotel, turned out to be way more awesome than the actual conference site. Of course, I may be biased... since this hotel was built by my boy Adolphus Busch (of Saint Louis Anheuser Busch King of Beers fame). Here's a picture of me and big A:



The thing that was great about the Adolphus, besides being nearly 100 years old, was that there were A's on everything! Even the pillow shams:



I liked to pretend that the A's stood for "Amanda", while Nikki preferred to think they meant "Alabama".

I went to a few conference activities, and finally got around to hitting up the JFK 6th Floor Museum.



But mostly I just hung out in the hotel room, cracked the litho whip on Nikki and Kathy, and enjoyed several excellent meals.

Here we are enjoying a lovely lunch at Dakota's Restaurant:




And this is our last dinner together at Truluck's, courtesy of Kathy's lovely mom, JackieO. (P.S. Look at the size of my SHRIMPS!!!)



Although it wasn't exactly busy at Tamarind before I left for CAA, it was still nice to get away and enjoy the company of my old friends in Dallas.

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