WSAJ Convention day 2 — Karen Koehler

I have so many credits stored up I don't ever Need to attend a CLE. Where did this bad attitude of mine come from. I've never really liked lectures. I can remember correcting the grammar of my high school English teacher one too many times and being sent out for alternative "advanced" tutoring for the rest of the school year. Today I'm late because I decide to go for a morning run since we are going white water river rafting after lunch. The speaker is Eric Oliver. He's very good but again, I've heard him several times before. And so I split my attention between him and my computer. The stuff I've already heard washes around me, but then he says or shows something that gets my attention because it is new and helpful to me. This is why even despite my bad boredom behavior, I like going (more or less) to CLEs.

The luncheon is in The Great Hall. It looks like the inside of a ski lodge in all its big wood glory. It is lunch time and of course I'm thinking, where's the food. We are a bit late getting started, but no food. The speeches have launched and we are a good 20 minutes into things before the salads start arriving. I'm on the official platform since I'm introducing an award recipient. We get a basket of bread as we watch the salads being delivered to everyone else (we're always last to get served). It is around 1:00 and our salads arrive. Unfortunately there are no utensils. Those arrive. No salad dressing. I ask for it and that arrives. No butter for bread - I ask for it that arrives. Food service isn't really the highlight of the Sunriver experience.

Here are the award recipients:

New Member - Angela Macey Cushman

Public Justice - JoHanna Read

Pillar of Justice - Bob Dawson

President's Award - Steve Bulzomi

Trial Lawyer of the Year - Mark Kamitomo

Speeches are interesting things to watch. Everyone has a different way of doing them. Some people have every single word written out in a script. Right before it's my turn, here are the notes I scratch onto a slip of 2x2" paper to remind me not to miss anything:

"2nd son - 16M. Valentines day 91/92 4.5M. Pearl Harbor.

The lunch is running too long because we started late. 27 of us are going on a white water river rafting trip and are supposed to meet at the place at 2:00. It is 1:50 and we have to sneak out before the Presidents' speeches are done. I feel badly about this as I'm up on the platform. Very bad form. But no choice. Drop Stritmatter off at his place so he can change, rush with daughter to our place so we can change, and make it to the meeting place only 10 min. late. Sign waivers allowing them to essentially kill us with no recourse, put on sun screen, pop Dramamine then pile into converted school bus for bumpy ride to the river. Get off bus, spray on bug repellant, put on still wet life vests, divide ourselves into 4 boats, and head out.

Being on the river is so funnnnnnnn! Our boat is the Best! We fend off one-way water gun fights from a hostile raft, navigate the rapids and play games to bounce people out into the water. I swear, our tour guide was a young version of Crocodile Dundee. Get back on bus, back to Sunriver and with sopping wet clothes rush directly to the WOW reception. OTLA is having their formal dinner right afterwards so their lawyers are all dressed up. At one point they take a picture of all the female past presidents of both groups, and everyone lines up with Judy Massong and I absolutely dripping at the end.

Rush back to change for board meeting, where the food this time is lined up against the wall smorgasbord style. Have a salad (semi-healthy) and mashed potatoes (tasty but not healthy) and do good deeds.