Good luck at the conference. FWIW, I came within 12 hours of attending- I'm in Phoenix for another reason on 17 October- but will be 6,000 miles away on the 18th. Such is life.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
