Convention Update

(Our favorite guest writer, The YB of the SC, has courageously offered this post on the happenings at the First Annual Bloggers of the Smoking Christian Convention and Poetry Fest. Yak.)

To the best of my knowledge the Smoking Christian has never made a habit of attending any sort of a reunion in his long life, so why should this past weekend have been any different? Nonetheless, the writers of Peter’s Ashtray, The Occasional Glass of Wine Non-denominationalist (Og) and The Shilohman along with the groupies Saginaw Sis and the YB (Younger Brother) of the SC met in the shadow of the Sears Tower this past weekend. A wonderful time was had by all, including the SC (in absentia, right next to Placentia on most maps of the OC) who kept himself in constant communication via e-mail sent out from his garage in sunny Fullerton, CA.

The weekend was actually slated to be the annual Family Weekend at the Harvard of Christian Colleges. We took this event one step further and added the “extended family” to our weekend festivities. Og and Shilohman have no current offspring attending the school but The Yakimaniacs (writers of Peter’s Ashtray) and the YB have their sons in attendance, so we made every attempt to include the boys in the blog convention.

It was so great to see the Yaks, Shilohman and Og Man. There was an atmosphere of extreme creativity that made the air almost tangible in its condensation. Our kickoff dinner was held at Romano's Macaroni Grill™ where the pasta was thick and creamy and the wine flowed like champagne, in spite of the fact that only 4 of us were imbibing that night. Og’s lovely wife was in attendance and she was quickly brought up to date on the lives of these fine Bloggers and we think that a lasting impression was made—one that only time will heal.

Our breakfast the next morning coincided with the President’s Prayer Breakfast at the campus with only Shilohman absent due to his need to head back to Michigan to prepare his sermon. The President’s message had a whole lot to do with the need for money to run such a fine institution. Their goal for the next 5 years is to raise $250 million, a mere pittance compared to the 4.3 billion dollar campaign at the Wheaton of Post-modern Secularism in Cambridge, MA. The President also shared some dire predictions regarding the future of non-profit educational institutions whose hiring practices do not lean toward the extreme left.

We are all looking forward to our next gathering, although we have no idea what the impetus will be as the Yak’s son will be graduating this year. So, I propose that everyone give some serious thought to making Southern California the next common destination. I could arrange for a tour of the Smoking Christian’s domain. We have a whole bunch of Macaroni Grills and, of course, we are home to the original Hometown Buffet.™