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August 11, 2004

Conclave 2004

"Ho-yeaaah"
- Quagmire, The Family Guy.

The biennial Conclave of the Fraternity of Alpha Kappa Lambda has just finished, held at the San Francisco Airport Marriott. And you missed out if you didn't get to go. Jeremy, Jasen, Justin, Joe, Jared, and I all went, along with our advisor and corporation board president, Tom Cuthbert. It was our first Conclave for all of us except Tom, who has been to five now.

Joe decided to fly in so he could meet his parents a few extra days, so that left five of us to drive down in Jasen's Yukon. Jeremy had purchased an AC adaptor to plug into the cigarette lighter port, so we effectively had a 19" television and a PS2 running nonstop on the way down. We watched the majority of The Family Guy, Season 1 on the way down. Jasen let me drive, and I almost got us into an accident (highway construction in the middle of nowhere, and they want cars to STOP, with no warnings or signs). Jasen was looking at some rocks piled up spelling different words on the side of the highway a little later, and almost rammed into some cars ahead of him. Apparently, a car-transport truck decided to pull an illegal U-turn in the middle of the highway, and got high-centered on the area between the highways. Thankfully, there were no cars spilled onto the highway, but unfortunately for the driver, the frame of the huge trailer was bent to hell and rendered to junk.

After around ten hours of driving, we hit rush hour traffic in Sacramento, and later in San Francisco. Two hours to travel somewhere around 30 miles. Just the toll bridge coming into San Francisco took us an hour. And it wasn't even the Golden Gate. The Airport Marriott is located like 15 miles south of downtown, right in front of the airport in the town of Burligame. Though mostly a business-only hotel, there were some excellent ballroom and event spaces. We picked up some snacks and breakfast for our stay at the local Safeway, and then parked the Yukon (for $8 a day). We met a few other AKLs that night out in the outdoor area. Kevin and Justin were from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Beta Tau chapter. We also met a mild-mannered chap named Keith Pike, an alum from Arkansas State. We decided to go into town the next morning and visit till our Leadership College started that evening.

We visited San Francisco downtown early next morning. The cheapest way to travel into downtown was to take the complimentary airport shuttle, then hop onto the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport, I assume) from the international terminal straight into downtown. We got off at Powell St, and walked a good, long way up some crazy inclines through Chinatown and into the Wharf. Chinatown was a festering, seething mess. It was way too busy, too dirty, and too smelly. There were some food items displayed for sale that were just wrong-looking. Like out-of-this-world, and smelling like it, too. We made it to the Wharf, grabbed lunch at the local Hooters, and went touring around Pier 39. We missed the last Alcatraz ferry by a couple of minutes, so we checked out the street performers, the sea lions, and Ghirardelli Square, and finally called it a day. We had to be back in time to make it to our dinner. And dinner was good.

If there was one thing that I could definitely say was the best part of staying at the Marriott, we would all unanimously agree it would be the food. The banquet facilities, the caterers, and the food were top-notch. We looked forward to lunch every day. It was the best part of the day, period. It was all fresh, hot, and delicious. We had a Southern-style buffet, with tamales, tortillas, rice and beans, and churros (!) for dessert.

The leadership college keynote speaker was scheduled that evening. David Stollman, the co-founder of CampuSpeak, gave an impressive presentation, focusing on how we should improve our recruitment standards, and actively recruit with wishlists and team leaders. If you're reading this down the road and you don't know what I'm talking about, then I can honestly say I've failed you as a member and Vice President of our chapter. If you'd like more information, visit the CampusSpeak website at http://www.campuspeak.com . We had a lot on our minds that evening, so we went to sleep with heavy hearts and minds full of ideas.

The next morning we had a battery of internal speakers from within AKL, talking about finances, recruitment, and the whole bunch. Not as impressive or inspiring as David's the evening before, but necessary, nonetheless. We had a short break before our Initiation and Omega ceremonies. They were both very well-performed, and for the first time since our inception as a fraternity, the Ritual was performed as it was originally - all alumni.

The next morning, breakfast was served, and the official start of the 2004 Conclave commenced. Everything was planned down pat, and everything went smoothly. We discussed and voted on some proposed amendments to the Constitution and Bylaws. The Constitution received no changes, but the Bylaws were brought up to date to properly reflect the NIC's new standards for 2005. Business went by pretty fast, and Jared and I had a great time.

We recessed for lunch (yum!), and had the rest of the day off. We hired a limo, and it took our group down to Great America Theme Park for a full day of unadultered fun. They had some pretty crazy rollercoasters and rides, and we all had a good time. Up until Joe and Keith and Justin got stuck at the top of the 23-story Turbo Drop (or whatever it's called). Everybody else zoomed down, except for them. The loudspeaker told them to hold on for a minute while the mechanics came down to fix "the problem". They were up there being whipped by the wind for ten minutes in complete terror. I saw Joe's tears falling from above, and I knew they were having a rough time (I love you, Joe.) Finally, they were slowly lowered down, and to make a long story short, we walked away with $50 in food certificates, and enough front-of-the-line passes to serve us the remainder of the day. Everything went well after that, including repeat visits to Top Gun (the absolute best inverted coaster ever). Our limo was late to pick us up ("Oh, you mean the ENTRANCE entrance"), and we made it back that night more tired than even our 6 hour trek into downtown a few days earlier.

The next morning was the last day of Conclave, and we discussed more business, including holding nominations and elections for the officers. Everybody was reinstated except for the Vice President of Operations. Don Wiethuecter gave up his post to a younger but equally (if not more) able replacement, who runs his own law firm and is a dedicated and successful AKL brother.

Jared ran for the Undergraduate NEC position being vacated by "Moss" Rodriguez from Alpha Rho chapter at UTEP. There were four nominees for the undergraduate position, and all four were equally impressive. Pat Allen, our national president, commented on how such a fine group of individuals had turned up for the position. Jared lost, but will be back in full-force for the Spring mail-only ballots election, to take Craig Zanetti's place (from the Alpha Phi chapter in Moscow).

We went to "church" that evening, and called it a day. The next morning everybody departed, and we drove back watching more Family Guy. Now, all we have to do is implement all we learned, and fully realize our dream of becoming the greatest AKL chapter that ever lived. The UTEP boys deservedly earned the Founders Award, but I think that we can take it if we stick to our dreams and goals. We'll give them a run for their money.

Posted by Danny on August 11, 2004 10:27 AM