Another thought on AIA: I’ve never seen another profession quite so dedicated to the acquisition of continuing education units (LUs in the trade). The sessions have little scanning stations precisely timed to make sure that you have indeed been sitting inside, absorbing that crucial information; every little tour, many of the booths, even quizzes in the back of Record give you the chance to accumulate those valuable LUs (especially those crucial HSWs). Sheesh — you’d think that people would be in it because it’s interesting, but no. It’s not even like the requirements are all that onerous: eight HSW credit hours means a total of four or five classes or seminars a year. As they helpfully point out in the conference book, you can earn all that at one stinkin’ conference.

I suppose I’m now an LU provider: take my two CNU tours on Thursday, 24 June and you’ll have earned three LUs. Who knew that my knowledge was that easily quantifiable?