Editor: Here's Cheryl's first report on the TDI Conference in San Mateo, CA. She, Lise Hamlin, and Jim House will be reporting on all the activities. It should be a great conference, and we look forward to providing complete coverage!

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It's hard to believe that back home everybody's fighting the end-of-summer traffic to get to work. It's pitch dark here in San Mateo, California where the 17th Biennial TDI International Conference officially begins with opening ceremonies at 9 am today. Nobody can pack in great technology-related presentations and discussions on meaty issues being faced by deaf and hard of hearing people like TDI. This is the conference I look forward to for the latest and best information about what promises and challenges the future holds.

My two flights went quite well, but the trip itself was grueling. Twelve hours elapsed from the time I left home for Dulles airport to the time I arrived at the hotel. Lise Hamlin, who is sharing a room with me, didn't arrive until after midnight, and when she wakes up I expect she will have a good story to tell about her travels. After all, she was coming from Mars -- Mars, Pennsylvania, which is north of Pittsburgh -- where she had just completed two days of emergency preparedness trainings.

Gloria Carter, the TDI administration assistant, was on my flight from Atlanta and waited with me a very long time for the last of my luggage to arrive -- the all-important cooler with Galaxy's food! We eventually were picked up by the hotel's complimentary shuttle, which also transported Heather York of captioning provider VITAC and her husband. I arrived just in time to catch a hug from TDI's executive director, Claude Stout, on his way out for the annual golf tournament.

The hotel is lovely and the staff very friendly. Room check-in was very smooth and aided by a sign language interpreter working alongside the hotel staff. With such great hospitality, I was jarred when my first trip to the hotel's restaurant resulted in a wait person telling me I would have to eat outside on the terrace because of my dog. There was a delay while the manager was consulted, but I wasn't worried a bit. I knew I had several allies ready to rush to my defense, including Dr. Judy Harkins, Brenda Kelly-Frey and Judy Viera. And I always have that handy wallet card with the ADA language on public accomodations.

I had a wonderful lunch with Judy Viera and Pam Holmes, two of my longtime "sisters" in advocacy. While we were eating, Janet Bailey and Jana Owen Beckford of Sign Language Associates arrived and I picked up a few more hugs. You can never have too many

As with all the conferences, there's a great opportunity to spend time with new people. I had a few minutes with Gunnar Hellstrom of Omnitor, who is here from Stockholm, Sweden to talk about the newest things in pagers, PDAs and cell phones. I also got to meet Bill Stobbe who heads Mission Consulting and is Judy Viera's boss.

Last night I picked up my registration on the second floor, where TDI staff Gloria Carter, Scott Recht and Neil McDevitt were just wrapping up and trying to deal with the usual conference challenges.

Lise, Jim House (TDI's public relations person) and I are going to try to cover all of the presentations but that may be impossible. There's only so much the hands and fingers can take.

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