I’m attending a two-day online writers’ conference Friday and Saturday. I probably should just write, but it feels good to learn something. Even a little.

The first presenter, an agent, has a bad case of vocal fry; very distracting. It’s a weird almost-always-female habit that ends words and sentences in rising tones and a weird gargling growl. Here’s a Youtube explanation of it. At least this presenter had some good content – I learned a couple of things.

The second presenter/teacher has a better voice, but she is not aware that her slides are not advancing as she talks. Then after that was fixed 15 minutes into the session, she doesn’t understand that she needs to put her display in presentation mode – full screen slides. You can’t read the small print, and we can all see her entire desktop. Another irritating presentation foible, this time just ineptness. Strike two.

Switching hobbies, I received a rental lens for the Cabo trip – A Sigma 60-600 superzoom. I rented it for about 10% of the purchase price, because I’m not sure how often I’ll use something like this. The lens is a beast – the logistics of traveling with it won’t be simple. About 18 inches long (unextended), and it weighs six pounds! It makes my camera look weirdly small – the tail is definitely wagging the dog with this combo. I hope to get some great whale breach shots with it, given the 10x optical magnification. We’ll see.