A Penny for my Thoughts? Editorial Do you feel like you have been trapped in a Gilligan’s Island routine for the last 21 months or so with the Corona virus pandemic. Your close friends have become Gilligan, Jonas Grumby, Thurston Howell III, Eunice “Lovey” Howell, Ginger Grant, Roy Hinkley, and Mary Ann Summers? Things go crazy, and you adapt by finding new ways of doing things you had done differently for years. You start to get comfortable, and then things evolve again. There’s always hope around the corner, but it seems we can’t yet get free. That day is coming, and you’ll once again be together for an in-person conference and social time on the patio. Now that I got the pandemic out of the way (if only it was that easy), I thought I might take a look back since I have now officially unofficially been involved with NACAT in various capacities for 15 years. During that time there have been highs and lows, new life and death, and lots of change. I won’t get super-detailed in any analysis, as this is not the place for that, but I will perhaps provide a bit of a different perspective from the teachers who comprise the membership and heart of the organization. I was essentially drafted into NACAT in 2006. NACAT had a functioning website being run by a great guy by the name of Al Millman. He was looking to step out of the role and it found its way to me after my wife had initially agreed to do it when she was asked. She was going to be fine doing it as basic HTML in the old Microsoft Frontpage, but moving beyond that into everything involved in Content Management Systems was more than she wished to take on as extra work. I “volunteered” to step into that void. The rest, as they say, is history. At various times since 2006 I have been the webmaster, Foundation director, NACAT News editor, marketing director, and more. I’ve given many ideas where credit went elsewhere, and I am okay with that, because it helped move things along. I was never in it for the “glory”. I was in it because the organization was founded at a small community college, Vincennes University, which was located about 15 minutes from where I grew up. NACAT served as an extra way to connect “home” with family and friends both old and new. I mentioned that there have been highs and lows during the last fifteen years. I guess it is only right to go through a few of them. Let’s start with the highs. There have been many great conferences in excellent locations. I’ve only gone to a few: Charlotte NC (2009), Sanford FL (2010), Winnipeg (2011), Tyler TX (2012), and Greenville SC (2014). However, I have been regaled by the tales from so many others. I know just how much people have missed not being able to get together the past two years. LOTS of good food and fellowship coexists with the training at each conference. As a family,we learned how to make valve cover racers, made friends, and watched other families evolve. There were also great chances to work with other organizations presented. 2010 and 2012 saw NACAT work with ASE and AYES to bring vast numbers of educators together at the conference. Foundation work aligned yet more companies who shared the desire to assist transportation technology educators. The lows during the fifteen years are somewhat cavernous so I won’t spend much time spelunking. I’ll not mention any personal aspects or dealings with individuals who may have complicated the relationship, as they were tangent and there was always a rebound due to the positives always eventually outweighing the negatives, but I will mention the loss that comes when you have to delete a friend from being a contact after their death. There have been too many NACAT friends pass in the last fifteen years. I say that, yet I
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