We work the booth all day, with an hour for our annual panel, and a couple of great industry events. Wow! How lucky am I?! Despite all the cliches about where the economy is, how consolidation has changed the business — we’re in a pretty good place right now.

Then you pick up the paper and read this about Haiti: “New rules of hunger etiquette are emerging: no matter what is found, it must be shared.”

Just a thought: Why could that not apply to all sectors of all businesses these days?

There’s an old story: Parents have a child who is happy, happy, happy all the time. Nothing can ever break his mood. And while the parents love his cheerful disposition, they’re concerned that he might have a warped view of life, no matter how positive he is. So one day, the kid comes downstairs to an enormous pile of horse manure in the middle of the living room and before you know it … he’s jumping into the pile, flinging manure all around and laughing with joy!

His parents are surprised that even a pile of horse manure makes their child jump around with glee and they ask him, “Why are you so happy?” The boy says, “Hey! With all this horse s**t around, I figure there’s got to be a pony here someplace!”

Clumsy metaphorical anecdote aside, it struck me yesterday as the NATPE exhibition floor opened that the compact size and closer location were pretty good for most attendees and before you knew it, the aisles were a steady stream of NATPE attendees. Most of whom said that it’s been a pretty good conference for them so far. The sessions are A-list filled, business is being written, new relationships forged and old ones rekindled. Heck, even the notoriously reclusive Sinclair Broadcasting sent their top programmer (and good guy), Bill Butler. And Miami next year is very appealing to just about everybody.

So for all those who can’t wait to bury the organization, sorry … but it looks pretty good to a lot of us, so pardon me if we ignore all the s**t and continue to dig for the good things. Time to hit the booth!

Read past entries by Gary Lico