Editor's Note: A few memories about RDH Under One Roof from my hat

A shelf for hats sits up high in my closet. Most of them are ball caps, but there are four or five full-brim hats that I wear most frequently. In Oklahoma heat, I'm easily persuaded that the full-brim hats provide more shade.

Lena Banuet, who is the editorial designer for RDH, kindly models the ball cap that I have the most sentiment for. Before I get into some reminiscing about the cap, I should explain why Lena is showing you the cap instead of its owner, me. Well, I didn't shave this morning. More importantly, this is a good time for you to meet her, since the magazine has changed its appearance quite a bit in recent months.

We hope you are enjoying the fresh look to the magazine, and I hope you will join me in complimenting her. As always, there's a whole lot of experimenting going on in page design, changing this and that, and changing this and that again.

I bought the cap during a tour of the American Dental Hygienists' Association's headquarters a few years back. Over the years, I've stuck a few pins into the crown there. I can't really explain most of them. I still like baseball, but the work stoppage in 1995 permanently switched me from an avid diehard fan into a very infrequent spectator. So I probably got the pin at a youth amateur game I attended.

I am supportive of the United Way, but not a spokesman in any way-just donate here and there. I am a native Texan, but, uh, I have lived in Oklahoma for 20 years. I like roses when somebody else plants them.

However, the other two represent fond memories of RDH Under One Roof. The "sheriff's badge" was worn during a skit organized by various UOR attendees. I was the "bailiff." I don't know how popular the skit was, but I enjoyed being the muscle man in Judge Deborah Krueger's court.

Then there is the pin distributed at the 2007 RDH Under One Roof, which was hosted in a hotel just down the street from the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. The conference returns to Washington this summer-but on the opposite side of the city. UOR is scheduled for July 28-30 at the National Harbor in Maryland. Please take a moment to read Debbie Sabatini's memories about the conference on page 12. The conference leaves everyone who has attended with many pleasant memories. You can also find out more details about the CE programs at RDHUnderOneRoof.com.

Mark Hartley

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