Sunshine conference

I am sitting in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando, Florida, ringed by tropical plants, waterfalls, Buddha statues and screeching parrots, as the 2001 Niri annual conference wraps up. The exhibition hall is all but empty. The exhibitors have packed up their booths, brochures and chochkes and shipped them back to headquarters. A few stragglers are trying to decide which books to buy before the Niri book table packs up. Given the market's rollercoaster performance, it's