I volunteered to go to a local high school college fair on behalf of my alma mater, Pomona College. Last night I drove a flexcar to Fallbrook, about 110 miles round trip, through exurban rush-hour traffic. I was half an hour late (because Flexcar erased my reservation) and, in the opinion of the professional admissions counselers there, didn't miss much. The fair was a bust, probably, they said, because there was a much bigger fair the next day at the San Diego Convention Center. And, the counselors said, Pomona probably hadn't asked me to go to that one because it was so big that they would send professional staff, not a volunteer alumnus.

So, this morning I hopped on my bicycle and rode downhill to the Convention center (which, if a couple of condo buildings fell down, would be visible from my apartment) to hand in the one completed student interest card and give back the dozens of excess brochures. But it turned out that Pomona wasn't there.

I called the admissions office to find out why I had been asked to go 110 miles through rush-hour traffic to a sparsely attended high school gym college fair instead of one mile to a very large college fair. Maybe, I thought, The answer was, "huh, I'm surprised we didn't know about it."

I feel vindicated about never contributing to the alumni fund.

Postscript: I did get a very polite followup from the admissions office, where they explained that the big "NANAC" fairs are less cost-effective for Pomona to attend, and it was a deliberate choice not to participate rather than an oversight.