 On the eighth day, God said, you know what, let's go back to darkness. That's a quote from a book called The Bible. I thought this would be a good quote to start off our conference because I think it's important to remember that while it feels like we're on the crest of this rising interest in flotation, the essential core of what we're offering has been around for the breath of human history. In fact, just earlier this morning, I was thumbing through Beowulf, and right there, page 76, the men rejoice with great hurrah as Beowulf had brought the salts to fill their vats of isolation. I mean, it can't be more clear than that. For millennia, people have been experiencing the profound benefits of the flotation tank. There seems to be an innate human desire to seek out these moments of respite in an otherwise crazy world. When you start looking, you begin to see references to this idea of quiet and isolated contemplation all over the place. In the art of war, Sun Tzu famously said, we're only people to all use flotation tanks. This book would be irrelevant. Joseph Conrad, of course, has a beautiful memoir about his love for flotation, Heart of Darkness. Edgar Allen Poe even has an entire poem written about how he had to soundproof his float center against the thumping noise that was coming in from under the ground. It's clear that the work we do is a necessary aid to the health of human civilization. We are the harbingers of sanity, the gatekeepers of restoration. We are the balance to the full-speed, nonstop drag race that is human society. As Dr. Seuss so wisely put it in his memorable children's book, The Goat and the Float. The salt gets here, the salt gets there, the salt gets fricking everywhere. But once you're in that lightless layer, you re-emerge with how to care. It's this ability that float tanks have to wipe away the petty in order to better see the profound that has drawn so many people in over the years. And it's the reason we're gathered here today, to forget about all of our small differences and to instead celebrate our large commonalities. And through that celebration to grow stronger as a group. If you don't mind, there's one more completely legitimate quote that I thought seemed particularly relevant for today. It's from none other than our old friend William Shakespeare. Not many people know this, but Shakespeare actually wrote an alternate ending to Hamlet. At the end, after everybody is killed, sorry if that's a spoiler for anybody. Fortinbras marches onto stage and amidst a cacophony of trumpets, he announces welcome to the 2017 Float Conference.