Welcome Matt to the conversation side of IAP! You have had some time to get familiar with most of the people here, so join in the fun. Where do you teach?
Home for me is not too far away from you - Tunica.
I went through Marion a couple of weeks ago. It will be another year before I get back to the area for a vacation though. (My daughter lives in Augusta, over near Searcy.)
I am sure you have seen the link to a PDF file listed below, but in case you haven't, I am including it, as I do to all posters to the "Introduction" forum. It goes over many aspects of pen turning from finish - to pens - to tools - to methods etc. It is not in detail but a good overview for pen turning. You probably are already familiar with most of it.
http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=42446
Also included is a link to a new post that gives some information that people wished they had known earlier in pen turning. Some good information by those that make pens.
http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=46654