I was only back in Vegas three days before I had to hop on a plane to the East Coast for the American Library Association Midwinter conference. This means that I was only at work for about three days in five weeks and that after putting 5,000 miles on my truck during the Holiday Road Trip I would also be earning some flight miles as well.
I arrived in Philly and took the advice of a co-worker (who is from the city) and hopped on the train. So easy. It is amazing: from the airport to the convention center I didn't even have to go outside! I did have to hit the street to go to my more frugal hotel, the Hampton Inn but the walk was only about 4 blocks. I soon met up with my former boss and conference roommate (who I totally love and miss and was so happy to see)!
The next day we went to the LITA preconference on User-Centered Design for Websites (Day One) and Usability (Day Two). It was an intensive two-day workshop and I think I managed to absorb a lot of information that will help out with my work on the library's web site and on the digital collections. The only problem was that my brain wasa basically full by the time the actual conference started. I attended my required meetings (ACRL Arts Section, Library Research Roundtable, LITA Digital Library Interest Group, and New Members Roundtable) as well as the CONTENTdm meetings for users of the software we build our digital collections with. But, that was the boring stuff. There was also a bit of fun.
In addition to being reunited with my old boss, I also saw all the UNLV people, a friend from library school who is the digital projects librarian at Drake University, and even met a few new friends and contacts along the way. There was a great party, put on by Thomson at the Philadelphia Art Museum (of Rocky fame) where we got to tour the galleries and eat free food- though not at the same time! There was the night we went to the Afghan restaurant, Kabul ,and the couple trips to Chinatown for cheap and delicious dinners.
One of the best things about the conference was that the convention center literally sat above the Reading Terminal Market with all varieties of tasty food vendors, produce stands, coffee and tea, gifts, and sweets. It rocked! I could eat there a month and not try everything. We had falafel, crepes, Italian hoagies, Indian food, pastries, coffee, and I even tried the Amish pickles. Yum. This place really made the conference.
I got the minimum of required sightseeing in: Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Ben Franklin's grave site and the historic buildings in Old Town. I wish I would have had more time to explore, but this conference was rather busy and I just didn't get to do much beyond scratching the surface. In fact, I only had one Philly cheesesteak- a bad one- at the airport on the way home.
It is good to be home safe and sound, though I will miss my friends until the next conference or visit. I saw the ad above as I was running to the train to catch my flight. I thought it was pretty funny that even the Hard Rock was trying to wrangle a few of the 100,000 librarians in for a bite to eat. Though we all know its true...librarians do rock!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
ALA Midwinter in Philadelphia
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Goodbye October! It's been fun!
Happy Halloween! The candy is ready, now I am just waiting to see if any of the kiddies show up before I eat it all! Reese's, Butterfingers and Whoppers are here for the taking...
This past weekend was packed with a bunch of different things. We left last week and headed up to Oakland, CA where I attended the Oral History Association Annual meeting and gave a presentation about the Nevada Test Site project I have been working on. My husband stayed with a friend of ours and went fishing on the Russian River. On the last night of the conference, I took BART into San Francisco and met my husband and our good friend, Andrew for dinner. I got to check out Andrew's really cool SF house on one of the notorious hills with the fabulous view of the city and experience a tiny bit of the hipster lifestyle. Off the dinner, we had a bit of trouble finding a parking spot, but once the car was situated, we ate a yummy dinner and drank several refreshing Lagunitas beers at Park Chow in one of SF's many bustling neighborhoods. After dinner, we continued our adventure with a driving tour through the Castro neighborhood and a stop at the Bi Rite Creamery where I had the best sundae ever (coffee ice cream, toffee crumbles, hot fudge, almonds, and whipped cream)! Then I was dropped at the BART station and headed back to my hotel. After my presentation, we hit the road to Roseville, CA where we met up with family for the rest of the weekend.
When we arrived in town, we were just in time for our niece and nephew's school Halloween carnival. Once the kids were in costume, we went up to the carnival, where we ate candy, walked around and checked out all the costumes and the kids won goldfish at the carnival games. After the carnival, we all went home and ate pizza (with wine for the grown-ups) and called it a night. Saturday was my official birthday and we spent it watching the kids' soccer games, hiking in the Auburn State Recreation Area along the American River, and catching up on news together before dinner. My relatives decided to take me to Folsom, CA (of Johnny Cash Folsom Prison fame) for my birthday dinner. The town is really cute and done up like an old western town with shops and stuff for tourists. After some browsing, we made a beeline to My Brother Vinny's for eggplant parmesan, zinfindel, and a fabulous view from the outdoor patio. It was a wonderful dinner, and afterwards we couldn't resist going over to Snooks just to make sure we all had plenty of sugar in our systems! Back at home, I opened my birthday presents (thanks guys!!!), ate some yummy apple/blackberry/sour cream pie and watched home videos on DVD (has it really been five years since our wedding???) On Sunday, we had a chill-out day and hung out by the pool, ran over to the mall, and cooked a tri-tip on the grill.
It was a great visit, but all too soon we needed to head back to Nevada. We said our goodbyes, loaded Pocky into the truck and headed out through Tahoe. On the way through northern Nevada, we stopped in Virginia City to walk around and look at the historic townsite. From there it was a long, drive through the Silver State. We got home and relaxed a bit before it was back to work.
Well, I just got my first trick-or-treater (a pirate)...so I guess I better get ready for the onslaught! It has been an awesome October!
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Too Many Hours in the Airport
It was rather weird being a tourist in my hometown and frankly, I got pretty annoyed with the rampant sports-fanatisicm! The Rockies, Broncos, and god only knows how many other local sports teams were playing this weekend and last night there were loud commotions all night long in celebration of the Rockies win. (Perhaps, I am just jealous because I was preparing for a presentation and not wasted beyond sense.)
I didn't get to the mountains, so this trip doesn't count as a real trip to Colorado. Nerdy librarians, fancy conference hotels, and a brain full of technology is definitely more work than play...but at least I got a decent breakfast burrito, which more than I can say for Vegas....
More about the techie stuff over at my digitization blog...
Sunday, July 29, 2007
I Love You P-Town
Just returned from a library conference at Reed College in beautiful Portland. What a fabulous town! Not only does Reed have a gorgeous campus, every bit as nice at its sister school, Sarah Lawrence -but the campus is in a real city (well, at least what I consider a real city!).
Portland has the most spectacular gardens, and the hydrangea were all in glorious bloom in the city yards. The Bluebird Guest House where I stayed was a restored Arts and Crafts-style home with a hostel feel (and prices). It is located in the SE where I got to explore the Belmont District and walk along Division Street. I bought a pound of coffee at Stumptown Coffee and had a lovely spontaneous meal at Pok Pok located just down the street.
What I loved about Portland was the mixture of classy , smart (Powell's independent bookstore), and stylish culture (papaya salad discovered randomly on a walk) mixed with down to earth, laid back, outdoors-y people (they have a Nau location). Just enough hipster ingredients to balance the hippie elements.
Somehow, I think that the gods may want me to end up in the Northwest. I feel it would be some kind of crazy irony to move from the desert to the rainiest place in the U.S. From what I've seen, maybe this is where I was always meant to be. Good things about the Pacific NW: good food, beer, and coffee; bookstores, the Cascades, good people, digital library programs, dog-friendly and progressive. Bad things: expensive, weather, might be too late to buy a house. But I am seriously starting to develop the theory that living in places with bad weather keeps the bad people out. Snowbirds you can have the sun belt!
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Why I Will Be Boycotting Super Shuttle Forever
Okay, so I consider myself a somewhat intrepid traveler. I generally can handle the whole hostel scene, have been known to hitchhike here and there, and I stay cool under pressure even when I am out of my comfort zone. But this past week's experience totally takes the cake as far as terrifying travel experiences.
It all started in Washington, DC as I was trying to make my way home from the annual conference. I had confirmed my reservation with Super Shuttle and was at the assigned place (my hotel lobby) at the correct time (3:15 pm). When the driver showed up, I tried to give him my confirmation and he said, "yes, come with me, let's go!" I asked, "are you sure that I am the only one?" He rushed me into the van and grabbed my luggage. I sat down next to another librarian and promptly began a really nice conversation about digitization of rare books as we set off towards the airport. About 20 minutes into the drive, the woman mentioned something about her flight and the Baltimore airport...which, immediately concerned me...so I blurt out, "But this van is going to Dulles, right?"
The Super Shuttle driver gets a suprised look on his face shortly followed by a very angry look and begins a long process of trying to figure out how he picked up the wrong person. He then says something into his phone about dropping me at another hotel for another shuttle and veers through three lanes of expressway traffic to exit. The next thing I know he pulls over and tells me, "get out, get out another shuttle will be here in 5 minutes!" I am confused and feel pretty dumb, but I am thinking, "uh okay, well they are going to have to pick me up pretty fast if I am going to make my flight!" I tell the driver I want to get a cab instead and he insists that his dispatcher will call me in 5 minutes! I ponder, "is a shuttle coming or is the dispatcher calling, or are we just in an alternate reality where everything takes five minutes??"
Well, none of the above. The driver gives me my luggage and speeds off. Only then does it really sink in that the driver has abandoned me on the side of the road in front of a liquor store and some place called the President Inn. This place has bulletproof glass in the lobby, and I am fast realizing that I am seriously in a bad neighborhood. I proceed to call my husband and freak out, call Southwest Airlines and freak out, and then try to get information on a cab from the guy at the front desk while trying to contain my freaking out. During this trying moment, Super Shuttle calls to tell me there is no driver coming to get me and that they "apologize for any inconvenience".
I then attempt to call a cab company on my cell phone and I am told that the company does not go to that neighborhood. I go back to the desk and the front desk clerk tells me that he can "call this guy who owns a cab". When the guy shows up he isn't even driving a real cab and of course he wants $125 dollars to go to Dulles in rush hour traffic. I have $26 dollars on me. I panic and call my husband again to help me down from an even more intense stage 2 freakout. The suspicious driver assures me I could have been raped, robbed, killed and worse from what Super Shuttle has done, but that he will, "take care of me." I am not comforted. But, my options are not looking good and time is ticking away.
It was the stupidest thing I've done, and goes against any advice I would give others, but this is what I did: I got in the weirdo cab and he drove me to get cash out at an ATM in a scummy gas station where I was sure I would be attacked and/or that the cab driver would drive off with my suitcase. After getting my cash out and rushing back to the relative safety of my new friend the cab driver, he demands to see my money and checks that it is real. He then starts driving while giving me some story about how he has to drive me to a Greyhound station where he can transfer me to a cab that has air-conditioning...stage 3 freakout!!
I don't know if I am going to live through this, but I keep my phone on and I update my husband with my location in case he has to recover the body. We show up at the Greyhound station where he takes my money and counts it out and gives another guy my money and keys to a parked cab. This old geezer with no teeth (literally he could be a resident at the bus station, for all I know) tells me to hop in, but that he has a bad back, so can I get my suitcase? He also demands another $20 bucks before he'll put the cab in gear.
In my new cab (which actually resembles a taxi), we start driving through DC. I recognize North Capitol from previous visits and now I know what exact ghetto I am actually in. Somehow, amazingly, we make it through DC and onto the freeway where we seem to be driving in the general direction of Dulles. The guy is swerving a bit, but miraculously I actually make it to the airport. I had to bolt through the security checkpoint and run to my flight, oh and I had to do something about all that built up adreniline but I was in one piece.
Why Super Shuttle sucks so severely I am not certain. I heard that their regular drivers were on strike; but that still doesn't explain dumping me off in the middle of nowhere. They are claiming that they will reimburse me for the cab ride, but I don't think I can ever stomach a ride like that again. My word of advice: boycott Super Shuttle. Not everyone is going to be as lucky in finding the Hood Express to get them to the airport and my intuition says that I cashed in a good amount of karma to make it through this brush with fate.
