Monday, June 04, 2007

SLA 2007 - Day 1 (the rest of the day)

My first full day at SLA 2007 was packed to the gills. I've already mentioned the amazing 4 hour CE course on wikis. This post is dedicated to the rest of the day.

Before all of this, I grabbed my pedometer. I plan on walking a lot, so why not have the chance to cash in on it? Plus, its a nifty little gadget for back home.

Lunch:
It was necessary to procure sustainance after such a long stretch of learning, so I hit up the 16th St. Mall, and stopped in at Marlowe's (16th and Glenarm). Delightful service (my waiter's name was Adam), and wonderful beer (a local brewery produces an exclusive line, the Big Nose series, for Marlowe's; try the wheat beer!). They specialize in seafood and beef, and do it very well. I hope to go back.


INFO-EXPO:
I headed back to the INFO-EXPO after lunch. I cruised the whole place, talking to a lot of vendors and picking up free stuff. I learned a lot about the current state of library technology, publications and services. Had I a copy of An Inconvenient Truth, I probably still wouldn't have waited in the Al Gore book signing line (it was very, very, very long, but I hear it was pretty quick). Ran into Bill Anger, Jane Loescher, Tony Stankus and Lee Peterson from SLA:RI.


Al Gore:
Several of my colleagues have already blogged about Mr. Gore's speech, so I won't repeat too much. It was awesome. Very passionate. And while it would be nice to have such a great guy in the White House, I do agree that he will much more effective as a 'rock star' raising the public awareness. Keep the pressure on, Mr. Gore! If applause are any indication, SLA is behind you.

Some links to issues loosely related to content in the speech, as I found THIS VERY MINUTE on Slashdot:

This is the point in time when I posted my last blog... So much lag. I miss my PDA!


IT Division's Welcome to Denver Open House (Analog Game night):
Man, do IT librarians know how to party! This event was amazing, with lots of fun card and board games, good food, an open bar and lots of good ol'fashioned networking. I finally got to meet Dave Ware, the fellow from SLA Boston who's been helping me set up the finances to come here to Denver. I also got to meet Jill Hurst-Wahl and Tracy Z. Maleeff (Library Sherpa), as well as see Thomas Dopko from Dow-Jones again (he taught some of my Tech Zone courses last year). I watched a group of librarians from the University of Virginia play cribbage (I chipped in my expertise as needed). I eventually wound up playing Texas Hold'em with Tracy, Dave, and a strong contingent of librarians from Kentucky. I took a class on poker back in my undergrad, but I never seem to get enough practice to get really good. Oddly enough, in the last hand of the evening, when everyone went all in, I won the pot (with something piddly like a Queen high). The pot came with a martini shaker, and there is a photo out there somewhere... I must track it down.


I tried to catch up on my sleep last night, and now, with a venti mocha and an apple fritter in my system, I'm ready to tackle the conference once more. Today, I look forward to Google's Tips and Tricks presentation, a tour of Flying Dog brewery, dinner with SLA Boston, and another wonderful IT Division evening.

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