Saturday madness

so Sat. was a whirlwind first tour around the gigantic exhibit floor. I got tons of free books and had to ship my first box back home (I'm now working on my second). The day was fairly uneventful other than that until ~4pm. E called to say that there would be a party for HP and the Deathly Hallows at the publisher's booth so we went over to meet her. She and K had cake and ice cream AND E told me that Markus Zusak was over at Baker & Taylor signing books until 4:30! Now, I hauled @$$ over there as fast as my rolling cart would allow because I love, love, love Zusak and Ed Kennedy and I wanted to tell him so. I was in luck because there were only 2 people in line and I swiftly got a pen and camera out and I was set. Unfortunately for me and my sensitive heart, the promo lady said the signing was closed and would not let me in! I was heart broken! The horror! The whore! (sorry Shelb, cover your eyes!)

So my revenge will be to get on his website, effusively praise the books and his writing, mention that Satan needs his front line staff back since I could not even speak to an author I admire, and wish him the best for the future. I'll still read his books, but that really hurt my feelings. He's not an exceptionally well known author here and it wasn't like he was being mobbed or anything! Maybe it was the desperate joy on my face ;D

Anyway....we went to a dinner hosted by BWI at a very swank hotel, then on to the Scholarship Bash at some other place. They had this comedy troupe called the Capitol Steps and I was kinda bored. I don't follow politics so I didn't have a cultural base for the skits to be funny and I didn't want to have to ask what they meant. They did spoof the astronaugt (sp?) chick in diapers (Depends for Psychos I believe was the label) and I thought that was hilarious but much of the rest of it passed me by...plus, my buzz from all the wine at dinner was passing and I was getting sleepy. So a successful (except for the Zusak incident) day at ALA on Sat.

Today, so far, has been exceptionally productive. K and I have seen Nancy Pearl and I got her to autograph a copy of Book Lust AND the Nancy Pearl Action Figure with Shushing Action! We also heard the fall book line up for HarperCollins and Random House. Oh, yesterday I learned about a new scifi/fant imprint coming in the fall, Orbit! It is the number one scifi/fant publisher in the UK and they are coming here. I got 6 free galleys and there were ALL keepers! Exciting stuff.

K and I just finished a pizza from Wolfgang Puck Express (I asked K if that was an oxymoron) that was decent but the find of the afternoon sat down at the table next to us. I have no explanation for what that was, but I will get the photo up ASAP. Think Mike Myers from Wayne's World with HUGE hornrimmed glasses, a red mum pinned to his black t-shirt, and a greasy mulletl...and he was a librarian! It is crap like that that will be the downfall of this profession. Anyway, we took an illicit photo which I'll post when I can.

You'll never guess what's on the agenda for tonight!

¡Adiós!
htw