awwwww

wook at dat shweepy baby!

quilt show

I went with my friend T and her niece to a quilt show over in Trussville. I just have NO patience for needlecraft but this made me wish I did :)

This chicken quilt was my favorite and the one I voted on for a Viewer's Choice award. It'dn it cute!

This was my other favorite of the show. It reminded me of Dippndots....you know, the ice cream?

Here's a shot of the pattern up close. Pink and brown are so pretty together. Great job, quilter!

star sighting

As we were on our way to Selma, we watched a DVD about Kathryn Tucker Windham (Kathryn: The Story of a Teller). After lunch, as we were taking our docents from the Selma Chamber of Commerce back to the CoC, one of them said, "Would you like to go by and see Kathryn's house?" Well, of course we all answered in the affirmative AND it turns out that she had her phone number as well. When our big, giant bus pulled up in front of KTW's house, the docent called her. "Kathryn, are you decent? You got clothes on? Well I have a bus out here with about 15 people who'd love to sing you happy birthday. Well, come on out!"

So we all file off the bus and there she is on her porch. She will turn 90 sometime this week. THEN, she says something along the lines of, "Well, since you got off the bus you might as well come in." So we got a tour of her house, saw Jeffrey's rocking chair and saw her Gee's Bend quilts. She was DeLiGhTfUl! And she was cooking squash and onions in her VERY tiny kitchen.

I thought I was taking a picture of her house, but she actually lives in the house to the right of the frame. This is her neighbor, Charlie Lucas, the famous welded sculpture artist.

We had just seen this very image on the DVD!

I took this picture when I still thought this was KTW's house and then I realized it was Charlie Lucas' house and some of his art outside as well. IMMEDIATELY after I snapped this photo, the battery in my camera went dead. AAAAAAHHHHHHHH! So this is all I got of that wonderful visit!

bus trip: selma

Brown's Chapel in Selma, site of one of the largest voting rights demonstrations in the city as you can see in the photo of the photo below, from the National Voting Rights Museum.

Getting, keeping and exercising the right to vote was a hard, deadly battle for some in this state. I consider it very much a shame that more people, especially women and minorities, don't exercise it more. It makes me feel even worse for the people who died, if they could see us now :(

One of my favorite stops on the Selma tour, the Old Live Oak Cemetary. Beautiful, just beautiful. A disturbing amount of children and entire families buried right together and within a short space of time of one another. Lots of Civil War era graves so I assume lots of war deaths and the various sicknesses that could take out an entire family so quickly. There were lots of graves with what I assume are confederate crosses on them since they also have little confederate flags stuck in the ground next to them. Assholes, I just wanted to stomp and squash every one of them. How can you have an ounce of brain in your head, or humanity in your heart and be in some way PRIDEFUL of that shameful past? I just don't understand.

We walked the Edmund Pettus Bridge, OUT of Selma but going back in, there is a little rise in the bridge that blocks the end of it from view until you are on the way down the other side. I imagined, from the comfort of our bus, WALKING there from Montgomery something like 40 miles. Tired, hot, thirsty no doubt, some or maybe most your fervor for the cause kind of flagging as you trudge over that last hump in the road before you get to Selma...then you see them. A line of frowning, scowling state troopers and mounted policemen who obviously do not have your best interests in mind. Your spirits sag even more in the face of this undeserved hate...then the police officers charge and the blood starts flying. Wake up people. We live here together. Do better than your parents and grandparents. Be better people. Life is hard enough without unfounded hate.

bus trip: monroeville

The courthouse in Monroeville was used as a model for the courthouse in the 1962 film, To Kill a Mockingbird. This is where the play is held.

The first part of the play is held outside and these three houses represent Scout and Jem's house and the whole street they lived on really.

It was eery walking in and seeing this, which I'd just seen a couple of weeks before on a movie screen and in black and white. vv cool

bus trip: montgomery

This is where our tour started...the very imposing front steps of the Alabama Judicial Building which houses the Alabama Courts of Criminal and Civil Appeals as well as the AL Supreme Court. We visited both court chambers. Lots of dark, oiled woods and somber carpeting.

The Law Librarian actually opened up the rare book room and let all us hooligans in. I think maybe KT and I were among the few who were truly goose-pumpy :)

This is the Southern Poverty Law Center Civil Rights Memorial. It lists the names and details of 40 people who lost their lives to the cause of furthering civil rights. If it looks familiar to you then it may be that you have seen the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. and the same artist designed and built this one. It's nearly impossible to see in this photo, but there is a fountain in the middle of this big round table and water flows over the entire surface of it in keeping with a famous line from one of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speeches, see the next photo below (where I did a much better job of getting the water in the picture!).

If you can't make it out or don't know the line, "...until justice rolls down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream." I gives me more goosebumps even now. They have an excellent 20 minute film showing in the Center that everyone should see.

late night visitor

I came home late one night week before last and this little feller (or lady?) was camped on my door step. I just love luna moths!

some sites

I don't know what it is in Minneapolis, but they are very fond of painting beautiful things on the sides of their buildings.

Here's another one. Also of note, I very nearly busted my @$$ on a nearly invisible patch of ice in this parking lot. Just not used to looking out for it....

The Baker & Taylor cats. When I noticed the photo op in our program, I was under the mistaken impression that it would be two real kitties so you can imagine my chagrin when this is what we got. I'm game though and so was KT. When our turn came up, the lady's polaroid camera was out so I just offered her the use of my digital (which is what I wanted anyway) and she was all officious and "no, we have to use the polaroid" but after we stood there for about five minutes and she realized that KT and I were about to bail sans photo (and possible mouth off about, which I would have done as evidenced here) she asked for my digital camera. A woman walking by said, "Oh, can I get in the picture?" and started to get in next to us. I had never seen this woman before in my life and I was just standing there with my mouth hanging open at the brashness when KT looks over and says simply, "No." Then I was snorting because the woman had the balls to look OFFENDED! Whatever. Again, my hair! eek! It's gone now though!

mall of america

This was outside of some kind of game room. I realize now, in looking at the picture, that I should have gotten some of the sign for the establishment in the frame because I now have no idea why I wanted KT and I to get a picture in front of the giant dart board. My god, look at my fuzzy, frumpy hair! Thank goodness I've had it cut off since then.

The only other thing of interest in the mall of america? The giant amusement park in the center!

We walked around the rest of the mall a bit and, eh, it's a really big mall. Lots of middle schoolers running around doing middle schooler things.

better late than never

I didn't take many pictures of the half of the Twin Cities that I saw...not enough time or material. Here is what I did take a few shots of.

A pretty decent skyline, no? Lots of tall buildings and concrete.

Here is what our glorious room looked like. We were on the 17th floor of the Graves 601 Hotel...pretty swank!

A shower to rob banks for. Previous to this trip, I'd only seen showers like this on HGTV. The body spray was nice. I took at least two showers everyday for that alone.

Yes dear readers, you see correctly. A flat screen tv AND a telephone next to the potty. I HAD to use both just so I could say that I did.

All together, Minneapolis was a very nice city. I just wish we'd had time to do some sight seeing while we were there.

i'm just conventioned out...

So, quick on the heels of the national publ1c l1br@ry c0nvent10n we went to in Minn, MN, the Al@b@m@ st@te c0nvent10n is going on this week. There weren't any sessions I wanted to go to yesterday and I'll be on the B1g Re@d bus trips on the morrow but I did attend a few sessions, listened to some writers at a Southern Authors luncheon and presented 3 booktalks at a YA program this afternoon. I couldn't even make myself go in the exhibit hall, too much drama having to make nicey-nice with all those suited and cologned vendors...I just didn't have that much bullshit in me today, know what I mean?

My first program was a reference one and due to the crappy downtown parking situation and the utter lack of signage in the hotel convention space, I walked halfway to the freakin' airport (figuratively speaking of course) before I found where I needed to be...LATE. The public library people had finished speaking and the academic people were holding forth. About as useful as a third nostril and not nearly as interesting. And reference people! Come on please! Quit making me have to fight this stereotype! Let me tell you, there were some seriously FrUmPy, PrIm people in this crowd. And some librarians wonder why they get made fun of...

So I was really bored and decided to read my AmAzInG advanced reader copy of Stephenie Meyer's new book, The Host (EH and EW, you're next, never fear!)! As I was devouring the wonderful tale of just what it means to be human, a familiar voice roused me and there was a former partner in crime, TL! She now works at another library (the same one as the weasel) as their reference librarian so we talked shop for a few minutes then caught up on each other's lives. We missed the grand opening of the exhibits but my feelings were not hurt about that. I sat with she and some other friends from the other weasel-infested library at the Southern Author luncheon where we had a decent lunch...chicken, but still decent. The marketing program I'll skip because it was for fundraising as opposed to marketing library services and I spaced out a little.

I skipped out a little early so I could go freak out about giving booktalks to a room full of teachers (no doubt English and grammar ones at that). There were 10 of us and they scheduled me next to last so I had plenty of time to ramp up on the anxiety. I should have taken EW's advice and removed my glasses but I didn't and suffered with the shaky voice until I could get my sealegs (seavoice?). Luckily, some of our WoRsT book talkers in the county went before me, one with no teeth and LOTS of gum (and I'm not talking Eclipse or Doublemint here) and then the other lady, and I thought is was part of the acting/playing out of the story of the book until I looked up and saw her face, broke down sobbing in the middle of her booktalk....TWICE. I'm just bowing out on this next year. Those two are ALWAYS on the docket of presenters and always do something to make me cringe.

Now it's off to bedybye! Tomorrow is our first bus trip and I have to leave here at 5:15am at the latest. Gotta get my sleep so I can be cheerful on a bus tomorrow and Friday. Rest assured you will hear all about it.
that is all.

pop quiz

What Your City Walk Means

You are thoughtful and contemplative. You enjoy spending time alone with your thoughts. You are generally confident and friendly with strangers. You are well mannered and sociable. Money is fairly important to you. You aren't super greedy, but you enjoy spending money on yourself. You are curious about ideas. If you had the means, you'd like to explore the whole world.

The City Walk Personality Test

! ! ! this just in ! ! !

. . . . dueling odors

Everyone in my department will know of whom I speak, the rest of you, alas, will have to use your imaginations.

Our computer lab is in an open room along one wall. Everyone in there no doubt has watering eyes due to the fact that there is currently a gentleman who BaThEs regulary in cologne sitting next to Mumu Woman, who neglects to put on deodorant and obviously has a house full of small dogs who pee and crap everywhere. The combination should carry an industrial chemical hazard warning!

somebody had a birthday!

My nicey, nicey niece turned 12 a few days ago! Friday, Day of Storms here in Alabama apparently, I descended on favored niece's house for the festivities. After the tornadoes were all through and everyone was safe, a veritable herd of 11-12 year olds invaded the house! There was pizza and cake and ice cream for everyone! Favored niece picked up some seriously nice swag as well :)

There was a PS2 free for all up stairs both in favored niece's room and in the playroom as well as a vicious Wii tournament in the living room. If competition is not what you were after, big brother D was showing a movie on the side of the barn via digital projector.

Much, much later, midnight rolled around and I was busy having my @$$ handed to me by my 7 year old nephew at Wii bowling, tennis, and baseball. A sobering moment I assure you since I'd already caused the Rockband death knell to toll upstairs (and not in a cool, AC/DC sort of way) on the PS2.

They were pretty nice about the fact that I have absolutely no skills in this area and I apologized profusely for sucking so badly at the game. All participants proclaimed, "That's all right Aunt Holley, we still love you but, um, do you care if we just go play PS2 in [favored niece]'s room?" I conceeded defeat and fled back downstairs to the Wii. At least there I could lose with some honor...

terrific tuesdays

okay, so it's not terrific, but it isn't terrible either so I'll take it

My second sleep study was a much more positive experience than its predecessor. I didn't like having the mask on me and it was hurting my eyeball socket bones..what is that? orbital bones?

So hopefully I can find a mask that is more comfortable than that one. Being forced to breath was not comfortable. Don't get me wrong, there was zero pain involved but I really had to work on my brain to get it to remember that it was A-I-R being forced down my nose, not water, because that is kind of what it felt like.

With that being said, I'd have to say that 90% or 95% of my discomfort was due to the wires running from my head and extremities, the bands around my chest and waist and the whole trying-to-sleep-on-my-back thing that I've bitched about waaaaay too much anyway. I will go ahead and let the good ol' insurance pick up the tab on a cpap for at home and I'll see how it goes in my own home, sleeping how I want to (with some compromise with said cpap machine) and, above all, with no wires, electrodes or videotaping system in place. I bet it will be a spectacular night's sleep.

Luckily, I had a really good nurse...the same guy last week and last night. He was compassionate, patient and made the whole experience as tolerable as it could be for me and my bad attitude :)

uggghhh....

I gained almost two pounds last week, how wonderful. I can't say that I don't know exactly what it's from so it is all from things I can change and do better with. Main thing, I HAVE to get back to a regular exercise routine! It's such an big part of being successful for me. I cannot do this without it. I hate to consider this gain a stumbling block since it is a small gain and has occured so early on in my efforts, so instead it will be a speed bump. Slow down, ease over it, get back on track and on with my life.

Now, back to work!

p.s. my followup sleep study is tonight, another ugh and a long suffering sigh.

fun night out!

I think I've mentioned my library system's participation in the Big Read on this blog before. Well, I was invited to a dinner last night with the library system director, another librarian from our main library, and my friend V who is doing the lion's share of work on the bus trips to Monroeville. Our special guest was Mary Badham, the actress who played Scout in the 1962 film starring Gregory Peck! She was in town to make appearances at 3 of our biggest scheduled events and left town today. Our library system director wanted to take her out to dinner at a fun, local restaurant before she left so we went to Nabeel's in Homewood.

It was a pretty special time meeting her. I could still clearly see that little girl in her very pretty face. She was a lot of fun, had tons of great stories to tell about her life now and drank her Southern Comfort on ice. The rest of us had wine and we all shared Nabeel's Y-U-M-M-Y baked feta appetizer and a hummus dip. There was lots of laughter, a few sad stories and second glasses of wine along with (for me anyway) a fabulous serving of baklava oozing with honey. I was pretty proud of us all, no one talked about the movie, or Harper Lee, or anything else she's probably grown tired of discussing. We were all over the place from Japan to Hurricane Katrina to 9/11. I am very glad I went and will have that memory for as long as my brain holds :)

I went over to V's house beforehand since I didn't have time to go home before dinner and we had wine and nibbles there first then headed over to the restaurant. Needless to say, V and I were pretty giggly by the time dinner was over...at least I was :)

I was fun to have a night out and with people I have not socialized with before. I had to dust off my conversational skills and I feel like I did pretty well. I let myself get in a rut of just making do with a minimal amount of conversation outside work and I really felt the deficit last night. Just goes to show me that I really do need to get out more. Luckily, the Birmingham Museum of Art's Art on the Rocks monthly summer night programs start next month so I have that to look forward to until fall.

eeek! the library's closing! I gotta go!

! ! ! this just in ! ! !

okay, maybe not just in, but a little earlier this afternoon my coworker Daxx was accosted by a patron in a most unusual fashion. He was helping an elderly patron (who looked as if they may have suffered from a stroke at some point) find some books they were looking for. Mid-conversation I heard the longest, loudest fart I've ever heard outside of the Animal House movie a noise.

I'm proud of Daxx, he kept it together and didn't even crack a smile. I was not quite as successful but it didn't really matter as I was not facing the patron. I was helping a patron of my own who was also elderly and they didn't here the bean symphony going on behind me. The person probably just thought I was cheerfully smiling.

that is all.

new movies I'm excited about

The Fall - due out May 9th, but may be limited engagement :(

Drag Me To Hell - Sam Raimi, baby, yeah!

Joueuse (Queen To Play) - a French film starring Kevin Klein, his French Kiss remains one of my alltime favorite romcoms

Hellboy II - Do I need to mention yet again my fangirl crush on Guillermo del Toro? I thought not, but have a gander at these images. I get Pan goosebumps!

Frontier(s) - eeeek! Another French film, hold the romance and comedy.

Splice - genetic research gone terribly, horribly wrong....does it ever go right? Other than Scott Weinberg, my fav reviewer on Cinematical is now Eugene Novikov. Why you may ask? Here's his quote for the other movies by this director, "whose enigmatic sci-fi mind-blowers Cube and Cypher were about as far up my alley as you could go before it starts to hurt." Now, T, tell me. Is that not something Anita would/should say?

Iron Man - so, sue me. This looks like a great, fun summer movie.

Tropic Thunder - again, break out your litigation hat. I like Ben Stiller.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - *puuuurrrrrr* Hugh Jackman *puuuurrrrrrr*

Hancock - Will Smith, superpowers, no doubt some comedy...sign me up!

Rogue - killer croc...need I say more?

night ya'll!

as I back slowly from the ledge....

So, my dear friend Carrie knocked me out of my temporary hysteria over the sleep study by pointing out, rightly so, that I just have to go in for one night. It's not like cancer treatments or anything and if it has the potential to change my life for the better, what am I bitching about?

Touché, CC, touché (am I using that world correctly?)

So, my follow-up study is next Monday night and I will TRY not to moan or complain about it anymore...

I'll try really hard.

I can't make any promises though.

I'm going to do my best.

Moving on...I'm about to head to dinner with T then I've got to boogey home and finish this ill-advised talk I agreed to about the history of libraries in America. I should have picked a different, more crowd-friendly topic, but oh well. We'll all learn from it I'm sure.

night ya'll!

library archaeology

Found in the floor under one of the computer carrels:

(1) Crestl1ne Ph@rm@cy bag

...in the bag:

(1) empty box (thankfully) that once contained a bottle of KY W@rming Pers0n@l Lubr1c@nt

that is all.

sleep study torture

it was awful and quite possibly the worst night's sleep I've ever gotten outside of the night after my gall bladder was removed or the occasional stomach virus

T, I no longer have anything to say about your mom cancelling hers...they want me to come back and do another one sometime this week except this time with a CPAP and at this point it's a H-E-L-L no, nada, nyet, nein.

I had a spaghetti bowl of wires sitting on my shoulder all night including about 8-10 stuck to my scalp with gloop which was scrubbed off with what he told me was a washcloth soaked with rubbing alcohol but which felt like a steel bristle brush. My scalp is still hurting. The room was hot, I was uncomfortable and I never sleep on my back. Is it any wonder that I had problems? Let me take the damn test again sleeping how I'm comfortable...I'd really like to know the results of that one.

Maybe tomorrow I'll be more myself and in a position to be rational about doing the follow-up but I get teary-eyed just thinking about it right now. I know how much M swears by her CPAP but good god, how did she stand the test? Unless I can wear the thing and sleep however I want to, it's not worth it to me.

Don't ever get a sleep study, never ever, no matter what your doctor says. They are evil and torturous.

:(
unhappily
htw

a case of the mondays

...in fact, an epic Office Space-sized case of the mondays

I had to threaten myself to get here this morning. I'm fairly certain it is because my doctor wanted me to do a sleep study and it is tonight.

I have to go check in at the ED of the hospital to be directed to the sleep study center. There are few things in life that I find as unappealing as the thought of having a room of underpaid doctors (probably bored interns) watch me sleep, if I can sleep at all with all the crap they monitor you with.

You have things on your eyelids to monitor REM sleep, things around your chest to monitor respiration, things below your nostrils to monitor airflow and things on your legs to monitor circulation...there may be other things that I can't remember right now.

Oh yeah, and you have to sleep on your back. I have never been able to that without pharmaceutical assistance. I may sneak a couple of Benadryl before I go in so I might be drowsy enough to fall asleep that way. My packet of information does say that if you have a hard time going to sleep on your back, you will be permitted to go to sleep on your side and one of the technicians will then come in and ask you to turn to your back. Great, the only thing better than sleeping in an uncomfortable position is being woken up by a stranger so you can freak out because you don't remember where you are and you now think there is a stranger in your house. If you wait a little while I'm certain I can come up with something else to bitch about...just wait! It's only one night, surely I can deal with it in a mature, adult fashion?

Right now I'm working on my talk for the Pastfinders social club on Thursday. When the lady asked me about it I said I'd like to talk about a few of the library's ongoing programs and do a few booktalks. This is SOP for library outreach. The lady got a real doubtful look on her face so I asked her what she had in mind and of course it was "whatever you'd like" and "we're just glad you could do it." I told her I'd be glad to talk about the history of libraries in America or hey, the world even! The doubtful look returned and I wanted to say, "Look lady. I am a librarian. I will be glad to talk for your group but you will have to hear about SOMETHING to do with libraries or librarianship. That's just the way we roll." I know KT had a group once that asked her to do a talk on Susan B. Anthony and she was glad to do it, but they still got to learn about the library, it's programs for adults and got a few booktalks in the deal.

Am I being to harsh? I am I presuming too much to want to promote my library's programs and services when a group asks me to do a presentation for them? I don't think so but I'd love to hear other opinions, especially from non-library professions/people.

back to work!
htw

! ! ! this just in ! ! !

PATRON--"I don't remember the author or title, but I'm looking for a book I read in 1975 about an ophthamologist. Would you be able to find it?"

ME--"No, I'm sorry."

---------------------------------------
I DID look to see if we had any ophthamological or optometrical fiction in our catalog and we don't.

small editing note....

....contrary to the evidence presented, I do know how to spell AND use correct grammar and puncuation. However it is late for me and I was hurrying so please ignore the 10-12 GlArInG mistakes of the aforementioned variety when enjoying the previous post (or any of them really!).

Thanks for your support!
;-)

last week in Minneapolis

okay, this is going to be a fairly quick rundown as I am ready to put the trip in my professional development file and forget about getting on any airplanes ever again....or at least next year when we have ALA in Chicago. KT and I may drive...it was that unpleasant.

Tuesday, March 25th
Our flight didn't leave until 10:40am but KT's husband had to drop her off and get the kids to school on time so I went early too so we could plan and scheme about our trip and she wouldn't have to sit there all that time with out my brilliant company...on second thought, maybe she wanted the time to herself, but I neglected to think about asking and it's over now. If you wanted quiet time KT, I apologize for being the airport chatterbox :( Anyway, we finally boarded the plane, went through the standard spiel, taxied 18 million miles out to the runway in the next county where the pilot proceded to shut down the plane because it was windy in Chicago (where we were changing planes) and they were having an airtraffic flow control problem. We sat for ~45 min then were on our way. I SO could have used a walk or something to relieve the sitting. Chicago was fine, no probems. We got to Minnesota, I with visions of The Great White North in my head as we'd certainly seen some of that from the plane, but instead I got Northern Spring. Nice, but it totally negated the purchase of my giant coat which I then had to haul around nearly everywhere. KT and I took the rail line to the Mall of America. It's a really big mall. Moving on...

Wednesday, March 26th
We actually got up early and exercised! I did lose a little over a half a pound while we were up there. Shut up, I'll take it. We walked the roughly 2 miles back to our hotel from the convention center instead of taking the shuttle or a taxi. I felt vindicated enough to have a nice dinner at the restaurant that night, Bellanotte. I had a spinach lasagna that was beyond compare. KT and I made an early night of it (see 2 mile hike above) but others in our group had dug into their own wallets to go to the area theater to see Jersey Boys. My own wallet was not supporting such an endeavor. Instead, KT and I attended the FOLUSA (Friends of Libraries of the USA) Chocolate and Champange Author Reception. Yummy! We were at a table with a bunch of reps from the sponsoring organization. They were not drinking the champange, but KT and I were :)

Thursday, March 27th
We went to a big "what's new" breakfast presentation provided by a big database vendor. KT and I then parted ways to pursue our interests in the conference receptions. I was turned away from the session on doing reference in the age of Google because the room was full. I attempted to get into 3 other sessions that were on three different floors in opposite corners of the convention center and they were all full as well. In disgust, I headed for the grand opening of the exhibits. Not like museum exhibits, this is a vasts exhibition hall filled with booths manned by greedy (many nice, though) vendors eager for your business and money. Lots of free stuff though that I can use for my new book group this summer. We went to a luncheon where Arthur and Pauline Frommer of travel book fame were the speakers. It was much more interesting than I would have imagined. Now, on to the tattoo that wasn't to be. During the luncheon, I get a call from the tattoo artist asking if I can come by early to drop off my artwork. I said no problem, I'd do my best. My best turned out to be 10 minutes early. KT went with me as she likes to observe. I was in the midst of filling out all the paperwork when a scroungy looking young man slouches in.

The girl processing my paperwork says, "K---- is really pissed at you."

He replies, "What is she mad at me for?"

girl-"She's not going to be able to make her eye doctor appointment because you scheduled her til 5." The girl rolls a shoulder in my direction.

young man-"That wasn't me!" (it SO was, I recognized his voice, but you really don't want to piss anyone off in the tattoo parlor you are about to patronize)

girl-"Well, whatever, maybe it wasn't you, but D---- said he was right there when you did it." (D----was the person I corresponded with via email about setting up an appointment in the first place)

I finished my paperwork and sat down. 25-30 MINUTES LATER scroungy boy sheepishly motions me over to say that K---- isn't going to be able to do my tattoo, he's really sorry, doesn't know what's happened, could I come back in at 7pm. I said no, that I came from ALABAMA for a business conference, I had meetings for the rest of the night, all day Friday and was leaving on Saturday. Long story short, he called us a cab (which I really felt they should have paid for), K---- gave me a list of other tattoo shops in the area (like I had time to do that!) and we left and went back to the convention center to here a ReAlLy crappy reader's advisory session...okay, not the whole session, only 2/3 of it. Disappointment, people.

Friday, March 28th
Went to several pretty good sessions, one on genre book groups (which I liked so much that I've decided that is how I will run mine come May) and the other on nonfiction reader's advisory (I picked up a few new tricks to work into my routine). The rest of the day passed in a little bit of a blur. We had another author luncheon before we hit what KT called "the conference wall". We decided to just go back to the hotel where we could organize all our free stuff to take to the UPS store for shipping. On the way back from that we bought tickets for a movie (Shutter, which I watched alot of through barely parted fingers) a little later. After the movie, we decided to have a drink in the hotel bar. We each got a Cosmopolitan martini, I offered KT a $10 and she said no, she had a $20 and she'd get it. Two martinis came to a total of $27.50....at least they were strong :) I had a nice buzz going by the time it was time to go to dinner. It was the weirdest dinner ever. First we had this little spoonful of beets and some sort of salmon with teeny green sprouty things on top. It was kinda gross but then we had salad so I got over it. The waiter then brought something else that he said was a green tea lavender explosion (or something close to that). It looked like water with an ice cube in it, but hey, I'm game so I slugged it back. The ice cube was some sort of gelatinous pouch with liquid in it. It was very much like an eyeball bursting in my mouth and I nearly spit it back out. Our boss' gag reflex kicked in when her eyeball burst and she nearly sprayed me with it....fun times in pretentious restuarants. The dinner more than made up for it though :) KT and I went back to our room and watched the horror movie I'd brought from home, The Changling. EXCELLENT! I'm using it in my Horror Movie Marathon this year.

Saturday, March 29th
What can I say about this day. Another couple of flights, another couple of near mishaps. KT and I decided to take the railline back to the airport. It wasn't really THAT much longer a ride than sitting in a cab, plus it was $1.50 instead of $40. Hey, we were being frugal! We had another extended boarding process, we really did taxi 19 million miles into the next county, except this time the pilot actually turned around and went back to the airport. There was a "maintenance issue" with some portion of the plane's electronics. (You would have thought they'd taken care of that while 2/3 of the fleet was grounded in Chicago!) So we sat for about 25-30 minutes while everyone who had a connecting flight in Dallas got more and more antsy. We landed in Dallas at 2:10 (our flight was scheduled to leave at 2:25) and of course our gate was on the other side of the airport. We didn't run, but it was only one gear down from it. They were closing up shop but let us board when KT and I arrived huffing like steam engines. It was a relatively smooth flight from that point but neither of us gave thought to the fact that there was not a little baggage handler matching us step for jogging step on the tarmac so we should not have been surprised when we got back to Birmingham at 4pm but our luggage did not.

Everything turned out all right though as the airline delivered my suitcase right to my door Sunday afternoon and everything was intact and nothing was missing. I've already talked about Sunday so thank you for sitting through this and I'm officially considered ya'll caught up. Normal programming will resume tomorrow as if MN never happened.

night ya'll!
htw