Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Weird Things About Florida, Part II
This is a sign that's posted outside on the patio of the staff cafeteria at my new work. If that doesn't make you want to run screaming back inside, I don't know what would.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Monterey for a Few Days
I'm here in Monterey, CA for the Internet Librarian conference. I've wanted to attend for several years now and have the fortune to attend after only a month at my new job. (Maybe my boss is trying to tell me something?!). It's my first time visiting here, and I have the urge to send for J, Ziggy, Bandit, Mr Fish and a few belongings and stay for awhile. The weather is gorgeous (70 and sunny) and the sea lions are loud. I had some time to visit the Aquarium, which was quite a treat - the otters are so charming.
Otherwise, I attended a preconference today with several esteemed speakers, including Mary Ellen Bates (who I've decided I want to be when I grow up), Chris Sherman, Greg Notess and Gary Price. IL is a conference of about 1,000 people and has been in existence for 10 years. It is quite cutting edge for the library world, but useful in application. It's also one of the most unique mixes of librarians at a conference that I've seen. At ALA, it's mostly public and academic librarians, SLA is specials, AALL for law, etc. Today at lunch, our table was comprised of a vendor for an M&A database, a public librarian, one academic and two corporates. I like the mix of conversation that results when we all bring very different experiences to the literal table.
Lots of fun websites were mentioned at the session today; here are just a few for your surfing pleasure: Zillow, LibraryThing.com, Clusty (search engine that clusters results), Farecast (predicts airline ticket prices), Kayak, SeatGuru, MyHeritage (facial recognition meets genealogy) and Corkd.com (wine recommendations). I would link to all of these, but Blogger seems to be having issues at the moment. Finally, for a good laugh, fire up Google and type in "answer to life, the universe and everything" and see what the Google calculator spits back. For Douglas Adams fans, it's a riot. Ask me later what the number means if you're not sure.
Well, it's 8:25 here, but feels like 11:25, Tampa Time. I also walked 3 miles this evening for a Chipotle burrito so I am feeling quite wiped out. ("Hello, my name is Michelle and I am addicted to Chipotle.")
On a final note, I'm asking for your suggestions of books that you've read lately that you loved - or hated, so I can avoid them like the plague. With the new job, I don't get to read Library Journal or Booklist anymore; I am out of the loop of new book reviews and really missing it. One of these days I'm going to set up a paperback book exchange for the research group. So please, email me your suggestions!
Goodnight all,
Michelle
Otherwise, I attended a preconference today with several esteemed speakers, including Mary Ellen Bates (who I've decided I want to be when I grow up), Chris Sherman, Greg Notess and Gary Price. IL is a conference of about 1,000 people and has been in existence for 10 years. It is quite cutting edge for the library world, but useful in application. It's also one of the most unique mixes of librarians at a conference that I've seen. At ALA, it's mostly public and academic librarians, SLA is specials, AALL for law, etc. Today at lunch, our table was comprised of a vendor for an M&A database, a public librarian, one academic and two corporates. I like the mix of conversation that results when we all bring very different experiences to the literal table.
Lots of fun websites were mentioned at the session today; here are just a few for your surfing pleasure: Zillow, LibraryThing.com, Clusty (search engine that clusters results), Farecast (predicts airline ticket prices), Kayak, SeatGuru, MyHeritage (facial recognition meets genealogy) and Corkd.com (wine recommendations). I would link to all of these, but Blogger seems to be having issues at the moment. Finally, for a good laugh, fire up Google and type in "answer to life, the universe and everything" and see what the Google calculator spits back. For Douglas Adams fans, it's a riot. Ask me later what the number means if you're not sure.
Well, it's 8:25 here, but feels like 11:25, Tampa Time. I also walked 3 miles this evening for a Chipotle burrito so I am feeling quite wiped out. ("Hello, my name is Michelle and I am addicted to Chipotle.")
On a final note, I'm asking for your suggestions of books that you've read lately that you loved - or hated, so I can avoid them like the plague. With the new job, I don't get to read Library Journal or Booklist anymore; I am out of the loop of new book reviews and really missing it. One of these days I'm going to set up a paperback book exchange for the research group. So please, email me your suggestions!
Goodnight all,
Michelle
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