random thoughts now that i'm HOME!

A week and I haven't been here, wow! Here are some random PLA thoughts, quotes, tidbits:

quotes from Marian (we were roomies at the Holiday Inn Metrodome):

second day, very early (we got up for a vendor breakfast): "the hot water must be coming from Guam!"
next day, a little later in the morning: "someone else must have used all the cold water this morning"

Number of librarians reading Skinny Dipping by Connie Brockway at Gate D8 in the Humphrey Terminal: 3. (Marian and I were two, the librarian from WI was #3)

Gas is cheaper in MN, but we should have bought it on Tues, when it was $3.09. It was $3.15 by the time we walked back to the hotel from Open Book midday on Wednesday. We decided that taking gas on the plane was a bad idea (flammable n'at) and driving just to get cheaper gas not a great idea either.

Open Book, btw, is not a bookstore, but worse (or better, actually!) It's a network of non-profits that have to do with poetry, book arts, bookmaking, and has a very nice cafe (we didn't try) and a bookstore (yes, we plunked down some cash.) Marian got a book pin. I got a collage kit. Other things. We pulled each other out of there before we bought everything in sight.

Did I mention I was in Minneapolis? The home of The Onion? That solved the "what to get (cheap yet nice) for Max for putting my heavy suitcase in my trunk?" issue. What a relief!!

We ate at:
Grandma's Saloon and Grill, got the Fully Monte (lots...of...food), (2nd link is to a pdf of menu...yum)
Quizno's * (yes, I know, but it was cheap, quick, and open til 3 a.m. four nights a week)
Wasabi Fusion, (Marian is a real sushi connoisseur) (and this was the night our boss paid!)
the Holiday Inn (no, we didn't get the breakfast buffet),
Staccato, I had a salad, we sat at the lunch counter...

We didn't eat at Grumpy's, though we wanted to. So many books...(fill in the blank.)

I left with this many bags: 1 suitcase, 2 carryon.
I came back with this many bags: 1 suitcase, 2 carryon. Much heavier on the way back, tho.

While at the conference, I got the following "swaag" (vendor stuff) (listed in order of importance):

• OCLC bag (you have to go to one of their programs, so it's usually a nice bag and this year's flava is the nicest one yet.)
  
• HarperTeen bag (Marian snagged one for me)
• A Nooma DVD from Zondervan. I would have gotten more, but I will forever be indebted to H.W. Wilson, who kept me in their seminar until 2:59, then I forgot where the Zondervan booth was, so when the vendor chick was giving away her booth all the things I'd admired (many more Nooma) were gone. I am excited for my Ben Carson book on CD, though.
• other nice things, including Skinny Dipping (see above), which Marian snagged for me. She was a very nice friend and roomie!!
  

MTC,

SL

btw, the most interesting new swaag item is also my favorite: a "shoulder saver" which is a velcro thingy that you attach to the strap/s of your bag. I got many from Janway and FamilySearch as "swaag for co-workers."


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* the link is part of the humor here...