Well it has been a few weeks

since I last posted about New Orleans, but this just came across in one of my emails from YALSA.

It is a short video about how ALA helped New Orleans. This will show you all more of what I saw. They didn't just find the busiest and cleanest places. The main part of town was like this when I was there. I did not have a Hurricane; I don't like rum. :)

Take some time to watch it. It is true, I had a mental image of what I wanted New Orleans to be like. And like when you go to a movie of your favorite book, I was worried my experiance wouldn't live up to the mental pictures I had. It did. I can't wait to go back.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!


mms://65.56.1.67/stream3/cvb/alavideo.wmv

http://www.neworleanscvb.com/static/index.cfm/contentID/3/sectionID/3/subsectionID/0

Let's wish her luck

Megan starts her new job tomorrow. She is gonna take that MLS and put it to some good use. It is a new department, so she doesn't expect to have a window or her own desk. Interesting the things we will do for the jobs we love.

Good Luck Megan

I know libraries are supposed to serve the community...

LISNews.org | Alcohol allowed in Florida library, but not by the books: "Alcohol allowed in Florida library, but not by the books"

Ok I know that libraries are here for the patrons, and that after years of negative images we are trying to shed our skin, but seriously.

If you have to drink to enjoy your library, maybe something else needs to be done.

Like the new look?

What do ya think? I love it. I matches my business cards, letter head, and if I ever finish the Web site, that too.

My sassy little cat will be popping up every where.

Thanks to Anna Norton Design.

Just a small note

I am taking a small brake from blogging my back log of books. I have been reading like mad, but I haven't' gotten around to writing them up until today.

I got behind before I went to ALA last month and I still haven't caught up. Don't get me wrong, I love blogging about books. But it is kinda like laundry. Each time it gets totally out of control and I spend a weekend catching it up I swear I will never let it get that bad again. I promise myself that I will do laundry once a week, blah blah blah and a few weeks later I am back spending a whole weekend trying to catch up and swearing I will never let it get that bad again.

Same thing with the books. I pick up a book and I read it. I write out the note card with all the particulars, and then move on to the next book. Finally when I have five or so done, I blog them all at once. Great plan right?

It is a good theory. This is the most backed up I have been in a couple of years. I just posted 13 books over on Annie's Books and I still have another 12 to go. Of course that isn't counting the three books I have going at the moment and the 30 or so in piles around my living room begging to be read.

The day is hot and humid. It is the perfect day for laying on the couch and reading, but I am determined to get caught up.

Back to the grindstone.

From the observation deck

These photos show you what New Orleans and the French Quarter looked like from the top of my hotel. These were taken the morning I left. It is really sad, I spent nearly 5 days and this is the first I got to see the observation deck that everyone was talking about. It was impressive enough that people from other hotels stopped up to take a peak.

Another reason why I will be going back to the Omni Royal Orleans.

Yes that is the Mississippi River.

Please note, the pool. I never made it in the pool.

The garden below

Howard Alawishis Neon Gator

Isn't he cute? This is the famous gator (I keep calling it a dragon but I am from the north, so there ya go). This was one of the more desired items at the conference. He got named in two parts really. I picked him up Sunday morning, and thus had to haul him literally all around New Orleans. At one point in the day, I actually had someone yell across Canal Street wanting to know where I got him. But the end of the day I think Highsmith owed me money.

Now to the story on his name. It started as I stood in line at Wendy's. This was also the first time I saw how bad the workforce was still suffering. I stood inline for about 20 minutes. I had almost an hour to kill before the meeting, so I wasn't worried. But as we stood there he got his name, Howard, and a little bit of a story. He is from Florida, but apparently he had enough of the heat of Florida and decided that it would be more fun to live inside with some people. And so he got stuck with me, poor thing. Later that day as I was standing in the Demco line go get another great bad, again the group worked to finish his name and story. We got as far as Alawishis Neon Gator.

I just love him so much. He has such attitude. He is a great addition to my collection.

Thank you Live Oak Media

As some of you may know, ALA had silent auction to raise money for scholarships and for New Orleans Public Libraries. I saw this lot on the website before I went. This was the only thing I saw and I really really wanted. I love Momma Don't Allow. I wanted this even more when I found out that this was one of the items selected for the public libraries. For 6 books and 6 cds and all the rest of the stuff I got, I would have paid twice as much as I spent on to get it.

Come one, I love this collection of stuff. I can't wait to listen to all of my new books.

Thanks Live Oak Media

Two more friends

Now imagine trying to get all these animals into an already tight luggage situation. I brought a whole extra suitcase, a carryon and my laptop bag. I had quite the situation going through the security check in New Orleans to get on the plane. I was told I had to fit Booker T Bear and a few other things into my bag. So in the hast of trying to get my ID, my tickets, and my two carryons, then the added pressure of fitting a shopping bag into one of my other bags, I dumped the contents of my messenger bag all over the floor.

After such a full couple of days, I shoved everything into my bag and looked forward to spending a few hours sitting on a plane. I look forward to adding these to guys into my office menagerie. I won Booker T Bear (the orange one) in another spin the wheel and win.

Pennyworthy bear I got when I talked to their booth and stumbled through the storytime. I stepped on the spider, porcupine, and a knight. The porcupine was kinda sour. Now the Pennyworthy bear (yet to be named, I am now excepting suggestions) is only about three inches tall, so he fit about anywhere, but Booker made it kind of tricky.

Hand outs anyone?

The first pile of stuff. I have tons more of this stuff, yes I still need to unpack it, but I am enjoying every moment. One of the things I tried to keep in mind from the blogs and lists of things I read before I went to ALA, I tried to pick up things I really wanted. In this pile, that is about two feet tall, I have two books that I have wanted to read for awhile. I actually paid for them, GASP. More on them later.

My home away from home

Ok so the pictures don't do this room justice, but I tried. I just got in and the bellman just left with my bags, hence why the bed is already covered in stuff. I can't wait to go back to this hotel. The Omni Royal Orleans had the perfect location for me, it was beautiful to look at, and so cozy. The staff was the best. I got a hearty welcome and good morning from Marty each day. And as silly as it sounded, it was nice to have someone hold the doors open for you.

I was on the seventh floor, the same floor as the pool. This is important to note because in the five days I was there, I only made it to the pool area three times, and the observation deck twice. I will have those photos up soon, I hope.


The armoire has the TV , the coffee maker in it a $7 bottle of water, and a cupboard of snacks that I never broke the seal on. I listened to some of the more savvy ALA members and brought my own snacks. It also had 4 drawers for more clothing. Which I actually used.

But this room was just perfect. I checked my email in the morning on the desk. The bathroom was small, but not as small as mine in my apartment, but please note the toiletry "basket." It came complete with shower cap, but I am here to tell you that isn't a basket. It was iron and heavy. I nearly dropped the thing. My favorite things still has to be the extra roll of toilet paper with a ribbon. Two weeks later and it still cracks me up.

I didn’t' have the best view out of my window, but I did sit on the bench once or twice while I was there. Twice I think, once when I unpacked everything and once to pack it. I am happy to report that I actually hung things up. I was in love with the hangers.

The one thing I forgot to get photos of was the huge amount of phones. This little bitty room had three, yes three phones. One on the desk, one over by the bed, and on directly across from the toilet. Every morning I got up and walked into the bathroom and laughed at it. I tried everything to hide it so I wouldn't laugh at it. It didn't matter, I knew it was there. I snickered most of the way through my shower all the way through the walk to the elevator. Some days it is so much fun to be inside my head.

The bags oh the bags

The bags, the bags, oh the bags. I know it is stereotypical of a librarian to have at least 20 different bags with some sort of library or book affiliation to it. But let's face it I am a new librarian, I need to build the collection, and am I off to a good start now.

All of the new bags, with the exception of one, the Live Oak Media bag. That bag will be listed later with the rest of the stuff I won in the silent auction.


The first bag is the "official" ALA bag. It zips at the top and came packed with all things to help you navigate the conference, exhibit hall, and the city. It is looking a little worse for wear. I was hard on it and it seemed to always be packed full of stuff. It was nice to have a back that EVERYONE at the conference had. It was easy to pick people out for help, which I did more than once. Thank you to all of you fine folks for helping me out.

The next bag I picked up at one of the many Scholastic booths when my arms got too full Friday morning, and they were nice enough to offer me a bag. This ends up becoming an issue, but more on that later. The Captain Underpants bag was also picked up at a Scholastic booth. I love this bag. It cracks me up every time I see it. It was one of the most desired bags. The final Scholastic bag I picked up was a lovely red canvas bag. It was added to the pile when my arms got too full and they offered it to me. Seeing a pattern? Good, it ends up nearly being the death of me Saturday.

The Demco bag was way too much fun. Sure I had to stand in line to spin the Wheel, but it was so worth it. I chatted with people as I stood in line. We made up more of the story for Howard Neon Alawishis Gator, more on him in his post later. I spun this huge wheel and got the Demco grab bag. I go the bag, complete with two water bottle holders, two zipper pouches and an ID holder, plus a ton of the super sticky post-it notes, a Dr. Seuss bulletin border, some buttons, a package of bookmarks and the two color dry erase markers. I loved it.

I got the Book-TV bag and a pen and something else from there, but most importantly I got to see in the Book-TV traveling bus. They have the whole studio and production suite on an average sized RV! For those of us who have seen an old school TV production studio, we couldn't even dream of something like this. It was so cool. I got to sit on the set, and look at all the video equipment.

The last bag listed is one of more sought after bags, the OCLC/WorldCat bags. I truly lusted after this bag, no way around it. I was going to go to the Contentdm presentation anyway, the bag was like icing on the cake. Because there were only about 15 of us that went to that presentation, I grabbed one for Jenn who couldn't make the trip. This bag has and adjustable strap (shoulder or across your body), it also has a cell phone holder, two pen holders on the shoulder strap, and a zipper top. I was just giddy with this bag, as anyone who sat near me in meetings before I got the bag will agree with.