Well, my intention to recap my days failed. I had a very long and full day on Saturday with little brain function to blog. I slept poorly and had an early start to my Sunday, which was another long on. I felt jazzed and hyper upon returning to my hotel after the Newbery Banquet on Sunday night and thought I could blog as well as check in for my flight. Unfortunately, the hotel Internet went down and stayed down through Monday morning. Another reason to get a smart phone. Their business center is independently operated and only linked to the airport, where I needed a confirmation # to check in. But, that was in my email.
Sigh.
Headed out super early to the convention center to hit their network. Found a kiosk to sign in the the airline via my email and was able to print my boarding pass. Then, I felt ready to meet the day.
I think I will start with today and work my way backward as long as memory and energy last.
I originally intended to sightsee this morning and return to the convention center for the Odyssey Award ceremony before heading out. I perused the session manual one last time and found a session called Whaling Ho! at 10:30. There really wasn't anything I wanted to do around the neighborhood so I stayed put at the convention center and scheduled a blog post.
I am devoting an entire blog post to the Whaling Ho! session because I want to review the handouts and set up links to two rather valuable resources if you cover any maritime history in your school or library
A friend posted to FB that she was gathering at The View at the top of the Marriott Marquis at 4 in the afternoon. I thought I might be able to swing that and the Odyssey gathering if I trekked back to my hotel between morning sessions to retrieve my bag. (I do believe I may have dropped a few pounds this conference thanks to the all the walking, hills and spotty eating.)
The next session was called Robots in the Library. This was serendipity as I am teaching a brand new class for the eighth grade next school year. I will be getting some training in a few weeks, but thought attendance at this particular session was mandatory to see how school and public libraries are doing robotics. Got some ideas.
The final session of ALA Annual Conference 2015 was the Odyssey Award presentation. I adore the Odyssey Award. Oddly enough, I hadn't (and still haven't) read any of the winners with my ears. I've already read Five, Six, Seven, Nate! and A Snicker of Magic (and loved them both) with my eyes. I adored Tim Federle's Odyssey Honor-winning performance of his debut mg offering, Better Nate Than Ever, but somehow never got to it. S&S gave away copies so I snagged one and will remedy this post haste.
The awards went surprisingly quickly. I snagged a drink and chatted with some folks for a bit before heading over to The View. The View is indeed impressive as the lounge features panoramic, 360 degree views of San Francisco from 39 stories high. My friends Roxanne and Monica were there with snacks and a comfy couch.
I headed out around 5:30, wrangled with the ticket machine and had to wait less than five minutes for the BART to the airport. The train was quite crowded so I stood for a few stops. Once we were out of the city proper, a seat opened and the airport was the last stop. Thank goodness my friend Barb Langridge did the trip the day before and gave me a heads up about keeping my ticket handy because I needed it to enter the air-train area. That came immediately and my terminal was the second stop. I lost track of the time but it was all quite fast and certainly faster (as well as cheaper) than a cab that was likely to sit a bit in rush hour traffic leaving the city.
I feel so thrifty and competent. Honestly, it was so easy!
The sun is setting over my shoulder. It's quite pretty. I wish airports had verandas where waiting passengers could get fresh air and sunshine while they waited.
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