The Best of ALA

Here's my wrap-up of miscellaneous cool things that happened in Anaheim -

Saw many many orange bags. I did use mine to safely transport the lovely blue boa home.

I love ALA because it's the one time a year I get to see people. You never know who you'll run into on a shuttle bus (Amy who is now a Research Fellow at Pew Internet & American Life Project), in a meeting (John, who's hosting SSLLI5), at a party (Robin who participated in SSLLI1 and hosted SSLLI3 before moving to Pittsburg), or on the dance floor (Ted from SSLLI4). I never saw Gina though I know she was there.

Shout out to Emerald for a great reception where I saw Lisa, Lisa, and Cory and to the 3M/NMRT social where it's always fun to see librarians (Danny & Sheila) dance and watch the hotel staff marvel. I did miss Rachel and Meredith this year but there's something about ALA and little babies that don't mix well.

Got to meet Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea. He actually spoke at the Auditorium Speaker Series but I had to be at the WebJunction Roundtables so I missed him. But... I went back for the author signing and got a free autographed copy of the book from Penguin. Very cool - he talked to everyone who went through the line. If you haven't read the book I encourage you to give it a try.

I got Andrew Clements autograph. I'm always on the hunt for books for my sister's school in Guatemala. Andrew Clements is the new favorite of both my niece and the kids at school. So I got an autographed set for Rebeka and books for the school. The big success of the weekend was finding the Scholastic Lectorum booth and learning that she would sell me whatever she had on Tuesday morning. So I saved a bit of room and came home with 5 Andrew Clements in Spanish! My other big Spanish language finds Tuesday morning were Dr. Seuss, Eric Carle, and Richard Scarry at 50% off. Woo hoo!! I think I scored some big points with the kids for next year.

There was a whole gaming pavilion in the exhibit hall. Who knew there was so much stuff? What do you think the chances are I can get Brad to send me to the Gen Con Trade Day? Is anyone out there planning to attend? I would love to hear about it.

Huge thanks to Danny Hales for the Disney tickets. Vince and I had a great time!!

And I ended the weekend with a great visit with a high school friend who lives in LA. She met me at the hotel Tuesday morning before I caught the shuttle to the airport.

Other places to read about ALA -

• PLA Blog