I’m here in the Lone Star State for a librarians’ conference – actually just the tail end of a librarians’ conference. I signed up for a half-day post-conference workshop, and went to one session + the closing keynote – and then the workshop.
I got in about 2:30 on Tuesday, and decided to take the $1 bus to the conference center where I’m staying on the UT campus. I had to wait 20 minutes, but seemed worth it for the price. Then I had to walk about half a mile with luggage, wearing tights and a long-sleeved shirt, warm shoes, and a long skirt, that had been not even been warm enough in Madison where it was 10 degrees – in Austin, where it was 80 degrees. As soon as I got into my room at the hotel, I had to peel off the tights and shave my legs so I could go bare-legged in the heat.
I went to a reception put on by one of the vendors at the conference, and had a few hot appetizers and a glass of [free] champagne. I decided to walk and get some tacos, and in hindsight, realize I took the long way around. I didn’t notice that the taco place I found on yelp, Taco Joint, closes at 3:00 on weekdays. I went and ordered to-go from the bar next door. Talked to a kind of whacked-out guy while waiting for my food – he’d bought a bunch of lottery tix, said he made a bunch of money at SXSW last week, and needed to spend it on something – and he wanted help scratching off the numbers. I think I won him $6. I found the easy way back – going past a guy on a cello and a guy on an electric guitar playing kind of pensive indie rock in front of a university building, to a fair-size crowd. When I finally opened up the tacos, I had one bite and the meat was so greasy I couldn’t eat it – so I dumped out the meat and filed the shells with the pico de gallo and lettuce – that was OK. And watched part of a Parade’s End and the end of Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
And oh, yea, I have a huge room:
View out the window
Entry
Bedroom
Entry way, huge bathroom, bedroom.
Today, the session I wanted to see was at 9:20, keynote at 11:00, and the workshop at 1:00. I tried to go for coffee, at a local place, before, but again yelp failed – the place is closed for remodeling until the 25th – I’d say at least the 25th – it was down to the bare walls & cement inside. So I got a Starbucks latte at the Student Union. There was fruit and coffee at the conference – they use some kind of healthy conference caterer, and I got the last banana and there was peanut butter to go with. After (and during) the session and the keynote, I was having trouble with my websites, so came back to the room to call my hosting service tech support. They blamed it all on AT&T – sometime in the afternoon it all came back – although I did discover I could get in if I VPN’d to UW hosts. So I missed lunch, and I wasn’t really hungry, but I was worried about making it through the 4 hour workshop with no food, so I bought a kebap from Verts on the way in. I ended up not eating it until after the workshop – it was still pretty good. They gave us several kinds of munch mix – one that had crispy fava beans in it – and fruit and coffee for workshop snacks. I got an orange to go with my kebap, and I had all that for kind of an early dinner at 5:30 in the courtyard between the hotel room part of the conference center, and the meeting room part. And did a little work on the SLIS website, and answered a few emails – and left more for tomorrow. As the librarians are moving out, prospective students are moving in.
I decided to walk to the food co-op, and get ice cream for the rest of dinner. And watched [the fairly creepy] Martha Marcy May Marlene – it was just starting when I got back.
Ice cream for dinner
My plane’s not till almost 3:00 tomorrow – I can use the wifi here to work, and I already have my breakfast place picked out. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
