Typing on the train

[jilesa]

Maybe this is not such a great idea, because it's a slightly bumpy ride, but I have the laptop and I'm bored. And the train comes equipped with nifty desk thingies and outlets to plug in said laptop. No wireless, though, so I'm going to have to wait 'til I get home to actually post this.

In no particular order, here are some impressions from the conference.

• Philadelphia always seems to pleasantly surprise me. It's a very convenient conference city. Things are mostly walkable unless it's absolutely frigid, and there are plenty of decent restaurants surrounding the conference hotel district. I remember dreading the last conference we had in Philly, and being pleasantly surprised then, too.
• The Radisson Plaza-Warwick hotel is quite possibly the nicest conference hotel I've ever stayed in. The people were friendly and helpful. The room was immaculate. The wake-up calls went off without a hitch. We had 'sleep number' beds and HD TV in the room. It was quite nice, as conference hotels go.
• Moshulu, should you ever get a chance to go there, is a marvelous restaurant. It's on a ship (but not a dinner-cruise sort of thing), and the food is excellent. A little pricey, but not outrageous for someone who's used to eating out in DC.
• I made my semiannual jewelry purchase from Mona at Frozen Light, and she remembered me, and remembered what I'd bought from her last time. I happened to be wearing the only red outfit I own, and couldn't resist jewelry to go with it. So I now have a cinnabar pendant and earrings to go with my red & black equestrian jacket, and I couldn't resist another amethyst & peridot pendant she had, either.
• I also got sucked into the Lush store when I was walking back to my hotel from a meeting one day, and bought way more bath stuff than I should have, but given that I don't get to their stores very often, and I have a hard time with their website, I don't feel too badly about that.
• Okay, so this is starting to sound like all I did this weekend was shop and eat, which isn't entirely true. Admittedly, I only went to one thing that wasn't absolutely required, but the required stuff took up enough time that I figured I was entitled to do whatever the hell I wanted with the rest of my time. And so I did. I have to say that this is the most pleasant conference I've had in a couple of years, so I think that was the right choice.
• So far as the required stuff goes, MARBI was pretty hellish, but then it almost always is. We did manage to make some progress, I think. (Read that as: we agreed to change a few trivial things that bother me, amongst all the arguing over changing trivial things that I don't care about.)
• My other committee went well. Our public forum this afternoon was very well attended and thought provoking. I thoroughly enjoyed the presentations, and have lots of new stuff to think about as a result of it.
• One of the vendors had a reception at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, so in addition to free food and drinks, we got to wander through the exhibits. Their Impressionist collection is really impressive. They have a few Mary Cassatt pieces I'd never seen before, and one particular painting by Frits Thaulow that just entranced me.

So, that's my ALA Midwinter in a nutshell. How're y'all doing?