A brief #ALA11 wrap-up

Yes, ALA11 ended over a week ago, but in my defense there have been a few things going on in my life that have delayed this post.

Before I actually headed to NOLA, things got exciting.  I was mugged – money removed from my wallet by this bandit:

Seriously, I was just walking down the block, heading home, and this was parked on the corner.  I was powerless to resist the lure of a frappe and a cupcake.  Watch out f people!  The next morning, I went to Mile End for breakfast – yummy.  And then my friend Angela and I headed to Terminal 5 at JFK for our flight south.

No sooner had I entered my hotel room than Wendy phoned asking about meeting for drinks before dinner, and if Stephen could join her, Amy and me for dinner. Of course I said yes, and quickly unpacked then ran to meet them at Napoleon House before heading to Bayona for dinner.  The next morning, before heading off to a Super Secret Focus Group, I met Wendy, Amy and Angela for breakfast:

What a great way to get ready for my first presentation on Disaster Preparation for School Librarians (slides here; the video should be on-line at some point).  Then it was off to the event Amy refers to as “the running of the bulls”.  Well, this bull is getting old, and only managed 36 ARCs in 15-ish minutes.  Still, the overall haul from ALA was 53 books:

Then it was back to the hotel and out to Mother’s for dinner with Francey, Amy, Wendy and Deb. Later that night I had my tarot read by Phil, thanks to the folks at Little, Brown during their Smoke and Bone party at   (the ARC is rapidly coming up on my TBR pile)… after which I went “home” and to bed.

Saturday brought my next presentation, To E or Not to E, part of the From Gutenberg to Glogs presentation (with Wendy, Angela and Carla – slides here), then sessions.  More sessions on Sunday, followed by the ISS gathering where I met Kate (with whom I’ll be serving on the YALSA Publications Advisory Board) and Lisa.

Monday, my last day, was also my last presentation, this time on Best Practices for Library Websites for Teens (with Francey and Jody – LiveBinder here).  I then raced back to the hotel to check out and the incredible receptionist suggested that I mail my books home from the UPS Store nearby, rather than dragging everything back to the convention center (the UPS people were amazingly helpful and they gave me a AAA discount!).  Back at the convention center, I attended one last session before heading to the airport with Patty.

Session round-ups and thoughts coming soon – I promise!