 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Because some of my YALSA friends aren't on facebook, I'm posting the same message here I just posted there:
Here's what I've got going on. Anyone want to make plans during unscheduled time? (And if I tag you and you're not going, sorry -- I don't mean to rub it in. :-)
All the PPYA meetings are in the Westin Tabor Center, Lawrence Room. Meetings are open to all conference attendees, and observers are welcome (nay, encouraged!) to make comments on specific titles (although you don't get to vote. Sorry.) Feel free to stop by, especially during Sunday's meetings.
My library's not paying for me to go this time, so any information you have about events with free food is welcome!
Friday:
Arrive Denver 3:00
YALSA Happy Hour (Maybe) - 5:30 - 7:30
Disney Hyperion Dinner - 6:30 - 8:30
YALSA Mixer & Tech Playground - 8:00 - 10:00
Saturday:
YALSA Leadership Meeting - 8:00 - 10:00
Exhibit Hall?
PPYA Business Meeting - 1:30 - 3:30
Scholastic Midwinter Event (Maybe -- I RSVP'd for this, it's on my calendar, but I don't have any location info and I'm not sure where to get it. Anyone know?)
Penguin Dinner - 7:00 - 9:00
Sunday:
PPYA Meetings ALL DAY
No evening plans!!
Monday:
Youth Media Award (really, really early)
PPYA Meetings - 10:30 - 1:30ish (or longer, depending on how quickly we finish voting)
Afternoon free
ALSC/YALSA Join Membership Reception?
Tuesday:
Fly home at 12:00
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I decided I was done wasting emotions on stupid people, which relieved my stress immensely. However, I now have something new to stress out about: the weather. It is currently 18 degrees and snowing, with 2-4 inches expected to snow overnight. Tomorrow, the high is 14 degrees (the low is -1), with another inch or so of snow expected. ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) alixwrites plane is supposed to leave Miami at noon and arrive in Pittsburgh at 3:00. I can see several possibilities, and frankly none of them are that great: - Alex's flight is cancelled. Therefore, the event is cancelled. I'm sure in this case we'd reschedule.
- The library is closed. Therefore, the event is cancelled. In this case, I HOPE Alex would be able to change her flight and we would reschedule. Otherwise, I'm not sure what would happen -- if the library closes and the flight's not cancelled, I think we'd have to buy a new ticket to reschedule. Which I think we could do.
- The Best Case Scenario: The flight is not cancelled and the library is not closed. Everything would go as planned (except for a likely school delay or even closing on Friday, as the awful weather continues). However, the cold weather will likely keep some people away from the evening program.
- The Worst Case Scenario: The library is not closed, the flight is not cancelled -- but the library does what it sometimes does when the snow's falling fast, and closes early, resulting in Alex getting to Pittsburgh but not having an event to go to, meaning a wasted trip. I have no idea what would happen in this case.
I've asked my boss to let me know ASAP if it looks like we might be closing early. Hopefully, if we do, I'll know in time to call Alex and tell her not to get on the plane. So, keep your fingers crossed that the weathermen are actually completely wrong and it's a balmy 25 degrees and sunny tomorrow.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I got tagged! Sweet! I'm not going to tag anyone, since I don't think I even have 8 LJ friends. If you feel like doing this, go for it.  |
The Rules:
A. People who have been tagged must, if they choose to participate, write their answers on their blog and replace any question that they dislike with a new, original question. Please italicize the new question if you do that.
B. Tag eight people. Don't refuse to do that. Don't tag who tagged you. (I think this is a stupid rule, and I'm breaking it).
01. What are your nicknames?
When I was younger, people called me "Karen Books." That was kind of cool. Now, some people at work call me "Brooksie," and a few people call me "KBR" because that's how I sign my email.
02. How do you style your hair?
I don't. Usually I pull it back into a lazy bun while it's still wet, although it was so cold yesterday that I actually blow-dried it so it wouldn't freeze.
03. What's new in your life right now?
I have a niece. I haven't met her yet, though.
04. What colors are you wearing right now?
Burgundy, black, brown and tan pin-stripes
05. Are you an introvert or extrovert?
A little of both. I'm a "slight introvert," which in my case manifests as shy initially but outgoing once I know someone, with a tendency to retreat from social situations once they begin to exhaust me (usually about two or three hours in).
06. What was the last book you read?
Oh, jeez. I really need to get better at keeping track. The Diary of Pelly D, maybe? And I'm almost done with "Charmed and Ready."
07. Do you nap a lot?
Not really, and almost never on purpose.
08. Who are you crushing on right now?
That's a very good question. I don't think I'm crushing on anyone. My first instinct was to say "Duh, I'm married," but then I realized that marriage doesn't necessarily negate the ability to crush. But I don't think I'm crushing on anyone.
09. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days?
Overall stress levels are high right now, especially at work.
10. What's your favorite dessert?
I don't really have much of a sweet-tooth, but I like creamy things like cheesecake or ice cream.
11. How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?
Counting a bath, about 45 minutes. When there's not hot water, less than five.
12. What websites do you visit daily?
Google, Gmail, Amazon, Wikipedia, Livejournal, Facebook
13. Do you write fic? What was the last fic you wrote?
Nope.
14. Do you like to clean?
No. Not at all. I kind of like sorting and organizing, but it goes in waves with LOOOONG stretches in between.
15. What's the last song that got stuck in your head?
My brain is a very, very dirty sponge. EVERYTHING gets stuck in it.
16. What's the last movie you saw?
I watched "John Tucker Must Die" last night. It was mildly amusing.
17. Bagpipe, didgeridoo, theramin -- awesome sounds or musical vivisection?
They're all fantastic if done well, and awful when done poorly -- and very easy to do poorly.
18. What is your least favorite thing to do that you have to do everyday?
Pretend to be a grown-up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We leave Amsterdam for Ireland today, and I can't wait. I like Amsterdam...it's a very unique city, and has a pretty good vibe and plenty to do...but it's really just a bit much for me. After Germany, though, where we spent every available minute DOING something, Amsterdam's been a kind of frenetic do-nothing time, appreciated. Some highlights: - The houseboat. Small, yes. Comfortable, oh yeah.
- The Sex Museum. For some reason, my friends didn't want to spend more time exploring the red light district, and the tour guide from Randy Roy's Redlight Tours never showed up. Despite that, we did a short wander and went into the Red Light District anyway, although our only stop was the very cool, historical-porn-filled Sex Museum.
- Cafe Chris in the Jordaan. After wandering around on Saturday night, not sure what we wanted to do, we stopped into this little pub near our boat for one beer to cap off the night. We stayed for four, and hours of conversation with Dmitri and Arian. A lot of talking about language (whichＩloved) and politics (not so much). Much fun.
- Wandering through Vondelpark. After I found a bathroom, I was able to enjoy the gorgeosity of the park, and watching all the other people enjoying it, too.
- Boat cruise. I'll find the name and link to it later, but it's an official tour -- they're not even allowed to charge, only take donations. But you can bring all your vices along (we had wine and beer), it's open air, and goes down some of the smaller canals the bigger tour boats can't go down. It was REALLY awesome. And really cold!
Okay -- time to finish packing and try to find the Bibliotheek before we head out to the airport...hopefully, I'll have internet there, too!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I've finally found somewhere with internet access! I don't know whose internet it is, but I can get to it from where I am right now...a houseboat in Amsterdam. Which is awesome. Unfortunately, it's very slow, and I haven't been able to access my work email yet. However, that might actually be a good thing...
Anyway, some quick notes from the last couple days:
On Wednesday, we had an adventure. Lisa, Carolyn, Kris and I went to Schloss Hohenashau, a palace in Bavaria, and it was pretty nifty. We sprung for the English audio tour, because in rural Bavaria not too many people speak the English. The castle had a lot of old paintings and such, but the coolest things were the gauntlets and helmet you could try on, and the 17th (?) century women's clothing in which you could play dress-up. Unfortunately, I was too chubby for the clothes, but Lisa looked fantastic. Once I can get my pictures uploaded, I'll post them to Flickr. After the castle, we took the cable car up Kampenwand, the tallest Alp (yes, I said Alp) in the area to meet Arn and Michael, who had spent the previous several hours hiking up there. The ride was awesome, and we then hiked about half an hour to get to the Speillingalm. Alms on the alps are little restaurants where you can get a beer and a snack. They had FANTASTIC goullaschesuppe, and very yummy hot chocolate. Arn, Mike and Lisa decided to hike up another 100 meters or so to the summit of the mountain...and that's when the real adventure began.
You see, no one had thought to check how late the cable car ran. We were all very much on the, "hey, it's vacation! We have all the time in the world! " mentality. Luckily, I was reading a brochure and realized the last car was at 6:00. It was 5:30.
Carolyn made a funny joke -- "Well, we should leave them behind. No point in us all being stuck on top of a mountain" -- but after some discussion, we realized that was actually true. The car was at the bottom of the cablecar, the path down the mountain ended two towns over. We called Mike (yay for vodaphone, working on top of a mountain!), told them we'd meet them at the bottom, and JOGGED across the mountaintop to the cablecar. We made it with about two minutes to spare.
It only took about two hours for them to hike backdown, and when they arrived we learned something very awesome --- during their grand adventure, Arn had taken time out to ask Lisa to marry him. Congratulations, guys!
By then, we were all exhausted. We threw away our plans to visit the Rosenheim Herbstfest, had a fantastic dinner at a local restaurant, and went to bed.
The next day, we all piled into the van to drive to Munich. When we arrived, we dropped off the van at the Hertz office and took the subway to our hotel, Hotel Theresia. It was a cute little pension, very basic but clean and cheap. By then, I was very cranky and sleepy so I took a nap while everyone else did laundry. Then, I found a little cafe (Bar Giulia, I think) and drank a Rhababa-Schorle -- Rhubarb juice with sparkling water. After everyone woke up from THEIR naps, we walked to the University District, had Greek food for dinner, and went out drinking. We had one beer at Ulter Simpl, the bar where Hermann Hesse and Thomas Mann used to hang out (good beer, very rude waitress), and then headed up the road to close down the Augustiner Brauhaus in the area. The waiter there was awesome, and very helpful to the drunk, rowdy American tourists. And boy, were we rowdy...at one point, Carolyn stuffed the sex gag (a tiny, retractable plastic penis designed to look like a lipstick) we'd gotten in Bernau into Kris's mouth, causing him to spit it across the table at the locals. I don't think they were happy.
We stumbled home and into bed at around 2am. We had to be out of the hotel by 10am. Unfortunately, my dear husband had one drink too many and woke up very hungover at 6:30. Which means he woke me up too. Because he was hurting so bad, and I'm a good wife (and yes, because I was annoyed at being woken up and didn't want to take it out on him), I packed up my stuff and took it down to a locker in the train station. Then, after a surprisingly yummy continental breakfast at the hotel, we all headed down to the train station together, with me carrying Michael's bag.
We wandered the streets of Munich, Carolyn and Lisa running into tons of shops, and me so tired I could barely stand. Then, we bought various foodstuffs at the Viktualenmarkt, a huge open-air market, and ate lunch. Lisa and Arn went to the Residenz Museum after that. While I really wanted to join them, I wanted to sit and do nothing more, so that's what we did. Then the rest of us had a leisurely wander through Munich and the Englischer Garten to the Chinese Tower, where we met Lisa and Arn.
We also met some other American tourists, and we all headed out together to go to the official Augustiner Brauhaus for dinner. But, apparently we walk really fast...we lost them before we even got to the subway station. By this time, I was beginning to get nervous about having time to eat and catch the train, so I annoyed all my friends by rushing them back down towards the train station. We did stop at an amazing bookstore to get a guidebook for C&K, and I found a new Marian Keyes book that doesn't even have a release date for the United States. I'm planning on buying it in Ireland -- woohoo! Then, after a not very good dinner at Augustiner, and a brief stop to complete Lisa's very cute Bavarian outfit, we headed back to Hautbanhof to catch the night train.
The train was okay. I didn't sleep that well, but I slept longer than any other night here and woke up very close to Amsterdam. We got off the train, got the key to the houseboat, had some very good pie, and here we are. Kris and Mike went off to find some beer to bring back. I hope they get home soon -- I have a whole new city to explore, and not much time to do it!
kbr
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We're on the road again. Kris is driving us toward the Autobahn, and since I'm not so much a fan of the fast-moving traffic, I'm writing up the last couple days instead. On Tuesday, we took the train to Salzburg. It really is as beautiful as I'd imagined, at least once you get into the old city. The more modern area we saw, right around the train station, really looks like any other city in the world. We did a truly remarkable amount in our short time there. We walked down and across the Salza River, passing by Mirabell Gardens on the way. This is where the famous “Do-re-mi” scene from “The Sound of Music” was filmed, and I took lots of pictures. After crossing the bridge, we had a beer and a snack at a little stand on the banks, and then headed to Getreidegeise, a long road lined with all sorts of shops – from Louis Vuitton to McDonald's. I think Lisa's the only one who bought anything substantial, coming away with a cane that conceals a flask. It's pretty neat. I did get myself a pretty cheesy souvenier: a bottle of pear schnapps shaped like a violin, in honor of Mozart's birthplace. Festung Hohensalzburg was our next stop. Kris, Carolyn, Lisa and I took the festungbahn (incline) up to the top, while Mike and Arn walked up. And up. And up some more. When they finally got to the top, we roamed around the 900-year-old fortress for awhile. The views were AMAZING. My favorite part, though, was the marionette exhibit – lots of marionette's that have been used in plays at the Salzburg Marionette Theater, and a very cool underground pirate scene, that was only visible through portholes in the floor. After the fortress, we caught a bus to Augustinerbrau, a brewery and beerhouse at a monastery. All the beer is brewed on the premises by monks, and it is very, very good. Then we caught the train back to Bavaria and stopped at Bernau Steub'n, a small bar where Arn used to hang out when he lived and worked in the area. The bartender, Florian, is the son of the owner and he and Arn spent some time catching up. Then we drank more beer, did some shots, and went back to Marquetstein to drink some more. Okay, typing in a fast moving vehicle is beginning to make me a bit woozy...I'll write all about yesterday (which was pretty crazy) another time. And maybe I'll find somewhere with internet access in Munich!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We finally made it to Germany. The plane ride was not fun, but it happened and now it's over. I didn't sleep a whit on the plane, but that's okay too. We're here. Our luggage did not arrive with us, yet another thing to chronicle in the oh-so-nasty letter I'm planning on writing to Delta, but since it has come now (and they did an admiral job getting it to us quickly) I'm not going to dwell on it. Instead, I'm going to dwell on how BEAUTIFUL this part of the world is. We got the train from Munich to Prien am Chiemsee, a quaint town (larger than the other quaint towns around) with only a minor detour – we missed our connecting train in Rosenheim – and met our friends without further incident. We got a cappuccino, wandered around town for a bit looking for socks and underwear, and headed back to our temporary accommodations. We're staying in a very cute little cabin on the grounds of Maerchenpark, a storybook amusement park for small children. Arn's friend from his resort-working, Germany living days is married to the man whose family runs the park, and we get to stay for free. It's beautiful, if a bit small. The land around it is beautiful, too. After getting cleaned up (yay for showers!) we headed to the lake and took a ferry to two islands in the Chiemsee. First up was Herren Insel, where lies the beautiful place of Mad King Ludwig. Unfortunately, we didnt get to see the palace itself because time was short (we got a late start), but we did see an old monastery, including a stone church that was built in the mid 1400s. That was cool. Then we headed to another island, the name of which is escaping me, where we saw a beautiful church (part of a convent) and some of the most beautiful headstones I've ever seen. The island was full of gorgeous gardens, and we stopped for a fantastic weissbier and weisswurst at Inselbrau. Dinner was at a very nice restaurant, and delicious. It'll take some time to get used to the European service model – apparently, it's rude to leave a tip on the table so you're supposed to round your bill up and tell your server how much to take. This is difficult since I only know numbers up to five! Luckily, Arn's basically fluent in German. Now, we're back at our cottage, drinking wine and shooting the bull. I'm insanely tired, but since Mike and I will be sleeping in the living room we're up until either other people go to bed or we just pass out. Tomorrow we're planning on going to Salzburg, which should be fantastic...provided we can wake up in time to make the trip worthwhile. Wireless access is proving more elusive than I'd anticipated due to our very rural location, so I'm just going to write these as docs and upload as wifi access appears. Hopefully, I'll be able to get online soon...being without email is really almost painful to me. And that's just sad.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Previous
