A Wandering Eyre

I spent a weekend in Milwaukee before the Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium. I have an Aunt and an Uncle who live there and I see them so seldom that I had to take the opportunity to visit. Milwaukee is a beautiful city and in the summer it really is at its finest. I had a great visit. Here are my top, rather belated, 10 things from that short trip:

10. The weather was amazing. Cool. Breezy. Sunny. I reveled in it.
9. The flowers. At a time in Houston when everything is starting to get brown around the edges, there are vibrant blooms everywhere!
8. Sitting on Aunt Sue’s porch drinking vodka and Squirt and catching up.
7. The sunset over Pewaukee Lake.
6. Bloody Marys at The Wicked Hour. They were spicy and came with all kinds of goodies.
5. Brats. (pronounced brah-ts, the food not the annoying toddler next to you)
4. Hanging out at Fest Italiana.
3. Spending the afternoon with Uncle Larry and Aunt Jennifer. They live in East Troy, a sweet little town. Their house is surrounded by tall tress, green grass, and flowers. Jennifer collects sediment from all over the world and Larry collects Harleys. I do not get to see enough of them.
2. Getting to see Aunt Sue. I love that lady. I always have fun with her. We went to a couple local bars, went to the market at Cathedral Square, and walked through Fest Italia.
1. I know why people have Harleys and ride motorcycles. Larry took me on my first real motorcycle ride (dirt bikes do not really count, now do they?) It was exhilarating. All of the smells around you slap you in the face. Everything fills your senses. I could barely keep from giggling the entire time. It was amazing. We stopped at a local bar, Kuckleheads, for a drink and then returned home as the sun was setting. I could not have asked for a better end to a wonderful day.

–Jane, is ready to go back again

Mr. Abram dun care

Originally uploaded by Librarian In Black.

In spearit of I Can Has Cheesburger, theese from ze LiB almost mades me wetz ze pantzes.

Learning about L2

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre.

This is the picture of the audience of the preconference I gave today at TLA. It went off without too many hitches and we had some great discussion in the morning about Web 2.0 tools, privacy, and trust. Librarians always have a lot to say. I was pleased to have a very interactive audience. In the afternoon, I handed the podium over and my co-presenter talked about Web 2.0 nuts and bolts, the things that make our software run.

We created a wiki with the presentation notes and some basic resources.

–Jane, off to have celebratory drinks

Pullo waits with Cassie

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre.

This morning I am packing and getting organized for a quick three day trip to San Antonio. Pullo thinks I have stayed home to play with him and is disappointed that all I have done so far is upload Flickr photos and laundry. Pullo does not like it when one of us is gone and I always picture him at the window, like this, waiting.

I am nervous about the preconference I am teaching on a few different levels. This will be the longest class I have taught, even though, my song and dance is just in the morning and someone else is teaching the afternoon portion.

I feel better then I have in days, even though I am woefully behind in everything. I am hoping that the couple days after TLA and before CIL will be enough for me to catch up. The next post should be a report from the field (unless I find time to do some reading). Everyone traveling to TLA, be safe.

–Jane, see you in the world

Plugged In

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre.

Internet Librarian was a wonderful conference. The atmosphere was completely different from any other conference I have attended. There was a congenial, light-hearted mood in every session. All of the sessions were packed with Library 2.0 goodness. I felt at home in the sea of laptops gathered around the nearest plug. If no plug was to be found, we sat in the front, the best distance for heckling.

If you search Flickr tags for IL2006, you might get the impression that all librarians do at conference is walk around outside, eat food, drink, and take idiotic pictures of each other. You would not be entirely wrong, but I did learn a bunch of new tricks that I am going to try at my library.

The people I met and was able to connect with again made this the best conference I have ever attended. We laughed, traded ideas, and made fun of each other (not too hard a feat). It was nice to talk with others in the profession working with technology, even if most of our conversations revolved around the hand drier in the bathroom of the Crown and Anchor.

–Jane, will definitely be there next year

No One Cares That You Have a blog

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre.

My favorite slide from Aaron Schmidt’s Internet Librarian Presentation.

–Jane, no one at all

Senior Ring, Class of ‘07

Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre.

In Texas there is this blessed piece of land in College Station called Aggieland. Students go to Texas A&M, study, learn, and eventually earn enough hours to order their class ring. The ring at A&M is very important. Most Aggies will wear their rings for the rest of their lives. To me (and I am not alone), my Aggie Ring is as important as my wedding ring. It is part of who I am. I come from an Aggie family and I was lucky enough to find an Aggie husband.

My brother got his ring today. My parents and I drove up to College Station to celebrate with him. The lady handing out rings let me hand him the box. It was fabulous. I am very proud of my little brother. He is a proud member of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of ’07 and he now has the ring to prove it.

–Jane, Whoop

Two weeks ago, I went to Costa Rica. It was fabulous. I was on vacation, so I ate and drank whatever pleased me to do so. Is that not what vacation is all about? When I came home, I sat down to upload all my wonderful photos onto Flickr and then hesitated.

Do I really want everyone to see all my pictures? ALL of them? What if I look bad? What if I am tired with a pina colada in front of me? Does it matter? Do I care?

People who know me in “real” life know I am open with who I am. What you see is mostly what you get. I am an adult, so I occassionaly drink. I like to take pictures of my drinks for a reason I have not yet determined.

My boss looks at my pictures. People I do not know, have yet to meet, and may one day work for look at my pictures. Will it taint their image of me to see this?

After about 5 minutes of deliberation, I decided I did not care. We are all adults and I post pictures with the full knowledge that someone, somewhere will dissapprove of something I do. There is a line and I do not feel I have crossed it.

This is the first time I have faced this sort of delemma in regards to images. I know I can make some pictures “private” on Flickr, but having private pictures is not the purpose of that account. I decided when I put my name on my blog that if I ever interviewed with an employer who took offense at something I said or put online and, as a result, would not hire me, I did not want to work for them anyway. I think part of this attitude comes from my young age. Maybe I am just pig headed. (Mr. Rochester would go with the latter.)

There should be room in the world for different kinds of people and expression. I would not want to work for someone who willfully misunderstood the way the world works in an Internet age.

In brief: I decided I did not care.

–Jane, most of my favorite pictures are of this anyway

I made mine on Sunday. Check out the others posted on Flickr. Than, go and make your own.

Steven Cohen wants the group to reach 200 and it is now at 68.

-Jane, looks around