Day 2: Vegas morning

I am soooo glad I don't live here, as I'd be a helpless gambling addict.  I think that's where all the homeless people come from - arriving in Las Vegas with hopes and dreams of hitting it "big" and succumbing to the vicissitudes of Lady Luck and her capricious nature.  Okay, that's probably wrong, but I can definitely see myself as a young woman getting into some terrible, terrible trouble in Sin City.

So I woke up early, went to McDonald's (after the lousy in-house coffee and danish yesterday, I went straight to the old go-to for cheap, fresh breakfast), and then sat down at a couple of slot machines and ended up 3-dollars ahead!  Woo-hoo!  I'm like my dad, who was game but not a gambler.

Off to Hash House A Go Go to meet up with Facebook (hope-to-be-real) friends and then hopefully make the last hour of the Annual Unconference, which starts at 9am.  Crap!  Just realized that there are THREE Hash Houses in Vegas, and I don't recall which one we were supposed to meet!  Dang!  Okay, deep breath...

Okay.  Okay.  Anyway, just a reminder that I will be live-streaming coverage of two events today, the first session of CraftCon in the Uncommons (2:30pm), and the opening of the Exhibit Floor (5:30pm) - hope you can join me - I'll be filming on my phone so won't have a chance to check chat but I hope peoples who can't make it to either event will take a look and meet some of the great people I've met so far at the Annual ALA Conference for 2014.

Postscript:  Found out which Hash House, duh.

From the Schedule and Beyond: Highlights from #alaac14 (continues) (now with 15% more hyperlinks)

So I posted a couple of days about about The Library Games, and event which takes place on June 30th, and thought I'd mention a couple of other cool things that are happening before the weekend.

CraftCon, hosted by Kate, is an event listed in the  Networking Uncommons area, so it may get overlooked if you don't look at the schedule.  It starts at 2:30pm on Friday, June 27th, and runs at various times throughout the weekend.  Bring your own crafts, bring crafts to share, show off projects, or just come hang out with a bunch of chill library peoples.  I'll be Ustreaming the start of the CraftCon on the Ustream channel, before hunkering down to do some subversive cross-stitching until my next session.

ALA Play, hosted by the Games and Gaming Round Table and Graphic Novels and Comic Books groups is listed in the ALA scheduler.  This promises to be a fun event and a great way to unwind after the opening sessions on Friday, June 27th and runs from 7:30pm-10pm at Caesar's Palace.  The theme is Welcome to Nightvale - interesting!

Keep checking back as I post more updates - trying to decide if I should post the ALA party map...

Two Days to GO!!!

I can't believe it's almost time to go to ALA!  What a trip it's been to work on this blog, get funding to go the conference, and now work as a stringer for American Libraries!  Feeling very lucky and very grateful to all the folks who helped make it happen.  Hope to see many of you in Las Vegas, but if you can't make it please subscribe to the UStream feed and keep up-to-date with activities from the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center. I'll also be blogging here, tweeting, and facebooking.

I think ALA.org is also doing some broadcasting, but they've been a little opaque about where and when they are doing this.  When I can't go to conferences I still love watching live-feeds or reading live-blogs about them, and hope those of you who keep up with Zen and Loaning will get as much enjoyment out of viewing it as much as I will in producing it for you.

Two Weeks to Go!!!!

At this point, I seem to be the only person in my library who is outwardly excited about going to ALA.  I mean, everyone is excited for me that I'm going, but the librarians who are actually going to Las Vegas are all "meh" about it.  Maybe they just hide it better than I do?  I don't care!  I'm excited and I don't care who knows it!

Two more weeks, and I'm getting nervous.  The reality of my role in this is becoming more real - I'm blogging for American Libraries, my first legit blogging gig.  I've got big plans (and I'll have to share my technology situation in another post), but will it all come together?  Who knows?  Will the wifi work in the convention center?  Who knows?  Will I have a chance to go swimming in the Circus Circus pool?  Who knows?!  Good lord, I'm a mess!

Hey, but one bright spot is that I get to talk to my wonderful friend, Houston, about his experiences in Las Vegas, in a re-boot of the "So What's Up With Las Vegas?" feature of this blog, happening tomorrow.  I might U-stream it.  If you haven't already, subscribe to my Ustream - my handle is g8rgrrl, or do a search for #alaac14 and you should find it.

Woo-Hoo! I'm a stringer!

Just got the first email from George Eberhart to the people chosen to be stringers for ALA 2014.  While it looks like live-blogging might be a problem because the wifi might be poor (or nonexistent), I now know how to submit blog posts to ALA Direct's blog, The Scoop, where we'll be posting all the news and views of ALA in Las Vegas.  Really looking forward to it!  I'm hoping to still do a lot of photos and short video interviews with attendees, as well as longer, U-Streamed, events like the ALA Think Tank's pub crawl on Thursday night.  I'll work with the limitations and do the best I can!

Exhibits (a.k.a. Swag Central)

Totally going to blog the ribbon cutting and opening ceremonies for the ALA Exhibit hall, taking place from 5:30pm to 7:30pm on Friday.  Not only because it is a massive exhibit experience, but also because there is going to be SO MUCH LOOT!  And probably tote bags and t-shirts, I hope!

Hello! Meet ALA's newest blogger!

Yes, that's right!  I just got the good word from the editor of American Libraries Direct, George Eberhart, that I will indeed be blogging to my little heart's content at the ALA annual!  Live blogging, pool blogging, casino blogging -- every meaty blogstuff that's ready to be blogged for you, dear readers/viewers!  I can't wait!  I've got to start coming up with more blog features.  I'm supposed to look at the conference schedule and decide which things I'm going to blog - DEFINITELY blogging Stan Lee!

05/06/14- corrected to include George Eberhart's correct title, which I erroneously reported to be the editor of American Libraries, which is actually Laurie Borman.  Details, people!

U-Stream Link

Here's the link to the U-Stream feed - now I just have to figure out how to use it.  I've got one test video of me sitting at the desk - I've downloaded the mobile app and will now experiment with live blogging around campus.