Last night, as I was finishing what I'd been writing about Penzey's, Bryan (the groom), Krista (the bride), and Brad (her brother) came by to invite us to join them at Dave and Buster's.  I like D&B a lot more than GameWorks, which is Tampa's lame excuse for a grownups' arcade.  I had mentioned going there while we were at Al's Pizza in Riverside, blocks away from the wedding site.

So Jodi and I drove -- it was about a quarter mile, but chilly with 20-30mph wind -- and we got there at the same time as the pedestrians.  Brad used to be a manager at this store, so he was greeted by the guys at the door, who let us in without a cover.  He even got Jodi a game card (and I bought one for myself).

They mostly played classic games; I played a trivia game that could have up to six players competing.  Alone, you can get about 20 prize tickets for the game.  With six players, the player with the most correct answers (and, as a tiebreaker, the least total time elapsed) can win up to 190 tickets. 

Even though Jodi and I took a break for a drink and a snack at the restaurant area, I still quickly and easily racked up enough tickets to win her a Care Bears plush.  Appropriately enough (it was after midnight), it was the beshamrocked Lucky Bear.  (Shut up, Firefox, I know beshamrocked isn't in your spelling dictionary.)  I've had no luck convincing this laptop to recognize the camera, so I might not be able to post photos for a few days.  But there's a cute photo of Jodi and her new stuffed animal, and you'll get to see it eventually.

This morning we gathered at the house my aunt Linda (mother of the bride) bought when it was a foreclosed-upon crack house and improved the hell out of.  We had brunch, featuring a chocolate fountain, champagne punch, homemade egg-a-mooby-biscuits, etc.  (Linda runs a cafe in Riverside and has also had a catering business--thus the chocolate fountain--so she was happy to be the brunch walla.)  They weren't asking for gifts, but they happily accepted a few.  They were excited about Penzey's and would have gone for themselves if they'd had time.  Oh, and by the way, since Linda's cafe is in another part of town, she's selling the house brunch was in.

This afternoon I fetched some lunch for Jodi from Dave and Buster's and walked over there with my aunt Susan.  I showed her a few of my favorites, and we shot up some aliens together while we waited for Jodi's food.  When Jodi called to see what was taking me so long, Susan answered my phone "Hello, Dave and Buster's", which got a laugh.  Jodi is now napping, and while I'd like to be out at D&B for the next half-hour or so, I accepted "how about you stay here and Internet for a while" as a compromise.  I'm sure I'll be back there tonight after the reception anyway.

I really wish the camera would connect to the laptop.  There are some wonderful shots in there.

Yes, that's right, I said Athens.  And I'm driving there for code4lib 2007.

Jodi's joining me for the trip, though she won't be registered for the conference.  Which is a shame, because I think she might dig Fun with ZeroConfMetaOpenSearch or Library Data APIs Abound!.

If any of my readers have hints about fabulous vegetarian food in Athens, Georgia, please speak up.  We'll have some sort of Internet access here (code4lib would brook no less).

Harry and the Potters

January 9, 2007 at Miami-Dade Public Library - California Club Branch
850 Ives Dairy Rd., Miami, Florida 33179
Cost: FREE!

Rock the Library!

Man, if this weren't on a Tuesday, I'd be sure I'd be there. Since it is a Tuesday, though, I'm not sure yet. I'll have to see if I can get down there somehow.

Jodi's flight to CVG is in the air. Her flight to State College seems to be running on time.

I got about four hours of sleep (she got none). We got to the airport, checked her large heavy bag, and got to the security gate. This is where she and I parted ways last time, but last time we'd asked for assistance. This time I had to run (well, jog) across the airport, down the escalator, back across the airport, explain (gasp) the situation (pant), get a gate pass, jog back, explain it to Jodi and Amanda (who had to wait at the security checkpoint for me), and both of us proceeded through the security line.

I'm stunned I didn't get a full strip search because I was sweating like crazy and probably acting a bit odd due to stress and exhaustion. But we got through quickly and I saw her onto the plane before dashing back to get Amanda. We drove home, I had a shower, got dressed, left a note for the repair technician, and headed into the office. I've got at least two dozen cans of diet cola, so I think I'll survive the day.

Once I get Amanda to work, though, I may just go to sleep for the night. We'll see.

I couldn't refill my prescription using the automated system because it was "too early" to do so. Since I have a 5-day supply left, I called the pharmacy to check what was going on.

"Oh yeah," the guy said, "that's because it's already been refilled. Come by anytime and pick it up."

The woman at the drive-through, who wore a beautiful Creamsicle-plaid headscarf, said the refill was requested July 2nd. That was the day we were coming back from Sylacauga, and I don't remember calling it in. It's just a mystery...

If you want to get in on the Farecast beta, let me know. I've got 25 invites. Right now you can only shop for tickets from Boston and Seattle, but they're working on it. Tampa is already on their drop-down list, it's just not active yet...

I'm so glad I left early to get to the meeting this morning. I had time to get the oil changed, and I got a raincheck for a car wash. After the meeting I returned for the car wash, paid for an upgrade, and drove to the office in a nice clean car.

I stopped at Syms to get some new pants and a black leather belt for church, since I don't think I have very much in the way of churchy clothing in my current size. And since they had an assortment of CoolMax athletic socks for $3/pair, I grabbed a stack of them. There's nothing like good socks to make exercise more enjoyable, except perhaps watching other people at the gym bouncing and sweating.

There's still one load of laundry to do (and it will have to be carefully chosen from a pile of laundry that is at least four feet high), so that we can look and smell our best this weekend. But I'm really looking forward to the party, no matter how little time we actually get to spend there. And I'm also looking forward to seeing Dad and giving him a slightly early birthday present.

And of course I'll enjoy seeing Jodi's side of the family and being on my best behavior. (We have a carefully rehearsed list of things that I am not allowed to bring up in conversation. For example, the bishop will be in attendance at Devin's confirmation, and I am not allowed to ask him how many hours a day he spends handling his bishopric.)

Well, okay, so I won't enjoy being on my best behavior. But I'll do it anyway. :)

Mardi Frog 2006 photos are now available. Enjoy!

Written yesterday, posted today:

I woke up at 4am to boot up my brain before shutting down the servers back at the office some 1300 miles away. With a minor exception (the newest servers without VNC on them yet), it went smoothly.

A heat wave would raise the temperature to almost 60 before a tailgating cold front brings snow in a few days, but I walked six blocks to the train in 40-degree weather. I'm sure I looked like a wimp in my tan trenchcoat, but I wanted to stay warm if I could.

I reached the airport over three hours early, got oriented, and decided to get a bit of exercise. I walked to the farthest gate on Concourse A, then back across the central mall, and down to the farthest gate on Concourse G.

By the time I finished, I was quite ready to stow my heavy backpack in the lockers. $2/hr is worth it, and seeing my thumbprint displayed on the screen was kind of neat. That thumb, plus a six-character code on the receipt, will let me retrieve my bag.

Thus unencumbered, I repeated my little jaunt -- a mere mile and a half each time, the information desk told me -- and had the pleasure of helping a tourist be in the picture with his family. I also got to sample Leiniekugel's Red, a lager with an interestingly sharp clear taste and banana esters. I could be wrong about the esters, though, since I did eat an actual banana between walks.

While I waited and wandered, I got a call from the office saying that the air conditioner upgrade had gone well and quickly, the servers were all running again, and the server room was now a proper 69 degrees. If we can cough up $20-30k for a proper centralized backup, it'll finally be up to snuff. And if not, I guess I can hack together an AMANDA network.

I stopped halfway back to Concourse A for a pint of Leiniekugel's Honey Weiss (filtered, sadly) with lemon at TGI Friday's. Since it's about the only restaurant in the airport not owned by the same company as all the rest, a pint of decent brew is under $5. That wouldn't buy a Bud anywhere else in MSP.

Since the flight home was 48% full, I traded my exit-row seat for one of the many empty rows in the back. Flying is even more fun with satellite radio (although it's clearly prerecorded and synced on the ground like other in-flight audio). We took off as I was listening to "Wonkavator / End Titles" from _Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory_, soaring into "a world of pure imagination". (Yes, the end title is instrumental, but it quotes richly from "Pure Imagination".)

Later in the flight, I switched from the Cinemagic movie soundtracks channel to Bluegrass Junction. Bill Monroe played or would have recognized almost all of it, but Hayseed Dixie's cover of "Feel Like Makin' Love", mixed in with the more traditional tunes, delighted me.

During most of the flight, I reviewed and made thorough notes on the study guide from yesterday's class. HIP 4.x's architecture of abstractions is really a lot more useful than HIP 3.x's. I have a sinking feeling that there are global settings that should have been delegated to a smaller scope -- what if only some of our libraries want to allow borrowers to get e-mail when the library gets new items on a particular subject, by a favorite author, etc? -- but generally it seems useful.

Technorati tag: codi2005

I arrived slightly late to the general session this morning, but found a seat and listened to the presentation. It all sounded good, but the real applause came when we saw a live demo of the serials prediction calendar -- an actual one-year calendar that showed you exactly when each issue was expected. Judging by the applause, I'd guess that this feature has been needed for a while.

My presentation went well, I think. At one point I tried to think of a segue and finally just said "Okay, I don't have a smooth segue, so I'll just admit it. Next, I'd like to talk about law enforcement..." I got lots of questions and suggestions, but my favorite was from an Albertan librarian who said "We don't actually have the Patriot Act where I'm from, but let me ask you this: Are you trying to get around the Patriot Act by offering anonymous library cards?" I repeated the question on-mic and answered: "Yes, sir, we are." Brought down the house. I think I got more applause on that answer than on my presentation!

After lunch at the cool kids' table, I attended bits of two other presentations before realizing that they weren't actually boring, it was just that I was coughing too much (and my knee was hurting too much) to pay attention. So I'm back at the hotel, a block or two away, and I'll try to rest up so that I can go back for the last set of sessions -- or at the worst, make sure I'm in shape for tomorrow.

Technorati tags: codi2005