walked over to the convention center from the hotel...took about 25min. it was hot and humid, but a great workout. i picked up my registration stuff -- a badge with a first-timer ribbon, a red bag, an information outlook issue, a pocket book of events, and a passport for the info expo. then i walked over to the restaurant for the newcomer's lunch at sun ray grill. i met a pair of nice librarians from proctor gamble who were not part of PAM and were just there for lunch. soon, more people arrived.
i met ruth for the first time. she had ribbon after ribbon attached to her badge. i also met emily-the chair of PAM, zari-the organizer of the luncheon, barbara-the treasurer, lance-another first timer, pavlinka-the winner of PAM's international award, stacy-mysterious woman from long island, and some other people. we had some nice conversation, mostly focusing on each person's life story. everyone gives me a shocked look when i tell them i'm doing a dual master's degree program. lunch was great -- it was a roll called aloha (i dont even remember what's in it). most of the group left early for the business meeting, but i stayed with pavlinka, lance, and stacy so we could all walk back to the convention center. before everyone dispersed, i pulled out my batch of business cards and started a whole business card exchange (woot, go me).
i spent the afternoon hanging out with pavlinka. we had a quick coffee at a stand inside the convention center; then, we went to the first timers' mingle. i picked up another business card. then we headed into the info-expo and hit up a whole bunch of booths. the passport thing in our bags required us to get stamps from each booth (20 of them) and then submit them by tues 5:15 to get entered into a drawing for something. i picked up quite a few pens and talked to a lot of people. the most compelling group was the simplymap.com guys who were trying to convince me their product was better than google earth. somewhere in the middle, we stopped to eat some shrimp and grits in a glass cup. we met some lovely librarians and i got 2 more business cards.
the opening ceremony was long. it really did last 2 hours. everyone who received an award had an impressive resume of activities with the association. the keynote speakers were also pretty entertaining. they were a husband-wife duo -- wife republican, husband democratic. how they remained married is a mystery. lol. they each spent a good chunk of their individual presentation poking fun at their marriage and each other.
after a short break back at the hotel, i headed out for the academic division's open house and dance party from 9-midnight. i got there a bit late, but i was surprised only 3 people were in the room -- all of them members of PAM. haha...small world. we decided to check out the business and finance division since they had food. the two women in the group left almost immediately after we went in. i was hungry so i picked up some fruit and a tart. i chatted with the librarian from purdue university. he was really cool. we went back to the party and more people had gathered. i found meg! we chatted for a bit and then i lost the other librarian. i found pavlinka and she was talking to a librarian from NASA's library (michael). the three of us chatted for a bit before pavlinka convinced us to go dance. the music however wasn't the best for dancing. but librarians really know how to shake it! lol.
pavlinka and i got pizza down bourbon st before we called it a night. the street was crawling with people and all the xxx rated places were trying to draw people in. it's like something i imagine would happen in vegas, not new orleans! walking back to the hotel alone is kind of creepy. there's no one around, not even cars. luckily i walk fast and keep a pretty close eye on my surroundings. the only thing is, with this pair of glasses, it's hard to use my peripherals. in any case, arjun kept me company on the phone =) (did i mention he's such a sweetie)...
and now i gotta plan for tomorrow -- another long, long day ahead...
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