DC Day 3 part 2

(yeah I changed my blog's look - still a work in progress. I got bored this afternoon)

This afternoon I went to a small group discussion on evaluating reference services. It was...okay...could have been better could have been worse. It felt good to be able to speak from my own experience as a professional reference librarian and have people really listen to what I was saying.

Then I came back to the hotel and relaxed a bit before my dinner with my old SF coworkers. I also spoke to my friend Jacob's mom on the phone! She's a librarian too and is here for the conference. We are going to eat breakfast together on Monday, which should be fun and also very strange. Fun because we have so many common things, strange because we have never met. I'm excited, as I've heard so much about her.

This evening my old SF coworkers and I went to Merkado, a Latin place. I had grilled veggie enchiladas and some awesome chocolate cake. It was so so so good to see these people. I had a great time catching up, telling them all about my life in Chicago, about my job, about my dog. They all remembered Audrey's name, and wanted to see photos! That job was the best ever, with the most amazing people who truly cared about each other. I'm always sad that I had to leave it due to no jobs there. I also promised them I'd be back to visit in September. Best part is that the St Jerome's Day Celebration that is infamous at my old library is the same weekend as Folsom St Fair so now I absolutely have to go!

They all said I looked so much happier and healthy now, which made me feel good. I've definitely 'grown' since leaving San Francisco and am happier. Nice to see people notice the changes and improvements I've made over the past year. Perhaps the best part of the night was when one of them told me that it was a mass oversight of the Dean to appoint this other guy to this one job and not interview other amazing candidates such as myself. Woot! I've said it before, but I really wish I could just move my social life from Chicago to SF and have the best of both worlds a la Jay-Z and R Kelly duets. I did tell them to call me if anything ever opens up there, as I know some people may be retiring in five years or so.

Tomorrow I have to attend the program where my presentation is announced, then I plan on going to the irritating exhibit hall. It'll be weird to be there as a professional, having to hand out my business card and talk about book purchases, etc. It means I'll get lots of irritating sales calls in the future.

Then in the late afternoon I'm going to have cousin reunion happy fun time with my three cousins! I haven't seen some of them in a long time so this will be awesome. It also means I get to see other parts of the DC area than just downtown.

Side note: Ooooh I just saw a Big Brother 8 commercial, show starts July 5th! I know its so dorky to love this show but my SF coworkers got me obsessed with it, and I cannot wait for the new season to begin.

Finally, it's been really nice to have a hotel room to myself. I'm getting lots of hokey 'me' time where I don't have to talk or move or do anything other than exactly what I want to do at pretty much all times. I'm not homesick for Chicago yet, but I'm sure in a few days I'll be ready to see Nate and Audrey again. For now though, it's been nice to get away.