I don't like lines

Status: 39% zombie, 61% perk

Lines. Lines for everything now that all of the conference attendees have arrived and things are in full swing. I'm trying real hard not to wait in too many lines, but sometimes it can't be avoided.

I didn't wait in the line in the picture (not no, but HELL no!) - but still ended up with what those people waited for. A signed copy of the book by keynote speaker John Wood, founder of Room to Read, an organization that builds schools and libraries for children in developing countries, as well as provide scholarships for girls to go to school. John quit a lucrative career at Microsoft to begin the organization after visiting a school in Nepal that had a library of 20 books (and those were locked in a cabinet so the children wouldn't damage them). He returned the next year with 3,000 books for the children, and realized that this was something that NEEDED TO BE DONE for children all over. His talk was enjoyable and very inspiring - it's good to know there are people out there doing things that really make a difference in the lives of children all over the world.

After the keynote address, the grand opening of the exhibit hall took place - again, I refused to wait in line for anything. There was plenty of food, so after a little bit of time I could walk right up to the table and grab a bite. I scurried around and picked up all sorts of great stuff, including 17 advanced reader's copies of upcoming bookis. SEVENTEEN!!!

Which leads me to a line that I did stand in this morning, in order to ship the books to the library. There is a small Fed-Ex shop on-site, and it was well worth the wait to unload almost 11 pounds of books. I'm sure I'll have more to send along later as well, as I plan to visit the exhibits a lot more before the end of this extravaganza on Saturday. The only trouble was the poor fellow working by himself at the Fed-Ex shop. I think maybe a coworker didn't show up. We offered to call somebody to complain on his behalf, because he was really working very hard and it was terribly unfair to him to be there alone. He declined our offer, however, and said it would just make things worse. Oh well.

I attended an excellent session on utilizing teen volunteers year-round at the library, and got a few ideas on how I might be able to develop our program into a more structured system. Not going to go into detail here, but suffice it to say much could be done! This afternoon I'll be attending a workshop on teen brain development, and one on working with teens virtually through different online avenues. Should be lots of fun!

And I'll keep avoiding the lines as much as possible!