Conference Prep & Tips

Not parent conferences, but TLA (Texas Library Association) Conference. It’s next week in Dallas and I already downloaded the conference app. I usually do it on the way there.

Our library services department is organized and provides a checklist of everything we need to do before, during, and after the event. This includes the appropriate forms and permissions from admin., budget codes, hotel accommodations, information regarding after hours vendor events, signing up for professional development credit, and copies of forms and suggested items to take (always take an umbrella).

In our TLA emails, there’s a thread regarding ways to prep and make the most of the conference. There are great tips. Pack sandwiches and keep them in the hotel fridge. Pack them for lunch so you don’t have to skip noon sessions. Stuff your bag with portable snacks. Take a large water bottle. Wear good walking shoes. Take a rolling crate or extra suitcase to pack books and swag (many books are gifted by publishers, plus steep discounts the last few hours in the exhibit hall). Dress in layers. Carpool. Take an Uber for a night on the town. Use a slide deck to take notes then share with colleagues.

The ideas keep flowing. I get ready to draft my response, scrolling through to make sure I’m not repeating something. It isn’t there and I begin to draft “Be sure you check the hotel amenities. Pack a swimsuit for the pool and/or hot tub…”

I stop dead in my tracks. Wait…the last few years, my TLA roommate and I have bowed out early from some events and made our way to the hot tub or heated pool. We’re usually accompanied by no one. We’ve encountered the occasional solo lap swimmer or person leaving the hot tub when we get there, but it has usually been quiet. It’s such a great way to relax after a packed schedule and being on our feet standing in long author signing lines, trekking across the exhibit hall, and making it to our sessions.

Grinning, I delete my draft. This one, I’m keeping to myself. We’re not quite ready for a bookish pool party.

Un-brewed Coffee

It started with coffee. It wasn’t ready. And it wasn’t just coffee, it was three travel packs of coffee for a meeting. 7:15 a.m. pick up time. “Do you have your invoice?”

“No, I never received one, but I’ll pay for it now. I have my tax-exempt form.”

“Well, we don’t have your order. We could have it ready in fifteen to twenty minutes.”

“Sure, I’ll wait.”

Even waiting twenty minutes, I’ll make it by 8:00.

I didn’t, but I got there with three travel packs of coffee. The rest of the day unfolded as one of those Mondays.

The icing on my slice of cake with un-brewed coffee was finding a surprise gift from a friend waiting at my seat. A great tote bag stuffed with mini-notebooks, a cheerful pencil pouch, and fun pencils reminded me to regret nothing, even if it means being late.

Too Late TV Shows

Is it still “normal” to say TV series? With streaming services and the ability to binge watch anything at any time, TV has changed. The anticipation of the next show a week later and those end-of-season cliffhangers, watching TV was fun. Now you can get everything all at once.

Even before streaming became popular, I had some favorites and didn’t start watching some shows until they ended. I caught re-runs on other networks and figured out why they were so popular.

I started watching Cheers during late night treadmill workouts during college. It never appealed to me when it aired. Seemed too grown up. It took place at a bar; I never went to bars. On the treadmill though, it made the time pass faster and it was funny.

Other shows I’ve watched past their prime: Seinfeld, Mad About You, Frasier, 3rd Rock From the Sun, The Office, Stranger Things, and most recently, Gilmore Girls-I actually watched all seven seasons.

I picked up Young Sheldon last summer, and I’m somewhere near the front end of season two. My sister suggested Parenthood and This Is Us. I started Parenthood years ago, lost interest and then it disappeared from wherever I streamed it. I started watching This Is Us this past fall and the writing is incredible. I’m a hot blubbery mess after almost every episode and I’m not an easy crier. Where was I when this show started?

Grad school. I was knee deep in grad school. My TV watching days were numbered once I started teaching, (adios, Friends) became a mom, (Gilmore Girls and adios McDreamy) and got into grad school. Other shows I missed that most people watched: Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The Big Bang Theory, Downton Abbey, Orange Is the New Black, and Parks and Recreation among others.

Earlier this week while we had some down time, I started watching Yellowstone. Now I’m hooked. I’m not sure how long it will take for me to finish it, but it was saved to my watch list a while back. I’m almost finished with season 6 of the Crown. I roped my mom in on this series so I’m waiting to binge watch again on her next visit. I’ll continue with This Is Us. As far as Yellowstone goes, my husband is also enjoying it. We’ll need to pick up another episode this weekend before we forget where we left off.

Late Night Slicing

I’ve discovered I don’t like drafting posts on my phone. Convenient, yes. It seems rushed, for me at least.

There was a time when I didn’t like drafting on my computer for the same reason. Pen on paper first, then transcribe it online.

Will there soon be a way to think a draft into existence without using a phone? Don’t answer that! And don’t let me go down the this -is-not-a-phone rabbit hole (because it’s so much more than a phone).

Okay, device. It’s a device. I don’t like using it for longer pieces of writing, but if that’s the case, then what’s there to say about my social media posts?

Travel Type

I like getting enough sleep. An itinerary is good, but if you lesson plan for a living, sometimes it’s nice to go off the plan.

Play it by ear. Make a (short) list of places or things to must-see or must-do and let the rest fall into place.

I’m not the go, go, go type. Doing as much as possible for a day or two is great, but I like to leave room for a low-key day.

Our plans changed yesterday, so we swapped our Zion trip with our chill out day. The plan was to go Monday, better weather. We spent most of the day there today and went from rain, to balmy, to sunny, to cold, to snow, to mostly cloudy and bearable.

Jackets on. Jackets off. Have the sunglasses on you because you may need them in two minutes. We considered canceling because we didn’t have the right gear, but we did have enough.

Experiencing the views was worth it.

¿Cómo se dice #firefly?

Algunas veces, no se me ocurre que no sé una palabra en #español. Puedo estar platicando con alguien y tengo que parar y pensar en lo que quiero decir.

Una vez, estaba leyendo un libro a una clase de segundo grado. Era un libro de no ficción sobre animales #bioluminiscentes. Discutimos diferentes tipos de animals y empecé con la pagína con…–vuelan cuando empieza a oscurecer…estos..puedes ver las lucecitas volando. Son #fireflies en inglés–les expliqué

–¡Sí maestra, son fireflies!–

–Pero ¿comó se dice en español?–

Otra maestra, confundida como yo, empezó a buscar la palabra.

–Ahh, luciérnaga!

Todos empezaron decir la palabra.

–Luciérnaga, luciérnaga, luciérnaga!–

Continuamos con el libro. Siempre tengo momentos cuando no sé lo que no sé.

How Do You Say #firefly?

Sometimes it doesn’t occur to me that I don’t know a word in #Spanish. I can be speaking with someone until I have to stop and think about what I want to say.

Once, I was reading aloud to a second grade class. It was a nonfiction book about bioluminescent animals. We discussed different types of animals and I started with a page about “…they fly when it starts to get dark…they…you can see little lights flying. They’re #fireflies in English,” I explained.

“Yes, teacher, they’re fireflies!”

Another teacher, just as confused as me, began looking up the word.

“Ahh, luciérnaga!”

Everyone started chanting the word.

“Luciérnaga, luciérnaga, luciérnaga!”

We continued with the book. I always have moments where I don’t know what I don’t know.

Going #Gray(scale)

I struggle with staying off my phone. #everything lives there. I’m not the #techie type, but it has gradually choked out all resistance I once had to keeping up with the times (and #Joneses). Every Sunday, my screen time notification lets me know how much of my life bled into #cyberspace.

This week will be different. It won’t be the ghastly #imnotsaying hours it is every week. Nopity, nope. It will be less. I’m cutting it in half. People say researchers say setting your phone to #grayscale will significantly reduce the amount of time you spend on your phone.

#bluelight #screenaddiction #doomscrolling all of the things will improve. So they say. I had to look up directions, because, you know, the #reel I watched went too fast and there I am, taking another #screenshot to add just one more photo to my 10,000+ collection I carry around every day. How much would that weigh in actual #photos?

Is it the #placeboeffect? I have reduced my time, although not by half. It’s about a third. What I have noticed is I #cantfindanything. My apps are organized just so…by #color. I have slowed my scroll because I have to read my screen. (Funny how I’m always telling the kids “Slow your scroll and #readyourscreen!”)

My bank account is a little happier, but Amazon is not. I’m not clicking on useless items to bulk up my #shoppingcart. I’ve taken less screenshots because I’m not scrolling as much. My messages may be a bit off since I’m struggling to find the right #emoji 😃

I do turn it on for a few minutes, especially if I’m getting (more) photos from family members, but overall, I switch it back. It’s #cumbersome to toggle back and forth and I’m not creating a shortcut. Also, it isn’t hurting my eyes. Well, my eyes don’t necessarily hurt, but it isn’t as jarring.

How long will I maintain this? Who knows. I’m curious to see how much of a difference it makes. I can go on with my life #inlivingcolor.

Elements of #hashtag Style

This week, I’m writing in #hashtags. A #postitnote I scrawled on last week led to yesterday’s tip of the day which made me think about how we use them.

Are there #grammarrules? What would #strunkandwhite say about them? Is there a space between a hashtag phrase #likethisone or is it only attached to the #word it connects? If you need #punctuation, (like this comma next door) do you attach it or skip it? So, the boldfaced sentence I just wrote would look like this if I skip it:

If you need #punctuation (like this comma next door) do you attach it or skip it?

But now it #doesntmakesense above because I took out the comma.

Oh, hmmm, what do you do with #contractions? Do you use them or skip them as in the previous #singlesentenceparagraph or #singlesentenceparagraph?

#doesntmakesense

#doesn’tmakesense

#doesnt #make #sense

#doesn’t #make #sense

Perhaps this is a great time to understand and observe how #grammarrules are made and why they exist. Are we now the future #old #cranky people who invented these #dumbrules? Don’t even get me started on #citations…

#Twofer Tuesday

Way back in my #college days, there was a sub shop, or was it a pizza place? Taco joint? Anyhow, this place advertised #twofer Tuesday and you’d get two for the price of one. I figured since it’s #SOL Tuesday and March SOL #challenge, I’d write two posts. As if this challenge isn’t enough.

Here’s to post #1, my introduction to making myself squirm in my writing seat a little (#alot) more than usual.

More bang for your buck, here’s the #twofer.

#hashtag #writerly #vibes

#funny how #writing happens. #solchallenge has ideas swirling in the universe. they were bound to #collide with mine. i moved a #postitnote to one side of my desk this afternoon. last week, i #jotted a #sol draft using #hashtags! in full form, i left it at work and #cantremember anything that was on it.

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