Subject: Electronic Postcard #3

Hello all,

This will probably be my last post from ALA -- unless the computer
that the hotel reservations manager previously said existed for guest
use actually becomes known to anyone at the front desk, this is probably
my last chance to reach the network before returning home.

Darn, and just when I have the equipment almost figured out.  (BTW, 
if anyone didn't receive postcard #2, let me know.)

It has been quite an experience.  The programs were informative, and
I also managed to attend some of the meetings I wanted to.  I saw
some interesting things in the exhibits.  I got to meet a few people
that I've wanted to meet, and got to put some faces to names I knew
only through e-mail and voices known only through phone calls.  And
as always, I come out of this conference feeling professionally
affirmed -- feeling that what we do is important and that we are
taking charge of our own futures.

I also discovered that there was at least one vendor giving out pogs
to promote their product (those readers out there who don't know what
pogs are, e-mail me and I'll try to explain).  I saw Cliff Stoll,
author of _Silicon Snake Oil_, signing autographs and later wandering
through the exhibits -- I bet he got an ear full.  I got to visit the
fabulous new Harold Washington Public Library.  I got to spend an
evening at a Chicago blues club listening to a killer performance by
master bluesman Albert "Little Smokey" Smothers.  I got a chance to
enter the Illinois lottery, and lost a whole dollar in the process.
I got to see old friends at the multi-school cooperative reunion
(and how's this for school spirit -- the U of H SLIS group was one of
the last to leave).  I got to see Meigs Field, a small downtown
single-runway airfield famous as 1) the default airfield in the
Microsoft Flight Simulator computer game, and as 2) the scene of the
plane crash in last Thursday's rerun of ER, in which you could see
the convention center in the background.  And of course, I
got to see Chicago for the first time in 25 years.

I've had a lot of fun here.  I've really enjoyed watching the TV news
and listening to the local public radio station.  It's interesting to
see the difference in the content and presentation -- the traffic and
weather reports are far more extensive here than in Hawaii.  They
actually give the travel times between different points on the major
thoroughfares, which sounds like something really useful.  It's also
been interesting seeing how they handle the local news breaks in
nationally carried programs, as compared to how they do it at home.
Of course, just seeing how things are done in general around here has
been fascinating.

Those of you in Hawaii, I'll see you when I get back.

Ralph Toyama                                       /      73 and Aloha
Automation Librarian                              /__         from
University of Hawaii - Leeward Community College    /  Radio NH6PY/9 Mobile
rtoyama@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu                     / McCormick Place, Chicago