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