Subject: Electronic Postcard #2 Hello again, folks! I'm back at the Internet Room e-mail annex at the ALA conference in Chicago. This area is outside the secured exhibition space and is kept open 24 hrs. Good thing, since it is almost impossible to get into this place without standing in a long line. As I expected, the Internet is big business these days. Not only are there numerous vendors of Internet services, tools, and connectivity hardware this year, but the Internet Room (despite being bigger than I ever remember it, as well as being split into separate e-mail, netsurf, and demo operations) is constantly busy during the hours the exhibits are open. It's been on the hot side here the past couple of days -- in the 90s in inland areas, but fortunately ten degrees cooler by the lake shore where I've mostly been. Humid, but not oppressively so. Today is cooler, somewhat overcast, with rain predicted for the next few days. Watching life in this city is fascinating. Pedestrians cross streets with an alarming lack of regard for traffic lights. Drivers are a little more compliant, but not much so. Taxi and bus drivers seem to drive as if under some special dispensation from traffic laws. Perhaps the scarcity of traffic lights in favor of four way stops on many of the side streets is a factor. During peak traffic, there are traffic cops in many large intersections, saying in effect, "I don't care what the light says, do what I'm telling you because it makes better sense." I'd thought perhaps they were rather casual on traffic enforcement in this town, until the guide on the city tour I took pointed out the huge traffic court building, where you get your fine cut in half if you plead guilty. Everything about this conference is large. The attendance may very well set a record -- between regularly registered conferees (itself numbering around 13,000), people holding exhibit-only passes, and exhibitors, there are about 20,000 people here. There are about 800 vendor exhibits. The convention center itself is huge, and currently undergoing expansion, so that Chicago can retain bragging rights for having the world's largest convention center. Our meetings and programs are spread over the two existing buildings, making for long walks between the two. There are also numerous meetings and programs in several hotels, making for even longer trips between the various events, of which there may be hundreds going on simultaneously. The convention center is located in the downtown area, although within a bubble of space filled with museums, parks, and railroad tracks, making access by foot impractical. Nearby Grant Park is the site of the Taste of Chicago festival now in progress, which also adds to the traffic woes. The shuttle busses have to drive a mile south past the complex before they can turn around and enter the tunnel where they can drop off and pick up passengers -- adding slightly but significantly to the time conferees spend in just getting places. The shuttle service itself is not as good as in years past -- too few busses, run inconsistently, and occasionally driven by drivers who are unfamiliar with the streets because they were brought in from other areas. It seems as if they've been working hard lately to try to address these problems, but travel by shuttle is still occasionally unpredictable and unnecessarily time consuming. Signage and layout in the convention center could be better. The food concession stands have always been either extremely busy or closed every time I've visited them, and my eating habits have been disrupted more on this trip than during any other conference I've ever attended. I do occasionally manage to eat here -- McCormick Place, home of the $4.96 turkey sandwich. One more day here at the conference for me tomorrow, followed by a day of sightseeing, shopping and visiting the places where my family used to live. I'm going to try to get up early tomorrow, although it's been hard to do so the past couple of days. I've been trying to get in sync with the time zone, but for the first time, I've been attending several of the social functions, and have not been getting back to the hotel till after midnight -- and when I do that, there is a part of me that still knows it's really only 7 pm in Hawaii. Even with all that, I'm still having a good time. Ralph Toyama / 73 and Aloha Automation Librarian /__ from University of Hawaii - Leeward Community College / Radio NH6PY/9 Mobile rtoyama@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu / Chicago IL, USA