I have only a vague recollection of what happened this day. I will do my best to reconstruct it…

Up super early to get to onsite registration and set up for the day. Took the shortcut there with pride. Started up the computers. Fixed whichever ones needed to be fixed. Got the Tweet Wall up and running (Diane, back home in Virginia, approved posts in the morning for me because our volunteers weren’t starting until later in the day and I knew I’d be swamped Thursday morning).

Then the doors opened and I was swamped. Didn’t have lunch until late, and there was still nothing I could eat. But I’d brought my own food so all was well. The hectic pace wound down in the mid-to-late afternoon. That was nice. Still a lot of questions for us at the help desk, but we had a chance to breathe, so that was fantastic. And it was nowhere near as hectic as Seattle, so we must have done something right with the new automated kiosk system. I had someone in my line whose last name was MacLeod; I mentioned Highlander and he was familiar! That was possibly the highlight of my day right there (though it reinforced in me a sadness that I was so close to Vancouver and unable to visit any of the Highlander filming locations once again. Maybe one day).

A few people had some fun with the Tweet Wall, tweeting photos of themselves by the Tweet Wall that already featured their tweets. I played along until it was time to shut down for the day.

I did a few sign & room checks for conference staff on my way out. It was nice to see that our Tweet Seat project, which we put together right before leaving, was starting to get used by people. After this, I headed back over to the hotel room to sit and relax in the quiet of my room for a few minutes. I think I probably ate some food I’d bought earlier in the week for dinner. I had some successes this week and some failures. I definitely don’t have hotel/motel room cooking skills, but I did all right in feeding myself things that didn’t make my tummy hurt.

Then it was back to the convention center for the keynote address. I try to always catch the keynote address at our conference, as it’s one of the few events I’m free for and thus able to attend. Having read some of Annie Proulx’s work was an added bonus. Her speech was good content-wise, though not too dynamic. I got to sit behind her jacket, so that was pretty neat too. Of course, I also took the opportunity to release a few books.

 

In all, a good Thursday. Super busy and filled with work, but it could have certainly been worse.