Thus far...

So when we got here, Arianna went to the first speaker session with David Isay, founder of StoryCorps. I'm sure she'll post something about this later, so I will leave it for her. Jamie and I went and got a couple of ARCs signed, a couple debut authors and one by Judith Viorst and Lane Smith. Very exciting. So far I've loaded up for the first time with books, and I'm quite excited to get some more later today. Oh, I would also just like to make a random note that I was standing next to Maggie Stiefvater earlier and she seems adorable, very unassuming and funny. Right now we're at the second speaker session, they're giving out awards and Will Shortz is the keynote. It's wonderful and a bit sad to see these awards given out: it's outstanding that these individuals are being recognized for their work but it continues to bring to mind that libraries and librarians are facing difficult times and must overcome so much. Anyways, we are patiently waiting for Will and trying to recoup from heavy bags and tired feet. Later on more ARCs, book signings, the President's Program, and book cart drill teams!

Oh, just so you all know we are planning on creating a spreadsheet of all the ARCs that we've gotten sometime in the next couple of days.

Decisions...Decisions...

So we're trying to figure out what is going on when. It seems like everything is overlapping or running at the same time. We were able to get to the last hour of the open of the exhibits, and we're very excited to get back tomorrow but thoroughly exhausted as well. It's generally coming down to divide and conquer so we can all go see the speakers we want to, have authors sign books, and grab up a couple more advance reader copy books. Here are our thoughts so far:

• Arianna is trying to figure out if she's going the the first Auditorium Speaker Session with Nancy Pearl and Mary McDonagh Murphy; it's running at 8am a full hour before the exhibits open.
• Avi and Malinda Lo are signing books first thing at 9am
• The second session speaker is at 10:30 - Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor
• Laurie Halse Anderson is signing books at 11am
• Kadir Nelson and Jerry Pinkney are signing at 12pm
• Mo Willems and Doreen Cronin are signing at 1pm
• The third session is starting at 1:30pm, it's Salman Rushdie
• Melissa Marr, Gail Gibbons, and Karen Cushman are signing at 2pm
• Jon Sciezka is signing at 3pm
• Cornelia Funke is signing at 3:30pm
• Christopher Paul Curtis is signing at 4pm, which is unfortunate as an awesome discussion on science fiction and fantasy is happening at the same time
• 5:30pm is the Opening General Session with Toni Morrison

And that's it for Saturday! Let's see if we can do it all, it seems like an epic list but we're up for the challenge. Check back throughout Saturday, as we're all going to be blogging throughout the day about sessions we go to and authors we meet. Hope you're all in air-conditioned bliss.

Happy ALA Eve!

So I'm all packed and geared up for our travels tomorrow. Arianna and I will be joined by Jamie tomorrow for our 7am departure for D.C. We've got our audio-book selected, iPod playlists created, and snacks at the ready. I should also mention that this trip has a theme song (like all good trips should), check it out as it is AWESOME! How can you not be ready for hours on end talking about books, librarianship, and servicing the community with that song in your head? I dare you to try it.

Though I have managed to delay Arianna's need to pre-plan our entire trip before we've even gotten into the car, we do have a couple of things picked out that we're definitely going to:

• The exhibit opening
• Book cart drill team
• Author David Small
• The graphic novel tent

There's more, but I can't slog my way through all the papers that Arianna has to choose. Of course we are also going to be hitting up the exhibit hall pretty frequently, nothing like a good advance reader copy of a book to sit poolside with. Of course what I really covet is a copy of Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins or Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld, but I highly doubt that I'll be able to get my hands on them. It would be life-altering if I could though.

Anyways, we're prepping our long journey with non-dairy pizza and Twlight. We're going to try and get an early start tomorrow (after getting coffee) and then we'll be off like a herd of turtles! Arianna and I will be co-piloting and Jamie giving her support by napping and reading. Awesome.

Safe travels everyone! I hope you all have a most excellent time, please check back for updates on what we've done and seen.