Greetings from Chicago

Congratulations to Jonathan Sanchez of the San Francisco Giants for just throwing a no-hitter!
Greetings from the Windy City, where it rained a good part of the day. I understand that it's lovely in Boston which goes to show that apparently I or anyone who flew into Chicago from Boston today has taken the bad weather with us. I flew in this morning on a very early morning flight in order to make the most out of the day. There were a few librarians I recognized on my flight (including a fellow Minuteman librarian), and a friend of mine originally on my flight got bumped to a later flight. Ah, the joys of flying. My shuttle from the airport was full of librarians, which was exciting. One of the librarians is an adult services librarian from North Carolina. Her library has summer reading programs for adults, teens, and children, and their kickoff party was attended by 4500 people! They also have several computers throughout the building, including fifteen that are exclusively for young adults. (10 desktops and 5 laptops). Another librarian on the shuttle bus works at the Department of Defense, which was interesting contrast to all of the public librarians riding. I enjoyed talking with her and hearing about her job, as well as the different professional associations of which she's a member.
Like any good former YA and children's librarian, I visited the Harry Potter exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry. I really enjoyed it, although the souvenirs were a little pricey for my liking. I also saw a little of Millennium Park and drove by Soldier Field (home of the Chicago Bears).
I spent the day with my conference roommate, a friend of mine who is a PhD Student in Illinois, and a former co-worker of mine from a different library. We also hung out a bit with one of my baseball fan librarian friends, who used to work for Morningstar but now runs her own Research Business and works as a reference librarian at a public library. I enjoyed listening to some of the work her clients ask of her, as well as exchanging stories and annecdotes from the public library. Her library also runs an adult summer reading program and this year's theme is books made into movies.
I'm getting tired. The early flight and the one hour time difference is finally getting to me. Tomorrow the fun begins.