Oh To Travel

Yesterday I mentioned the convention this weekend. Seriously, I could go to a conference/convention every season. There are so many things I am interested in and of course, I know there is a conference to match each one. They all have their own personalities even with the tweaks from year to year. VEMA is my top favorite but the National Geneology Conference I attended with my friend, Kathy, was amazing. It was filled with awesome speakers, tons of books and so many really friendly people. I even went to a postcard collecting session!. Awesome! And next month I will track down the speaker and look through the thousands of postcards in his shop in Florida! Having said all that, I have conferences on my mind because VEMA and AASL are in the same month this year. What a huge bummer! Now normally, this would not be so bad for me due to the distance involved in traveling to AASL. However, this year AASL, is in Charlotte, an easy drive. You can read more about it if you do a simple search for AASL conference 2009. There is a PDF file there with preliminar info all tied in to the racecar theme. If you find the file, be sure to scroll way down to the items covered under your registration fee. You can stay super busy without doing all the paid items. You will also see James Patterson is going to be there. He has a website for teachers and librarians called Read Kiddo Read, http://www.readkiddoread.com/home It looks like fun. In addition to awesome speakers and sessions, they always do special things. This year the One Book One Conference title is Born Digital. I have not read the book, but I will be searching for it on Amazon today. It is about our digital natives. I think I will find some awesome quotes to share with you on this blog. As you can guess, I am getting a bit excited about going to Charlotte. VEMA is in Roanoke this year which is also an easy drive. The hotel is beautiful, the sessions are held on the conference side which makes it very comfy. There will be fires in all the fireplaces and a cookie when you check in. The committee ( I'm on it) is hard at work getting great sessions and keynote speakers to wow you. I think I will have to apply to be a Walmart greeter though- might have to earn some extra cash for all these really cool library trips! Registration is open for AASL and before you know it, VEMA will be opening registration. Think about it, we would have an awesome conference experience and return with so many awesome ideas!!