Ichiban.....of D00M!!

So, here I am enjoying the wireless internet provided at the Holiday Inn Express on my new laptop, "Compusam", in Albany, NY where I have been asked to talk up what I do to New York librarians during the Equal Access Institute at the main branch of the Albany Public Library.

Jay and I made it without getting lost once! This was after a few minor arguments of:

J: "Shouldn't we turn here?"
S: "No."
J: "But...?"
S: "No."
J: *begins moving vehicle to the right lane*
S: "No."
J: *sigh*
>>five minutes later<<
J: "oh."

We arrive, we check-in, we decide let's not wait, let's go get lost sooner rather than later on a trip to find the library.

So, I pull up Mapquest on CompuSam and sure enough it looks like it should be pretty simple.

Looks can be deceiving. Finally Jay pulls into a slightly ramshackle Price Chopper and asks directions. This is after a 30 minute drive that was supposed to take less than 10. And the directions he gets say that it shouldn't take more than 5 minutes from where we are. So, 20 minutes later we locate the public library and park across the street. Jay watches a "local" cross the busy 4-lane street while dodging cars, and decides he can do that. I, stupidly, follow. Short story: Jay got yelled at by several drivers and I pointed and laughed behind him and on the other side made him promise not to do that again.

I really love my library. I love having a library that doesn't require security guards constantly walking throughout it. I love that our library is relaxed and you feel like you can talk and relax and are welcomed. I love my youth department that is huge and comparitively well-signed, amazingly more full of books, and waaaaaay more full of kids doing all sorts of things. I found it amazing that they could have so many internet-enabled computers but no kids on them.

However, in all fairness, this is a different library in a different community that has clearly developed different policies for its patrons. They aren't bad or wrong, just different, and given the choice, I LOVE MINE!

Well, we did find the library and that was good. And it was the library I needed to find -not one of the many branches.

Then we decided to leave as it turned out that the balloons weren't going to be released upon my arrival. (Kidding!) And Jay starts heading in the direction he thinks we should be going. I finally get him to stop - actually he drove around the block and it turns out that there is a huge parking lot behind the library that we can park at so Jay isn't tempted to play Frogger again. And I whip out CompuSam, borrow a handy wireless connection from one of several unsecured connections located at the buildings around us, do a quick Mapquest, and navigate our way to the hotel.

At this point Jay was so beat down that he just did exactly what I told him. So we arrived back at the hotel with no surprise mis-turns.

It was just before 5 so we decided to go get dinner now so Jay wouldn't have to drive back in the dark as might happen if we went out later. So, we do this particular stip up once and down the other way and come across Ichiban - a Chinese/Japanese restaurant. And we thought, 'what the hell' - sushi!

No. No...no!!! It's not supposed to be like that. Eeeeeewwww, crunchy salmon sushi is WRONG! Long story, short: it sucked. Worst sushi I've had in a long time. Dry, flaky, and strangely crunchy when it's supposed to be chewy. So, we complained, we left, Jay drove straight to McDonald's where he got dinner and I got a chocolate chip cookie to get the taste of CRUNCHY SALMON SASHIMI out of my mouth.

Now we sit here. Jay channel surfs, something he can't do at home. I blog because when I finish this I have nothing else to distract me from focusing on my presentation for tomorrow (and I need to work on that). Ali is at home probably having a wonderful time.

I guess I'm all out of procrastinate...wish me luck!