mojosmom | Entries tagged with bookcrossers

Yesterday, I went to a BookCrossing Meet-up. I hadn't been to one in a long time, as the closest is in Evanston, a suburb just north of Chicago, and it's not an easy trek from where I work. However, a BookCrosser from India had posted in the forums that she was visiting Chicago and, among other things, wanted to go to a Meet-up. I told her about this one, and she said she was going, at which point I rather felt that if she could come all the way from Delhi (via Clarendon Hills), I could come from Wheaton! I'm glad I did, because it was fun, I picked up a couple of books, and I found Prathi to be a very interesting young woman. She's in her second year of law school, and wants eventually to come to the States for an LL.M. in Human Rights Law.

This evening, there was a book event at my local library. Rebecca Janowitz was discussing her book, Culture of opportunity : Obama's Chicago : the people, politics, and ideas of Hyde Park. It was an excellent talk. She's obviously very knowledgeable on the subject, and is an articulate and amusing speaker. Of course, she was speaking to an audience that was also familiar with the subject. She began by saying that when she spoke to Hyde Park audiences, she talked more about the process of writing the book than the content, because she knew they'd all be thinking, "well, we've read that, you don't have to tell us again." Naturally, I bought the book.

I arrived in Amsterdam on Thursday, April 15, just a few hours before Schiphol Airport was closed. Sadly, the volcanic ash and concomitant shutdowns meant that a lot of BCers who had planned to come to the convention were not able to make it. But those of us who did get there had a lot of fun.

The festivities started on Friday evening, with a "meet and greet". A "Bookcrossing Bingo" questionnaire had been prepared, and everyone had to go around the room finding people who had been to more than two Anniversary Conventions, kept rodents as pets, rode motorcycles, etc. Unfortunately, anyone present with more than a few gray hairs found themselves continually accosted by folks saying, "May I ask you a rude question? Do you have any grandchildren?" I made myself a tag that said, "No, I don't have any grandchildren" and pinned it on my shirt.

Of course, many people were just doing what you'd expect from Bookcrossers:

Saturday saw the bulk of the program. I missed the morning session on e-readers, as I was sitting at the registration table. After quite a nice lunch (an incredible variety of sandwiches, including chocolate sprinkle sandwiches - don't believe me? See here!), we had an amazing afternoon. It began with story-telling, poetry and music, all rolled up together. Phoenix-Flight tells more about it on the BC forums here, and you can see it on YouTube here. I think it was one of the best programs I've seen at a BC Convention! We then heard info about what the new site, currently being tested, will look/act like - I think it will be fantastic!

We then heard from the Dutch writer of young adult fiction, Rob Ruggenberg, who talked about his latest book, Manhatan. (That's not a mis-, but an older, spelling.) Unfortunately, the book isn't translated into English.

Following a dinner break, we had a very special guest!

Sinterklaas and friends gave out special awards to some people, and then drew the first several lottery prizes.

The bid for the 2012 convention was, not surprisingly, won by Dublin. (Not surprising because they had no competition!). It was a real pity, though, that the Irish bookcrossers were unable to present the bid themselves, but they were casualties of the volcanic ash cloud. Then

crrcookie and Melydia talked about next year's Convention in D.C., with great success. Many people commented that they hadn't thought about making the trip over the water, but were now considering it. After that, everyone went "shopping" at the book buffet. I mostly picked up books for the next day's release walk. I wonder if anyone took this one?

The release walk on Sunday was great fun. Some people started at the Convention site, but many of us who were staying in the city met them at a hotel near the Central Station. We split up into two groups, and began to shower Amsterdam with books, while at the same time seeing and learning about the city. My favorite of my releases almost didn't happen, as I was quite tempted to keep this book for myself. But even paperback art books are heavy, and so I spared my luggage and sent it into the wild:

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The finder was disappointed, but plans to re-release it. The release walk ended with a flash mob at Westermarkt, which you can also see on YouTube!

I had a really good time. I was at the same hotel as

skyring and his lovely wife, Kerri, as well as

thecrrcookie and Melydia, so we accompanied one another back and forth to the venue. Of course, it was great to meet BCers whom I'd known by name only, and others whom I hadn't even known by name. I hope I'll see some of them again next year in D.C., or the year after that in Dublin!

skyring and his lovely wife, Kerri, as well as

I was watching RAI-International, which is broadcast here for several hours on Sunday mornings. When I turned it on, they were showing a soccer match. Italian soccer players are adorable! That was followed by a segment about a production of Zelmira at Pesaro's Rossini Opera Festival, starring Juan Diego Flórez, one of the hottest tenors around.

I feel as though the new year actually starts tomorrow, as I head back to work for the first time in 2010, and also start up my Italian lessons again. I spent the past week doing my regular coaching at the Appellate Defender's trial advocacy program, and enjoying it as much as always.

As always during the first week in January, we got hit with a snow storm. I'm glad I was taking public transportation instead of driving! In fact, I hadn't taken the car out in nearly a week, as I didn't need it, so Friday afternoon when I got home, I bundled up and went out and cleaned several inches of snow off it. It really wasn't so bad, as it was the light, fluffy snow, and I had no trouble at all getting out of my parking space.

It also wasn't as cold as they were claiming it would be yesterday (being so close to the lake mitigates the temperatures), so I did the grocery store/post office/drugstore run. Then I came home and was productive. I took the Christmas stuff down to my basement storage locker, and actually made significant headway on cleaning out a closet. I had a couple of boxes full of paperwork that I hadn't even looked at in years, so I tossed a bunch of it, and the boxes, which had become unnecessary.

Then I made soup for dinner. I used chicken stock as a base, and added chopped leeks, mustard greens and carrots that I had sautéed in a combination of butter and olive oil until fairly soft. I puréed about a third of the vegetables and added that back (this makes the soup thicker). At the end of the cooking time, I also added some milk. I used salt, pepper and thyme for seasoning. It was very good, and hit the spot on a cold day.

I had tentative plans for today to meet a Bookcrosser who was stranded here due to weather in Europe. Her Thursday flight to London from JFK was cancelled, so they booked her out of O'Hare Friday, but that was cancelled, too, and she wasn't going to be able to get out until Monday! When she posted that in the forums, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her. Having to sit in an airport hotel in a town where you don't know anyone for an entire weekend, while not as bad as being stuck at the airport itself, would really suck. So I took pity on her and volunteered my company. However, she was able to find a flight yesterday with one empty seat, grabbed it, and is now home.

The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity is going to New York! It will be at Second Stage Theatre from April 27-June 20. It may go to Broadway if all goes well. My friend, Eddie Torres, will once again be directing. Casting hasn't been announced, but if they're smart they'll use the Chicago cast. I'll be in New York in early June for my college reunion, so I will definitely go see it again then.

I left Tuesday morning for Galena, and got to my B&B around 3:30, having made a few stops on the way. As I was approaching Freeport, I noticed signs for the Lincoln-Douglas debate site,

Lincoln-Douglas debate site - Freeport. IL

so decided to stop and check it out. As it was around noon, I figured I'd get some lunch, too. The site is in a small park next to the library, which has a café where I ended up having a bite. On the way back to the highway, there's a wetlands where I also stopped, and saw a gorgeous blue heron take off. A few miles outside of Freeport, I passed a sign for the Jane Addams Trail. "What's that?", I said, and turned around to check it out, ending up walking for about twenty minutes on a nice trail through a woodsy area.

The place where I stayed is an old Victorian mansion, built by a guy named Estey who was a pal of Ulysses S. Grant (who lived in Galena). The place is beautifully maintained, and the furnishings and décor are all period. Here's the very ornate, yet extremely comfortable, bed in my room:

Being the end of the season, and midweek, a lot of places weren't open, so I expect I'll have to go back some weekend in the spring, but there was still a lot to do. The Galena History Museum must have seen me coming, because they had an exhibit of shoes! I toured Grant's home; I think he had one of the best views in town:

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Galena has a lot of touristy shops, some tacky, some very nice indeed. Unfortunately, this one was closed:

I did a fair bit of antiquing, ate in some nice restaurants and admired a lot of Victorian architecture.

I did find a couple of books in a lovely antiquarian bookshop, including one called Shakspere and Typography, in which the author attempts to prove that Shakespeare spent time working for a printer. I am always amused at people who try to show that, because he used certain terms or displayed knowledge of a field, Shakespeare must have been thus-and-so. If he'd been everything people claim he must have been, he'd have had no time to write plays!

I drove home on Thursday, deleted a bunch of emails, and uploaded my photos. That night, there was a benefit reception at the home of Teatro Vista's board president - yummy food and a raffle in which I won a $50 American Express gift card! - and then we all went to the show, The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, by Kristoffer Diaz. It's just as good as the reviews say, and they are raves. It's getting all kinds of hot press, and there's talk of New York! You can see some video clips on the Victory Gardens website.

Tribune
Sun-Times
New City

Friday morning, I was up early and drove down to Springfield for a work-related conference. It was one of the best they've had. The speakers were uniformly not boring (which is rare - there's usually at least one who puts you to sleep) and the information was very useful. The meeting wrapped up around noon on Saturday, but I spent a couple of hours checking out some historic sites, including the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices