There's No Place Like Home

I don't know if others feel this way, but the longer I'm away the happier I am to come home. My trip was successful and interesting...and did I mention long? Two and a half weeks! ALA was fine - no magic bullets to fix our woes, turns out we already are implementing many of the same ideas that other places are. I was glad to find out that certain challenges are universal and are not the result of our actions or inactions. The most amazing thing that occurred at ALA was that I found myself seated at a FOLUSA-ticketed event next to a vendor who was the first cousin of the father of the boy I took to my senior prom in NJ. When I told my mother she reminded me that's why I should always be on my best behavior because you never know who knows your mother!

Las Vegas was awesome. Our suite (remember, Mirage Penthouse) was incredible. We had a doorbell, Do Not Disturb was a lighted sign, the drapes were on automatic switches, there were jets in the tub, and turn down service included orchids. The Cirque du Soleil show, Kà, at MGM was amazing. That show was not my favorite but there were some incredible moments. Cirque excels at taking ordinary activities and making them extraordinary and there was a hand shadow section that I could have watched for hours. We at dinner at New York New York in the Nine Fine Irishmen. I have never encountered an enclosed space that was so loud. The live band must have had nuclear powered instruments. The food and drink was good but the sound was nauseating.

The rest of the California road tour was good. I had a facial in Ojai. I drank complementary chardonnay by the fire in my room at the Seal Cove Inn. San Jose was fun. Disneyland was excellent, but we like ours better. The Grand Californian was gorgeous, same architect as Wilderness and Animal Kingdom Lodges.

Here's the neatest thing that happened in the airport in Houston coming home...I saw a book display that featured Katherine Neville's The Eight and I thought that was weird because the book is 20 years old. Then I noticed a sticker that invited readers to go to the Web site to read excerpts from her new book. Finally a new book, and a sequel to The Eight, even. I said to the Queen of TR that I would give anything to review that book. So I returned to work on Monday with nothing to read at lunch and the back doorbell rang. There was DHL delivering a book to me from Library Journal. I opened the package and it was The Fire by Katherine Neville due out this October and I am the reviewer! I am so excited.

I am unpacked but the house is now a wreck. There's no place like home.