I’m in Monterey this fine Sunday evening, enjoying a really cool room at the Hotel Pacific. Very happy with this cool little suite. It even has a fireplace. I kind of wish it were cold so I could start a raging but controlled fire.

The weekend up in Mill Valley with my friend Dale was excellent as always. We hit some skateparks yesterday, including a really fun and quirky little park in Napa. All rounded tops to the walls — no coping — like a 70s skatepark only much smaller. It was fun and chill. My front riding knee began to ache after a couple of hours of transition skating, which is not a surprise. My days of transition skating are over. Glad I have downhill. I could also do some street skating no problem. It’s the extra g-forces of skating walls that stress out the knee. Anyway, it was fun. Thanks to Dale for driving around.

Got to Monterey this afternoon after a long drive down from Marin County. Took well over an hour to get through San Francisco. Traffic and traffic lights were murder. Once on the highway all went well though.

Took a little rest, then went out for a first dose of Fish ‘n’ Chips on the pier. Twas good. Going to catch up on some reading and communicating tonight, and try to get some rest and be up early. This is always hard for me, as my body takes a while to adjust to California time. I wake up really early, and then don’t get enough sleep. We’ll see how it goes.

A big thanks to the Friends of the Plano Public Library System for making this conference trip possible. I will make sure you get your money’s worth.

In transit to northern California for the Internet Librarian 2011 conference this coming week. Currently sitting in the small plane terminal at LAX, along with a couple hundred other humans and a similar number of flies. Must be a farm nearby.

The Internet Librarian is frankly the only conference I enjoy attending. It is always loaded with useful information I can take home to our library system. Worth every penny. Since it isn’t associated with any professional organization, it isn’t encumbered by a gazillion committee meetings and organizational business. You just go, learn, and enjoy the setting in Monterey, California. There’s never a time of the day when a good session isn’t happening. Good stuff all the time.

So on the flight to LAX I read a few chapters of Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy. A friend of mine recommended it highly, and I have to say that thus far it is pretty good. I think it may require a second reading, as McCarthy’s language takes some getting used to. I was going to bring and finish Get in the Van, by Henry Rollins, but it’s a big heavy book and I didn’t want to lug it around for a week. Already got enough stuff with me. Besides, sitting around reading the young Henry’s journal probably isn’t the best mental input for the week unless I want to be completely antisocial.

It has been several years now since I’ve skating the little skatepark in Monterey, which is about a mile or so from the conference hotels. Last year it was closed for repair. The year before that I skipped the conference due to family illness, and the year before that I believe it rained/drizzled every evening. So I’m hoping that maybe Sunday or Monday night the park will be open and ridable.

More later.