DC Day 2 - tourist and time to work

When I arrived in DC yesterday it was blazing hot and humid. I saw a sign that the temperature was 82 and it felt like the humidity was about a million. Ugh. In my little New England town the temperature has grazed 90 exactly once and I am still wearing long pants, long sleeve shirts and socks on a regular basis. Is was really freaking hot last night and my first thought was "oh no! I didn't bring enough summer clothes with me!!" Fortunately it was way less humid today so the heat didn't feel as bad.

I had hoped to run along the National Mall. I've done this before and there is something really inspiring about running by some of our most famous monuments. My hotel is pretty far out and it would have taken me about 30-40 minutes to run to the Mall and then I'd have to run around it and then run back. I am still recovering from various running injuries so I ran toward Dupont Circle, veered off into the smallest amount of Rock Creek Park and ran back. Why am I telling you this?? I don't know. I guess because I mention running so much in all my other posts I don't want you to worry if I don't mention it here. Haha :-)

My conference didn't start until this evening so I had most of the day to play tourist. I love DC!! I love the history, the culture, the subways, the neighborhoods, the people, the accents and the tourists. I LOVE IT HERE!! I turned down a job offer here because it wasn't the right fit (and it wasn't actually in DC) and I still wonder how it would have turned out.

Since I missed my run on the National Mall, I started my day there, wandering around the reflecting pools, saying Hello to Abraham Lincoln and seeing the Vietnam Memorial. I've seen these many times before and they are still just as awesome.


It was cooler than yesterday but still hot so I stopped for some art and some air conditioning at the Hirshhorn. There was a really neat exhibit about reflecting and refracting of light. Part of the exhibit was produced while the items were in transit. The artist custom made large glass boxes, exactly the size of FedEx boxes. He packed them carefully in the boxes and mailed them to the museum. They were all cracked and splintered in transit and thus was the work of art. It was pretty cool. Reminded me of when my brother used to break mirrors on purpose to achieve certain photography effects.

Next stop was the National Portrait Gallery. I was so psyched to visit this museum! It was under construction the last few times I've been here. The special exhibit on the top floor was really neat. The artist took huge quantities of every day objects (medicine bottles, sweaters, ties, etc) and made things out of them: chandeliers out of medicine bottles, a miniature town out of used lottery tickets, etc. I also checked out the presidential portrait galleries (I studied the notes by the painting hard in case there are any presidential questions at my team's trivia tournament next week) and saw a cool photography exhibit.

The next thing I knew it was time to get to my conference. I checked in and immediately went to the exhibit hall. I am at the conference for a few reasons: I have first-year faculty professional development funds that need to be used by June 30 and they entirely cover this trip, I need to learn something new - I feel so stale, I am hoping to network for a new job, I want to get pumped up about my profession and I am looking to buy a couple of databases for my library. I hit the jackpot at the exhibit hall and found several databases that will do what we need and then found one that a professor had asked for but I couldn't figure out what it was. I'll spare you the details of my conversations with the sales reps!

The opening session was a combination awards ceremony and keynote speaker. The keynote was Colin Powell!!! This was definitely a draw to the conference for me and I was curious as to what he's say to a room full of "information professionals" (this group does not use the term "librarian"). Turns out he was very funny and entertaining even though he said very little that was directly relevant to what we do.

I got back to my hotel and spent a lovely evening popping blisters and writing up my conference notes. Not sure what I'll have to say for the rest of the time I'm here. I don't even thing other librarians find other people's conference adventures all that thrilling!