The week before we left for Vegas I posted Elvis as my Music Monday clip. So now that we're back, I thought I'd close with another Vegas icon…
(and speaking of The King, a note to self: do not include the joking phrase “Going to Las Vegas for an Elvis Convention” in your e-mail auto-reply away message unless you want to explain to a bunch of co-workers upon your return that, no, you are not actually leading a secret life as an Elvis impersonator! )
Although I have to admit that I didn't take nearly as many as I normally would – both because I often find that having a lens to your eye all the time removes you from the experience and also because, frankly, you can go to Flickr and find photos of anything we visited – the Lion Habitat at MGM Grand, the Fremont Street Experience, any of the casinos on the Strip – that easily outdo any pictures I took.
1. Visit one of their local libraries. 2. Take in a second show besides “Love” (Penn & Teller would've been awesome as would have any of the other Cirque shows) 3. Eat at In 'n' Out Burger – a no-frills California chain that's sort of like McDonald's but with high-quality, healthy ingredients. 4. Put $10 on the Flames to win the Stanley Cup. 5. Pay $8 for a plain old rye & coke (oh wait, I did do that. Sure, it was stiff as hell but still, such a rip-off! Vegas doesn't have nearly the number of deals that it used to – no cheap buffets, no free gifts to entice you into the casino, not a lot of casinos give you free money ($5 or $10) when you first join a players club, etc.)
Sitting in McCarran airport in Vegas just waiting for our flight departure. After a couple *really* close calls on the way down – both in Regina (long security line-up) and Calgary (half-hour delay leaving Regina due to aforementioned long security lines meant we had half an hour to sprint through Calgary airport, clear customs, find our gate and get boarded) so we're not taking any chances this time and are here a couple hours early.
At least the return flight is direct to Regina and at least we're with Grandpa and Grandma this time so we have an extra set of hands (as I type this, I think Pace is off with Grandpa somewhere – probably sitting at a slot machine!)
It's been a fast, overwhelming, crazy week so I'll just hit on some highlights… – I usually suck at gambling and have never won a significant amount in my life (I think my previous best “big win” was when I won $80 – ironically on my first day the last time I was in Vegas when I was 21) but this time, I won $300 my first day after putting in $20 ($10 of my own money which was the daily limit I'd set for myself and $10 of the casino's money which is what I got for signing up for their player's card.) How often do you go on a vacation where it could end up paying for itself? Of course, the refrain became “Well, you won $300 so this is covered” whether I was buying clothes for Pace, a meal for the family, show tickets, our hotel room or whatever – a phrase all of Shea and I kept repeating long after the $300 was gone!
– went to Cirque Du Soleil's “Love” show at The Mirage last night and as a huge Beatles fan, I was nervous that it wouldn't live up to my expectations. And it didn't – it exceeded them. Greatly! SUCH a great show. I only wish we'd had the financial wherewithal (and time) to take in more Cirque shows – both Ka and O are supposed to be amazing as well.
– the fountain show at The Bellagio was stunning. They apparently spent $40 million developing it.
– the Fremont Street Experience downtown was pretty cool as well and downtown Vegas is a nice break from the chaos of the Strip.
– the Sirens show in front of Treasure Island was pretty cheesy but the price was right.
– the Spice Market Buffet at Planet Hollywood was delicious – about half a dozen different stations encompassing categories such as Asian, Mexican, American, Desserts, Seafood, Middle Eastern, Italian and perhaps 1-2 others I'm forgetting.
Anyhow, those are a few of the highlights of the week off the top of my head. I may do a more detailed report later (or maybe not). Oh, and Shea'll likely have photos up on Flickr later this weekend so watch for that too.
I'm not sure where I first heard the term “degree snob” but it was most memorably put to me in reference to a professional librarian who would literally not lower themself to speak to non-professional staff if it could be helped!
With that as a jumping off point (and based on some of my own experiences – yes, my parents did take out the ad in the hometown paper with my blessing; no, my degree is not hanging at either my work or home), I created the following quiz.
It's hard to get perfect answers so try to pick the one that best matches your situation/experiences. (Also, I didn't go back and review the questions too closely so there are probably a few typos and the like throughout.)
I was thinking about this today – Gorman's list is one of the first things you should acquaint yourself with in Library School 101 to learn the framework for everything that will inform your role as a professional librarian.
But I was also thinking about the fact that a lot of people who work in libraries aren't trained as librarians – whether they come to libraryland as pages or clerks or library assistants or support staff in IT, HR, the Business Office, Physical Plant or whatever.
I always assume that most people who work in libraries do it, at least partly because they love books and libraries and what libraries provide to their communities. But whether people work in our world because they love libraries or it's just a paycheque, I wonder do we do enough (or anything?) to introduce them to some of the core concepts that define the culture of librarianship?
The Eight Central Values of Librarians
Stewardship: the preservation and care of the human record
Service: professional and philanthropic, dedicated to human advancement
Intellectual Freedom: resist censorship, grant materials available
– I arrived early and bumped into a young woman who looked really familiar but who I couldn't place. She did the “you look familiar…” routine with me too and it turns out she was a journalism student who did a brief placement with an organization I worked for a few years ago. Inevitable “small world” comment is followed with some catching up on each others' lives since then.
– the event started to fill up so I slipped into the private room they'd booked and grabbed a seat. Luckily I did because they ended up getting probably 3x the number of guests they expected. (I ended up helping to carry out a table with a sitting MLA doing the heavy-lifting at the other end to clear room for more chairs!)
– I'm biased but I interpret this turnout as a pretty good sign for the campaign of Ryan Meili – I think people who are involved with the NDP enough to come out for an event like this are also very curious about this new, bright young light who doesn't have much history with the party but has a buzz going. (Meili just got endorsed today by two former Cabinet Ministers and I wonder if that's an echo of the slow build that Obama saw in the States too when all the initial endorsements went to Hillary thinking she was a “safe” choice. Similarly, right now, the leader in the race, Dwain Lingenfelter has been endorsed by 10 of the 20 sitting Sask MLA's I think.)
– they drew names randomly for the order in which the candidates would speak and first up was…Dwain Lingen…I mean, Harry Van Mulligan [Edit: Mulligen – though I think he gets that all the time!]. The former Finance Minister was subbing in for Mr. Lingenfelter and I'm not sure how people will take this – I kinda got a sense that some people in attendance found it a bit insulting that all the other candidates could make the effort to attend but Mr. Lingenfelter couldn't. (To be fair, I have no idea what his reasons for not attending were – but again, there is a very sizable “anyone but Link” contingent out there and part of this is predicated on the fact that he is seen as having abandoned the party (and the province) for a plush government relations job with an oil company in Calgary when the NDP lost a previous election. Now he's coming back as if he's a knight on a white stallion but some people still think he's somebody who doesn't show up when he should and not appearing tonight doesn't help that reputation.)
– second on the list was Deb Higgins who is a sitting MLA from Moose Jaw. Her speech quite good but I almost wonder if this happens automatically when you've been in politics for awhile – both her and Mr. Van Mulligan [Mulligen] spoke like politicians instead of real people – safe platitudes while circling around issues instead of being direct. I don't know – maybe that's the reality of having to play it safe all the time so you never offend anyone. I guess that also means I'll never be a politician (er, not least because I have a blog where I post this – won't someone think of the children???)
– Next up was Yens Pedersen who's a young lawyer and former NDP party president. His speech was quite good (all were given a quote from an Allan Blakeney book about Saskatchewan's place in Canada and asked to speak to that). I'm not sure if this was intentional but he seemed to directly point out the absence of Mr. Lingenfelter in his remarks when he mentioned the other two candidates in attendance but failed to note the appearance of Mr. Van Mulligan [Mulligen], even in his substitute role.
– Ryan Meili drew the final spot which can be a blessing or a curse. Luckily, he quickly got the crowd on side with a funny joke I wish I could remember then launched into a speech that was…well, I wish I'd had my video camera there so you could be watching it on YouTube right now. He got tons of applause during his presentation and quite a few laughs as well. Of the three, he sounded the least like a politician and the most like a leader if that makes any sense.
I admit that I'm biased because I really like what Ryan Meili brings to the contest but now, having had occasion to hear all four candidates (okay, three and a proxy), I've solidified my support for Ryan Meili. Tonight, I think he stole the show and gave a big group of Regina-area NDP loyalists a lot to think about. (Afterwards, I talked to one person I knew from my undergrad days who said they didn't have a party membership but were thinking of taking one out, just to vote for Ryan!)
I also thought of another thing to add to my list of Ryan's similarities to Obama – he comes across as very cerebral and someone who puts a lot of deep thought into his opinions before speaking them.
– Shea was at home with Pace so I didn't stick around for the hob-nobbing afterwards but as I mentioned above, I did get to say 'hi' to a couple people I knew.
– I think I've also volunteered to help out with the online aspects of Ryan's campaign which I'm quite looking forward to. I watched what Obama did with the online aspects of his campaign very closely and would love to try to model some stuff for the Meili campaign in Saskatchewan.
In other Freedom of Expression news, Skittles, in an attempt to be hip 'n' happenin', basically allowed anyone to post to their home page via Twitter. This was the inevitable result (check out result four – and I've seen a lot worse come across the site as well…)
