MLA 2019: Fred and the Avenging Chicken go to Chicago

Yet another in the series. The last time I was in Chicago was in nineteen mumblemumblemumble for an ALA Midwinter Conference. This time it was a lot warmer. Registration? Check. Plane ticket? Check. Suitcase, camera, laptop? Check, check, check. Clothes in the suitcase? Check. Chicken? Check. Looks like we're ready to go!

Please note: Standard disclaimer: not my employer's opinions, nor anyone else's but those of mine and the chicken.

Our larger dog, Farley, has some separation issues. They've become worse since he figured out what a suitcase means.	We usually park in the express lot, but since it's full we drive down the road to the long-term lot. Express has its advantages. For one thing, it's in the same state as the airport.	A single sandal lies upon an airport floor. Where is the owner? These are such stuff as dreams are made on. Or haiku.	Our chariot prepares to whisk us on our way.
We arrive at Midway airport. The sign says that Chicago welcomes AUVSI, CPhl, AUA. Nothing about medical librarians.	We find the El and get on.	Getting closer. It would have been a shorter trip to the hotel if I had gotten off at the right station.	We manage to find the registration desk, so we registrate. (Reenactment)
And so to dusk.	Saturday breakfast. I make sure the chicken doesn't see the egg. It was here first, after all.	We go outside for a bit of fresh air and meet Percy, part of the of the K9s for Cops project. See www.chicagok9s.com.	We go to the Chapter Council meeting. It's listed as invitation only, but one of my colleagues is a bit nervous and I accompany her as a service animal.
At the meeting.	We meet PJ Grier. Last year I ran for MAC-MLA Alternate Chapter Council Representative. As soon as I found out PJ was running against me, I knew I didn't have a chance. Never mind.	Then we meet Julie Esparza, incoming president of MLA. My nervous colleague and I talk to her for a while.	Out for a bit more fresh air. The draw bridges over the river open once every spring so the sailboats can go out to the lake to spawn.
Back to my room to rehearse my talk for My Favorite Tool. I have three minutes to cover three hours of material, so I have to get the timing right.	The two parts of the conference hotel are connected by a bridge. That's a very wide chair for a small chicken.	Outside the exhibition hall. The opening night features food and an open bar. Fortunately, nobody gets trampled in the stampede.	We enter the raffle, but don't win. Never mind--I picked up some other goodies.
We say hello to Carol Merkin (l) and Carolyn Askew (r) from the CDC. The CDC is one of my favorite resources, so I'm glad to see them.	Susan Keller (l), Margaret Hoogland (r) and I drift over to the empty poster exhibit to get away from the noise and mingle with others doing the same.	It's well known amongst hoteliers that librarians are polite, quiet, and drink more than the Shriners. Unfortunately, the organizers of the open bar didn't know this (or knew it all too well--I'm not sure which) so the chicken and I get a beer at one of the hotel bars.	Speaking of which, a colleague requested a refrigerator for her room and it came with a extra feature. Three of them, in fact. The chicken reported that they were very tasty, but not quite as good as Portland beer. (Sorry, Chicago.)
Sunset after a long day.	A big day today, so we treat ourselves to the breakfast buffet. Again I managed to keep the eggs out of the chicken's view.	We attend Sunday's Plenary Session and Presidential Address. Beverly Murphy, outgoing MLA president, addresses the audience from too far away for us to photograph.	No, the chicken didn't get an award. (We'll take that up with the awards committee later.) This is the Marcia C Noyes award, MLA's highest honor, which this year was given to the amazing MJ Tooey of the University of Maryland Health Sciences and Human Services Library.
Margaret Hoogland (l) introduces us to Merle Rosenzweig (r), president of the Midwest Chapter/MLA. I'm too intimidated to talk to her, but the chicken (c) breaks the ice.	We're tired! We find an empty room and take a short nap.	We're refreshed and ready to go.	Erin Latta (c) and Lisa Theisen (l) give the NLM Docline Update. Since I'm the one who came up with the term "VLBW Docline," I wanted to thank them in person for all the scrambling they and their colleagues did to get it out of the NICU.
Sit Stay Read is an organization that sends dogs to low-income Chicago schools to help improve at-risk students' literacy skills. This Sunday they sent a representative to the conference. The dog really wants to meet the chicken, but not necessarily in a good way. Note: the kids read to the dogs, not the other way around.	The audience gathers for My Favorite Tool.	We talk about MarcEdit for three minutes. Once again, we didn't win but we did finish in the top twenty.	Jerry Perry gave the Janet Doe Lecture Monday morning. We say hello afterwards.
Back to the exhibits! We reconnect with Anne Chaney of Wolters Kluwer. She used to be our Ovid customer service rep, but now she's gone on to Sales Engineer and does things I don't understand at all.	We meet Sirkka Howes and Greg St Louis of Wolters Kluwer.	Then over to the NLM booth, whre Kristina Elliott and Patrick McLaughlin listened to me go on and on about some projects we want NLM to take on.	As did Marie Collins. None of them had us escorted from the hall. It was very nice.
And then to the Prenax booth to say hello to Dolores Deneault.	Sit Stay Read is back with a pair of emissaries.	Neither of whom wants to play with the chicken, fortunately.	We managed to get a picture with Michelle Kraft.
Our colleague Susan Keller presents her poster.	The chicken and I were part of a poster as well, but I was too preoccupied with standing in front of it explaining the results to take a picture. Here's what it looks like.	Another brief trip outdoors.
It turns out that Eleanor Truex and I both had fathers who taught at the University of Florida School of Medicine in the early 1960s. We probably met each other when we were toddlers, but we've changed considerably since then. The three of us meet for dinner.	The NLM Update! As soon as it was over, the chicken hopped over to Jerry Sheehan, NLM Deputy Director, and Mary Langman, MLA Director of Information Issues and Policy to cluck out a request for a photo. I tagged along.	NLM Director Patti Brennan (back row, center) and Dianne Babski, NLM Deputy Associate Director for Library Operations (back row, left), didn't present at the update, but they did pose with the chicken (front row, center).	Kevin Baliozian, MLA Executive Director, asked us if we were ready for the evening's entertainment. We assured him that we were.
Time for the talent show. A large audience awaits.
The band is as awesome as ever.		Brooke Ballantyne Smith dances with the chicken. Her university didn't choose Koha as its new ILS, but after a few moments of uncontrolled sobbing the chicken and I recover from the bad news.	My turn at the microphone. I look around for my band and backing group, but they're not there. I tell the audience that I had planned to burst into song.
"Well you can tell by the way I walk so swift, I'm an ICU nurse working on the night shift. Doctors loud and patients warm, I've been working nights since you were born. Well it's all right, bed ten's ok, the emesis went the other way. We can try to understand the finer points of this treatment plan..."	"Stayin awaaaaaaaaaaaaake..."	"Bed sixteen's coding, needs chest compressions, somebody help me stat..."	However, in the absence of my band and backing group, I read a Pindaric ode about a deceased laser printer, then a poem on central line infections.
"Cuz the clabsi's gonna get you if you don't wash out!"	The chicken rises a second time as we finish. Good thing I'm not the jealous type--the chicken got more applause than I did.	Then Sally Gore serenaded the audience.	Nobody carries cigarette lighters these days, so the audience held up their lighted cell phones.
A lot happened after that, but it was past my bedtime and my eyes weren't working very well. We returned to our room for a night's rest.	Final day! Did we forget anything?	Waiting for the El.	There it is!
Back to Midway airport.	A bit foggy on the way home. I think the pilots were on instruments--I heard something that sounded like jazz over the roar of the engines.	I've heard people talk about "bloody air travel these days," but BWI is the only airport where they take it literally.	Waiting for the bus back to the long-term lot.
It finally arrives.	Not a great picture, but I needed to fill a couple of spaces.	And back home.	"And remember, if you ever need to fill a blank spot in a photo album, you can't go wrong with a picture of a teapot." --Winston Churchill (attrib.)