ALA Conference and the Great Chicagoland Target Tour

I was so excited to head to the ALA Annual Conference at McCormick Place West this morning. I was all set to attend a session titled "Meeting the Challenge" which was all about what to do when parents challenge books in the library. Sadly, after getting up in the middle of the night, practically, (I am NOT a morning person), running to school to print out my reservation sheet, ( I AM a forgetful person), paying $20 for parking, registering, and consulting three different people at the registration desk, I found out that the session had been canceled! How disappointing. On the bright side, now I can head right for the exhibits tomorrow, since I already have my badge.

On the way home, I went on a Great Chicagoland Target Tour! Yes, I am on a quest to find those large buckets with the rope handles. I told our PTO School Supply person, Sheri, that I would find approx 48 buckets in six different colors for grades K - 5. We use them to store lunchboxes when kids go out for recess. I now appreciate why some cashiers insist on scanning every item, even if you have several of the same item in different colors. One very nice lady in Customer Service at a Target in Niles offered to look up the stores that had the colors I wanted. When I got to the stores, either there were no buckets, or they were the wrong colors. Clearly, computerized inventories do no good when the items aren't properly scanned. So, be patient the next time a cashier takes the time to scan items correctly!

Thank goodness for the Garmin Nuvii GPS my dad got me for Christmas. That little guy is so handy! (Mine is Australian, but I don't have a name for him yet. For some reason, I think of my dad's as being named Nancy.) I was partway home from my failed ALA conference attempt when I decided to try finding the rest of the buckets. All I had to do was tell him to find a Target near my location and he did! Then, when I got the addresses for other Targets, all I had to do was type in the address and viola! I didn't get lost at all. Sigh... it's such an odd experience for me.

I didn't realize, however, that as I went from Target to Target, I was getting farther and farther away from home! That's because I have the Garmin map set to show a 3D view and where I'm going is always straight ahead. I wish that view included a notation about which direction I'm going. I changed the view to an overhead view and set it so north is always at the top. Perhaps that will help me to get directions into my head. If not, at least I've still got my Australian accented boyfriend to get me home!