...I bumped into my Director and Deputy Director at the Ottawa Airport and was like "So, you're on the 6:45pm flight too?"
"No, 7pm" was the reply.
We quickly realised the slight difference was because they were flying Air Canada and I was flying WestJet.
"Oh, you'll beat us by 15 minutes then!" they joked. "Or maybe more since we have a quick stopover in Toronto."
"Well, I've got to go to Calgary then back to Regina so I think you'll probably beat me."
How right I was. When I got to my gate, I found out that there was some sort of wind storm in Calgary so they were delaying all incoming traffic at its source. We finally got away from Ottawa half an hour late but when I got to Calgary a few hours later, I soon realised that I'd missed my connection. (Hearing my name called over the PA system was a pretty big clue.)
I was pretty anxious to get home after a few days away so this is a big disappointment but I'm trying to stay zen about it - they've put me up at the Airport Delta, I'm waiting for some supper to arrive (also comped), I've got a free in-room Internet connection (luckily I didn't accept the $10 rip-off wireless access the clerk offered when I asked about Internet) and I'll be home later tomorrow morning.
I'm about as burnt out as you can get so I think I'll leave it there and maybe type more about the HR Summit and other related topics over the next few days. Good-night...
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Tuesday, October 7
You Just Knew This Would Happen When...
by
Jason
on Tue 07 Oct 2008 11:45 PM CST
Sunday, October 5
Staying in the Good Hotel...
by
Jason
on Sun 05 Oct 2008 10:44 AM CST
...means that they can get you an early check-in as soon as you walk up the street from your old, cheap crappy hotel. Of course, the downside is that, unlike your crappy $90 Econolodge hotel which at least has free in-room wireless, even if you have to fight to get it working, your $200/night downtown ritzy business hotel charges you $10/day for in-room wired Internet access. What a rip-off!
Saturday, October 4
Randomness in Ottawa
by
Jason
on Sat 04 Oct 2008 10:20 PM CST
I'm sitting in a motel room in downtown Ottawa, having arrived safe and sound earlier today. Here's some random thoughts on my trip so far...
- my absolute favourite part of flying is take-off and landing during that brief window of time when you're able to see the city you're at from above with everything below you identifiable but on that "Lego Little People" scale. I will refrain from making some faux-deep observation about how it reminds you that we're all ants, scurrying about. (Ooops, too late.) - you know an area that always gets overlooked when libraries are designed? Bathrooms. The Ottawa airport and many others have great bathrooms - infrared sensors on everything, no-touch entrances (ie. no doors that you have to push or pull open), hourly inspection logs, lots of urinals and stalls, etc. I'll always remember the story of a European businessman who bought a failing gas station chain. The biggest single investment he made after the purchase was completely upgrading the bathrooms across the entire chain. Soon the company was at its highest profit level ever! Of course there are differences between providing comfortable rest spots for travelers and library patrons. But if we're really competing with places like Chapters, inviting bathrooms needs to be part of the equation. - I was able to go for supper and later, dessert with a few friends from FIMS and it was nice to catch up with everybody and hear their thoughts on libraries, being new librarians and what's happened with fellow colleagues that I've lost touch with. - I would say that Ottawa is home to the most librarians per capita in the country by a far margin. - apparently 98% of these Ottawa librarians went to FIMS. - that reminds me, I haven't updated the "Spirit of Librarianship" page for a couple semesters. (Er, anybody at FIMS who's reading this happen to know the winners and/or nominees in the past couple semesters?) - the FIMS triple cohort in the fall of 2007 which I'm sure I heard was going to be a "one time only" intake has apparently happened again this fall. - is somebody updating the stats on the ratio of new librarians being pumped out to librarians that will be retiring in the next few years? I hope that balance isn't being thrown completely out of whack, especially with these triple cohorts and ANOTHER library school supposedly coming to Ottawa in the near future. - so far, being in Ottawa during an election campaign is like...being in Regina during an election campaign. Not much to compare since I've only been here for a bit but I would give Ottawa the edge in lawn signs. - this is my third time in Ottawa, once with my folks when I was younger, a couple years ago for the CLA conference when I drove a vanload of FIMS students up and now this trip. It's a weird sort of deja vu, being here for a library conference, staying in the same area (in the same "budget" price point although I've upgraded from youth hostel to "hotel that appears to come with a free hooker with any room booked" according to one of the FIMS colleagues who came here tonight to pick me up) and planning to wander past many of the same attractions as last time. - just a bit more on that "free hooker at the hotel" thing. That's an exaggeration but I did look in a nearby window when we were leaving and saw two elderly people sitting at a desk in their room playing cards. With a bottle of vodka and a bottle of water between them! - with all that said, I don't know if I'll ever reach a place in life where I'm comfortable paying more than $100 a night for a room (this place was $90 but I'm obviously paying for the proximity to downtown rather than the ambiance.) When I went to a CanCopy conference way back in 2000, they put us up at the Westin Harbour Castle in TO. I had to ask and then, when I heard the rooms were $350/night, bean to wonder if I could somehow go check into a hostel and get paid the difference? I guess that's about it for now. Good night! |
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