I meant to post yesterday but the fact that we're staying at a residence.  On campus.  In the year 2006.  And it still doesn't have ANY Internet connection fuddled those plans.  So I'm probably going to change the date stamp on this entry so it counts as yesterday.  And then my next blog post will likely be from a Starbucks tonight while I'm drinking an $8 cup of tea.  The Conference Centre has about eight Internet terminals which are handy but always busy so I'm skipping a session to do this entry (my priorities may be slightly out of whack.) 

The drive up to Ottawa was an adventure - starting with me driving over a curb and nearby into oncoming traffic as we tried to pick up one passenger at a Tim Horton's where apparently, "Exit Only" means "Exit ONLY!"  Ooops.  Shea, Sabina, Michelle, Denise, Paul and I were the passengers in the van and it was a fairly boring ride after that start.  We ended up going away from the McPuke's fast food rows of every city for lunch and found a small town cafe run by two local farmers who were trying to diversify by buying this business but finding running a restaurant HARDER than farming!  Got to Ottawa right at 5pm and having seen only the preliminary program, we thought the keynote speakers (Stephen and Avi Lewis) were up at 5pm.  So more crazy driving as I park in a bus lane till I get honked at, drive through one red light (slowly - hard to explain how that happened) and finally get to the conference hotel which has a bunch of police cars and police tape right across the street.  I thought the librarians were already beginning to party or their reputation precedes them but turns out there was a murder.  Welcome to Ottawa - yours and my capital city!  Shea and I realise that the keynote's been changed to 7pm (which makes more sense anyhow) and so we go check into the University residence, the rest of our paseengers having dispersed to various points.   Turn around twice and come back to the keynote while Shea goes shopping (cue nervous smile).  Stephen and Avi Lewis were amazing in their "father-son as cross-generational activists" chat and as one colleague said, that was worth the price of admission by itself!  Went for supper at a nearby Scottish pub with Michelle, came back and closed down the reception then ended up going for a drink with a retired children's librarian from Ottawa while Shea and Michelle went back to the residence.  I think that's all I'm going to write today (er, yesterday if I can figure out how to change the time stamp!) and I'll do some more later, either here or at Starbucks.  It's the 21st Century and we're at a venue where I can't access wireless?  Unbelievable.