Things to do in Denver

So far so good on the conference thing. I've mostly been good and spent my time in conference sessions and wandering the exhibit floor rather than hiding in my room and/or poking around the city. I did play hooky for a little while this afternoon, but mostly that was because my lunch with colleagues had run a little long. There are a few other librarians from my company here, and I've been chatting with them, eating most of my meals with them, making important connections. But I'm also making a point of talking with other random people as well, and that's been great, actually, doing the networking thing in ways I haven't managed in the past. Maybe I actually am getting better at this.

Denver is a nice city. Redeveloping, so there are interesting areas to walk around, and the people seem cool. Tomorrow, I have plans to skip the morning conference sessions to go visit the big new art museum -- there will be a party there tomorrow night, but we're only going to see half of it, and I hear the other half is also really interesting. I like the vibe here pretty well, although of course I've only really been downtown. Also, the sun came out and the snow melted. The air is really dry, though. I don't know whether it's the altitude or what, but I've been drinking tons of water and my skin still feels all dry and tight. Still, I do like it here. Supposedly it doesn't get that cold or snowy either, yesterday notwithstanding.

The hotel is good, too. My alarm clock has an iPod jack! That's pretty sweet. What's not pretty sweet: the water bottle in the room. $4.50 for a liter of Aquafina? Give me a break, overpriced hotel services.

Day of arty things

Today I have been immersed in art, architecture, and city planning. We didn't make it to the art museum in the morning, or rather, we did, but it was closed and wouldn't be opening for two hours. So instead we decided to check out some of Denver's public art, notably the Big Blue Bear (not his real name) who peers into the big windows of the conference center. (The artist, Lawrence Argent, spoke to us on Saturday morning, it was a really fascinating presentation.) Then, after a side trip to an excellent bookstore, I sat in on probably my favorite session of the conference so far, a presentation on problems of city and land-use planning in the Mountain West and in Denver in particular. One of the speakers was Denver's city planning manager, and he was a fantastic speaker -- engaging, funny, informative. That was followed by a talk on the design of the new addition to the Denver Art Museum, which was a good mix of speakers: an architecture librarian who gave a critical overview, one of the architects who worked on the building, and a museum educator who works there now. This would have interested me pretty much any time, but it was especially great today because our dinner was a party in this same museum, and I really enjoyed having some context for the space.

I am kicking myself for forgetting to bring a camera.

Also, I miss my kitties.