Next week, March 12-14, the South Carolina Association of School Librarians will meet up in Columbia, SC for the annual SCASL Conference. This year’s theme, Power Up @ Your Library, is very fitting, as there are some POWERFUL guest speakers, authors, and more coming to rejuvenate me! Annette Lamb, Larry Johnson, Joyce Valenza, Gail Dickinson…I almost feel like I’m going to a national level conference rather than a state level one. Our President-elect, Valerie Byrd-Fort has one a FANTASTIC job putting our conference together this year. I cannot wait until Wednesday next week!

The conference program was released today, and I have made a preliminary outline of what I want to attend–and guess what? I’m not skipping a single event. I will be exhausted when I get home Friday evening. Here is a rough itinerary (with session titles abbreviated for me) that is subject to change.

WEDNESDAY
Concurrent 1 (4:15-5:15)
James Bryan – Historical Fiction
or
Perry McLeod- Digital Storytelling

Exploratorium and All-Conference Reception (5:30-7:30)
SCASL Blogs! & SCASL Flickrs! (Okay, so you may not know that this is my responsibility and so I will be hosting it–IT! OMG!! I have not even begun to put together a display board or anything. I better get busy!! Late supper too-shucks…Someone wait for me to go eat.

THURSDAY
Concurrent 2 (8:00-9:00)
Joyce Valenza – Library Websites

Concurrent 3 (9:15-10:15)
Gail Dickinson NBPTS–>NBCT Now what?
or
Annette Lamb – PPT Sidekicks
or
Larry Johnson – Re-Imagine…

12:00-1:15 Meet authors/special guests
(Hob-nob with Authors Jaime Adoff, Eloise Greenfield, Will Hobbs, Alan Katz, Michelle Knudsen, and special guests Joyce Valenza, Annette Lab, and Larry Johnson!)
SCASL Business Meeting, 1:30 – 3:00

Concurrent 4 (3:15-4:15)
Gail Dickinson – AASL Standards
or
Annette Lamb – Re-Imagine…
or
Larry Johnson – RSS feeds in classroom

FRIDAY
Concurrent 5 (8:00-9:00)
MINE-Feed the Mind w/ RSS
(Note: there were some awesome sessions planned at the same time as mine, and thankfully some of the ones going on at the same time (Like MaryAnn Sansonetti’s “Ipodabilities” and Carole McGrath’s “T-N-T” I saw previously at a different conference. The only thing I have to worry about–other than an obscene early time to present–is that everyone else might choose theirs over mine. Oh, wait, that would mean fewer people in my session, which translates to an easier preso to give. Ok, I can live with it after-all!)

Concurrent 6 (9:15-10:15)
Debbie Keenan/Margie Edgerton – Flexible schedule
or
Julia Davis – Google Lit Trips
(I need to go to the Keenan/Edgerton session for ideas on a different preso I’m giving…but I want to go to Julias–how will I ever decide?)

Concurrent 7 (10:15-11:15)
Donna Shannon – Building a Knowledge Base in Reading
or
Andi Fansher – Moviemaker Magic

Awards Luncheon, 12:00 – 2:00
Eat with my Horry County LMS colleagues as we wait on the edge of our seats for the announcing of this years’ SC Book Award Nominees.

Okay so everyone can see that I have a jam-packed conference planned for myself, and still have many decisions to make. I’m carrying my laptop, and with free wifi, I plan to be connected to my network everywhere I go. Any of you loyal readers, would you like for me to “Ustream” anything? I have found out in the past I cannot “coveritlive” very well or even semi blog during sessions. I have to reflect and post. So I definitely could Ustream some. I’ll be taking a lot of pictures too, and will be posting them to the SCASL Flickrs photostream. So if you are not coming, you can virtually attend compliments of me. Let me know.

First up–Eye Doctor Visit
The appointment today was a six month follow up to my eye surgery from August. I wrote about it before here.  Today I find that my vision is 20/20 and 20/25 BUT I have developed “yag,” a side effect where scar tissue is causing my vision to be a little cloudy.  I have to go back in for a treatment which essentially means they will buff the sack that the synthetic lens sits in, and eleminate the cloudy effect.  I hadn’t really noticed that my vision was a little cloudy, but described it more as a little blurry.  My doctor (Dr. Christenbury) says it’s very common and very correctable.  I also will get a touch up Lasik procedure to make my eyes vision balanced and even better.  Woo haa!

Second, I was asked to write up an article for the Media Center Messenger about my Edublogs Award Nomination.  Does anyone know how hard it is to brag on one’s self?  I struggled with what to write, but I really felt it does deserve a mention, so I wrote the article. I did ask the editor of the journal to place it in the journal as written anonymously or written by her, the editor, as I felt it would look bad if I signed it as author.  But you know what? Anyone who knows my writing style will immediately know I wrote it.  Perhaps I’ll resend it and write in first person instead.  I’ll think about it.

What? You wish to see it? Ask, and I’ll send you the copy. Comment and include your email in the comment form (which will not be public) and I’ll be sure to share my little self serving promotion of “Cathy Nelson” who DID NOT win the 2007 Eddie, but instead has won much more.  Yes, that’s exactly how I feel.

Perhaps tomorrow I’ll get back to the business of writing about well…, ya know…, my “professional thoughts.”