What are all these people doing here?

There are a fair amount of people in the profession who have little, if any, use for the Society of American Archivists. In speaking with a colleague, he related to me there are pockets of "angry archivists" here at the conference, mad at SAA for one reason or another (a dues increase, poor communication, had handling of the archives listserve).

And yet, here we are at the Fairmont Chicago (and several other overflow hotels), filling up session rooms, slowing down the elevators, and clogging up the hallways. While I have not yet heard an attendance figure, it would seem from that perspective the meeting is an overwhelming success.

So what am I doing with myself? The Brave Astronaut family arrived in Chicago on Wednesday morning and we decided to take the "L" from Midway to the hotel. A good plan, which was greatly enjoyed by Little Brave Astronaut, not so much enjoyed by Big Brave Astronaut, when we had to hump all of our bags from the station stop to the hotel.

We arrived at the hotel and then went and had some lunch. From there, we went to Millennium Park (the site of the Friday night reception), where Little Brave Astronaut had the greatest time here. We returned to the hotel to get the first group ready to depart for the Cubs game. For those keeping track, the Cubbies lost. We will see if they can do better tonight. But, by the way, I will point out, because I HAVE been keeping track, the Yankees swept the Red Sox out of New York and the lead is down to five games. That's five, NJM.

The Brave Astronaut family hooked up with some friends to go for dinner. We decided on this place, again with the thought the Little Brave Astronaut would enjoy it. And he did. He certainly knows how to "shake his little tail feather."

Today was spent swapping between session time and some networking meetings and keeping Little Brave Astronaut entertained. That was accomplished by going to this store. Oh, and we are working on finalizing the details so we can purchase our home. It looks like settlement will be on September 12!

While writing up this post, I had the opportunity of meeting face to face with Archival Trash. He was kind enough to score me some souvenirs from the Masters, where we went this past April. We discussed the possibility of a tour outing to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the British Open in 2010, when the tournament will be held at St. Andrews. Anybody want in on that?

Tonight I will lead the second group of baseball fan archivists to the hallowed grounds of Wrigley Field to watch the Cubbies take on the Milwaukee Brewers for the third game. Tomorrow will be more sessions, section meetings, and other delights, followed by a lovely reception at the aforementioned Millennium Park. Now where do I get that drink band? And there won't be any boats in the fountain, right?