Northern Exposure

Last week, I was lucky enough to have been invited to participate in the 12th Northern Exposure to Leadership (NEL). It is roughly a week-long leadership retreat for upcoming library leaders in Canada (within 7 years of graduating library school).  You have to be nominated by your organization and then selected by the Institute, so it was quite an honour to go. The majority of the retreat takes place in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, the Emerald Lake Lodge in the Rockies. What a breath-taking spot. It definitely added to as experience as a whole. It is so quiet, you could even hear the flap of a bird’s wings as it flew overhead. There is no better place to explore yourself both mentally and emotionally.

I am not going to go into the details of the retreat as they are very personal and the whole NEL experience is a very private experience. However, I will say that I meet 44 of the most wonderful library leaders as well as the many mentors, instructors and staff of the Institute. They all challenged my conceptions of librarianship as a profession and were very open to discussions on where our profession needs to go in the coming years. Not everyone had the same view but then that made the experience so much more meaningful. Hearing the different points of views and thoughts made you think and consider alternatives to your own. Always a useful endeavor.   No one attending could have any doubt that the future of Librarianship is in fact bright.

The whole experience was exhausting and intense but I learned quite a bit about myself and my current leadership style as well as how I would like that style to develop over the coming months and years. Already, I have used a few items that I have learned and will try to draw more in where I can. It was such a worthy experience, that I am determined to make the effort to apply what I have learned in a way that allows the experience to grow…not just become a memory.

I feel tremendously lucky to have had this opportunity.

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Tinkerbell: Universal Studios

When a bunch of us ran the Disney World Princess Half marathon in Feb 2011, we really enjoyed your trip to Universal’s Island of Adventure so Gina and I decided to hit the Universal Studios in Hollywood while we were in area. That meant catching a bus back into LA. It is actually very smart of Universal to partner with greyline to offer a ticket that includes transportation to and from the park. When we bought our tickets we were told to meet the bus curbside by the hotel at 8:15. Gina and I were under the impression that we would get on the bus and then head straight to Universal but it turns out that a bus picks up anyone taking a greyline tour that day and drops us all off at the bus depot to be sorted onto other buses. Makes sense but it would have been nice to know that in advance.

It was pretty close to a full bus heading back in to LA (Hollywood). I enjoyed the tips and facts that the bus driver provided during the 1hr ride. He pointed out spots like where the bus jumped the highway gap in Speed and we got to see the Hollywood sign as well. All in all, I have had much worse drives.

It was clear when we got to Universal that we were in fact in the off-season; hardly a line to be found.

It turns out we got there just as it was opening and most rides were not available yet.  The bus driver had recommended hitting the Studio tour first, most likely because it was open first so we headed over and only had to wait about 10 minutes to get on a tram.  It was unfortunate that we sat next to a group of 3 that talked non-stop through the whole thing. They could have been sitting it cafe for all the attention they paid to the ride.  Anyway, it had its moments but overall was pretty bland. Only so many generic facades you can see before they get boring. They do show clips of the movies but the facades resemble them only mildly. I think there is an additional price you pay where you get a walking tour and I think that would mostly be more interesting.  For me the most exciting part was seeing some of the movie vehicles like the DeLorean from Back to the Future, hover jeep from Serenity and a Jurassic park car. I would have loved to looked at them for longer than the 2 minutes it took to drive by. A major tease.

The ride also had a bit where you went into a tunnel and watched King Kong battle some dinosaurs. It was pretty cool as the action in 3D and all around you with the tram jerking and moving accordingly. To me, this actually should be its own ride so you did not have to take the 1hr long studio tour to see it but then again…maybe that it why. There were a few other bits that were pretty cool: 1 – we got to see how a movie flood is made

2 – To see cars explode and fly around 3 – to see them part a small river 4 – to see Jaws blow up a dock.

As I think I have mentioned before, I  am not a huge “ride” person. I don’t like heights so many rides are just not viable for me. I remember the scenery of  Island of Adventures just being all around interesting but Universal Hollywood was much less so.  The ride I liked the best was actually the Simpson ride (a simulator) that had you being thrown around Springfield by a giant Maggie.

Amazing how few people were around.

Other than the rides, it was fun to see the many characters around the park. Besides the ones I got pictures with, we saw Beatlejuice, Curious George, odd pharaoh types on stilts for the Revenge of the Mummy ride and Shaggy driving around in the mystery machine bus.

It was fun to have some pictures taken with few though:

Rumour has it a orge is near!!

Found him.

Still a little confused why Fiona is a real person.

This got me serious street cred with 4-year-olds

High Five Iron Man

Scene out of The Terminator

Overall, it was a fun day but I feel no need to go back. It also changed my mind about giving the Universal Studio side in Florida a try in May. I think I will stick with the Island of Adventures side if we go again.

I headed back to Ottawa the next morning on a thankfully uneventful flight.

I would definitely do the Tinkerbell again..would be interesting to check-in in a few years and see how it has grown and changed. You can easily get addicted to Disney races plus I do have my eye on the Coast to Coast medal.

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Tinkerbell: Race Day

Normally, a 5:45am start time would be something I dreaded. However, in this case the time change worked for us as that would have been 8:45 Ottawa time; almost the exact time we always do our Sunday long runs. Gina and I got up around 4am, had our shakes and smoothies, donned our race outfits and headed over to get into our corral.

The weather in Anaheim was perfect, but the early morning was a bit cool (7 degrees) so I had a toss away hoodie that I chucked just before the race started. As I mentioned in my last post, we had by some luck gotten into Corral A which was super exciting. This meant that we would get to hit many of the race course photo ops before the lines got long. Gina and I decided that Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Mickey were our absolute photo stops if we saw them.

Minnie and Daisy Duck were on stage to send us off. Fireworks and we were off. The first part of the course was highway that circled around to put us through the Disneyland park. We actually spend more time in the Park than I thought and much more than in the Disney World Princess race. We were lucky that we hit Peter Pan and Captain Hook early in the race. We heard the lost boys before we saw them. They were playing on the merry-go-round right next to the Peter Pan Photo op:

Some of my favorite parts of the race took part in the first 5 k.

From Disneyland we headed out into to Anaheim – not the most exciting scenery. I am not sure if the fact that we were off Disney property but I was surprised by the lack of entertainment of this section of the route. The most exciting part of this section was when I spotted the Central Library which may be a sign of just how big a Library Geek I have become.

The race finished with a last section through the California Adventures park. Races absolutely love hiding the finish line and the Tinkerbell was no exception. With 1 mile left, it was corner after corner. With 300m left I still could not see the finish line. Very cruel Disney.

The temperature was rising quickly so I was happy to be finished and absolutely delighted to finally get the Tinkerbell medal I had been dreaming about for months. It was just as shiny as the pictures promised only much heavier.

Unlike Vegas, the finish line area was extremely well organized. I love that you cross the finish line, get your medal and are immediately given a Mylar blanket and water/powerade. You then had the photo ops with your medal and then food section (Luna Protein bars…yum). Gina and I moved through all these and claimed a spot to relax and stretch. At some point we realized that if we hurried we could actually hit the continental breakfast at the hotel before it closed at 9:30. Oddly, enough we both had a major craving for frosted flakes so were off. The staff manning the breakfast must have thought we were starving the way we piled up our trays but the mix of sugar and protein was exactly what the doctor order. We topped the morning off with showers and a nap.

As part of our Vegas race, we received P.F. Changs gift cards so we figured we would take the opportunity to use them.  It was a short walk away in the GardenWalk center. Gina and I were both surprised by how busy it was and also how good the food ended up being. I was extremely impressed and slightly disturbed that this was our best meal in Anaheim.

After lunch, we hit the California adventures park. This park has one of my favorite Disney Rides – Soarin so we hit this first. The single rider lanes can be great and we both got on quickly. We also tried the Monster Inc ride, Its tought be a bug and Muppets 3D. The park was pretty busy and it actually just felt good to walk around.

Heimlich and I hanging out.

Disney is amazing at night. The lights are amazing and you can see the thought that must have gone into the design.

Paradise Pier at night.

Both Gina and I are the opposite night owls so we were in bed relatively early. Especially since we had to catch a bus to Universal Studios the next day at 8:15. It had been an awesome day.

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Tinkerbell: Adventures at Disneyland

I love heading west – you always feel so productive at being up so very early. Contrary to heading east – where you feel exhausted.

The number 1 item on the agenda Saturday was to hit the expo and pick up our bibs and race kits. The expo opened at 10 (which I think is a bit late) so Gina and I had plenty of time to get up, have breakfast, shower and then wander over to the Disneyland Hotel on the other side of downtown Disney. We were staying at the Ramada Maingate motel which is under a 5 minute walk to the main gate of Disney – so super convenient. The motel it comes with a continental breakfast which you get by going to a tiny room next to the pool. It had a small selection of donuts, fruit, bagels, toast and cereal. I have definitely seen worse. We grabbed what we wanted (frosted flakes anyone?) and enjoyed a nice leisurely breakfast outside in the sun under the palm trees. Not a bad way to start the trip.

Around 9am, we started to wander down to the expo. Unlike Disney World, Disneyland is very contained and all within walking distance of each other. It consists of two parks (Disneyland and California Adventures) and Downtown Disney (shops and restaurants). The two parks are directly across from each other and downtown Disney is right next to them. So it took about 5-10 minutes to reach the Disneyland hotel where the expo was being held. There were a few people in line ahead of us so we relaxed and chatted with them while we waited to for it to open.

Picking up our kits was nice and quick and both Gina and I were excited to find out that we would be starting in corral A. I am willing to take bets this will never happen again.  I continue to be super impressed with the race shirts that Disney provides. I wear my Princess one all the time (in fact wore it for this race). The Tinkerbell one is long sleeve which is perfect for this time of year…although the locals did not seem to overly impressed with that. Plus, I love that is says inaugural right on the shirt.

The one thing that really annoyed me the whole trip was the fact that we collected our race kits and then had to line up again to enter the expo. To me, this was ridiculous. I know Disney is all about lines but seriously?

Anyway, the expo was relatively small and not all that interesting. I was disappointed with much of the Disney merchandise for the Tinkerbell. Gina and I did however pick up some sparkle skirts to finish off our outfits. Mine is the darker green on the right. We wore them over our shorts and they worked out really well.

Race Day outfits

Beyond those and some sweaty bands, we really did not pick-up anything else at the expo so we headed back to the hotel to drop off our kits and then headed back over to hit the Disneyland park. January is considered off season for the park but with over 11,000 runners in for the Tinkerbell, it was PACKED. The number 1 ride I wanted to get on was the Indiana Jones Adventure ride (which is one not at Disney World). We headed straight there and picked up a fastpass for later as the current wait time was over an hour long. I have been to Disney World the past 2 years but on both occasions did not visit the Magic Kingdom, so this was a great opportunity to get on those rides. All in all we hit the Jungle Cruise, Mark Twain Riverboat cruise, Finding Nemo Submarine, Haunted Mansion, Snow White’s Scary Adventure and of course Indiana Jones. The Indy one was by far the best. I would have liked to also see the new Star Wars  and Pirates of the Caribbean rides but the lines were just too long. Will have to keep those in mind when I head back to Disney World in May.

Mark Twain River Boat tours

Huckleberry Finn's cabin.

River boat cruise

Overall, it was a pretty good day at the park.

That night, we decided to give Tony Roma’s a try for dinner. I guess Tony Roma’s is known for its ribs and steaks but Gina and I both ended up ordering the pasta…definitely not their specialty. It was ok, kinda bland but edible. Overall, a very forgettable meal.

The race started at 5:45 am Sunday, so we called it a night early (not to mention the time change was kicking our butts at this point). We had our outfits already and were anxious to get going in the morning. We were really looking forward to getting that medal.

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Tinkerbell: Getting There

I have been very lucky with my travels but my trip down to Anaheim for the Tinkerbell Inaugural Half Marathon put that to the test. Freezing rain was the culprit although I think something also went wrong at the airport as well. It was a slippery drive down to the airport as the parking lots we passed looked like skating rinks. Lucky for us,  the main roads were actually pretty good. I arrived in plenty of time to check-in, clear customs and arrive at the gate with time grab a snack before boarding. Upon check in, I was told there was about a 20 min delay which frankly I was quite happy with. We boarded according to the new time and I was excited to finally get on my way. Gina had flown out at 7am and we were planning on heading over the expo once I arrived in Anaheim to avoid the Saturday crowd.

So I boarded the plane, got my seat and we proceeded to sit at the gate for the next 90 minutes. Imagine my excitement when we finally got cleared to head over to the de-icing area. If we could get off the ground in the next few minutes, I would actually make my connection in Chicago. Sigh….unfortunately it was taking them 45 min per plane to de-ice and we were 3rd in line. This is where I am convinced someone dropped the ball in the Ottawa airport. Legally, passengers can not stay on a plane for longer than 3 hours while on the ground. We had already been sitting for half that and just got in line for another estimated 2hrs til our turn. So just as we were next in line, we had to pull out of the line up and go back to the terminal to offload.

Upon returning to the terminal, we had 40 minutes before we would return to the plane and try again. The majority of us used this time to organize new flights out of Chicago. The challenge being that we had no idea what time we would actually manage to land in Chicago. I erred on the side of caution and booked a new 5:30 flight, some other passengers went for the 3:45 flight.

Grabbed a snack and re-boarded the plane. 2hrs later we were air born…nothing like spending 5 hours on a plane just sitting there so make you nice and relaxed for your trip. Suffice to say, those passengers with the 3:45 flight took off as soon as we hit the terminal in Chicago. Their flight was boarding as we taxi’ed in so I have no idea if they made it or not.

Luckily, my flight to Los Angeles was relatively uneventful and I was even upgraded to Economy Plus which at least gave me extra leg room (supposedly a full extra 5 inches). Originally, I was scheduled to land in LA at 2:22 and I actual arrived at 9:20. You have no idea how happy I was to finally get there. Now, all I had to do was catch a shuttle to Anaheim (45 minutes away). Just to top my day off, I waited 20 minutes for the shuttle (not a big deal) but then circled the airport 3 times…which actually would have been fine if we had actually picked up another passenger..but no. There were 7 of us in the van to start with and that is what we left with. I swear this could be a form of mental torture.

I finally arrived at the hotel at almost 11pm., only 17 hours after I was originally supposed to leave.

All I remember thinking to myself was that the Tinkerbell medal had better be as good as the pictures.

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