Trip to Philadelphia

This was the first time I've allowed a couple of extra days to see the city when I've gone to a conference. This was the view outside my hotel room -- City Hall with William Penn on top.


I could walk almost anywhere I needed to go, which was cool, since I can't do that here. You have to have a car to get around where I live.

While also attending the conference, I made time to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.

I also went to the Constitution Center but they don't allow you to take pictures there. Being in all these places where our country began was affecting. You realize how much work the founders of our country did and how much they valued the idea of freedom. I found myself so angry at some of our leaders today who have referred to the Constitution as "just a piece of paper" -- it's so much more.

Down the street from my hotel was Love Park and the muncipal hall which was kind of fun -- it has game pieces in front of it -- giant Parcheesi pieces and dominoes and chess pieces.
I loved Philadelphia and wished I could have taken even more time to visit the city.

Philadelphia and Dr. Who

Not that these two have anything in common that I know of, they are just linked in my thinking right now. I leave for Philadelphia, for the American Library Association's Midwinter conference, on Thursday. Although I'm looking forward to it, as I've never been to Philadelphia, I'm also making myself cold just thinking about it. Cold here is 20 degrees Farenheit -- maybe a little colder, but not much.

Dr Who: I bought series 1-3 of this television show about the last of the Time Lords for my husband for Christmas. Guess who spent all of her Christmas break watching the three seasons? That's right -- I did, accompanied by my daughter. Sometimes we even stayed up really late just to finish a disc. That's how much we enjoyed this series. I watch it on SciFi with my husband and liked it, but I'd missed almost all of series 3. The doctor gets a new companion, Martha, in that season, and I was attached to Rose. Series 3 turned out to be my favorite of all the seasons. Martha is a fitting companion for the Doctor and the story lines were inventive and fun. I liked visiting Shakespeare, and the episodes with the Master (played by John Simm from Life on Mars) were stunning. The visual effects on this series are better than the ones on the older Dr. Who series, but they still aren't great, which just goes to show, stellar writing can overcome mediocre special effects every time.