Speaking at USF (Part 7): Social Media & Singapore Public Libraries

[From Part 6]

It's almost 5 am here, 14 Feb 2008 in San Francisco, as I post this.

Landed in SF this yesterday morning.


Cleared through immigration and customs quickly (was impressed by its efficiency and didn't expect the immigration officer to be so cordial and friendly!)

David was there with a big friendly smile. I recognised him immediately. For some reason, whatever apprehensions I had, in meeting him for the first time, were all gone. :)



During the drive to USF, David shared that their university library just started a blog called Gleeson Gleenings. Reading their blog posts, it's obvious to me that they get it.

Picked up the keys to the campus accommodations. It's more like an apartment for special guests (David emphasised "Special" and I had to suppress a look of disbelief -- come on, I'm nobody)



Very, very nice place! I may not be special but I feel special now, heh.

Unpacked my stuff. Checked my work and personal emails for a short while. Hey, new comments to the blog, from Amber and jini!

Went out for dinner.



Came back and then 5 pm and my lack of sleep caught up with me. Zonked out for the next few hours.

Woke at 9.30pm. Washed up. Wasn't hungry. Cleared more work emails.

Accessing work emails was slow (since the servers were hosting in Singapore). Plus my access to the USF network was limited to 20 minutes each time (I didn't have a campus account) so I was my connection to my work mail constantly dropped.

But apart from that, access to blogger & flickr etc. was FAST, now that I'm in U.S.

Continued working on the slides (included more screenshots, streamlined the presentation).

Then suddenly I'd inadvertently downloaded a spyware.

Crap.

Spent the next 30 minutes halting work and rooting out the problem. At least my anti-virus software was up-to-date. Decided not to copy anything to my backup drive, in case the virus gets transferred.

(So I typed the most of this post while letting the program do a full scan).

OK, problem solved. Phew.

The street lights outside the apartment bathes the street and apartments across the road in an amber glow. It's deserted at this time of the morning. The place looks clean and safe.

I'm really looking forward to the session with the students.

It's very humbling to be given a chance to share what I know. And I take pride in being able to share a little bit about Singapore, its public library services, and the good work that my colleagues have done.

Another thing I'm looking forward to is meeting up with Shel. The guy who got me started with blogging.

Three and a half years ago, I'd dismissed blogs in front of one particular American guest in Singapore.

And now I'm a guest in North America, to talk about blogs in front of an American audience.

I'm wearing a big happy silly grin inside my heart.

:)

[Go to Part 8]