I've been Mr. Nanny for this trip to San Diego, and the American Library Association's Midwinter meeting. Anna serves on the Newbery Medal Award Committee and this is their final meeting before passing the baton this summer to the next group. At this meeting they have decided which book will get the Newbery Award and which book(s) will get the Newbery Honor (sort of like runner-up). Of course, being the outstanding moral people that we are, my wife has refused to tell me who has won (dang!). But the press conference is to occur here within the hour and so we'll know soon enough.
Some trip highlights:
1. Sofie's first airplane ride: Slept right through it.
2. The Healy's first trip to the San Diego Zoo: Way cool! We got to see the new baby panda. Who, coincidentally, was born four days after Sofie and is as long and weighs as much as our daughter. We got cute pics of the little bugger sleeping. Awwwww.
3. Clifton lost his cell phone: (Insert profuse cursing and foreheading-slapping here.) Yep. Apparently it came off my waistband, where I'd had it clipped, in the taxi I was riding in. And we'd just gotten the free upgrade. I'd had the phone for, like, three days. Sheesh.
4. Took the trolley tour to Coronado and Old Town. Went to the Hotel Del Coronado and had lunch. Got pictures of the beach. Another Sofie first: Went to the Pacific Ocean. Leaving the Hotel and heading back to the trolley stop, saw the President of Chile's motorcade go by. Also saw a traffic stop turn into an arrest and search of the car (drugs?). Old Town was completely touristy. Oh well. What should I have expected.
5. Got a free reviewer's copy of Andrew Clements' new book, The Report Card, and have already read it. It's pretty good. I love this children's author. If you haven't read his book Frindle, run (do not walk) to your local library's children's department and check it out. You will cry at the end (for joy). His The School Story is pretty good, too.
In other news, picked up a cheap pipe and some aromatic tobacco to smoke on our hotel balcony. (I knew I should have brought mine from home.)
Later today we'll do the whale-watching tour and see the humpbacks (grey whales?) do their migrating thing. This will be another first for Sofie.
More blogging when I get back.
Posted by Clifton at January 12, 2004 09:28 AM | TrackBackMan, I just missed you guys in Cali by a week. I would like to have crashed the Healey vacation (with permission, of course) and met another cool philosopher and family (my parents live in Orange County, about an hour and 15 minutes north of SD).
And hey, RJ Hankinson is one of my professors. It's a good book (though Gail Fine didn't think so).
Hope you guys have a safe trip home.
Posted by: Wayne at January 12, 2004 03:50 PMWayne:
You would have been welcome to "crash" our trip. Too bad we didn't meet up.
I would have loved the conversation.
Posted by: Clifton D. Healy at January 14, 2004 11:01 AM