This Thursday I jump on a plane to Boston for this weekend's ALA Midwinter conference where

I’ll be signing our books and selling a selection of our merchandise, including the

bestselling Library Raid

Jacket. Drop by booth 2235 and say Hi! As always attendees can read a special

Unshelved Conference Tip every day in CogNotes. See a preview at the ALA site <a

href=“http://www.ala.org/ala/eventsandconferencesb/midwinter/2005/home.htm”>here (scroll

to the bottom of the page).

Thursday is also my birthday (yup, I'm spending it on an airplane), and as is our tradition

Gene is drawing the strip on that day. Every year his drawing gets better, and at his rate of

improvement we predict he will become our regular artist by 2043.