Wednesday, October 23 #IAMSLIC2013
Back to our usual schedule of 3 shuttles to the NSU Oceanographic Center, we began a very busy day of presentations and tours mostly on time.  Stephen Alayon & Arame Keita presented on Research Dissemination  at their institutions & regions.  We adjourned for the morning break and everyone again visited the Guin Auction as the bidding ended at the close of the break.  Yes, there were a few contentious items and we raised $1,161 for the Guin Fund this year.
Missed the next set of presentations on Florida special collections as I was working with Liz Winiarz, Kathy Heil & Jen Walton to gather and total all the winning bids/bidders so the items could go home with their new owners.  If you weren’t here, you don’t have the chance to bid on some of the many excellent donations to the auction.  And this year, we had some really GREAT items.  There was a tie for the highest bids: a lovely pair of earrings and a painting of fish from one of Stephen Alayon’s co-workers.
Returned to the auditorium in time to hear Mathias Seaman and Ian Stewart talk about publishing and institutional repositories from the publishers’ point of view.  They were quite engaging, as usual, and brought up some really good points about the detail orientation of researchers/authors and their ability to self-edit (or not) their own papers.  Several examples were presented of errors that made it all the way to ABPO (all but posted online) in the publication process.
After another tasty lunch of salad, rice pilaf and grilled chicken, we were treated to tours of the coral nursery onsite. Interesting how they propagate specimens for research and they also use these specimens to restore coral reef habitat in the Ft Lauderdale area. Â Â During the second tour, the rain began.
The afternoon session was limited to the Green Flash session. Â I again missed a bunch as we were checking people out of the Guin Auction. Â We piloted using Paypal to accept plastic (debit/credit cards) to pay for winnings. Â Several members helped pilot and we have successfully received payment via this service. Woo hoo!
We all raced back to the hotel to change for the banquet at Hyatt Pier 66.  Sadly, the rain could not hold back and while we rode the water taxi down the intracoastal waterway, the rain began in earnest.  Most opted to retain their good looks for the banquet by sheltering in the cabin on the taxi and then there were the rest of us. Yeah, yeah, I was busy taking pictures of the lovely ships sights along our route,  especially the yachts that I plan to purchase when I win the lottery.  The reception area and hors d’oeuvres were served on the lower level of the hotel rather than outside on a lanai.  We then rode a Great Glass Elevator to the very top of the building.  There was a balcony to take pictures of the vista and the sun setting around the rainclouds.  Then inside, there was a surprise.  Most dropped of purses and items on tables as they settled who they wanted to dine with and then went outside to take pictures.  While we were outside, the room began rotating.  As we filed back in to begin the food portion, folks were wondering where their stuff had gone.  Just had to look around to figure out where the table had rotated to.  Several opted to take pictures inside against the windows as they backed up to the window overlooking Ft Lauderdale. Many discovered that the handrail did not rotate with the floor, resulting in some interesting poses. Luckily, the dance floor was stable as well.  I can only imagine the chaos if that floor had also been spinning.   Much fun and laughter as we all danced to our favorite tunes and the party had to break up much too soon at 930 pm.  Wednesday, October 23 #IAMSLIC2013
