Brains, energy, otters, literature, and love

I'm getting excited about Internet Librarian 2005, where I'll be presenting with my colleagues, Tim Rogers (infocommuner) and Sharyl McMillian-Nelson. Anyway, in addition to the fabulous presentations and the opportunity to meet lots of cool folks with lots of energy and brains, I get to go to one of my favorite places in the world: Monterey.

I won't go into all the reasons I love Monterey, but one of them is otters. If I hadn't named this blog after a character from Moby-Dick, I would have named it something otter-esque. Otter-daughter was one of my nick-names as a kid, but also otters are happy and when you talk about energy and brains, otters have all that wrapped up and more. Anyway, I've been checking out the exhibits at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and I was thrilled to see the otter family album, and learn that many of the otters who live there (and are on display via the Web-cam) are also named after Steinbeck characters. Plus, there are otters that were rescued from Katrina hanging out, too. Love it.

Oh, one more note about otters: they look cute and fuzzy, but they are also one of the most expensive animals in the world to try to keep in captivity. They have expensive taste in food, and they have to be kept busy all the time or else they'll destroy their man-made environments. Brains & energy can equal creation or destruction.