So maybe that’s not pretty enough. Here’s a corrective: it’s also Mary’s birthday today, so congratulate her on putting up with me for so long!

So maybe that’s not pretty enough. Here’s a corrective: it’s also Mary’s birthday today, so congratulate her on putting up with me for so long!

Just a heads up for Calgary — I’m going to be interviewed on “The World Tonight” on AM770 CHQR Radio, at 9:15 eastern time. They say they want to ask me some questions about a cracker…I have no idea how I’ll stretch that out for 15 minutes.
This was another day when I had to go off to Minneapolis to run an important errand, and as long as I was there, I went on Air America for an hour. There I am, with Mike Haubrich and Lynn Fellman, talking about the Galápagos.

The
recording will be up a little later today.
We have a time and a place for the big millionth comment party in Minneapolis in less than two weeks. Attendees: get the full scoop from Greg Laden’s Blog.
I’ll be bringing my big pink furry octopus and Skatje. You don’t want to miss it.
I’ve squeezed one more talk into my fall schedule, but that’s it — if you want me to come talk to your university or organization, it’ll have to be in January or later — I’m not accepting any more invitations. Here’s my complete and final long distance travel schedule for the next few months.
| Friday, 12-14 Sep: | Denver, CO |
| Friday, 19-21 Sep: | Madison, WI |
| Thursday, 25-28 Sep: | Long Beach, CA |
| Friday, 10-12 October: | Springfield, MO |
| Friday, 31 Oct-2 Nov: | Toronto, ON |
| Thursday, 13-15 Nov: | Kearney, NE |
| Wednesday, 19-22 Nov: | Philadelphia, PA |
| early December: | Central Florida (pending) |
I do have a few engagements set up for the spring already, and it’s filling up fast, too.
We have a date and time — Thursday, 18 September at 7pm. We have a rough location — somewhere in the Minneapolis/St Paul area. And most importantly, we have the will to party to celebrate the one millionth comment on scienceblogs.
We also have an excess of specific venue suggestions. Now we could do a gigantic pub crawl, but that would be unseemly…besides, that’s already scheduled for 18 October, when it’s time for the Zombie Pub Crawl 4: Spawn of Death. But I digress. We need you to vote to narrow down the choices. Greg has the list, read it and vote! It’s going to be the very best geek event in Minneapolis ever, at least until ZPC4:SoD.
There’s something wicked about being surrounded by bright red arcs of lightning — I may have to go with this look from now on.
(This is the flyer for my talk in Denver. I guess I’d better be a little bit ferocious.)
The first day of classes is on Wednesday.
<insert long despairing wail here>
I have to get ready now, so life is going to be a bit frantic for a few days. This term I’ll be teaching Developmental Biology, a fun class and not a problem right now, and I’ll also be teaching our intro course, Fundamentals of Genetics, Evolution, and Development. That’s going to be a bit more work; it was taught for the first time last year, and it still needs some fine-tuning.
Then, just because my semester isn’t crazy enough, there are travel plans. I’m losing a lot of weekends this term. Here’s the rough schedule for the year, which will probably expand as time goes by:
7 September: Minneapolis, Minnesota
12 September: Denver, Colorado
19 September: Madison, Wisconsin
25 September: Long Beach, California
31 October: Toronto, Ontario
13 November: Kearney, Nebraska
20 November: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
30 January: Edmonton, Alberta
mid-February: Greencastle, Indiana (tentative)
22 April: Ashland, Oregon
If I’m not in your area sometime, don’t fault me, I’m trying. Now, where are all the invitations to speak in Australia and Hawaii? Why isn’t the deep South asking me to come on down?
