Well, I'm back.

A week's vacation, combined with the rigors of an all-weekend convention has left me needing... a vacation.

Cliched, yes, but true. I abused myself pretty badly this weekend, and I'll need a couple days to get back up to speed. My eyes are bleary, my brain fuzzy and my legs and arms achy.

Let's summarize.

I intended to spend the main portion of last week in making signs and forms for Con-Version, cleaning the apartment, packing, etc. Lisa's mom gave me a copy of The Sims for my birthday. That wiped out Monday, Tuesday and some of Wednesday.

Wednesday night's final meeting was all work, stuffing the program books and assorted junk into bags for handing out during the weekend, walking through the facility to nail down any final problems, hash out details on the trip to the Tyrell on Friday...

Thursday I worked. Went over to Lisa's parent's place to tend to house sit their cats, did the laundry, picked up a digital camera from work for the weekend, made posters, packed.

the neatest place on earth

Friday was when the fun finally started. One of the perks of being part of the convention committee is being able to go on a backroom tour of the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller.

Okay, the Tyrrell is cool anytime -- one of the biggest and best dinosaur museums in the world, this place is amazing -- but the behind-the-scenes tour is fantastic. Literally tons of bones and fossilized remains sit waiting in the storage rooms for the overworked technicians to get around to taking care of. I'll put together the photos on my main site for you all to look at later.

ah, phil. you skinny, big haired scientist guy, you.

Dr. Phil Currie, who is THE dinosaur guy these days, hosted the tour. Maybe you saw his picture on the cover of Time magazine last year? All that noise about dinosaurs with feathers? Yes, THAT Phil Currie. Phil is a long-time friend on Con-Version, and comes along every year to host panels and lend a hand. He's the science world's equivalent to the Olympic decathlon Gold Medal winner.

He's also a remarkable personable guy, who just happens to be working in a field that delights him. You can feel it when you talk to him, and his delight is infectious.

So. A quick tour, a whirlwind run through the main museum, and then back to Calgary to set up for the con vention.

I'll get into the convention more tomorrow, 'cause right now, my mind is still too buggy.

Night.

Hey, I'd like to talk about dinosaurs over in the NEW FORUM!

Yesterday was so long ago...

Tomorrow is so far away...

Take me home, big fella