Announcement

Sadie Ryan has officially read both Andro's and Dan's blogs. It sort of shamed me into writing a new post here.

Also, procrastination is a fantastic motivator. Is this irony? Discuss.

What is the latest and greatest? PRIMATES!!! Yes, that's right, the buffalo have been set aside for the 'summer' in favor of returning to my undergrad pursuits - the role of social contact in disease transmission in primates.

Yes, this is a very well studied taxon, and therefore there are quite a great deal of data on them. (notice how I correctly used the plural for a change, mr. editor?).

Let's have some primate pictures, shall we? NICE.

JULY

My summer is shaping up to be a travelogue - On July 2nd, I will head out to New Jersey to be in a wedding (yes, me, in a beaded bridesmaid's dress - all the female paranoias have surfaced in ugly ways!); I will spend July 4th with Jackie in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Hopefully I'll catch up with various NYC buddies out there.
Then, I will come back on the 7th and contemplate my navel, panic, etc. Because on the 13th I'm off to Brazil (Brasilia) to give a talk about primates at the Society for Conservation Biology's 19th Annual Conference and then fly back. Phew.
Getting the visa is proving to be a crazy ordeal. I had to get a postal order for the $100 fee, had to go and get passport pictures, there's a whole form and all that... then I have to go to the Brazilian Consulate in San Francisco for approval.

On the 21st, I will return. Will I move to San Francisco? The gods are giggling. Alex and I have finally entered the phase of really thinking about apartments. I click on this webpage about every hour http://www.craigslist.org/cgi-bin/search?areaID=1&subAreaID=1&query=&cat=apa&minAsk=min&maxAsk=2000&bedrooms=&neighborhood=25 We are too picky and too poor. It's a horrible combination. Plus that CAT is a huge factor. Love the cat. Love the cat. LOVE the cat. Good cat. I'll put a nice thin picture of Alley on here.

AUGUST

After that chaos is sorted out.... actually regardless of whether it's sorted out, I'm getting on another plane on July 31st and heading to Japan for the International Mammal Congress, in Sapporo, where the primates get another round.

Fortunately, after that conference, I'll get a good break. How often does one go to Japan? So I'm going to see Kyoto and some ancient culture - with an English speaking tour, so I don't try to order sushi non-stop or ask for "two red towels, please" (it's something like Akai tauru o ni mai kudasai), the only phrase I learned from the TV japanese course.
Then back I come to SF, perhaps pack and then head back out to NY state again - this time Alex's brother Joey is getting married. YEA!!! To Aisling, who I like a lot. But I have to sneak out of their weekend of wedding extravaganza to join in a bachelorette weekend with Gillian; 18 years of friendship counts for something, eh?

To come back or not to come back? Well, we shall see... If there's an apartment lined up, perhaps we'll come back. Because yes, believe it or not we are going to be at another wedding in upstate NY in...

SEPTEMBER

Yes, Paul and Molly are getting married in the Adirondacks - it's close to some old family friends of Alex's, so we're getting some nice vacation time in. Then, if all goes well, we're driving back in his car. I'm rooting for taking the Canadian roots, eh, and coming down the Northwest Coast back to the Bay Area - but the southern route could also be fun... we're happy to entertain suggestions.