GREETS FROM NYC

Whew! What a way to spend my birthday!

We're in New York City. Came for a conference I was attending Wed-Thurs. It was about marketing in virtual reality... which is essentially what my consulting business is about. It was pretty good, I met a lot of interesting people, including other educators looking into virtual worlds for online education opportunities (I happen to now own Academy Island in Second Life, which is an educational island). Met a blue-blooded Toronto fan and we chatted it up. Had to ride the train and tramway by myself to get to and from downtown, but that was fun once I got over being lost -- it's on the surface that I get lost... which exit did I come out of? Which way is the tramway? Where am I and what direction am I facing!??!

Last night we went to see a new Broadway play, The Pirate Queen, which Mark thought I would like for a variety of reasons: an Irish tale, based on a novel by one of our favorite authors, Morgan Llywellyn, about a female chieftain in a time of rampant sexism (the Irish weren't sexist until Catholicism came around around 590 AD), music by the Les Miserables guys, and a lot of Riverdance-like Irish dancing. Oh yeah, and PIRATES! It was pretty good, not nearly as good as Les Mis but less boring than Phantom (I like the music but the musical is boring as hell); the music needed more... melody, I guess... and there needed to be more piracy and more dancing. We were front row center, and that was an interesting experience. However, overall, it was pretty entertaining. Queen Elizabeth (I)'s costumes were the most amazing things!

Today we took Bunky to the Bronx Zoo. It's a big, famous conservation zoo with cheetahs and gorillas, and stuff. When he could see the animals he was interested, but not all exhibits were stroller-height friendly, but he was also entertained by the fencing, the dirt, the trees, the squirrels trying not to get eaten by the (unseen to him) snow leopards, etc. My feet are killing me but it was a fun trip. We have a picture with the tiger (she came within 4 inches of Fin's face... through the glass! sheesh!) but Mark's camera battery died after four pics so we didn't get much :( We also saw a polar bear, which Bunky liked a lot.

Hollywood / Griffith Park is on fire. Check LATimes.com for a great photo of the plume! Go LAFD! I heard the plume is over Hollywood and the smoke is over Studio City, Toluca Lake, and generally in the direction I live (opposite side of the mt. as Hollywood). It's all sad, it's raw land, habitat for our bobcats, deer, rattlers, coons, and (non-native) oppossums. And other things - rats, bugs, dragonflies, killer bees, etc.

Oh and I heard some story about how the bees are gone. What? What do you mean the bees are gone? And not just in California... but... apparently the normal number of bees required to pollinate our crops... which means bad crop year coming up. Kind of the opposite of a plague of locusts. Probably related to our highly unusual freezing cold snap in January which is probably caused by global warming. Serves us right, I say. The planet has to right itself by reducing polution by reducing population. (Isn't that horrible?)

Anyway, here's to the beginning of the end of the world, brought upon by our own actions and irreversible. Soon there won't be any tigers, snow leopards, or polar bears left. So sad.

Love you all!
me