October 13, 2010

Let me start by wishing you a happy glorious October afternoon. I am currently sitting in downtown Pittsburgh, enjoying some warm sunshine and the pleasant roar of a fountain. It does not feel like fall today.

Much has happened since you last heard from me. I started teaching my course. People appear to be responding well to my lectures and tutorial exercises and so far there is only one clear problem student. One out of 210, that’s not bad. The end of the summer in Toronto went well. I was productive putting the final touches together both for my course and our wedding. Matt and I enjoyed a few festivals and concerts, and we received welcome visits from a few friends.

In late August we attended the 6th or 7th annual Bocce Tournament hosted by two friends in Pittsburgh. This is a marvelous event. In addition to venerating this outstanding sport, the tournament instills a feeling of camaraderie and love for Italians in general.

I have also enjoyed two short trips to Santa Cruz since July. I visited in August to attend a wedding and to frantically try to process a very large number of plant samples, and then I returned in October for our own wedding. Although this most recent trip was by no means relaxing, it was still very much like a vacation. I am sure that this was due in no small part to the fact that we stayed in a hotel. What a bizarre feeling it was to stay in a hotel just down the street from where we lived for seven years. Our trip was split into two parts: Part 1 – Work our butts off and stay at a low budget, rather crappy motel, and Part 2 – enjoy time with family and stay at a very nice hotel. Not surprisingly, part 2 was much more fun than Part 1.

Thanks to a lot of planning and hard work, the trip went almost flawlessly and the weather couldn’t have been better. One of the highlights was personally picking out our flowers from the UCSC farm. They were so fresh and so colorful (that’s colourful if you live in Canada), we were literally like children in a candy shop. Picking out the champagne (or “cava” to be more correct) was also fun. Looking back, I am having trouble believing that this has all actually occurred. In the words of my brother, it has yet to sink in and instead seems like a “dream/fable”. I would probably be dubious that the wedding took place were it not for the new ring that is on my finger. The ceremony was short and beautiful. Scott (my brother) performed the ceremony and he did a fantastic job. Our reception also went smashingly and the toasts/ speeches were very memorable. It was fantastic catching up with friends and family who we haven’t seen in ages, and to have family members meet for the first time. I am extremely pleased with how well everyone got along. Thank you to all of you who helped us make our wedding so special. We don’t yet have access to our wedding photos, but as soon as we do, we will post them on our website, www.brookeandmatt.net. This should happen within the next few weeks.

Post wedding, I returned to Canada very briefly. I had just enough time to meet with students and TA’s, plan two weeks of exercises, teach a lecture, and enjoy a haunted walking tour of downtown Toronto. Then it was time to hit the road again. I have just finished attending a rewarding paleontology conference in Pittsburgh. I presented some of the most exciting aspects of my dissertation research and caught up with some old colleagues. I now have a few days of down time before we have a wedding reception here in Pennsylvania. Based on the current weather, I think that our event will be glorious. Never fear, this does not count as my honeymoon. That’s on hold until the weather turns foul and we need to escape to warmer climes.

And so the year continues to scoot along. Aside from staying on top of my class and successfully pumping out another manuscript or two, I have another conference and two invited talks this fall. Considering the number of events I packed into this fall, I have to say, I am rather pleasantly surprised that everything is going so well. I am happy, I am healthy, and I am working on becoming famous (even if it is only among a limited scientific crowd).

It was truly wonderful seeing so many of you in California, and I look forward to catching up with others this coming weekend. For those of you who were not there, look forward to the photos. As always, let us know if you think you might be coming through the Toronto area. It would be marvelous to have folks come visit.

Happy Fall!

Brooke