NAFEW news
I'm writing from the SUB of at the UBC campus in Vancouver. I'm currently attending a three day conference that frankly gets me kind of excited about my job. It's the North American Forest Ecology Conference, a conference that happens once every two years and draws people from all over the continent. I have seen presentations from Malaysia and Mexico. I have heard so many accents on the English language that I can barely list them all: German, Aussie, Javanese, Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese, Kentucky, Iowa... There is so much good work being done out there!!!
This conference is good for a lot of reasons. First all, by it being in Vancouver AND on a Monday I was able to take last Friday off and head home to Victoria for a few days. I immersed myself in the company of the girls and a few other friends and really enjoyed myself. I didn't have a spare second to myself, just as I wanted it! Plus, I got some pressies for myself and others. CD's from Lyle's Place, and a Carl Sagan book. But the best thing of all? Lindsay brought me this BEAUTIFUL mask all the way from her trip to Malawi. It's a sun mask, carved out of rosewood with radiating lines coming out of the smooth polished facial features. I find it absolutely stunning and will soon post a pic of it. So the government pays for me to get almost all the way home for a visit. THEN, I get to go to this cool conference for three days with lovely catered food and swag. Oh yeah, there's swag. I always knew it was lurking out there somewhere. I think it's a little sad that I know own a briefcase, but ah well. I can call it a shoulderbag and try to save my pride a little. It has the conference logo on it and actually isn't that bad.
I arrived in Vancouver to have supper with my cousin and little Sam. I got to the Gage Towers with enough time to wait 20 minutes in the check-in lineup and head upstairs. I opened up the door and found the coworkers sharing my suite all kicking back with fine scotch and a case, yes a CASE of wine. So we talked and imbibed and generally had a great time. Of course, that meant that 6:45 came around a little too early but all in all I think that it was worth it considering. The day of the conference went well, I got a chance to check out the amazing UBC bookstore (oh yes, I don't care how much luggage I'm taking with me. I AM buying a book or two from that place). I met some interesting people, a rare plant botanist from Calgary, a married couple from Iowa studying pine regeneration. The really nice French girl who walked me to Gage Towers when I arrived on the bus. Good people all around, I just get a little shy not knowing anyone past our party. Tonight was really wonderful. The conference booked the UBC Museum of Anthropology for the event, so we had a free tour of the whole place before a lovely banquet outside. The food was fantastic and I appreciated the chance to meet new people and talk to coworkers. But the best thing of all was after the banquet had happened. We all went inside for a presentation on the forested ecosystems of BC, and ended up largely sitting down on the floor of the main gallery. This part of the building has a BEAUTIFUL full-glass wall. So there were the 350+ odd forest ecologists all sitting on the floor, looking at Andy MacKinnon. He was framed against the totems in the gallery, and the start of a fabulous sunset was framed behind him. And just the added little touch? Swallows swooped and dove right outside the musuem walls... It was just a wonderful sight- it was why I told myself I had to write this entry. It also turns out that the person I started idly chitchatting with is Ray Coupe, the regional ecologist for Williams Lake and someone of no small importance in my books. He has co-authored many books that I respect and I was very pleased to get acquainted with him, even more so when he said that he had hear of me before from Will and he had all kinds of good things to say about me... Aw shucks.
The day has been good. I'm going to head back to Gage and see if the guys are back. I think some more wine and maybe some media on the laptop are in order!
This conference is good for a lot of reasons. First all, by it being in Vancouver AND on a Monday I was able to take last Friday off and head home to Victoria for a few days. I immersed myself in the company of the girls and a few other friends and really enjoyed myself. I didn't have a spare second to myself, just as I wanted it! Plus, I got some pressies for myself and others. CD's from Lyle's Place, and a Carl Sagan book. But the best thing of all? Lindsay brought me this BEAUTIFUL mask all the way from her trip to Malawi. It's a sun mask, carved out of rosewood with radiating lines coming out of the smooth polished facial features. I find it absolutely stunning and will soon post a pic of it. So the government pays for me to get almost all the way home for a visit. THEN, I get to go to this cool conference for three days with lovely catered food and swag. Oh yeah, there's swag. I always knew it was lurking out there somewhere. I think it's a little sad that I know own a briefcase, but ah well. I can call it a shoulderbag and try to save my pride a little. It has the conference logo on it and actually isn't that bad.
I arrived in Vancouver to have supper with my cousin and little Sam. I got to the Gage Towers with enough time to wait 20 minutes in the check-in lineup and head upstairs. I opened up the door and found the coworkers sharing my suite all kicking back with fine scotch and a case, yes a CASE of wine. So we talked and imbibed and generally had a great time. Of course, that meant that 6:45 came around a little too early but all in all I think that it was worth it considering. The day of the conference went well, I got a chance to check out the amazing UBC bookstore (oh yes, I don't care how much luggage I'm taking with me. I AM buying a book or two from that place). I met some interesting people, a rare plant botanist from Calgary, a married couple from Iowa studying pine regeneration. The really nice French girl who walked me to Gage Towers when I arrived on the bus. Good people all around, I just get a little shy not knowing anyone past our party. Tonight was really wonderful. The conference booked the UBC Museum of Anthropology for the event, so we had a free tour of the whole place before a lovely banquet outside. The food was fantastic and I appreciated the chance to meet new people and talk to coworkers. But the best thing of all was after the banquet had happened. We all went inside for a presentation on the forested ecosystems of BC, and ended up largely sitting down on the floor of the main gallery. This part of the building has a BEAUTIFUL full-glass wall. So there were the 350+ odd forest ecologists all sitting on the floor, looking at Andy MacKinnon. He was framed against the totems in the gallery, and the start of a fabulous sunset was framed behind him. And just the added little touch? Swallows swooped and dove right outside the musuem walls... It was just a wonderful sight- it was why I told myself I had to write this entry. It also turns out that the person I started idly chitchatting with is Ray Coupe, the regional ecologist for Williams Lake and someone of no small importance in my books. He has co-authored many books that I respect and I was very pleased to get acquainted with him, even more so when he said that he had hear of me before from Will and he had all kinds of good things to say about me... Aw shucks.
The day has been good. I'm going to head back to Gage and see if the guys are back. I think some more wine and maybe some media on the laptop are in order!