...Gavi!

I love you so very, very much. Here's wishing you joy and interesting discoveries -- today, everyday, and always.

The subject line refers to the number of steps I walked Saturday. It was my first "over 10,000" day since surgery.

I would have walked more if I were at Birds Hill Park in Manitoba for BaggieCon at the Winnipeg Folk Festival, but that's okay. I doubt I would have held up through 26,5XX steps, which is my all time daily record since I started wearing a pedometer two years ago. I set the record at BaggieCon in 2007 after having walked 18,000+ steps the day before.

The entire 127-acre Smith College campus is a botanical garden and arboretum. Gorgeous. I didn't know Susan could possibly walk past even one let alone hundreds of interesting plants without stopping to coo over each one, but she did. Admirably, without complaint or even a comment. There was the rest of the tour group of prospective students, parents, and friends to keep up with.

There any more college tours ahead. July is especially full of them. Susan and Gavi are spending most of the next two weeks here and we have 7-8 more tours on the schedule. They'll then be visiting three more schools on the way home. With luck, I'll be able to join them for Cornell in Ithaca, then a fun day in Corning looking at amazing glass. Fingers crossed!

It will be interesting to compare the tours I'm able to go along on and see how they differ. I thought our tour guide at Smith was fabulous, but Gavi said she was pretty much the same as the tour guides at Carleton, Macalester, and UW-Madison. Wow.

We're building break days into the schedule. We're all looking forward to sleeping in and just hanging out here at Toad Woods all day Sunday. Here's hoping I can plow through a bunch of the items on my To Do list -- the more I can stay on top of my work and other commitments, the more tours I can go along on.

Life is good. I hope the music and fun in Winnipeg is equally so.

Saturday afternoon, Gavi and I will be at the Central Square Theatre for the Improbable Research Cabaret. The show is part of the Cambridge Science Festival and is also a fundraiser for the theatre.

There's a special $5 discount for tickets purchased online use the code "IMPROBABLE" to get the discount.

Here's a quick overview:

May 2, 2009 - 3pm

Join Ig Nobel Prize Winners

Presented cabaret style as part of the Cambridge Science Festival

Answering Questions like:
-- Is Coca-Cola an effective spermicide? - demonstration included!
--How do sheets wrinkle?
-- Why do people dislike the sound of fingernails on a blackboard?

Don't miss songs from the Ig Nobel Operas, the Performing Scientists from Harvard and MIT, and more! 

Tickets (before $5 discount)
Adults - $35
Students (with valid ID) - $20

All proceeds to benefit Central Square Theater. Tickets include post-performance reception with Cabaret scientists.

I'm looking forward to it! If you come, please be sure to say hi (and meet Gavi, if you've only seen me write about her).