…and trying to catch up. This of course is no help with that… The conference went well, and I’ll keep on with it for now at least. We’re planning another one in the US in August, and before that in Milan in mid-June.

The NY Times did a piece today on Albert Speer, another article on whom was part of what catalyzed my decision to study planning. Have a look at Metropolis Magazine sometime.

I finally found a recording of The Donnas covering AC/DC’s Shot Down in Flames. The quality isn’t that great, but it’s only version I’ve found… They’re a bit older now, but this is from 1998 — it’s so cool to hear the teeny-bopper chicks rock out. Mad Props to ShitHead Ed, you’re the man.

I’m reading Shaping the Sierra: Nature, Culture, and Conflict in the Changing West, by Timothy P. Duane, in part as background for a paper on the state of planning in California’s Eastern Sierra region…

…and getting ready to head down to Florida on Sunday for AdMonsters VIII. That should help me warm up again after the “Polar Bear Plunge” through the ice on Lake Monona this Saturday!

Yes, today is my 33rd birthday, but if you’re reading this, there’s a good chance that you’re even older than that. As these things happen, this is also the day that Megan and were introduced (at the Passerby in NYC).

Tonight we’re heading our for some fine dining at David W. Heiney’s Dining & Spirits in Black Earth, WI. You may recall that’s also the location of the Shoe Box. I’m not sure why we’ve gravitated to Black Earth, but it does have a certain ring to it.

Oh yeah, and I better head out and get some duct tape.

The Four Lakes Ice Yacht Club was out on Lake Monona on Saturday doing a bit of club racing. I went down and caught a ride with this guy Paul on his Nite — the only smaller boat that can accomodate two people. There were a few DN’s, and several Renegades… The ice was far from ideal — lots of crud, which made for relatively slow sailing, but watching these guys come around the downwind mark was still really cool. Paul and I had some trouble getting going in his boat due to the crud, but we did get a few good reaches back and forth at 30-40mph. I doubt I’ll have enough free time this winter to justify getting a boat myself, maybe for next winter though…

…about the history of regional planning, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the history of economics, and now the history of ecological economics… interesting stuff.

Went to see a couple of movies: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, which I enjoyed, because I like stories about wackos, and also because I went to high school with Sam Rockwell. Also 25th Hour, Spike Lee’s vision of post-9/11 America as, um, a man who skips town on his way to prison. It was the typical overblown Spike Lee cliche’ (I know, I know, I’m sure he’d say that I just don’t get it), and a real disappointment from our man Ed Norton.