I knew I should've taken that left turn at Albuquerque

Well, we're off to the Duke City for NAI's annual shindig and the Excellence in Interpretation Awards Ceremony. I probably won't be putting any updates on here while we're gone, but you can expect to see one or three this coming weekend.

I've been hmmming and hahhhing for the past couple of weeks regarding preparing an acceptance speech for the Tilden Award. Although I've got a one in seven chance of winning it, I still don't know what my competition is. I'm assuming that the other projects are pretty spectacular, though. They always are. Besides, I would feel kind of presumptuous if Iwere to arrive with a speech prepared. So, while I'm definitely going to think about it, I still haven't decided whether or not I'm going to write anything down.

Sonja's pretty excited to get a chance to go hiking while I'm attending workshops at the conference. She's got several desert trails all lined up for Wednesday. She is bound and determined to see a Greater Roadrunner while we're there.

Finally, a couple weeks ago the Alaska Sealife Center learned that one of this summer's rehabilitated harbor seals, Poppy, was shot by a young boy on his first seal hunt with his father in the Bering Sea last month. Apparently, it was this boy's first seal kill and, by Y'upik tradition, it was subsequently shared with the entire village. While her death is unfortunate, it was done in a humane way and she helped provide food and clothing for native village in bush Alaska. A bittersweet ending for a seal the rehab staff worked hard to save. Here's a video of Sonja with Poppy last June at the Sealife Center: