So the British TV thing has been cancelled. I know some of you were excited about it, but I'm slightly relieved because I'll be more in charge of my own schedule. The other Berkeley people are even more relieved. I depart for French Polynesia in a little over a week and things are starting to come together. The big pain in the ass has been permitting--not on the French Polynesian side, but on the US side. Ever since US Department of Agriculture permits for importing animals and plants were made subject to Department of Homeland Security rules, the approval process takes forever. I applied in December, with the understanding that I'd be approved in time before this trip, but because of the backlog, my permit is nowhere near being approved. This means I won't be able to bring back live caterpillars and pupae, although I can bring back dead specimens. I also need to get a digital camera. This is a big purchase I've been meaning to make for years, and keep putting off because it seems to be a really big decision.

This weekend I'll be off to Berkeley's Hastings Reserve in Monterey County again, for a one-unit course on identifying California ants. It should be beautiful down there in the hills, although it's been awfully rainy and stormy much of the past few weeks in the Bay Area so I shouldn't get my hopes up. This trip means I miss my chance to hear intelligent design advocate William Dembski speak at Berkeley on Friday and Saturday nights. He was invited by an undergraduate group, which on its website is appealing (rather disingenuously) to Berkeley's long tradition of free speech. Rather oddly, a lot of grad students I know are excited about going and asking him embarassing questions afterwards, but I'm pretty happy I'm going to be a long way away from all the crap. It's a lot of undergraduates who think they're being really smart. I had enough of that when I was an undergraduate.