it's December already?

Wow this year has flown by. It's been a doozy for sure. Well, the beginning of December in Bakersfield is marked by Mr Toad's Wild Run for those of us who like to participate in that sort of thing. I happen to be one of them, and I really do love that race, it is the most fun footrace I have ever done - starts with 1.5 miles of uphill, followed by about .5 miles of flat, and ends with a mile of downhill in a steep and windy gully. Totally awesome. This is the race that I did for the first time, on a whim in 2006 and placed 2nd in my age group - but did not stay for the medal ceremony and thus did not get my medal. Then did again in 2009, slightly hungover, wanting to get a medal, and came in 4th in my age group... sigh. This year, new age group, more competition, no chance to medal - but I sure was happy with 9th!

Meanwhile, later on that same day, was our last roller derby bout of the season. This one was to benefit Toys for Tots, and we had a huge turnout and loads of donations for the charity. It was great - really the only thing that was missing was our newest fan Ramón to cheer us on! A surprise for me was to get thrown into the Jammer hat - more surprising was that I didn't suck at it on the first run, and got thrown out there in that position 2 more times... I even scored us some points! I don't know the full tally by any means, and so far have nearly failed at locating any photographic evidence, but thanks to Into the Void Photography and Firefly Photography? There's at least these photos.

Finally, this blog post is brought to you via a break in reviewing the proofs of my article to be published in the Journal of Economic Geology. Oh yeah, that monkey will be off my back before 2011. Which ultimately means that in this year of disasters, I've managed to pull out the publication of a book, a peer-reviewed scientific article, and 2 presentations at GSA.

On the note of the book, it's being carried at the Buena Vista Museum, and I'm trying to get it at Russo's and Barnes and Noble. Meanwhile it's available in limited quantity from me (if you're in Canada and want a copy - let me know!) and from the publisher.