ABLE Bioblog

Well, it’s February 2nd and Nova Scotia’s own Shubenacadie Sam is the first groundhog in Canada (and therefore North America – take a number, Punxsutawney Phil!) to make weather predictions from a hibernating rodent’s point of view. And the verdict is…

Six more weeks of winter. Which is hardly a surprise, considering how bitterly cold it is here in Halifax this week. I’m not complaining, however, because I know our colleagues to the west and south have gone through considerably worse recently, if not still at the moment.

In six weeks, however, it will all be over, and we’ll be six weeks closer to the most fun you can have in summer school – the annual ABLE meeting! If you haven’t done so already, please check out the spanky new ABLE conference website, where you can find the anticipated costs, information on travel and accommodations, and descriptions of this year’s major workshops. (I was really hoping for a lot of mundane, ho-hum major workshops this year, since I probably won’t be in a position to attend any of them myself, but NOOOOOO – the members just had to come through with a bunch of fun, interesting, challenging major workshops. Try to tone it down with the posters and minis, ‘K?)

Speaking of the ABLE conference website…this year, stewardship of the conference site has been taken over by the ABLE webmaster Mark and his minion, Chris. (Or maybe Mark is really Chris’ minion…it’s hard to say…) Anyway, it’s a huge burden off the shoulders of the conference hosts, and I think it will work well as a permanent arrangement. It’s so easy – just tell them what you want posted and *poof* – it appears! Just like that! (Clearly these two are underemployed and have way too much time on their hands.) I want to thank Mark and Chris for doing such a great job on the site, and making Jendy’s life just a little bit easier.

That’s all for now…registration opens March 1st, and there’s lots more information to come in the meantime, so stay tuned!

Happy Groundhog Day,
Jen