No SVP awards banquet

I have to say I'm a bit annoyed at SVP at the moment. I recently read an email from SVP President Blair Van Valkenburg that states they couldn't find a room big enough to hold all of us, so they are going to change the awards banquet to a simple ceremony. While I'm really looking forward to the conference, the fact that we don't get an awards banquet this year is kind of annoying. I understand that the economy is in the crapper, but I find it hard to believe that the university doesn't have a room large enough to hold us all. Where do they hold their graduation ceremonies?

I feel that I paid a lot to register (even as a student) as well as $1100 (CDN) for the flight, and will be paying around $115 (US) per night for the hotel, plus then food and incidentals. I think the least they could do is have a banquet. The food doesn't have to be spectacular - I'd be happy with sandwiches and chips. And I'd bet good money that when the economy does pick back up that the banquet will still be history. Actually, I found it rather amusing that she mentioned that there will not be food during coffee breaks (just cookies) because I can only think of one meeting where there was real food during coffee breaks and that was at Bozeman. I remember everyone being surprised and delighted at the food and snarfing down.

I won't even go into the whole Attenborough lecture fiasco - especially since I ended up getting tickets much to my surprise.

Oh well. I'm still be attending and looking forward to seeing everyone and being in Bristol, even if it means I have to give up the banquet.

INHIGEO 2009: Fossils & Fuel

The INHIGEO 2009 conference is being held in Calgary on August 10-14. The symposium will be concentrating on fossils and fuel. Darren and I will be attending and he will be giving 4 solo talks and is a co-author on another. I'm looking forward to learning about the world wide history behind fossil and fuel discoveries.

Field Work Fun

Despite a slight back injury causing some delays, I've been collecting matrix for my PhD project which is a microvertebrate study of the Scollard Fm here in Alberta. One very nice Saturday, Darren, Natasha and I visited and collected from a productive road cut.

We found a nice layer where Ornithischian tooth fragments, gar and other fish scales, crocodile teeth, etc (all typical Scollard microfossils) were eroding out.

Also found was this turtle plate that was surprisingly complete. I have, of course, lost my usual scale bar and had forgotten my new one, so made due with the Blistex tube that I always have with me. I've been accused of being addicted to the stuff in the past, but I always figured there are worse things to be addicted to. : )


Anyway, the turtle plate turned out to be a Chelydrid hypoplastron which Dr. Don Brinkman (of the Royal Tyrrell Museum and my co-supervisor) seemed pleased with.

We ended up collecting 7 bags of test matrix and I'm excited to get the material washed next week. I'll then sort through it, picking out the fossils and doing my best to identify them (I'm still new at this) and decide whether it's worth going back to do major collection.

This is just one of six sites I've seen thus far and I hope to visit more further north on the Red Deer River soon. I'll do my best to update the blog as I go along.

I did want to mention that in Alberta, one must have an excavation permit to collect matrix or do anything other than surface collect and to be sure that you always have proper landowner permission before going onto any site.

Gaffney Turtle Symposium

Registration for the Gaffney Turtle Symposium, Oct. 17th & 18th of 2009, is up and running and abstracts are now being accepted. The deadline for early registration is September 7th. Abstracts may be submitted until June 30th. Information on registration, abstract submission, and hotels is available at:http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/events/turtlesymp09.php. Hope to see you there!

Just because...

I think this is hilarious! : )

Horseshoe Canyon Fm fossil plant guide

Kevin Aulenback's guide to the fossil plants of the Horseshoe Canyon Fm will be available in June. I had the honor of leafing (Ha! Get it?) through it before publication and can say without hesitation that it's a lovely book. The color photographs are beautiful and the research very informative. I know that I'll be purchasing a copy.

It'll be available in June through the University of Calgary Press (www.uofcpress.com) for $34.95 CDN. It is 400 pages long with over 800 color and black and white illustrations.

Congratulations to Kevin for a job well done!

Alberta fossil guide now available

The Alberta Palaeontological Society announces the release of the "Guide to Common Vertebrate Fossils from the Cretaceous of Alberta". This is an updated version of the classic guide by Hope Johnson including original artwork, color photographs and descriptions of fossils. This 234 page, spiral bound book is perfect for identification of fossils in the field or office.

It's $30 (Canadian) for non-APS members with $15 shipping and handling. See their website for more information: http://www.albertapaleo.org.

I'm happy to have my copy and am positive that you'll enjoy it too.