I'm ba-aaack!

Apologies, dear readers, for my lack of posts over the last couple of weeks (though Peter has been doing an admirable job in my absence not least his review of James Taylor's Voyage of the Beagle *applause*).

Before you deem me an unreliable blogger, however, please allow me to 'splain. You see, it's been a busy time for me. I know I run the risk here of who-cares-what-I-did-on-my-holiday blogging, but I don't do this often and I want you to know why I've been so slack (teh blogger guilt, it hurts).

First I went on a six-day skiing holiday in France which was, very sadly, marred by a particularly nasty encounter with the wee beastie at right. Then, with just an 18-hour turnaround I was off to North Carolina for ScienceOnline09, about which I shall shortly be posting.

Then I took the Amtrak train north to Baltimore so that I could attend - though I think the word witness might be more appropriate here - the inauguration of our* 44th President, Barack Hussein Obama *elation* ...which I twittered and posted on YouTube.

Left: tweeting the inauguration (photo M. Hoang).
Right: My view at the inauguration. More photos coming soon to my Flickr stream.

*for anyone who still doesn't know (I know there are at least a few of you out there because I still get the occasional surprised look when I open my mouth), I'm American; Peter and Richard are Yorkshiremen; Elke is Canadian. We are an international blog.