it's like herding cats...

one of my all time favorite Super Bowl commercials was for a digital technology management company called EDS. it features a group of cow-, er, catboys, telling stories about their lives on the range. it's classic.

now imagine trying to organize a group of ~12 neuroscientists for a camping and floating trip on the Upper Meramec. a bit of back-story here: simply having my lab arrive on time to journal clubs and seminars is a bit of a headache. however, we're usually first in line if food is involved. we are notorious for showing up early for the monthly birthday cake provided by the Biology department, grabbing our multiple pieces and heading back to the lab before anyone else arrives. ah, the irony of studying circadian timing and yet never being punctual!

Sunday and Monday we all got together outside of Steelville, MO to camp, paddle, and of course, eat. Michele and I arrived late Sunday afternoon to find a veritable tent city, which we gladly added ourselves to. Everyone else was off swimming at the river, so we tossed around a football and helped ourselves to beers in the cooler. Now, I must mention that I have a bad habit of always being "the Organizer." This trip, for example, was not my responsibility and yet I was the one who ended up deciding where to float and making the reservations. At least I didn't get stuck with planning the food, though we did end up shopping with my Costco card. So, not being in charge of the food, I made M keep me from trying to butt in. This is an unfortunate mutual condition of Organizing- if you let someone else do it, you sit around thinking about how you could do it better.

Dinner was pretty late on Sunday, M was getting close to gnawing on the small children and she doesn't eat meat. It was quite tasty though. Thank goodness we brought a couple of propane stoves. And we had a ton of leftovers. Pounds and pounds of chicken, brisket, etc. The little Organizer voice kept telling me that I could have planned it better... but sometimes it's better to relax a little bit, which is something that I can always work on.

in the end, everything worked out beautifully. we had a fantastic float. I got to paddle Laura's kayak that my boss was kind enough to strap to his station wagon and drive down for me. we finished 9 miles of river in about 4 hours with 3 stops and were able to get the visiting post-doc candidate back to StL in time for her flight. having all of the lab together is a good time. you just have to remember that it's like herding cats... and to be able to enjoy it, you have to sit back, smile, and just let it be.