"Never apologize, never explain." -- Neil Gaiman

Well, I'm sorry, Neil, but I feel I should explain this journal's recent involuntary hiatus. The simple explanation is that on April 1st, Blogger.com played a rather extended joke on me. That afternoon, something at their end went blooie and disabled the publishing for me and everyone else using their service. Within a few hours, the outage was repaired for most users, but not me; since that time I've been unable to publish here. What was really annoying was that the people at Blogger.com not only failed to fix the problem, they never even reviewed the notices I'd sent them.

Luckily, petercashwell.com has wonderful designers (quietspace.com) and a gracious host (FictCo), both of whom spent their time trying to help solve the problem. Eventually Mignon, one of quietspace's cyber-goddesses, figured out a way around the Blogger issue, and *poof*, my April Fool's day message finally appeared here--just in time for me to shut up until May.

Why May? Because I'm heading out of town for a couple of weeks. Kelly and I will be doing some research for a project we're working on together, and it will take me offline for a while.

When I get back I'll be providing details about my upcoming travels for readings and conventions and birding sessions. From Culpeper to Los Angeles, from Chapel Hill to Raleigh, I'll be spreading my message of universal brotherhood, appreciating nature, and thinking twice about using Blogger.com for your online journal needs.

In the meantime, I hope everyone will head to the local bookstore and ask for The Verb 'To Bird' in a VERY LOUD VOICE.

See you next month!--PC
2:57 PM

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