ATS Conference

[invertepet]

Thanks to everyone who made this year's Conference at Carlsbad such a memorable experience! It simply rocked. Seeing Andrew Smith and Rick West both do presentations in one day was a real milestone and something I'll never forget. The folks at the ATS such as Shasta, Rhys, SB and others obviously worked hard to pull it off.

Special thanks to Michael Jacobi for keeping a watchful eye on stuff for me (you know what I mean), and especially the entire crew from Arachnopets (like Scott and Deb) for hanging out -- and making sure Wendy's keeps on their toes! ;P ;P ;P

Thanks to Rick and Andrew, two spectacular guys who are so much cooler in person than I would ever have expected!

All in all, a great time. Just... won't be staying at the "Quality" Inn again (another story altogether).

bill

 

[Professor T]

Sounded like a great time from this post and others. When you have time could you fill the rest of us in about the presentations?

 

[invertepet]

Andrew did a huge Poecilotheria presentation with slides and fantastic commentary. As a historian, his knowledge is vast regarding India and regions therein. Seeing his trek with Rick West and Peter Kirk in search of P. metallica was nothing short of spellbinding. P. metallica adult females are totally unbelievable. I don't have pics of his slides, but they were jawdropping to say the least. Easily the most vibrant colors (intense blue, bright yellow) of any tarantula I've ever seen. It's like a cross between a P. subfusca and a freshly molted H. lividum.

Unfortunately I didn't see all of Rick West's presentation as the dealer hall was open at the time and I stayed with my critters to be sure nothing walked away (or crawled). He did stop by my room to help with IDing some iffy spiders and scorps, tho.

Hiking out into the Texas desert about an 45min. east of Carlsbad was a blast, too. Rick showed up and a great time was had by all. You haven't lived until you dig up a tarantula with this guy. Another highlight was Spider Bob's two BBQs and chatting with Andrew about British history, politics and of course, bugs.

Lots more to tell - I'm sure others will fill in gaps. I have to go ingest NyQuil as I picked up one bug too many in Carlsbad and am sick as the proverbial dog right now...

bill