One school closed, then another, and the whole trip went up in smoke.  I could see this coming from a distance; the 'flu thing was a big train, and my ten days in May was the intersection.  We collided head on,  no thanks to a hysterical media which whipped up an international frenzy over a relative tiny number of deaths and illness worldwide.    The "Swine" 'flu story was page five, not page one;  the machinations by Bush and cronies to justify the Iraq war was page one, not page ten.  It would be nice if the press someday would get things right not in terms of facts (which should always be correct) but in terms of emphasis and proportionality.  I guess that part we have to do for ourselves....

But the sudden hole in my schedule resulted in some good things.  Our race team had more time to prepare for the summer season (see race reports and photos at www.motornovels.com), and we visited a couple of local schools.  As well, I got to enjoy more of Minnesota spring (which included yard work), plus go into my last week of speaking engagements well rested and thoughtful.  Will give my first university commencement address (University of Minnesota at Morris), a 10-15 minute speech to the graduates.   Woody Allen has an essay called "My Speech to the Graduates", and it's all the cliches' in the world strung together--hilarious and worth tracking down.   The job of the commencement speaker is to give unsolicited advice to a captive audience (hehe), and I'll try to avoid that.  Mainly I'm going to tell them that they've been lucky to be in the bubble of school the last eight years... but in a cheerful way, of course.