It pains me to say it, but—a mere 10 days after announcing my IA Summit talk—I now have to announce that I won't be able to deliver it. (I informed Summit organizer Donna Maurer earlier this week, who has been wonderfully understanding about the whole thing.)
Chalk it up to an astonishing lack of foresight on my part. I—who knew full well that my wife was pregnant when I submitted my proposal to the Summit in November—shoulda known better. But, in my defense, I've never been an expectant father before and some things you just don't understand until you've experienced them.
In November, LeeAnn was only 3 months pregnant and—aside from her morning sickness—was doing quite well: mobile, energetic and overall just pretty darn happy about the whole thing. I looked at her condition then and kinda... extrapolated out another 5 months, mentally.
And incorrectly, as it turns out. By the time of the Summit, she'll be 8 months pregnant and—already at month 7—she's not nearly as mobile, no longer energetic and—while still happy!—has come to rely on me a lot for her daily needs.
I can only assume that these needs will grow in the weeks leading up to delivery, so a 4-day trip to Vegas (in addition to some other Yahoo-related travel I need to do) at the end of March was starting to feel like a liberty that I shouldn't be taking. In the back of my mind too is the possibility of an early arrival: our doctor has told us to expect a delivery—possibly induced—around the 37th week. About 2 weeks after the Summit. Too close for my mental comfort.
So, this is very disappointing. It was to be my first IA Summit and a great opportunity to catch up with some old friends I hadn't seen in awhile, as well as to (finally) meet some folks face-to-face that I've only met via correspondence. All I can say is: see you folks next year! And my profound apologies.
And I do still intend to publish some thoughts about Design Plectics here on Soldier Ant in the coming weeks. In fact, I've already got Part 1 of 5 pretty well-drafted out, so hopefully this will (somewhat) atone for my poor planning.
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