I had a wild day on Saturday, April 6. Starting at 8:30 a.m., I worked with a team to build a website in a day, and at 8 o’clock I screams over to Santa Rosa High School to see Jane Goodall.

Nearly every seat in the 900-seat auditorium was filled. I went up to the balcony and found a single in the middle of row in the center. It wasn’t until I was seated that I realized that if I had a panic attack I would really have to climb over a lot of people. I used the Panic Away technique to stay put until Dr. Goodall came out.

The applause was thunderous. She was in Santa Rosa on her book tour without a book. The publication has been postponed but the local bookstore filled the auditorium. In Santa Rosa, we read.

The Jane Goodall lecture was great. She spoke about her childhood in England and how she came study chimpanzees. It was clear that her mother was supportive of her curiosity her whole life, and even “packed up and moved to Kenya” because the authorities would not allow Jane out in the bush on her first assignment without a companion. So her mother went with her.

Jane said, “that was back before no-see-um mesh was invented. If we opened the flaps of the army surplus tent to let in some air, we also let in snakes, scorpions and spiders.”

She mentioned that she had turned 79 a few days before and at the end of her lecture, all 900 of us sang Happy Birthday to her. Best live lecture I’ve seen since I saw Stephen Hawking speak at CalTech. His first words were, “Can you hear me?” and 900 scientists breathed, “Yes.”

Here’s my funky cellphone shot.