It is our first day at Drake University, and we are having a great time. The students are friendly smart and have great questions. The professors are friendly and and smart and have great questions. And there is a machine in the lobby of our hotel that makes pancakes on demand.

What’s that, you say? Impossible, you say. Not so, I say. Behold.

Robbi pushed a button and…

Automatic happiness. We have to get one of these in the barn.

Continuing the parade of things that made us happy, on our way to the first class we were to meet with, we found this poster, expertly designed by a Drake student, for our event tomorrow night. Check it out.

And this, the lovely yellow office of our host, the writer and artist Amy Letter.

And this colorful, hand-painted walkway, each panel decorated by a different student group. Why doesn’t every college do this?

And sushi for lunch. Need I say more? I think I need not.

Hand-carved wood type! Carved by hand! We are suckers for this stuff.

Inventive repurposing of outmoded technologies. Now I know what to do with our old Mac tower.

Talking with students (and librarians) about what we do.

Visiting Drake’s strange and wonderful chapel, and witnessing Amy Letter’s inspired salutation to the heavens…

From a dramatic yet surprisingly uncomfortable chair.

Taking a moment for Robbi to channel her inner Howard Stern.

And enjoying the special pleasure of signing our books for people who seem to have enjoyed reading them.

It was a very good day. Of course, the real highlight was the people of Drake who have welcomed us so warmly and are doing a great job of making us feel good about ourselves.

That said, I’m still recovering from yesterday’s cheeseburger debacle. If you don’t know what I mean, keep reading.