Back on the Mainland

Good morning, everyone.

I'm back from the cruise, which means my cell phone is back on and my e-mail is getting checked once again. We took a lot of pictures, some of which even have to be *developed*, like *cavemen* used to do. So I'll write up a big long diary of the trip later. I just wanted to let you know that we have made it back to areas where the ground is not constantly swelling and sliding beneath your feet. Which is sort of a shame, because that puts both me and Jess to sleep really well.

We're heading back to Austin tomorrow, and we're all excited to see our kitties and see if our tree made it through the week okay. It's been really dry, and our sprinkler system is on the fritz where the tree is. Real world concerns come flooding back once again. It was a nice vacation, though, and I'm excited to get back to my real life, being as my real life is pretty fantastic.

-N

I give Avery credit for this one, Dad

I had a meeting with my boss this morning. I wanted to explain to him an experiment that I had completed on Saturday, and convince him that I was right, and I knew what I was doing. Conversation went like this-
Me: Two months ago, I started this experiment and I have to revamp the protocol based on those results. When I repeated it, I wanted to be able to account for a variety of factors that might affect the readout, so it was very difficult to amass enough samples to perform the experiment. Once I had the experiment started, I used a variety of painstaking methods to validate the readout.
Boss: Well that sounds like overkill.
Me: Yes, but I designed this experiment so I wouldn't have to repeat it. The results I have I am very confident in. See?
Boss: Oh yes, that is really nice. Hm. Yes, I think you are done with this experiment.
Me: slam Notebook on the floor and start singing "We are the Champions" in perfect Freddy Mercury falsetto

It feels pretty awesome to finally finish something. Few things in science don't lead to more questions, but I decided to nip that in the bud this time. I designed the experiment to tell me at least something every time I ran it, and it finally paid off! Now, I am off to spend the rest of the day posing like Mr. Universe.

Back in California

Yes I know, I'm very bad at blogging. So I'm going to update everyone on my life!

I had a pretty good summer. Worked lots, made money, which was really the goal. But I'm back at school now, trying to get my room organized (obviously going really well considering I'm here on the computer.....) Classes start on Wednesday, so I'm just relaxing a bit before the grind of school starts again. Bleck.
My friends Tracy, Adam and Garrett came up this summer to visit me, and we had a great time. We did all sorts of crazy Alaskan things, like hiking, whale watching, beach fire and of course eating. We ate a lot. Thanks Mom!
Also this summer my friend Levi got me into rock climbing. I invested in some climbing gear, and have really been enjoying it. I have a bunch of friends here that climb, so hopefully they can motivate me to go and I can keep getting better at that.
And the other news I'm sure mom and dad have been telling people is that I have a boyfriend. His name is Sam, and he goes to school in Anchorage. So we will be doing a long-distance relationship, which will be very hard, but we decided it was worth it. I invested in a web cam and now we can talk over skype for free, and we get to see each other....sort of.



















Other than that, not a lot else is happening, not right now at least. I'll have Newman Center stuff starting this week. We are planning a fundraiser so we can eventually build our own chapel, even though I probably won't still be at Sonoma when it's built. It's the thought that counts.
I hope everyone is well, and I will probably talk to you soon!

5K finished

Waking up at 5:45 in the morning on vacation is unusual enough. Doing it so that I can run a 5K is downright weird.

Regardless, 'Team Venture' managed to run our 5Ks today just fine. I brought up the rear at 41:23, which is a pretty slow pace for a 5k, but I did beat...8 people in the race out of 177. Shannon was a few minutes ahead of me, and Jess was about ten minutes faster, which makes her *really fast*. Quite a change from the girl that used to stay beind me while I went running for TKD. No doubt I would do a lot better if I ran with any regularity, but unfortunately Texas summer heat procludes me from getting outside and running until the sun goes down.

Still though, the most important opponent when running is yourself, and I made my personal goal of running the entire time, despite being completely soaked through by the end of the run. The one upside of having to wake up early for a 7:30 run is that the sun wasn't fully up and toasty for the entire time. Humid, though. I would however, like to point out that I also was faster than everyone who did not go running today, and that's several million people, at the very least. So that certainly makes me feel better.

Tomorrow we're heading down to Miami to depart on our CRUISE which is very exciting. Communication will be somewhat limited, but cell phones will work if there's some sort of emergency. We do get charged international roaming rates, so use this power wisely. E-mail will be better. For some reason the ship has free wi-fi. Odd, that.

-N

Vacation Time

Tomorrow Jess and I head out to travel the world, or at least small, warm, beautiful parts of it. We'll start out by hanging out in Fort Lauderdale and running a 5K with Jessie's sister. You know, relaxing stuff.

Jess and her sister got all excited about doing more running together and running a 5K the same weekend after they got faster together. Well that weekend is this weekend, and since, as luck would have it, we'll both be in the same city, we're all going to run together. Well, 'together', I guess. Jess and, I'm sure, Shannon, are both a lot faster than I am, being as I can't go running with any regularity in Texas summer heat. Still, we are signed up as a team, so yay for us! Being as Jess and I just finished a 5K run around the neighborhood, I feel confident that I can, at the very least, finish the run. It's all about setting achievable goals.

On monday, we go Cruising! Very exciting. We've signed up for some shore excursions, though a great deal of them involve water, so it's hard to know what, if any, pictures will be drawn from our experience. I'll definitely write about it, though. Having a journal to look back on is very nice.

We get back from the cruise on, I think, Saturday, spend a little more time in FLA, and then fly back on Sunday. So wish us luck, though it looks like we're already pretty lucky. Hurricane bill looks like it will miss us. :)

-N

I'm on PubChem!

This is not as cool as a real publication, BUT, since I doubt many of our readers care about impact factor, I wanted to share with you the early fruits of my labor. The large scale screen we did with the group in Alabama is done, and by decree of the NIH, the results have been deposited online. And you can ALL read them! Look here!

I don't really recommend you do this, but if you feel compelled, scroll down to the middle where it says Large T Antigen Purification. I WROTE THAT. I tried to write it in a way that did not convey the blood, sweat, and tears and HOURS and HOURS that went into the protocol. Just the facts, ma'am.

This is both awesome and scary. Obviously this is a sign that we've made a lot of headway. Scary because now this information is publicly accessible, and it puts pressure on us to do something with it before anyone else does. Awesome because the results are cool, scary because I am not really sure what to do with them. Pubchem makes everything seem so streamlined and professional, it is hard to beleive that this is MY work (although this is partly because I had little to do with getting this data to this point). I hope Dr. Boss gets as giddy about this as I am, and maybe he'll be compelled to try publishing this stuff really quick.

I was going to write a story about how I was tired of being pushed around, went to stand up for myself and it worked out great for me- instead, I am going to try and get the bioassay to biocompare the parameters of bioinforming.... I really need to learn to use this site.

Matt's Not That Old, Really

As many of our readers know, Matt is turning 30 this year. What many of you may not know, is that he may not actually make it that far. Not normally one for personal drama, I am beginning to suspect Matt may turn 29 for the rest of his life. And it is so much more than not owning up to how long ago Sept 14, 1979 was- this goes much deeper. It started out with some expected whimpering about not being ready to be old, but has become steeped itself in pity long enough to become a whole new beast. To deal with the emotional cavern that this birthday brings, he splits his time on both sides by acting in a binary fashion between 40 ("we ought to save this money for a down payment on a house") and 20 ("I am gonna celebrate with a Month of Beer Challenge"). Well, trinary- there is also complete denial.

My current challenge, is to plan an appropriate celebration for a guy who is wavering between not having a birthday, having a birthday where he is incredibly old, and one where he will never grow up. Imagine a sort of Mad Hatter's Party for Methuselah in Neverland theme- and if you can, be explicit in details, I am at a loss. In recent years, we have had several friends turn 30, generally there was cake, good friends and an absence of dentures, AARP members or Reader's Digest toasts. I would have thought that seeing this happen gracefully on so many occasions would help Matt transition, but I underestimated how tense he is about this whole birthday thing. It is surprising, really. Matt at his core hasn't changed since I met him, and I have a hard time imagining him being anyone but the laid back, logical, quiet fun loving geek I know today. Maybe he knows something I don't.

For those who are interested, I am assembling a birthday list I can send your way. If it isn't in your inbox tonight, and you want it, just say so.

Summer and Football have arrived

We had been blessed with very mild weather this summer, really wet actually. I was starting to think I was getting acclimated, that I could get used to living in this part of the world. And then it was August, and the thermometer spike well above 90 with every intention of staying there. And no, I am not getting acclimated. Instead, I am pulling out the blues, and iced tea and not moving much. Which reminds me, can anyone recommend any good blues for me? It just seems like the best way to beat the heat.

The other notable change in climate here is it's football season! And while the entire city of Pittsburgh is saying "Finally," our readership is saying "What?" In a city that takes it's football so seriously, the season really begins with training camp. Several co-workers have taken time to go to the camp and watch the new recruits. But the city donned their black and gold uniforms for the first game of the pre-season on Thursday. This certainly isn't our usual opening game fervor, but it was significant enough that I noticed to color co-ordination. The city clamors for more football in the few month between seasons. Here we go again...

My Camera has been busy, even if I haven't

Hello,

Here we present a selection of pictures from the last few months. With captions.

From New Pictures 8/09

Jesta Menace donning her All Scar Army duds for the tournament a few months ago. You'll take special note of the 'Mathematical Equation Armbands' provided by yours truly. I think one of them was the integral equation for the area of a sphere. The other one was gibberish.

From New Pictures 8/09

Two cars in my two car garage! Victory is mine!

From New Pictures 8/09

Here is our new car, a Mazda 3, in much the same style as Sandlin and Matt's new car, but without the crazy turbo power. We really like it. Having an Aux Audio input so we can listen to the ipod in the car is really fun.

From New Pictures 8/09

My breadmaking binge continues. This is my most photogenic loaf to date, I think. I've been making whole wheat loaves, too, getting the kinks out in my technique. Definitely better for us, but not as devastatingly delicious as the white loaves.

From New Pictures 8/09

Jess and Myself at a wedding in Florida. Not ours. Jess got to be a bridesmaid. SHE IS SO PRETTY LOOK AT HER IN HER DRESS AND ALL DONE UP AND EVERYTHING I HAVE SUCH A GREAT WIFE! Whew! Just had to get that out of my system.

From New Pictures 8/09

Here are the birds from Nana's awning. They may still look like dependant little babies here, but just a few days later they were out and around and hopping around the yard, looking all adolescent and everything. They do grow up so fast!

We've had to scrap the idea of going to China. We might have both lost our jobs over it. It would have been, admittedly, an unlikely scenario, but the decisions would have been completely out of our hands. We'll make ourselves feel better by taking a Caribbean cruise. Seriously, that's our new plan. We've found some that fit in our schedule before the end of the year. We are also, therefore, pegging Australia and/or New Zealand for next year.

Other Micro News:
-Jess continues to both hem *and* haw about derby next year. I've decided to stop paying attention until she makes a decision.
-I got 6th rank in Wing Tsun. Hooray for me!
-It is officially too hot to go out running on Saturdays. Jess can go if it's under 101 degrees or so, but any hotter than 95 and I just have no energy to exercise outdoors. Texas, baby.
-I've received much lovely feedback about my second draft. Thanks to all that have read it.

Much love to one and all,

-N

Harry Potter movie

This weekend Jane celebrated her **th birtday with a dinner party at our house with a select group of women friends. Because I'd spent the day helping with preparations, but was not expected to hang around, I head off to see the Harry Potter movie at our neighborhood theater. (Jane's not a huge fan.)

I can report that the movie was great, possibly the best since the first one captured the whole world of Hogwarts on film for the first time. I am amazed at how well the actors have grown into their roles. It may be that I now think of those characters as the people in the movie, but I don't think that's quite true. Hermione is a lot nerdier (in my mind) than Emma Watson for example, but I forgive Emma because she is so charming. Ron and Harry seem spot on, and Ginny is exactly who she needs to be to be the warrior I expect her to be in the next movie.

Speaking of which . . . there's one book left, but I'm told the cast is busy making the last *two* movies? Is that right? Or am I reading out-of-date People magazines at the dentist again. (I heard Michael Jackson's health is really bad).

Anyway, I'm now re-reading the only HP I have only read once . . the last one, to get ready for the next movie.

Niagara Falls

Matt and I just returned from our amazing weekend in Niagara Falls. This is about 4 hours from Pittsburgh, so we got up on Saturday to head out. We had a B&B locked in, so ditched our stuff and walked into town along the river. After soaking up the view, we headed to the Maid of the Mist. This is the boat trip that takes you right up the splash zone of the falls. We were loaded with a boat load of people from ALL over the WORLD- we were the only people we could hear speaking English. Once we got out to the splash zone, a sea of people packed into blue ponchos, everyone started laughing and cheering.

We took in a Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum, and had dinner at Kelsey's. Seriously- a Applebees-esque place we HAD to stop at. By now it was raining, so we thought we might catch a ride on the People Mover. Although you are supposed to buy your tickets ahead of time, the driver who picked us up was having a slow night and took us home, complimentary. Next day, after breakfast with a nice couple from Toronto, we headed to Niagara on the Lake, a lovely historic Victoria village on Lake Ontario- my third Great Lake. As we headed into the village, the heavens opened and lightening sliced the sky... and we thought we could fine our way back to the states. A lovely weekend, and I am glad we spent our time (and $) doing something memorable rather than trying to act like we belong in a fancy restaurant. The pictures are posted here- let me know what you think.

3 years of being married- a picnic!

Yesterday Matt and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary. I mentioned yesterday, we've got plans to go to Niagara this weekend, but that seemed like no reason not to mark the day itself in some way. We've both been out of town, and so we didn't actually have plans, per say, but figured we know each other well enough to have a good time together. Matt picked me up after work and as we were discussing what we might do we drove past a farmers market in the park. Screech! Brakes were slammed on, farm fresh bread and cheese and berries were bought and we packed a little picnic into the park. The weather even co-operated by being warm but not hot, muggy or otherwise unbearable. Later we toddled into the busniess district for Ben and Jerry's ice cream, and bought each other some books at CDs. Fun!

In the long term 3 years is no big feat (most of our readership I think is well past the 25 year mark), but it is nice to reflect on the fact that even though we've been married three, we still have a lot to talk about, and a lot to share and a lot more to learn about each other. And really, the first three years were pretty easy- marriage wise. We talked about the next three years- I'll be graduated, we'll be moving, will Matt go back to school? Where should we move to? Although the particulars are still in the works, I must say I am looking forward to planning our next moves through life together.

Back from NY, back from AL

Obviously I have a lot of updating to do. Matt and I spent a long weekend in upstate New York on a wine tasting venture with some friends. It was really beautiful, and a perfect get away. We visited ~15 wineries, and came home with wine to keep us stocked for a year! I might get inspired to write more about this later- but for now you can see pictures Matt put together here.

The reason I am post-poning a real update, is that no sooner did we return then I headed out to Birmingham Alabama for a work trip. And then right back- we were in AL for about 22 thought-provoking hrs. Now I am back, with a million new and exciting things to do at work. I might update more about this later too.

In the meantime, today Matt and I celebrate out 3 year anniversary (wow!). We will likely keep it low key tonight (take out an a bottle of NY wine?)- because we are taking Papa's generosity and going to Niagara Falls this weekend. We've got a cute B&B to stay in, and want to check out the awesome falls. Yeah- we are total jet-setters.