Matt and I got to share the weekend with Nana in Spokane. It's awesome to be so close that we can just drive over without much ado. On Friday night, we took down Nana's Christmas decorations, on Saturday she showed me some basics of stitching and mending that will come in handy as I embark on my new future as the owner of a sewing machine (yeah, I feel like this is a major upgrade in my identity). And all the while we were constantly sorting stuff. By the end of the weekend, we'd worked out a nice little system with bags and envelopes with various relatives names on them which were stuffed with photos, Christmas ornaments and the et cetera that you tend to find on these occasions. Matt was very helpful, adding 120 lbs of salt to the water softener, and doing other tall/strong tasks, as well as helping in the kitchen with a rendition of Noel's Monkey Bread (YUM).
Nana is very cheerfully jettisoning anything and everything that can possibly find a good home- and I will say that is probably her one big slow down. Once she's decided "I don't need this" it's not just a quick trip to the dump. Figuring out which relative might treasure things, or friend might still get some use out of it, or perhaps if it is only suitable for Goodwill or a pending estate sale. I do think that as the momentum builds that she'll make quick work of all this, though. We decided to pack the family photos to my house for safe keeping until Nana and I can sit down and digitize those of interest and possibly trim down those that aren't. With those out of the way, there are only a couple armloads of stuff left in the basement bedroom besides the furniture.
Our car drove back across the pass loaded down with Nana's bran muffins and cookies, all the photo albums I could get my hands on, some garden pots, Dad's cool coffee table from the basement, some of Mom's weavings, a lot of Papa's baskets, Nana's sewing table and a starter kit of fabrics, threads and awesome tools. Getting those set up at my house makes it seem instantly cozier here. Sure, we've had most of that Ikea furniture for years, but I still don't have as much affection for it as the coffee table that now sits in the living room, or the basket that now holds my remotes. It makes the house feel a lot more like a place I want to be- something I didn't realize was missing from the last decade of apartment living. You guys should all come and visit me so you know what I am talking about.
Other news- I am leaving tomorrow for 4 days in New York at the New York Hall of Science. I am hoping to be able to so some editing/writing for two separate contracts while traveling, as well as meeting some of the super awesome people who will also be at this meeting. I am way behind on my algae work, but unicorn money only gets so much priority. I had a great day on campus meeting with old professors and making some new contacts- much to follow up on there in the coming weeks. And once things settle down from my current contracts, I am gong to spend 2 weeks trying to learn to code in Python, as a test of whether I have the mentality for computer program. If so, I might learn MatLab, as a highly relevant job skill for a modern biologist- and if not, I'll focus on some of the other job skills I already have.
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2 comments:
So, isn't Noel like the God of MatLab? Teaching classes and getting Raytheon bonuses in the past for his expertise?? And how does an engineering language serve a biology researcher?? Python?? Is this what Noel's neighbor uses to stone the Web??? I'm just so out of touch.....Dad/Grandpa
Yes, the MatLab Black belt has offered up his help. Computational biologists use computers to model biological systems (think protein folding) to make predictions about the system. Usually very powerful in focusing wetbench efforts- and highly paid. And both Python and Matlab are used by biologists. The rest of your questions, I can't help you with.
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