Crazy Chinooks

It was crazy windy yesterday. So windy, in fact, that this truck was blown over at our department:

The records show peak wind gusts over 80 mph:


And an impressive rise in temperature and drop in relative humidity to boot:

I think the wind caused some serious roof damage too because today at work they've been pounding away up there like no tomorrow. It makes it hard to focus! (I'll use that as my excuse for blogging :) ).

A very merry Christmas, to you!!

I think Kevin captured the "wistful, old-fashioned" pose better than me in this picture.... I look somewhat possessed.

We hope everyone has a great holiday!

I left my heart....

I'm back from San Fran, and it was a great time. I knew so many more people this time, and it helped that a huge portion of my department was there.

Check out this poster session! And this was only half the room! And this was only one day's worth of posters... insane! I think they counted 16,000 scientists there that week?



The Christmas tree at Union Square:

I had a great vegan breakfast with Nikki and Brian in the Mission district, and we were walking back when we stumbled upon this familiar scene... can you guess what it's from?

Friday we took the day off from the conference went all out San Francisco tourist: cable cars (the cable car actually got stuck... that was interesting!), Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, lots of pictures of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge (check out the super clear weather!), and a huge sundae at Ghiradelli.

It was a long day though... our 8:30pm flight was delayed and we didn't get into Denver until about 2am. Kevin was so nice to pick me up anyway! ;)

Conference Time

I'm in San Francisco for one of the biggest geosciences meetings around. It's a strange meeting... everywhere you go there are people carrying poster tubes. My plane here seemed to be at least 60-70% scientists heading to this meeting. I'm guessing there could be nearly 10,000 scientists swarming the streets of San Fran this week.

Last time I came to this meeting I literally knew 2 people, so this time it's been nice to know a few more. It's easy to feel overwhelmed at a meeting this size. I guess when you're like my advisor, it's like a party all the time, because you recognize people everywhere you go, but I still don't know all that many people. Conferences can feel very awkward as a graduate student. You tend to spot "famous" people on occasion and then continue to stalk them for awhile while building up the courage to try to approach them (I probably only have about a 30% success rate on that one).

I have been rooming with one of my friends who used to be my officemate at CSU, so that's been great. My feet are already sore though from all the walking! I love San Francisco though... it's a great city for a conference. Thursday I give a talk, so hopefully that will go well.... think good thoughts for me!

Busy Bees

We are busy busy busy for the next couple of weeks. I have 5 choir concerts in the next 4 days. Kevin is going for his interviews with a crazy itinerary in which we hope he doesn't get mugged while on a late bus from Baltimore to Manhattan. Almost as soon as he gets back, I'm off to San Francisco to do lots of listening and to give an 8-minute presentation, which may be the shortest amount of time I've ever been given. When I come back it's time for bachelorette parties, Christmas parties, a quick couple of days at work, Christmas, and a wedding!

On a positive note... Kevin got another interview at Columbia! So we are very excited about that. He's going to be doing a lot of traveling in the next couple of months!

Saying Goodbye to a Dear Friend

Marnie came into my life in 1992. I was about to start 7th grade. We went to the Dumb Friends League to pick out a kitten, and who could resist this little face and white feet?

What's most amazing to me is not how little she once was but how young I was when we got her. The time of my life with Marnie in it is longer than the time without her in it. She saw me through middle school, high school.... when I came home for breaks in college... she lived with me in my first apartment that I lived in by myself in grad school. She met Kevin and although he had to work at it, she became his cat as much as mine. Her relationship with me has lasted longer than many of my relationships with human friends.

Thursday night, we said goodbye to my dear pet and friend of 16 years. We will miss her.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving in the mountains! Both of our immediate families were there, and also many of Kevin's cousins, aunts, uncles, and other relatives.

My father-in-law and my Dad carving the two beautiful turkeys:



My family:

Kevin's family:

My mom and dad led us on a geocaching expedition the day after Thanksgiving: what a great day for being outside! And the scenery couldn't be beat:

The geocaching group. The little ones loved it!

One of the caches was in a "spooky bat cave". Don't Kevin and I look frightened? :)