Well, at this writing, I have been in California for the past five months (with the exception of 10 days in Salt Lake City, Utah, where my parents now live). I have adjusted to the weather (well, that wasn't difficult, though I was surprised by the amount of rainfall during the winter months here), I have settled into my lab group (the Dougherty group), and I have found several friends with whom I can do all those fun activities that keep me sane.
Here are some examples of these activities:
(at some point I will organize these into a more coherent whole, but for now you'll have to deal with a list)
Going up to Mt. Wilson at night to look at the stars and see the city lights spread beneath us. I went the first time the week after I arrived in Pasadena, when Jen Ottesen , Duncan Odom, and Cathy Sarisky kidnapped me and drove me up. (I also include Cathy Sarisky's teaching page for google purposes)
Going hiking, up Mt. Wilson, to Joshua Tree (with Elth when she came to visit me for Thanksgiving), or to Trail Canyon Falls in Big Tujunga Canyon (which we only drove by three times attempting to find it). Cathy's dog, TY, is an avid hiker too. Of course, he's only a year old, so he's a little bit rambunctious, but after an afternoon up and down a trail, we manage to wear him out. He likes oceans too, as we found out when we went to the beach - though snapping at waves doesn't seem too productive to me.
Seeing interesting movies at Megan Nunez' unitarian church.
Hanging out at Area 52 (residence of Mike , Joel, Brendan, and Manish [the last of whom recently returned from India where he got married!!!]), with their TV, Nintendo 64 [Mario!], and Joel's chameleon car.
My interaction with theatre has been significantly more limited than while at MIT, with only one "acting" role - namely, Jackie Barton in the Chemistry First Year's Christmas Skits (if you want pictures of me in a skirt, you'll have to ask Duncan. I'm still not sure how my friends persuaded me to do that...). And I've only seen 2 performances, but one of them was an absolutely amazing rendition of Arcadia by Tom Stoppard, with the role of Bernard Nightingale played by Mr Welles of Nightwatch fame.
Frequent dinner trips. Since I get tired of my own cooking reasonably quickly.
I've seen a bunch of movies. I'm still working on my list... (I have a little list, and none of them be missed, and - none - of - them - be - missed!) (that's horribly paraphrased from the Mikado by G&S).
I visited Erin in San Francisco before New Year's, and then made it to Caltech in time for the Rose Bowl Parade - the highlight of which was a Stealth Bomber flying by at 800 feet!
Discussing how in Ghana, witches have been accused of turning people into yams (Gabriel, a fellow first year in my lab spent 2 years in Ghana as a Peace Corp volunteer chemistry teacher).
Reading a lot of science fiction (much of it supplied by Jen, one of the few people who reads more sf faster than I do).
And, of course, working in lab. =)
Now back to my homepage .