Conference 2012 (DAMOP)

After four years, I finally attended THE conference in my field of research again. And not only that, I could even take three students with me: Hayley, David, and Lexi (a bit in the dark here):

This year it was in Anaheim, CA, which also meant that we actually had some warmth and sunshine while Oregon was getting soaked. Hehe.

On Tuesday I gave my talk (went well), watched the Venus transit (lousy photo below), and had a great dinner with members and former members from Nick Bigelow's group. We had a blast! It was great seeing everyone again and catching up a little.

 

Here's a photo from my Thursday lunch with Kevin and Mishkat (both of them now have faculty positions too!)

and last but not least: Poster session Thursday evening (David, Lexi, and Hayley who presented the poster):

All in all, this was a great conference, good talks, met some great people, and my students seemed pretty excited about starting summer research with me (I am too!).

Which brings me to one more photo: Meet The Cheat (with laser safety goggles and - of course - coffee):

If you want to know who The Cheat is, google homestarrunner. This particular cheat was a gift from Jan several years ago when I was all alone in my lab in Rochester and things were not going well. When you hit this cheat, it squeals. Very therapeutic (and much better than throwing screw drivers down the hall!) ;). So here he is, ready for my students in case they get frustrated!

Wiebke & Johanna

Wiebke and Johanna are back in the US! Just as in previous years, they decided to come to Ashland to see several plays during the Shakespeare festival. This has been a tradition pretty much since we moved to Oregon, and needless to say, I like it since that also means that we get to see them at least once a year. This year they are staying in California, so we decided to meet somewhere in the middle between Ashland and Wilsonville to catch up (2.5 hours drive for both of us). We ended up picking Sutherlin, a small town just south of Eugene, where we met for coffee and bagels. We then headed to Cooper Creek Reservoir, a beautiful area perfect for a little hike. The weather was great, too - a bit cloudy, but warm and no rain (imagine that!). 

Here we are right after we got out of the car. This grassy area must be the meeting place for geese - it was full of geese poop (that's why I was keeping a VERY close eye on Pepper ;)).

 

We let Pepper off-leash pretty much the whole time (at least in the park, not on the street, of course), and he was SUCH a good dog. He was running a little ahead or lagging a little behind, but he waited for us when I asked him to (even when there were squirrels running just a few meters in front of him!). So proud of him :). I think we can definitely celebrate his graduation today: Exactly 4 years after I received my PhD, Dr. Pepper now deserves his doctor too.

Are you kidding me?? - OR - the story of our backpacking trip

Since we're planning on going on a longer backpacking trip in August, we figured it's a good idea to see how sleeping in the tent with Pepper is working out before we're stranded somewhere in the wilderness and realize that it is not working at all. We picked Wahtum Lake and the Tomlike Mountain hike, south of Hood River. The backpacks were packed, the drive to Hood River was unspectacular, and doggie was excited about what would happen. Guess neither he nor we expect this:

We were on the road up to Wahtum Lake when we turned around a corner and saw some snow next to the road. Odd, still snow here. But hey, it wasn't much. That won't stop us! Turned the next corner - more snow. Now covering the whole left lane. Ooookay. We can still make it! Turned the next corner - snow has swallowed the road. Ooookay.... we can't do that... And we were just about a mile or so away from the lake. So, we turned around. Bleh.

Jan was checking the map and found another campground not too far away. We were determined to make it work. Improvisation is our friend, right? So we turned onto the small road leading up to that campground. It was a rough road (my poor Fit!), but ok. At some point I noticed some trees that had fallen over next to the road. I said to Jan "You know, wouldn't it be fun if there were trees blocking this road just a few miles before the campground?" And guess what - we turned the next corner and... trees were blocking the road! I jinxed it!

 

So, we turned around yet again. By now it was about 1 pm, too late to start a real long 10 mile hike anyways. So we ended up driving to yet another campground and just walking around for a while. Pepper was all nose. Finally some fun after 5 hours in the car!

In the end we decided to pitch the tent in our backyard and sleep there for the night. Pepper settled in right next to us (not on his mat, mind you, but right between our two sleeping bags - guess that means I won't have to carry his mat in August!). And while we didn't sleep outside the whole night (actually just an hour or so), I think we can safely say Pepper won't be a problem in the tent. Now the only question is - can WE make it, too, or are we too old for this ;) ?

And more doggie sitting fun

Kisses:

And now LET'S PLAY!!!

Doggie sitting

Our neighbors Billie and Rod will be out of town for a bit, and since their dog/house sitter won't arrive until later tonight, I've taken Maggie over to our place so that she's not quite as lonely. She's such a sweetheart.

Here she is with Pepper on our morning walk:

 

And here exploring the house:

 

Some pics from this year's Webber outreach program to Salem/Keizer 5th grades

Here are a few highlights of this year's Webber outreach program. If you want to know more about it, here's the link to the official website.This year has been the first year with twice as many scholars and twice as many schools (i.e. two instead of one). There have been some challenges, but all in all I think it went pretty well!

Here's Frank Bash, astronomer and Willamette alumn, giving a short guest lecture at Bush elementary.

The kids LOVED him!

Our Highland scholars Carli (bio), Estella (chem), Emily (EES), and Sam (phys), preparing the solar-system-demo in the hallway. 

 

Building and launching "rockets" (water + alka selzer):

 

 

Learning about sound and building instruments:

 

 

And last but not least, building flower presses for flowers they collected on campus (this was during our last big get together good bye party):

 

Just some random pictures I found on my cell phone

Title says it all - enjoy!