Summer 2019

So... another summer come and (almost) gone. And a lot has happened!

In early June we took care of Inga's dog Ozzie for a week while they were on vacation in Hawaii. He's a big standard poodle, very slender and tall, and he makes Pepper look super tiny. I never thought of Pepper as a short guy until I saw the two walk side-by-side.

But - it's all in the perspective! Ozzie can curl up into this incredibly tiny ball with the legs all tugged away. Who's the big dog now?!

Of course, Pepper and George are still super cute :). So just as a reminder in case you forgot, here they are.

This year I also did summer research with students again for nine weeks in June/July. And I had an AMAZING summer research group! Not only did we get a ton of stuff done in the lab, with the possibility of turning our work into up to three publications, we also clicked on a personal level really well. Lots of fun! And I'm especially excited that all of them are working in my lab as research assistants during the academic year as well.

We decided to redecorate and rearrange the hearth. We added the fun PHYSICS letters and LED chains, programmed an Arduino to turn them on/off in certain patterns, and changed the tables into a C and L pattern. I love it!

Of course, Pepper had to approve the changes (which he did :)).

As a thank you my students gave me this ginormous 2-pound bar of chocolate. The know me well! And believe it or not, over the course of a week or so we managed to eat it all. It was a team effort and everyone pulled their weight to make this happen. Hehe.

And the final hearth. I really like the changes!

In July, Jan and I flew to Rochester where we met and caught up with Nick and Chris (lots of fun!). Unfortunately, we forgot to take a picture of all of us... how stupid is that!

We did manage to get a photo in the plane (no, it didn't stay this empty!) and outside of Bausch & Lomb. It was really weird walking the familiar paths so many years later. And I didn't realize back then just how small the campus is (smaller than WU's).

When we arrived we got a lab tour from Nick's current students. In addition, one of my students was there too (she was doing an REU at the UofR). It was fun and a bit shocking to see how much of the stuff in our labs was still pretty much how we left it. I knew that about my lab since I was the last grad student on that project, but even in Jan's lab there were parts that hadn't changed in all those years. And look at that - even the Homestar Runner figurines were still there! Granted, they were no longer scattered around on the optical tables, but hey! And what surprised me - it looks like I'm still holding the champagne cork shooting record! Slackers :).

On the way back to the car we saw this fox just casually chilling and scratching him/herself next to a tree just a few meters away from the path. I've never seen one this close and so comfortable with humans nearby.

After a night in Rochester we drove up north to Toronto. Near the border with Canada we saw this car with what must be one of my favorite license plate ever! Whoever you are, I love your sense of humor :).

In Toronto we met up with Wiebke & Jo who were spending their vacation there with their two little ones J. and E. Good friends of theirs had spent the last year in Canada, and Wiebke & Jo took the opportunity to visit them (and Canada) before the friends headed back home to Germany again. It was fun seeing them and especially the two little ones for the first time. What fun kids! J is in this crazy age of endless energy: into the pool, out of the pool, into the pool, out of the pool. :D

In more practical news, we decided to replace a lot of our appliances (we got some good deals, 40% off!) since they were starting to show their age. In particular our dryer had decided not to dry the clothes anymore, so... it was time.

Here are the old washer/dryer and the new ones, side by side, [PHOTO OF NEW ONES MISSING]

our new cooktop,

and our new dishwasher that Jan & I installed ourselves. And yet it still worked! ;)

And lastly, Jan and I went ziplining at the Tree-to-Tree Adventure Park near Portland, a birthday gift from me to Jan. I only have this generic selfie since we left the phones on the ground during the tour. It was fun (although not quite as much as in Hawaii - guess it wasn't this brand new exciting experience anymore)! I would definitely recommend this. The park also has an obstacle course. Maybe we'll take Jule and the two nieces there when they visit us in August? 

We also went on a Getaway near Mt. Adams. They have about 40 or so of these little cabins all nestled in the woods. It's super calm and peaceful (and no cell phone reception!). The cabin is really lovingly and cleverly done to fit all the luxuries of modern life like running water, showers, and a cooktop into this tiny footprint. The bed in particular is great: It's a queen sized bed that is located right next to a big window and has a beautiful view to the outside world. I'm pretty sure we'll go again - it was really nice. Plus, they allow dogs, so what's not to like!

Here's the cabin from the outside, with Jan and the car for size reference. It is tiny!

But the inside has all you need like a fully functional kitchen - that Jan is professionally mastering  here to cook us spaghetti for dinner - and a bathroom in the back. The sink is shared to save space. I love this sequence of photos. Look at Pepper: First, he's giving us his serious lip-half-stuck-on-tooth look, which then transitions into the happy "yeah, I'm camping with the family" look :D.

The view from the bed and us taking an evening walk around the property.