Trip to Germany

 It's been quite a while since I had been on a plane - Photonics West in San Francisco in February of 2020 to be exact, and even longer since I had travelled internationally (Seoul in April and Munich in June of 2019). But, after two and a half years worth of pandemic misery and travel restrictions, it looked like case counts were low enough on both sides of the Atlantic to restart - occasional - travel. MKS had acquired Atotech in the summer and it was time to meet my new colleagues in Berlin in 3D.

After a pit-stop on the way in to Gruenstadt to visit my parents - and enjoy some lovely roulades - it was off to Berlin via ICE train, carrying some freshly harvested figs for my sister.

Berlin was a whirlwind tour of talks, discussions, and lab tours, while enjoying my sister's family's generous hospitality in the early mornings and late (sometimes very late) evenings. On Friday evening we even squeezed in a visit to the Brandenburger Tor during the 'festival of lights' as well as some awesome Dosas, before heading back home: again via ICE train to Mannheim, a lovely dinner with my parents and an early flight back to Portland via Vancouver, BC. It's been a full week!

Late summer...

 It's been a while, time for some catching up!

Michaela had gotten me a lovely Lego set for my birthday, which we finally finished in early August:

The Lego collection keeps growing and we finally decided to split it into two rooms. I now have a Lego streetscape in 'my office', too!

Windsurfing season was in full swing and I tried to make it count. I usually take exactly one picture when I arrive and that's it...there is a certain regularity in the theme: 

Note that last picture: unlike the others, which were taken on weekends, this one was on a Friday afternoon, straight from the office, still wearing a shirt. It would be the final session of the year and one of the best - well worth leaving the office early!

At the end of August we revisited Sauvie Island for the first time in way too many years (a decade?!?) - good times were had.

Meanwhile we also got a new roof. Admittedly not terribly exciting, but it needed to get done eventually:

First EV road trip: Cannon Beach

To get a sense of our new ID.4's handling, advanced driving assist features, and - most importantly - getting a sense of its range, we set out to Cannon Beach. Well, Ecola State Park's Indian Beach to be precise, but we did stop by Cannon Beach for a quick snack on our way back.

Handling turned out to be a delight and we quickly came to appreciate the adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, and most of all, the travel assist. Range also turned out to be a non-issue: while we had mapped out several DC fast charger locations depending on how far we could actually go, we made the entire round trip (~190 miles) with plenty of charge to spare despite running the AC full blast to keep the dogs cool and going over the cascade mountain range.

Good times!

Meet Rayne

While we're still missing George a lot - he was such a sweet and loving cat 💙 -, we both felt that we were ready to let another furry kitty in our lives. And as the summer is quickly coming to an end (*sniffle*), it was really now or next year. So we settle for "now". The CAT shelter in Sherwood, the same shelter we got George from back in 2008, had a cute little female cat named "Adella", and so we decided to go check her out. She very quickly wiggled her way into our hearts. So everyone, please meet Rayne (formerly Adella), our new furry family member. 

Initially a little shy, she very quickly warmed up to both Jan and me and started exploring the house. George's favorite spot - the cat tree above the entrance door - is now one of her favorites as well. 

As an aside, the name "Rayne" means "good counselor and friend". Exactly what we needed. And naturally, she now also goes by Ray (or RayRay) ... what can you expect from two physicists?!

The initial introductions to Pepper and Skittles were a bit ... rough. Rayne felt very intimidated by the two dogs, probably because she had been living on the streets before she was taken to the shelter, and had probably had her fair share of annoying dog encounters. There was a lot of hissing and full-out charging (Miss Fluffikins turned into MISS MURDER MITTENS!). But with time, patience, and lots of yummy treats we're now a peaceful three-pet household.

And as I was looking for Rayne pictures, I also stumbled across these super-cute Pepper and/or Skittles photos. You're welcome :). 

Laundry room remodel

The first picture is ~5 years old, but the only reference I could find. We had updated our washer/dryer and doggy-bath since then already, but it didn't solve two more fundamental problems: The dryer vent tended to clog and needed to be professionally cleaned about once every one to two years as it was far too long, being routed pretty much underneath the entire length of the house, and the dog bath drain was too high on the wall, necessitating a heavy lift each time the dogs needed a shower. [Added by MK - guess who did the heavy lifting 😁.]

While we originally wanted to get this done in 2020, we first put it off due to the pandemic, then contractors were hard to find as they had to work through their backlog, but finally, in June, we got our little project in:  

And now it is as it should be: a lowered dog bath and a dryer vent that goes straight through the wall to the outside.

We also used the opportunity to have a level 2 EV charger installed in the garage - works well with our new ID.4!