Summer is already almost over!

 It's Labor Day Weekend already - time to revisit the last...half year?!?

Summer officially started the weekend before Memorial Day (i.e. May 21st) with the first Windsurfing session of the year. The water was still cold, high and fast flowing from the Spring melt, but the sun strong enough to drive some wind up the Gorge - good times were had!

BBQ season started shortly thereafter:

Memorial Day Weekend

BBQ with Inga & Jim

During July 4th week we spent some time in Lincoln City for the first time - it was still chilly, particularly in the early morning hours! But the Oregon beaches are always worth a visit either way, of course.

Staircase to the beach from our hotel

Good times!

Pristine beaches as far as the eye can see

Next up: my parent's visit. It had been quite a few years (2017!) since the last time!

River Fox Park

Lake Oswego: St. Honore lunch

BBQ at home

Arrowhead Creek Park

Coffee break at the World Trade Center Portland

River cruise along the Willamette

Shopping at Washington Square Mall

Just a week later and Michaela headed to Germany to visit her Mom. So the furries were 'stuck' with just me, but we made it work 😁

Saying goodbye at PDX.

Morning pit-stop at Eric's

After Michaela's return we went in-person(!) shopping to Ikea for the first time in a very, very long time and got - among other things - a new dining room lamp:

Ikea lunch with Swedish meatballs

New dining room lamp

Spring Break

We finally made it to Spring Break! After a slightly less than 100 mile drive across the Cascades, we found our way to Oceanside and the little apartment we rented there. It even came with several level 2 EV chargers alleviating any range anxiety we may have had. (Even though we could have made the full trip without recharging until back home again, it did put our minds at ease. Charging was free, too - even better!) 

We figure it must have been more than a decade since we've been in Oceanside - time flies! 

We all enjoyed the beach, of course, and engaged in some much needed rest and relaxation; be it walks on the beach, through town, or board games and Lego during the inevitable rain showers this time of year.

Behold the largest Spruce in Oregon: 144 feet tall, more than 15 feet in diameter - the photo doesn't do it justice without a puny human next to it for scale...in contrast, Cape Meare's lighthouse is - at 38 feet - the shortest of Oregon...

Views were breathtaking all around, internet connectivity notoriously poor, which made for a great little getaway!

Photonics West 2023

One more indicator that COVID is moving from pandemic to endemic: I attended Photonics West in San Francisco in person for the first time since 2020. With more than 22,000 attendees and north of 1,400 exhibitors it felt - almost - like pre-pandemic times.

As in 2020 I couldn't stay with family or friends (though that may change again in 2024!), but as I was part of the MKS contingent, I got to a room at the Marriott Marquis just a few minutes from Moscone Center which turned out to be exceedingly convenient.

Program was packed as usual, and I didn't get around to taking a lot of pictures. After checking into the conference and attending the University of Rochester Alumni reception Sunday evening at the Marquis, Monday followed with a full day of talks from morning to evening, followed by the PW reception in the evening. SPIE hired a professional event manager for these and other occasions several years ago and since then they have been transformed into remarkable occasions. This year was Star Wars themed complete with a (small) light saber for every attendee, actors in full costumes and backgrounds for photo ops and a live band riffing off Star Wars themed music all evening. You can see Rey and Chewbacca in the background here.

Tuesday was another day packed with talks from morning to late afternoon, a working lunch with the LASE conference chairs - which gave me an interesting glimpse deeper into the structure and organization behind LASE - and the evening was occupied by the poster session, where I had to judge student posters. Through an interesting confluence of effects that I won't go in here, every single poster  I had to judge was presented by a Japanese student. This created a rocky start, but translation apps on our phones ultimately came to the rescue.

Wednesday - you guessed it - more talks. After a working lunch with one of my academic collaborators, I headed to the student reception in the afternoon sponsored by MKS. (Can you spot me in the picture?) And Thorlabs brought 'Paws for a Break' to Photonics West; given Thorlab's logo this is doubly genius! We finished the day with the announcement of the best student talk and best student poster.

On Thursday, after my by now almost traditional PW Thursday morning coffee with Bob, the Director of Science & Technology for SPIE (and my former boss), I finally got to walk through the exhibition for the rest of the day, check out what's new, forge some new connections, and catch up with a lot of people whom I hadn't run into during the technical sessions and hadn't seen in years. Seeing my old friends from Rochester was a particular treat, of course:

White Christmas and a Happy New Year

 We made it through 2022! After what felt like crawling to the finish line during December, we were greeted with a little bit of snow, just in time for Christmas, which - without the need for any more commuting - we very much enjoyed. 

Our family Christmas photo-shoot went better than most years, what do you think? And Rayne's new favorite spot turned out to be under the Christmas tree guarding the presents (or considering herself the prime gift of 2022 to us?).

After our - always tasty - Christmas eve dinner, we enjoyed Christmas Day with a morning walk in Champoeg State Park and the following days playing with our new toys!

And - after several missed years - I finally got to greet the New Year from Mt. Hood again, with  beautiful sunshine and great snow. Let's take it as a promising sign for a good 2023!