Early 2020

It's a bit late for wishing a Happy New Year I guess - it's been a while!

The weather was too poor on New Years Day to go skiing, so I skipped that...hopefully better luck next New Years Day.
But we haven't been bored in the meantime:

We enjoyed a very cool performance by the Willamette Singers, Willamette U's 17 member vocal jazz ensemble on January 11th.

Celebrating Michaela's promotion to Full Professor at 'Q' in downtown Portland on January 12th. Very proud of Michaela!

While staying at the Hilltop Inn in Pullman, WA...

I attended CUWIP - the conference for undergraduate women in physics for the third time. As in previous a very fun conference - particularly the Physics Slam!

Ryan and Peggy stopped by for a few games of 'Not Alone' on January 26th - good times...

Same procedure as every year: Photonics West in San Francisco Feb. 2nd through 6th.

This was the first year that I was invited to attend the 'Prism Awards' - the 'Oscars' of the optics world at Photonics West. Our MKS team made it into the finals, but didn't win.

The final result. Well, we are all more engineers than artists.

Team building at ESI...felt like going back to Middle School - where is Jule when I need her?!?

Now for the actual impetus for updating our blog: Michaela had Skittles' DNA tested a second time - this time with Embark. And apart from learning what we already knew, i.e. that Skittles is a true Mutt, we not only got a sense of the variability/repeatability of dog genetic testing, but we found one of Skittle's litter mates! And, even more amazing, despite the fact that Skittles was likely born in eastern Washington, her litter mate Baxter now lives in Lake Oswego, just a good 15 minutes from us! That was of course too much of a coincidence to let slide - we met Baxter and his parents Sue and Chris at our weekend morning coffee cart 'Royal Scotts Sips & Eats' in Villebois. It was great getting to know Baxter a bit and figuring out which of Skittle's behaviors are shared by Baxter (sneezing when excited, not fond of water, gait/stretching, picky eater, vocalization...) and which ones are not (asymmetrically floppy ears, reaction to unknown dogs, ...).

Michaela is getting the attention of all three!

Chris, Sue, Jan, Michaela, Baxter, Skittle and Pepper.

Brother and Sister reunited after >8years!

Sisters, Oregon

A few days after Christmas eve, Michaela, Pepper, Skittles and I made our way to Sisters (one of Michaela's Christmas' gifts - thank you!), which we have driven through in the past, but never staid for any period of time. Even though it was quite foggy the Sisters/Bend area is beautiful and we were looking forward to a few hikes!

Our first hike the next morning - after getting a little pick-me-up coffee at the Sisters Coffee Company - got us to Eagle Rock, a casual six mile hike directly out of Sisters through a Pine forest. Pepper and Skittles were super excited, despite freezing temperatures and fog. The rather flat terrain and soft ground made for very easy walking.

After a brief lunch break back at our apartment, we set out for Whychus Creek and enjoyed another five mile hike - this time with a bit more elevation, and a few icy spots. Pepper and Skittles surprised us yet again with an enthusiasm for an unusually brisk pace.

On New Year's Eve we got one more hike in in the morning - around Suttle Lake - before heading back home. The clouds briefly broke and we actually got some sunshine!

It's been a great couple of days of hiking. What a great way to close out 2019!

X-Mas 2019

Another successful semester is behind me. That meant spending more time with the furries and getting some well-deserved midday nappies in.

Our annual Christmas photo did not go quite as planned. The dogs were doing great, but then Jan and George arrived and George was so much more interesting than looking good for that photo. This is the best one we got. At least everyone's on it, right :D?!

Christmas also meant building some more Legos - with George's help, of course,

and watching the Christmas lights on the Portland racetrack with Billie&Rod (not shown below ;)). 

Mom's Christmas cookies arrived just on time. The package looked horrible on the outside (it was quite beaten up and must have gotten wet at some point), but the cookies were fine and Jan was happy! Next year - gluten free ones, please :)!

Pepper was also a good boy and got a new glow stick toy from Helga and Wolfgang. He loved it!

After all this excitement everyone crashed. Silent night indeed. 

Family

It's been four months since we adopted Skittles, so I figured it's time for an update. We've gone through several ups and downs, as expected. Skittles came to us still quite sick with a bad cough and a very violent sneeze (20 times in a row anyone??). She must also have been abused at some point because she would *scream* (not just yelp) when she was picked up, brushed, or had her nails done. She can also be a bit picky about her dog friends, but she usually comes around after a while; it just takes her a bit longer to warm up to other dogs and realize that they are no threat to her.

Overall we've seen HUGE progress, though. She has gained five pounds and is no longer a walking skeleton. A couple months in she decided that she does like bully sticks after all, and that her dry food really isn't that bad. Still not a breakfast kinda girl, though!

She's also a lot more relaxed around the house and doesn't bark at every small noise she hears outside. And even though she prefers to be in the same room we're in (which is of course great :)), she also feels confident enough ad trusts that we'll be back to stay in her comfy spot when we leave the room briefly. We've also left her alone (with Pepper, of course!) for up to six hours and she did great.

Speaking of which - the two have started to gang up on me! Here they are trying to convince me to take a break from grading my Modern Physics final. (They succeeded and we went on a walk instead :).).

And while they're not yet besties, they do enjoy each other's company most of the time. It's these little things that warm my heart. 

December? Yes, it's December already!

Soooo, it's been a while. For the most part, Michaela and I have just been hard at work the last few months, but there were a few pictures along the way that are worth sharing:

Billie has recently re-taken up singing and we spent a fun evening watching her at Wilf's Restaurant with Rod on September 25th (sorry for the fuzzy picture, lighting wasn't that bright):

October 5th: Jacob and Nicole's Wedding! It was a lot of fun, not only for their inability to maintain their composure during the vows, but also for a gathering with friends we hadn't seen in years.

Early November was one of several 'good weather weekends' that we enjoyed at the coast in Neskowyn - the eternal fall/winter rain hasn't quite yet started!

Also in early November, Justin, Helen - both colleagues of mine - and I visited UC Santa Barbara to check in on a research project that MKS is funding. It's a nice campus right on the beach; how students manage to get any work done in a place like this is beyond me...

 November 9th: After more than a year of 'lunch chess' Jacob and I finally got back together on a Saturday afternoon for a 'proper' game of chess. Jacob won - looking at the picture, I now have to wonder if Kiki was whispering sound chess advice into his ear...

November 25: Thanksgiving week! We spent Monday and Tuesday at Helen's Hideaway in Neskowyn. The weather was pretty lousy - as you'd expect in late November - but we had a great time nevertheless: lot's of fresh air and a warm, cozy place with a view of the Pacific...