what's flyin' ryan?

braintrodes on tv

2009-06-03T19:37:00.002-07:00

Hey all: Check out this video from our lab that was on the news tonight. Those crazy looking capillary things are electrodes I have been making for a special project! Oh, and that's my adviser Kevin Plaxco.

until next time...

cannery row

2009-06-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

While Whitney and I were on our Pacific Coast Highway trip the other weekend, we visited Cannery Row in Monterey California. It is now a touristy shopping center, but in its heyday it was a booming sardine canning area. I think in the late 1940's it busted because of over fishing and the natural cycle of sardine populations. Apparently it shifts every 25 years or so and when sardines are down, anchovies are up. The area wasn't prepared for this and I think all the sardine canneries folded. Now there is the Monterey Bay Aquarium and some neat shops and restaurants that fill the area.

While there I learned that John Steinbeck is from this area and has written a many books that are situated around there. So, when we got back to Santa Barbara, I picked a copy of Steinbecks "Cannery Row" which actually is set, as you guessed it, right in cannery row. It takes place in the 30's. So far it has been pretty good. I guess most of my reading has been newer stuff, but sometimes I guess it is good to go back and read some classics. I know we had to read some Steinbeck book. It was "Of Mice and Men." I don't remember it that well, probably because I didn't really read it (sorry Ms. Kadden my 9th grade English Teacher." Cannery Row however has been pretty good.

until next time...

nailed it

2009-06-01T08:53:00.000-07:00

For those of you who know (which is most likely probably anyone reading this blog post) I have been on a quest to cook good pizza. I think the hardest part is the dough. Getting it to be the right consistency and not too doughy has been quite a challenge. I did get a no-knead recipe from my mom that actually makes some excellent pizza.

This isn't mine, it is from Wikipedia.

A couple months back, I had a hankering for some Chicago-style deep dish pizza and started reseaching recipes online for the crust. Turns out, Chicago style dough is much more flaky and pastry like with butter and oil playing a heavy role in the dough. Well, the first batch I made, while tasting good, was an utter failure. It was way too doughy, not flaky, and to top it off, rose while cooking to make the home made sauce overflow into the oven. Chicago style pizza sauce is not generally cooked before putting it on top of the pizza. The pizza has to bake so long, that this helps it taste fresh when it comes out of the oven. Well yesterday I made a new dough with cornmeal, butter, flour and oil and a little bit of yeast and salt and I NAILED IT. It came out excellent. I took a picture but forgot to take it off the camera. Needless to say, it was a tasty treat that tasted straight out of Chicago. Authentic with the cheese, then toppings, then sauce architecture. The crust could be improved a tad - it was a little soggy at some parts on the bottom, but overall very good. Maybe "Doc's Pizza" is going to have to switch to deep dish style. Hmmmm.

until next time...

happy birthday maaaaaa

2009-05-31T05:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday MOM!!!! I hope you have a good one!!! Enjoy that cupcake (oh and sorry that your card and gift will be a day or two late).

Love you mom.

until next time...

Pacific Coast Highway

2009-05-27T11:11:00.001-07:00

I know, it has been since I think March since the last time I blogged. I think this lapse has occured for a variety of reasons, but mainly, I just haven't felt up to blogging. That is not to say that a lot hasn't happened in these last few months, but I guess you could say I was in a funk. I am slowly emerging from this funk and trying to be more upbeat and positive.

View PCH Trip in a larger map

On that note, Whitney and I took an incredible little vacation this past Memorial Day Weekend. Sort of on a spur of the moment idea (although this has been on our list of things to do while in CA) we decided to drive up Highway 1 along to coast. We had talked a little about it and then next thing I knew, Whitney took some initiative and booked some hotels. So we left Friday night and drove up to Stop 1.

Stop 1: San Luis Obispo. A cute town where Cal Poly is located. Seems like a hip place to be. We had dinner and then did some random shopping at a Target and Kohls since we don't have them close to us. Then the next morning we were off to Stop 2.

Stop 2: We headed up Highway 1 to Cambria and San Simeon via Morro Bay. Morro Bay has a big rock in the water. Very cool. Cambria was a very cool little town with neat shops and restaurants. We had lunch here and dinner actually since there wasn't much in San Simeon other than our motel - which was awesome. The Silver Surf Motel had a little gas fireplace in the room and since it was ridiculously cold our entire trip, that was a nice little perk. We also went to the beach where the elephant seals come to play. This may have been the highlight of the trip. The elephant seals were everywhere. Barking and snorting and fighting and what not. It was truly amazing to see these things in their natural habitat. They stunk, but it was awesome to see them. The next morning we headed up to Hearst Castle which was pretty amazing. Although it was very cloudy, the house and artwork was pretty amazing.

We then took highway 1 up through the Big Sur area which was fantastic. The road is basically on the edge of oblivion. It is right on the side of the mountains and then drops off into the ocean. The water was a an amazing turquoise color as you can see in some of the pictures. You get into redwood forests and we stopped in Big Sur proper and had a great lunch and saw some more great art.

Stop 3: Monterey. A little more built up, right next to Carmel and Pebble Beach. We stayed in a great hotel right at the Fishermans Wharf. Ate some good seafood, went to Cannery Row. It use to be a big sardine producer, and then all the sardines dissappeared and they all went out of business. And now its a shopping area. Beautiful little place.

Monday morning, we road through Carmel and had lunch. Saw Pebble Beach, even went into the Lodge there. Then cut over to the 101 and drove home. Stopping in Paso Robles, a very cute little town and Pea Soup Andersons in Beullton for a bowl of yummy pea soup.

Overall it was an amazing trip and if you ever are in CA, forget LA and soCal. Drive up route 1.

I am glad we did it. Check out our pics by clicking on the pic below (That is the Rock at Morro Bay).

Pacific Coast Highway

until (a hopefully very short) next time...

glorious day!

2009-03-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

Today is a glorious day. I have made the last and final payment on my 2003 Saturn Vue. WOW!!! That took a long ass time to pay off. Slowly but surely, the car that brought me to Utah from NC and now brought Whitney and I from Utah to California is now completely owned by yours truly. Lets hope it doesn't break down on the way home tonight!!!!! Here are some pics from along that journey:

Here it is just about brand new (only 1 month old). My dad and I are about to head out West in August 2003.

Here it is in Southern Utah at Zion National Park. Bill and I took a weekend camping trip down there in the Vue in May 2004.

Here it is somewhere in between Salt Lake City and the Grand Tetons. Whitney, Damon and I all went out there for a weekend camping trip in August of 2005.

Grand Isle Nebraska. Bill, Abby, Whitney and I got stuck there for TWO nights because I blizzard came through and shut down I-80. We were coming back from Damon and Elissa's wedding in November 2006 (I think I have that date correct)

Here it is all loaded up to head out to Santa Barbara. Murph and I drove the Saturn and Whitney and her mom drove the Jeep. Both were pulling trailers. We switched those arrangements a couple times, but I think Murphy was in the Saturn the whole ride (never driving though!). This was September 2007.

Hopefully this newly acquired asset remains in good health as our now only car.

Until next time...

make sure the volume is on!!!!

2009-03-09T16:19:00.000-07:00

Kid Uses Fart Machine During City Council Meeting - watch more funny videos

can't ty...pe...lau..ug...h...hing too hard!

until next time...

karaoke madness

2009-03-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

Last Friday night we had a going away party for one of our post docs in the lab. Takanori was heading back to Japan on Saturday morning. So we all threw a party which started with a bbq at now Alexis's apartment (he took over Takanori's lease). Some good food, drinks and conversation was had by all. Then we headed out to Old Towne Tavern to do some karaoke. Unfortunately (fortunately) I don't have any pictures. My first song was "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye. About half way through the song it was pertty clear that I was butchering it. Ok though, pretty much everyone butchered their songs. Taka did a rendition of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin along with Whit. I sang some Nirvana with one of our Chinese students and we all did a power ballad of "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. It was a great time. I hope Taka wasn't too hung over for his flight to Japan the next morning.

until next time...

taking turns

2009-02-21T12:17:00.002-07:00

I know that is has been a while since my last real post. Things have been quite crazy over here in Santa Barbara as of lately. With Whitney teaching the INT 20 class at UCSB on Wednesday nights to my tutoring 3 nights a week it seems like there is no time to relax. I will let Whitney tell you about her class, but I am very proud and happy for her and all the opportunities that have availed themselves to her since coming here to Santa Babara. I am tutoring 3 high school students right now and man is it taking it out of me. My students range the spectrum from really smart to the point where I am just a cheerleader to not really caring about chemistry. I realize that most people don't actually want to learn chemistry, but you have to remember that I spend my entire work day surrounded by people somewhat interested in chemistry.

The reason for the title of this post is two-fold. First is Whitney and I had a great Valentines Day the other week. She blogged about it so I won't get into the details, but one thing that she left out was that we went to Chef Karim's for dinner that night. It is a Moroccan place where you eat your food with your hands. Any one see Along Came Polly? Anyway, it was a fun experience which started with hummus and eggplant based dipping sauces for bread. It was very tasty. Next came the main dishes which consisted of a honey lamb shank and spicy chicken kabobs with a side of couscous. The meats were generally pretty easy to eat with our hands, but the couscous and rice parts were a little more difficult. Oh I almost forgot the meat-filled pastry as a second appetizer. It was a meat-filled pastry with phyllo dough and the wierdest, yet ultimately scrumptous part, it was all covered with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Very yummy. Finish this feast up with chocolate-dipped strawberries and some Moraccon tea and you have a very tasty meal.

The reason I titled the blog post "taking turns" is that this year was Whitney's turn to plan out Valentines day. We take turns on whos year it is to plan out the activities for that day. This is very similar to our taking turns cooking dinner. We switch every week. So last week was my week to cook dinner. We had curry chicken, red wine risotto, and a black bean shitake mushroom stir fry to name a few. Next week is Whit's week - I can't wait to see what she cooks up. We have been using this system since we started living together. It has worked pretty well.

Well, a long-winded story just to talk about taking turns.

until next time...

a stork under the bridge

2009-02-06T17:32:00.006-07:00

I had a fun cultural exchange with Takanori today that I thought I would share. Takanori asked me what parents tell kids when they ask the question "Where did I come from?" I think it that the stork story is universally used. Indeed, it also is apparently used in Japan, but it is second to a story that I think I will have to use someday. That story is "We found you under a bridge." That is fantastic.

until next time...

blood drive success!

2009-01-31T13:39:00.016-07:00

Hey All,

This last Friday was the Blood Drive: Battle of the Labs that I organized to take place at the Chemistry building at UCSB. It went great. United Blood Services brought their big 40 foot blood mobile and a great staff to mn the drive around 10:30. I had signed up a total of 34 people in all the allotted time slots for the drive. We even had more people want to sign up and the blood drive people said we could try and squeeze people in all day. In addition, we had a bunch of walk-ins who saw the blood mobile out there in the loading dock and decided to find the hero within. All said and done, we collected 50 pints of blood! That is 6.25 gallons - or enough to save ~150 people. It was great!!! The blood drive folks kept telling me that it was the best blood drive they ever had a UCSB! They said it was so well organized and that everyone showed up at their scheduled times. Really, the work required by me wasn't that difficult other than scheduling - but they kept thanking me for such a well organized drive. It made me feel really good. In fact I enjoyed organizing it so much that I am going to call over there Monday morning to see what sort of volunteering opportunities there are for me. I have been looking for an opportunity since moving here. Whitney and I both miss coaching little kids soccer. This may be the ticket. Here are some pictures of the event! The last one is all the people in the Plaxco lab that donated. We got cool shirts and somehow all managed to get different color gauze. Crazy.

until next time...

obamicon

2009-01-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

Whitney found this great site that allows you to take pictures and turn them into Obama-esque posters. We were having a little fun with it this evening. Check it out. The site is http://obamiconme.pastemagazine.com/.

until next time...

blood drive: battle of the labs!

2009-01-15T21:54:00.000-07:00

That's right - Battle of the Labs! Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday.... come out to the Chemistry Building at UCSB. United Blood Services will be bringing the Blood Mobile so that you can find the hero within you and donate blood. The lab with the highest amount of donated blood (and no, you can't donate more than once) will win a $40 gift card to Hollister Brewing Company.

So, as you can guess, or maybe not, but I am (or have) organized a blood drive at our Chemistry Department. Basically, since I am turning over my Blood Bank fellowship to accept my NIH Fellowship (oh come on, let me brag a little, its a little out of character) it seemed like a good idea to give some blood to the Blood Bank as a thanks for the money for 1 year of my post doc. So, I am organizing a blood drive in which I got Hollister to donate a $40 gift card to the lab that has the most participants. On January, 30th, the blood mobile will be coming to collect blood. I am actaully pretty excited about this. It has been fun organizing this thing. I will let you know how it goes.

until next time...

sea anemone and other sights!

2009-01-13T14:23:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures that Whitney and I took on our day trip to San Luis Obispo. Actually, none of these pictures are from SLO, but rather from our trip there. We saw sea anemones.

until next time...

fat flat tire

2009-01-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

I have been bike commuting to work for a while now. You could even say a couple years. Since moving to Santa Barbara, that has only increased, as the weather here allows for year-round biking. In these years of bike commuting, I have yet needed to stop and repair a flat tire. There have been occasions where I would get a flat and would walk the rest of the way or call Whitney if I had just left for work so that she could come and get me (I know this is cheating, but hey).

Anyway, yesterday I was riding in to work. It has gotten colder in during the winter time, so it was ~42 degrees F outside. You midwesterners may be saying “That’s not cold at all you wuss.” But keep in mind, I am riding my bike outside for ~40 minutes and 9 miles in this weather, so it’s a little cold. Well, I got a flat about halfway to work. With no phone to call Whitney and wuss out, and too far to continue on walking, I had to stop and fix it. I didn’t have a spare, so I had to patch on the fly with my patch kit, but sure enough I was able to fix it and get on my way. I feel now that I can enter the true bike commuter club. Also on my in after fixing the flat, some guy rode up next to me and commented on how awesome my bike was. Damon you will appreciate this. This isn’t the first time, in fact, that someone has said this to me on the bike path. I get compliments all of the time about my Lemond bike. Maybe it is because you can’t get them in the 3 bike shops in town. For whatever reason it is, people always seem to like my bike. Makes me feel pretty good considering they are all riding on bikes that probably cost twice as much as my Lemond – but hey, who is keeping score.

until next time…

Christmas Vacation

2009-01-01T10:41:00.000-07:00

Whitney and I spent Christmas in North Carolina this year! It was a great time. I hadn't been back to the great state in about a year and half - not since Erin's college graduation. We flew in last Monday and stayed for a week. My parents and rest of my family wasn't there though as they were down in sunny Florida. We hung out with family, did some shopping (I finally got a real suit), and we did presents. It was great seeing Whitney's family, and now, they are my family too. In fact, we took family portraits with Rick and Marcia over the vacation. Who knows what we will do next Christmas. Maybe a destination Christmas! Any takers? Well, here are some pictures from the trip (my favorite being the first one). We visited Old Salem and Chapel Hill while we were there. It was great seeing the old college campus too.

Whitney and I at Rick and Marcia's

Bravo - Bob and Diane's new puppy

Bob and Diane in Old Salem

Some moonshine

Whitney and I at UNC-Chapel Hill

until next time...

addicted

2008-12-12T20:23:00.000-07:00

I am not going to lie (and I know Erin will know what I am talking about). I am addicted to the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. You may be asking yourself:

"Hey, aren't those books written for tweens and teen girls - why then, are you reading them. In fact, shouldn't you be reading things like The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Kuhn (hopefully Whit gets me that one for Christmas - although that and the 4th of the Twilight series?"

Maybe you are right. But I say to you this: "A wise man once told me that an hour a day of reading will make you a better writer. It will teach you how to tell a story, how to structure paragraphs, how to..." Well you get the point. I must say, as I started to read the first of the series, Twilight, I was put off by some of the dialogue. Admittedly, it seems to be better suited for someone in the age range of 12 to 12 and half. However, the story is inescapable. You just want to read read read read and keep reading until its over. Then, once it is over, you (I) become sad so I have to go get the next one. One flight from Boston to Santa Barbara later and you realize that it is time for the third installment, Eclipse.

I must say, they are very compelling stories that seem to haven taken hold of me to point where I want to know how it ends, but I don't want it to be over. I am trying to take the third one a little more slow. Try and enjoy it a little better.

Hey, at least I am reading.

Are you Team Edward or Team Jacob?

until next time...

blast from the past!

2008-12-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

As you may have gathered from my last post, I spent last week in the great metropolis that is Boston. Actually, to tell you the truth, I loved the city. It was great. I know most of you sitting at home in wind-chilled snowy areas might think that I am crazy when I say this, but I miss the winter time. It actually felt like Christmas time out there. Sure Santa Barbara puts lights on State St., and they actually look great, there was just something about Boston this past week. Good thing there are just a few research universities out there, so who knows, maybe Whitney and I could end up there some day (I know she really liked the city as well when she visited it about a month ago).

The reason I blog today is this: While in the great city of Boston I had time to catch up with an old friend from high school - Peter. He is living in Boston (well just outside the downtown area) with his wife Amy. Actually on my way out to his place, in which I took the T, I realized about 2 stops before I got to where I was suppose to meet him, that I had left my cell phone in the hotel! Ok great, now what. Here I am in Alewife, just outside Boston, where I am suppose to call Pete when I get there so he can come pick me up. I don't have a phone, nor do I know his number. What to do? So I scrounge some quarters out of my coat pocket and dial the only number I can think of - Whitney. Guess what, she is not answering!!! AHHH. So I leave a quick message, not knowing how long 4 quarters will give me on this pay phone, instrucing her to log onto my facebook account, get Pete's number and call him and tell him that I am at the stop. Who knows how long it will be until she will have the chance to check her messages, so all I can do at this point is go upstairs and wait until Pete comes as per Whitney's request, or turn around and take the 30 minute T ride back to the hotel. As I got upstairs, sure enough, as if Pete remembered who I am and what I was likely to do (like forget my phone) he pulled up in his car to pick me up. A quick call to Whitney to let her know she didn't have to call him, nor worry about me and we were on our way to his house.

It was great to catch up and meet his wife. I really had a great time chatting, it was a lot of fun. The rest of Boston was fun too. Here I am in my cheap suit (although I look like a million bucks right?).

Until next time...

hello from boston

2008-12-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry the posts are far and few between lately. I have been in Boston at a meeting. Gave a talk on Thursday afternoon in the "Bioinspired Transduction" session. Thrilling! Ready to be home now.

until next time...

rah rah carolina -lina

2008-11-20T10:25:00.001-07:00

It has been a quite couple of days on the blog front. Not much new to report here other than the "Tea Fire" has been put out. It burned for a couple of days, but it really seems like the fire fighters and whomever else contributed got a handle on it really quick. They stopped it from spreading further than it already had. Unfortunately, it still burned 200 something houses. Apparently it was started from leftover ashes from a bonfire.

On other fronts- we are getting ready for our Thanksgiving guests to arrive this weekend. Rick and Marcia are coming to share a feast of turkey and what not. Not sure what all we will be cooking, but I am sure a post will come soon about it.

And THIS FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY!!!! is the Carolina vs. UCSB men's basketball game. Apparently impossible to get tickets for here at the Thunderdome where the UCSB Gauchos play. Whitney's old boss knew she was a fan and gave us her two tickets. So Whitney and I get to go see come Carolina basketball tomorrow night. It brings back old memories of us going back in Chapel Thrill!!!! Go HEELS!!

until next time...

i am not going to lie...

2008-11-13T22:54:00.000-07:00

I am a little concerned about the brush fire that broke out in Santa Barbara this evening. We are glued to the TV watching what's going on. We took the dog for a walk right after it started and tooke these:

We can hear helicopters above and unfortunately the wind is blowing the fire towards the city. Not good. So far we are fine. Waiting to see if we have to evacuate.

until next time...

holy raw fish batman

2008-11-13T07:32:00.001-07:00

This past weekend, my parents came out to visit Whitney and I. They arrived Thursday night into LA so Whit and I drove down there to pick them up and to get some dinner in the greater LA area. Since we don't really know that area very well I asked for suggestions from two of my lab mates here up in Santa Barbara. There were some good suggestions, and ultimately it came down to everyone wanting sushi. So we headed up to Santa Monica were the resteraunt Sushi Sasabune is located (on Takanori's advice). Let me tell you, we were not dissapointed. If you are a sushi lover, you are in for a treat when you go to Sasubune. Their tag line is

"Trust Me!"

Oh, their other tag line is "We don't do California and Spicy Tuna rolls." Now I am not really a sushi snob, so I love a Cali roll or a spicy tuna roll any time, but this place doesn't really have a menu - or at least it is suggested that you don't use one. You just trust the chef to make you what is best - they just ask you what you won't eat and then they start bringing on the fish. It was so incredibly tasty. I mean the fish just melted in your mouth. It was definitly top 3 of my all time eating experiences. We loved it so much we tried to go back on Sunday when we took Mom and Dad back to the airport. Unfortunately it is not open on the weekend.

Oh yeah, Christian Bale was eating there while we were. You know, BATMAN! We thought that was pretty cool to see too!

Along with this, we had a great visit with mom and dad. It was perfect weather. We cooked some, we ventured around Santa Barbara. It was gfun. Now we are getting ready for our next visitors, Rick and Marcia.

until next time...

my soapbox

2008-11-05T11:46:00.003-07:00

I think America got it right yesterday. This election was bigger than just the current issues at hand... it goes beyond the current state of the economy and the war in Iraq... it shows that the US is moving forward with its thinking. This not only makes a national impact but an international impact as well - in an excellent way.

That's enough from my political soap box. I am glad that my vote finally counted (being in a blue state now). You could say that I am a believer in change.

Until next time...

HEY!

2008-11-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

Did you?

until (a new day) next time...

oh yeah!!!!!!!!

2008-11-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

me as the Kool Aid Man

This past weekend, I attended the Plaxco Lab Halloween Party. Apparently it is quite famous throughout our department and it had recently taken a two year hiatus, so I this was the first one since I have been in town. Basically it was a big costume party at Camilles house with a lot of great costumes.There was Abe Lincoln (Cash Like $$), John Wilkes Boothe, a couple Sarah Palins, a Shadow, Fall Foliage, old women carrying unproportionally large babies on there back, a palm tree.... I could go on forever. I went as the Kool Aid man, which Whitney and I spent about 2 weeks sewing the costume. I think it came out great. As I walked around the party, people kept screaming "Oh YEAH!" like the Kool Aid man does as he busts through walls to cure the thirst of hundreds of thousands of kids. So I would just say it back to them.

the Plaxco Lab

Camille forgot to get candy for Trick-or-Treaters coming by earlier in the evening. Luckily, I had brought a bunch of Kool Aid packets, so I started giving those out to the kids. One of the small kids was way afraid of me in my costume, but most of them enjoyed getting Kool Aid packets from the Kool Aid man.

Kool Aid getting Samuraied by Takanori

Unfortunately, Whitney was not able to attend as she was (and still is) in Boston. She gets home Tuesday. She also took the camera, so I had to steal some of these pictures from Kevin's Blog. Maybe I will get more when more people who were there give me pictures.

until next time...

quaking earth

2008-10-29T07:36:00.000-07:00

Murph and I felt an earthquake this morning. I woke up at around 6:30, which actually means it was 6:19, since I like to set my clock fast becuase I am anal (#22 on the list of thing you might not know about me). Then I heard and felt something that reminded me of the earthquake we felt last year. Well Murph also felt it, because as soon as it happened he jerked his head up (he was sleeping on the bed) and looked around for something. So I looked it up on earthquake.usgs.org and saw this:

That red square there is an earthquake that occurred in the last hour. This map means it happened right here- 3.6 miles from our apartment:

View Larger Map

Pretty crazy.

P.S. You can't wait to see pictures of my Halloween costume that Whitney and I custom made!!

until next time...

20 Things You Might Not Know About Me

2008-10-26T17:49:00.002-07:00

I will follow suit

20 things you may or may not know about me:

1. I have lived in 6 states. Michigan, Maryland, Connecticut, Michigan, North Carolina, Utah, California - in that order.

2. I once got 3 D's in the eigth grade. I am pretty sure that one of those was in Science Class. I was then forced to write letters of apology to the three teachers, promising to make better marks in the coming quarter.

3. I once got a D in college... it was an upper level biology-genetics class. I didn't write a letter to the professor.

4. When I was in elementary school, we use to walk to school. For some reason we thought it would be a good idea to shoot at the basketball hoop on someone's house with rocks. The people who lived there did not think it was a good idea at all and finally came out and yelled at us.

5. When I was in the sixth grade, I sneezed and farted at the same time. The class bully proceded to get up and walk around class imitating me for everyone's amusement (the teacher had stepped out).

6. My unwanted nickname in the seventh grade was "Deadboy." Some guy named Jim Fish gave it to me. I was too much of a weenie to make fun of his name.

7. I would love own a pizzeria. I would call it "Doc's Pizza."

8. I have really vivid dreams.

9. I firmly believe that I am where I am today (a postdoc at UCSB) becuase some guy mistook me for someone else when they offered me a position as an undergraduate researcher. I would say, although damn lucky, it was perhaps: meant to be.

10. My first car was a Saab 900s (Although not a convertible, if someone asked me to trade my Vue for a 1994 Saab 900 convertible, I would in a heartbeat).

11. In college, I almost let Whitney get away once. Good thing she took me back :-)

12. I have been to a Nascar race. I also have been to a monster truck rally.

13. I went through a phase were I was afraid of flying, although I continued to fly. For some reason I would just get really nervous when taking off and landing, becuase somehow I justified in my head that those times were the most likely times for an accident to occur. This lasted from when I was about 20-21 and then one day it just stopped.

14. I have a love hate relationship with scary movies. I love to watch but hate it at the same time.

15. My parents use to always buy us a roll of Lifesavers on the way to church on Sunday mornings. If we were lucky, we would also stop at Fancy Bagels for a bagel sandwich way home.

16. I was president of my church youth group in high school. I was also president of Circle K (service group) at UNC and was also president of ChemSAC at Utah... maybe I really just want to be in charge of stuff when I grow up.

17. I am still not grown up, and don't plan to any time soon.

18. My first concert was Blues Traveler and Holy Cross College.

19. I did not have my first beer until I was a freshman in college. Subsequently, that same night, our entire dorm room, in which my room mate had friends in from Michigan State, got written up for having alcohol and being underage. We all had to meet with the head RA of the building (I think our RA may have been the one to buy the beer) and create a poster on the perils of underage drinking to be displayed in the foyer of the res hall.

20. I just bought the domain name www.joesixpackscience.com in hopes to start a website that explains everyday science related things in an easy to understand way. The first article, which I have yet to write, is on why beer bottles come in different colors. I hope google.com buys it for millions of dollars in 3 years. Then I will do #7 and continue to follow #17.

until next time...

whispering eye

2008-10-24T07:17:00.001-07:00

Last night, Whitney and I got to go see a preview of the movie "Role Models." Whitney got the free pass to the sneak preview from someone at work. I give it a B+. It was pretty funny and an overall decent movie. It stars Sean William Scott and Paul Rudd, both of whom I think are very funny. I suggest you go see it and find out what "whispering eye" is.

until next time...

3150

2008-10-17T08:09:00.004-07:00

I have been meaning to blog about this for a while. In fact, 150 miles ago is when I should have blogged about this. A couple weeks ago, my bike crossed over the 3,000 mile mark! That means that if I left Santa Barbara today and drove all those miles, I would end up in Newport, Maine (because now I am at ~3,150).

View Larger Map

That is a whole lot of miles. I am not one to toot my own horn, but just seeing that number as I make my commute to work everyday makes me feel pretty good. If you think about it, think of the money that would cost in gas.

If my car gets 23 mpg that means I would have used (3,150 miles/ 23 miles/gallon) = 137 gallons of petrol. At the current rate gas is at a nationwide average of $3.15 (<-- they obviously forgot to calculate California in that mix). That means 137 gallons x $3.15/gallon = $431.55. That means (although this statistic is actually a little depressing), the bike has almost paid for itself. Well, by the end of 2008 maybe it will have paid for itself. Needless to say, the bike is still riding strong. In fact, it took me home last night and this whole week. Here it is:
until next time...

dream weaver

2008-10-13T11:33:00.002-07:00

I had this really weird dream last night that all of our house plants died. That doesn't sound very good. Dreamhawk.com says this:

PLANTS Depending upon what the plant is, it shows something growing in yourself or you life. It can sometimes represent your children and how they are progressing-growing. If the plant is shriveled, it shows a lack of life energy or enthusiasm in some area of your life.

Have you had any weird dreams lately.

until next time...

it's that time of year again

2008-10-09T09:34:00.002-07:00

Picture from http://www.vermontfallfoliage.com

It happens every year: Autumn. Every year I go through the same thing when this time of year comes around. What I mean to say is, that every year since I left for college I get this major hankering for a good old New England fall day. It is by far my most favorite time of the year. I love a clean crisp day where jeans and a tshirt is just fine. The leaves are a vibrant orange and red. It really doesn't get any better than that. I know most of you may be saying: "But Ryan, in a month it will be ass cold and all the leaves will be gone. At least where you are, it will stay relatively warm." I would respond by saying: "I would give up the monotonous 70 degree everyday weather of the fall for just one week in a quintessential New England town in prime foliage season." Maybe not really, but man part of me always wants to move back there some day.

I shouldn't discount the fall in places like North Carolina and Michigan, because some of the years I have been away from New England have been spent there. They have the leaves changing colors (NC in the mountains especially), but I will always hold a special place in my heart for those crisp Connecticut mornings around this time of year. There is just something about it that I am sure most people who have lived there and moved away to some place less seasony know what I am talking about.

To cure this hankering, every year since 1999 I have been visiting a website called VermontFallFoliage.com. I know that it is not Connecticut, but they have such a nice site with daily pictures. Since 1999 I have been updating my desktop wallpaper to one of the daily pictuers that they have on their site. As you can imagine, the pictures have improved dramatically with all of the improvements in digital cameras. Now in 2008 the pictures are super high resolution. So for all you yankees out there, if you are missing the Autumn season, take a look at the site. Quaint New England fall foliage - a place of dreams.

until next time...

everything avocado

2008-10-07T03:00:00.001-07:00

This past Sunday marked the 22nd Annual Avocado Festival in Carpentaria, California, which is located ~10 miles southeast from Santa Barbara. Whitney and I (Whitney especially) enjoy a good avocado once in a while and thus we decided to attend said festival. We were not let down. First, Carpentaria is sort of a neat little town. In fact, if you happen to be visiting us in the near future, chances are we will bring you there. We would also like to see the place when there isn't a giant festival of avocados. While at the avocado festival we decided to test the delectably avocado treats that were available. The menu items for the day were:

1. Chips and guacamole (obv)
2. Beer battered avocado bits covered in a sweet corn salsa, sugarfire grill pico, and a nice red sauce - all over some tortilla strips (to die for)
3. Texas sweet tea (not sure how that fits in)
4. Avocado ice cream (smooth, sweet, and a lot better than one would think.

It was a great festival with lots of food a music. Coming up next is: THE BEER FESTIVAL (<-- click there). $30 dollars flat. Should be interesting. This brings me to my next thought -

If you could attend a food festival of your choice, what would it be?

Ice cream? Sushi? Raspberries? Yumm, my mouth is watering just thinking about all these options.

until next time...

the wave

2008-10-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

Oh. While we were at the game, the second best stadium wave took place. Check it out.

until next time...

UCLA FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!!!!!!

2008-10-05T19:14:00.003-07:00

This past Saturday we experienced a quintessential American ritual - TAILGATING!!!! Whitney and I and 10 other people drove down to Pasadena to attend a UCLA football game. We went with a bunch of people from my lab, many of whom are not from this country, which made everything even more fun. Here is the breakdown.

1. Me (America)
2. Whitney (America)
3. Adrianna (America)
4. Camille (America)
5. Takanori (Japan)
6. Alexis (Canada)
7. Andy (America)
8 + 9. Alexis's dates (Turkey + eastern European)
10. Francesco (Italy)
11 + 12. Francesco's brother and brother's friend (Italy)

Quite a mix huh? So we got down to the game about an hour and a half early, popped open the barbecue and beer and started tailgating. We enjoyed some sausage and hummus and fruit and chips and Budweiser and then headed to the game. It was a great time, and to top it all off UCLA won. We had excellent seats too!

until next time...

badASS

2008-09-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

look at those badass mofos at Daytona Bike Week.

until next time...

nature...

2008-09-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

Wait, who's that!!!! I just wanted the Grand Tetons, not the Grand Tetons and the Grand Crevase!

until next time...

go utes...farfunoogen!

2008-09-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

Homecoming game at Utah, 2003. top row - Danny,Whitney, me, Bill, Jackie, Dan, Ryan
bottom row - Tony, Damon, Jennie, Rochelle, Nicole, Andy

until next time...

who invited the cool kids?

2008-09-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

While in Vegas, enjoy these next couple days of pictures.

until next time

viva las vegas

2008-09-22T08:15:00.002-07:00

Tomorrow is my birthday, as you probably have gathered by reading my mom's blog. If you haven't, then check out 'The White House' blog down there to the right in the links section. Here is another picture my mom scanned and sent to me that she did not put on her post. I still remember this bike like it was yesterday. It was lightning fast with the most aerodynamic wheels. In fact, some might say it was "WARP FACTOR FIVE" fast. Now that is fast!

Tomorrow I am also heading to Las Vegas, although on a completely unrelated note with regards to my birthday. I am actually going to attend a conference in which I am also speaking at on Friday afternoon. I came across some old pictures this weekend and if I have the time, I will set them to autopost while I am away.

until next time...

excellent picture

2008-09-19T05:00:00.001-07:00

I don't know why, but I love this picture. Whitney took it when my sisters were here visiting over the 4th of July. It is a very candid shot and the way everyone is positioned gives it a cool sense of perspective.

until next time...

uncle adrian

2008-09-18T08:27:00.002-07:00

I don't actually have an uncle Adrian. In fact, this introduction is a long winded intro into how Whitney, Erin and I painted while in Chicago. I heard this guy give a talk on Monday on campus here for some Biomolecular Science and Engineering retreat. His name was Adrian and he was an older scientist. Older scientists always seem to have great stories about accidental discoveries that lead to things like cell phones or something like that. Adrian also kept referring to himself as Uncle Adrian as he told us "kids" in the audience how we should go about our scientific careers. It was nonetheless entertaining and I took a few things from here and there. He listed 3 things, or words of wisdom, and unfortunately I can only remember #3 which was to always carry around a notebook so that you can remember things you learn at seminars and meetings etc.

There was also one other thing he said which I thought was funny. He mentioned that Scientists are Artists with no talent. I chuckled as well as the rest of the audience. So, with no further adue, and really there is no relation, but speaking of artists, Whitney, Erin and I painted while in Chicogo. The theme was Chicago, rightfully so. Can you guess which one is mine?

until next time...

flub a dub chub

2008-09-17T21:41:00.001-07:00

That is the name of the place we got hot dogs in Chicago.

until next time...

misty may and kerri walsh

2008-09-10T09:08:00.002-07:00

Last weekend we met up with Francesco, Ilaria, Alexis, and Takanori to watch the Santa Barbara AVP Beach Volleyball tournament. I was pretty awesome. Right on West Beach in Santa Barbara. In fact, Whitney and I beach cruised it down there to avoid dealing with any parking hassles. We got there right as Misty May and Kerri Walsh were starting the semi-final game. They lost!!!!! And the team they lost to didn't end up winning the whole thing!!! Pretty crazy, but fun to watch. Also we saw the mens gold medalist the "Beijing Best" Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers. They played an excellent finals match winning after coming from behind 9-14 (game point is 15 so they really came from behind).

Here is a picture of Misty and Kerri from the camera phone since we forgot our camera. Better pictures to come once I get them from Francesco's camera.

until next time..

chicago, wicked awesome

2008-09-09T08:31:00.003-07:00

Whitney and I at the Bean

Last week Whitney and I traveled to the Windy City to visit Erin in her new home city. That's right: Chicago. It was a great trip and we did a ton while we were there. It wasn't a very relaxing trip, because we were running all over the city trying to see everything we could while we were there. It was, however, a wicked awesome trip. I use the phrase "wicked" because while we were there we went and saw the musical Wicked. It was an amazing play, in fact it was one of the many highlights of the trip. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It is the story of the witches of Oz, as in the Wizard of. Very funny and quite a good story.

Mom and I at a tapas place

The Girls

While we were visiting we also met up with Nicole who came for a couple days as well as my mom and dad who were all there at various times. In addition, Rich was also up there visiting some friends, so we had the chance to meet up with him as well. We also saw Aunt Margy a couple times and cousin Marc. See what I mean about busy.

Not only was this a great trip to see things like: The Bean, Navy Pier, Wrigley Field, The Field Museum, The Shedd Aquarium, The Science and Industry Museum, The Mag Mile, Michigan Avenue, The John Hancock Building, Wayne Tower (Erin's building that also was Wayne Tower in the latest Batman flick)... I could go on and on, but it was also a culinary feast with the highlights being Chicago Style hotdogs, Greektown and my personal favorite, Gino's East for some amazing Chicago style deep dish pizza (twice).

Rich, me, and Whitney

Me, Whitney, and Margy at Gino's East

All in all, we had a great time. Erin's tiny studio apartment was great, her neighborhood was great, the city was great and seeing everyone was great.

Until next time...

in case you were wondering where I are...

2008-08-26T21:51:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hotjeKvovg

until next time...

bucket california list

2008-08-26T21:39:00.002-07:00

Whit and I just finished watching "The Bucket List" which was a decent movie about two old guys who decide to make a list of things they want to do before they die. Well, I am not thinking that far in advance, but there is a list of some things I want to do in California before I move away. Although that won't be for another 2 years, that can fly by as most of you can attest to. So here it is in no particular order (in fact some we have already done). These aren't neccesarily exstravagent, just things I would like to do (of course with Whitney).

The California List:

1. Go to Hollywood [X]
2. San Diego Zoo [X]
3. Surf [In Progress]
4. Visit San Francisco [ ]
5. Drive Highway 1 to SF [ ]
6. Bike from SB to either San Diego or San Francisco [Damon, any time available in October - I am serious]
7. Visit Yosemite [ ]
8. Visit studios in LA [ ]
9. Do a backpacking trip [ ]
10. Disneyland with Whitney [ ] (already went in 1999 with Jared)
11. Camp on the Channel Islands [ ]
12. Kayak in the sea [ ]
13. Sail in the sea [ ]
14. Visit Tijuana [ ]
15. Drive through a GIANT REDWOOD
......
....
...
..
.

I am sure there are many more and I will add them as I think of them. But for now, that is the list. Pretty simple I guess, but doesn't take much to please me. You could say that I am content exploring the area that surrounds me. I think Whitney is the same, and that is one thing we love to do together. We mind as well take advantage of where we are, whilst we are here. You never know, we could end up in Iowa or something in 2 years. No offense to Iowa, I am sure that there is much to be seen in the state (hopefully more than just corn).

Until next time....

trip out west: part II

2008-08-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

The City! After our grueling, pedal to the metal drive, we finally arrived to what would be my home for the next 4 years (and a year later, Whitney's new home). Looking back at these pictures, the city seemed so big and foreign. Now I remember it like the back of my hand. I guess that happens when you live some place for a couple of years on your own for the first time. But I remember being there at that moment full of excitement and doubt. I mean, in one week my dad is about to go home and I will be all alone in this place without knowing anyone. Good thing that Saturday after dropping my dad off at the airport I met up with this guy: Boutder at Squatters.

So we first stayed at the Marriott in Research Park just on the other side of campus and started looking for an apartment. It actually turned out to be relatively easy. We first saws Marv's place and then some others. We were about to sign a lease at another place but at last minute decided that Marv's was the right place (who knew that this would be place #1 out of 5; or that this would be the place to crash after a night out on the town for Bill, Damon, Matt etc... that Walmart futon came in handy). A little one bedroom apartment conveniently located on the Trax line one stop from the U. We unloaded the car while Marv was putting on the final touches to the newly redone apartment so that we would have room in the car to go gather furniture. I think we were pretty crafty with our cubicle furniture and what not.

trip out west: part I

2008-08-19T09:07:00.003-07:00

Yesterday I finally recovered some old files off of my PC that I had through college and grad school. I came across an old powerpoint presentation I made of the trip my dad and I took to move me out to Salt Lake for the beginning of grad school. It is one of my fondest recent memories. It was very simple: 2 guys, a Saturn Vue full of all my worldly possessions, and 2.5 days to go 2000 miles. We made the trip in 2.5 half days, giving us about a week to bum around the city to find and apartment and get some furniture. Here are some slides from Part I: the road trip. Maybe some day we can do it again on motorcycles.

until next time...

a taste of italia

2008-08-06T08:58:00.004-07:00

Literally. Last Sunday night, and I mean night - like 8:30 or so, we went over to our new colleagues' house for an Italian Feast! Whitney and I headed over to Francesco, a visiting researcher, and Ilaria's, his wife, house for some home cooked Italian food. Really, words cannot do this dinner justice. I don't even remember the names of the dishes because my mind was too busy trying to understand and enjoy to complex and wonderful flavor. For the first course we had a pasta, rigatoni to be exact, with a red sauce. The red sauce was just tomatoes and sauteed bacon. It is crucial that there are no onions or garlic. I was simple delicious. It was to be topped with 1/2 and 1/2 parmesan and pecorino romano cheeses. After my second helping, out came course number two. Didn't see that one coming! It was a giant meatball, well I guess more like a meat log. All fabolous and loggy. Top that off with a little bit of salad with real Italian dressing (olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt) and we are talking about quite a night of fine dining. Thank you Francesco and Ilaria. Next up, Carolina BBQ at our place y'all.

until next time...

surfin usa

2008-08-05T09:13:00.004-07:00

Well I went out for my first surfing experience in SB last weekend. I wouldn't really call it surfing. More like I paddled around for a little while and sun bathed. Then I came back to shore without successfully catching any waves. It was, however, a gorgeous day in the sun. The waves were just big enough to be surfable, but small enough to be under control and there were a ton of surfers. I did learn a couple things while I was out there though.

1.) My wetsuit is absolutely absurd. Seriously, I look absurd. People probably thought that I arrived in my Delorean after traveling exactly 88 mph in 1983.

2.) I was way more comfortable in the water than I anticipated. I'll be the first to admit that being the ocean is a tad bit daunting for me, but I actually just got right in and didn't think twice about it. It didn't hurt that it wasn't really rocky at all where I was.

3.) Whitney is a champ. She wasn't feeling well at all. She has a bit of a head cold yet she went and laid out in the sun and cheered me on as I floated around like a beached whale.

4.) Some surfers are apparently upset about their unfortunately small manhood that they must get mad and grumpy when there are a lot of surfers out in the water, especially this place which I can only assume is more of a beginner area. My response to these sorts is - go somewhere else if you don't want to be somewhere crowded.

5.) I will definitely give this another shot. I got a 10 foot borrowed board with no room to put it in the apartment, so if it is going to cause an inconvenience, I mind as well use it.

So there you have it. Surfs up. I didn't catch any waves so I put a picture of someone who did...oh snap, that's me!!!!

until next time...

earthquake

2008-07-30T08:52:00.002-07:00

Some of you out there might have heard about an earthquake that occurred in Southern California yesterday. Well fortunately it a.) was only moderate 5.4 not causing any major damage in LA where it occurred and b.) it was only felt a little up this way. In fact, I was walking back from seeing MJ so I did not feel anything. Whitney, however, did feel it as she was on the second floor of her building. Needless to say, we are alright.

until next time...

the myth, the man, the legend...

2008-07-29T21:54:00.004-07:00

That is right, MJ, #23, AIR JORDAN!

So, an Italian, and Japanese, and an American. Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke. Or, it sounds like the beginning of my Tuesday morning. This morning, Takanori, Francesco and I (can you guess which one is which), sneaked into the Thunderdome. Normally this is the venue for the the UCSB Gaucho basketball team, but today, it was the venue for the final day of Flight School (or more importantly Michael Jordan's Flight School). We sat and watched kids finsihing up their games. Mind you, these kids are way better than me aka the guy who was always picked last in the school yard of Ivy Drive. Once they were finished, MJ came out to give a thank you speech for all the participants of the camp before the awards were given out. He, however, did not stay for this award ceremony. In fact, we watched him sneak out the back door, and since we did not have any children winning awards, we promptly slipped out back to see him off in his black Land Rover. SWEET. I saw Michael Jordan. We are practically best friends. After all, we are both former Tar Heels. And who knows, maybe someday someone will say: "Man, that guy is the Michael Jordan of chemistry." Wouldn't that be something. Land Rover, here I come!

Here is a pic and vid.

Until next time...

cowabunga dude

2008-07-16T19:37:00.003-07:00

So what is this blog thing?? You mean I have to keep typing stories... it doesn't update itself. Hmm, that's a crazy idea.

Well here it goes. I am one step closer to surfing the pacific. That is right. Coming straight to you from 1989 (I was 8 years old), is my ~~new~~ used wetsuit made by O'neill!! That is right folks, a cool navy blue accented with hot baby blue. This should keep me warm in the ice bowl that is the pacific ocean. Is it normal that this makes it hard to breathe? Well at least it is tight enough I don't look as fat. Also, hey if I get too warm, I can remove to coat to show off the overalls!

Some would say, I am halfway there. Well getting in the water is probably more like 80% to go... but hey I did it before with Jared back in the day when he and I graced Malibu with our presence. We took to the ocean with our instructor from the hit Christian rock band Plonka. I don't think I ever stood up, but I was out there trying. I also did it once in Hawaii and wasn't so bad at it, but had an instructor as well.

I will keep you posted on my new surfing adventures.

until next time...cowabunga dude

brushfire alert!!!

2008-07-02T08:50:00.004-07:00

Well we have a brush fire here in Goleta, which essentially is still Santa Barbara. You can see it in the mountains right above the university. Here are some pictures I took with my phone. You can sort of see the origin of the smoke. For those of you concerned, there is no immediate threat to us as of yet. The weather is good fire fighting weather, meaning it is not that hot, or windy and it is relatively humid. I will keep you posted on what happens with the fire and Nicole and Erin are arriving into town tomorrow!

until next time...

camp pendleton mud run!!!!

2008-06-16T08:02:00.002-07:00

More Mud Run Info

This weekend Whitney and I drove down to San Diego to meet up with Eric and Jackie and Andy and Rochelle to participate in the Camp Pendleton 10K Mud Run. This would be the longest distance I have run in one shot. Well I wouldn't say I ran it all.

It started off at ~9:20 in the morning at the Marine Base. We were on a team of 5 guys, Eric, Me, Andy and two friends of Andy's from Lewis and Clark. Whitney ran on the girls team with Rochelle and two of her friends (significant others of the guys on my team). Unfortunately Jackie did not run as she had to take care of little Harlow, the cute new addition to the Ervin household. Nonetheless we started out and immediately were drenched with guys holding fire hoses. At this point, I could not see my glasses were all wet. Then we hit some shallow mud and then we were running uphill on trails for about the first 5K. So at this point, thoroughly exhausted from going up hill, we turn the corner and hit the first mud pit! We had to jump a wall and land in about knee to waist deep mud. It was dirty. After the wall came the traverse of a lake! The had a lane marked off in the lake that we were to walk through, getting about chest high on me in the middle of the lake. We actually swam a bit too and with the masses of competitors wading through as well there was a slight current pulling you to the other side. After emerging from the water, somewhat un-muddy, we hit another wall climb and mud pit! After that we hit "Suicide Hill" which was basically I ridiculous incline with marines on top shooting us with a fire hose. It was so slippery. Finally as we approached the finish line we hit the mud crawl. You had to crawl under these rope things in mud that basically was up to my chin as we crawled. All in all it took me ~ 1 hour and 40 minutes to finish. The next day I was SUPER soar. I mean my legs hurt!

Other than the mud run, it was great to see Eric and Jackie and the new baby Harlow. She was very cute and it was fun seeing Eric and Jackie as parents. They sure make it seem pretty easy. It felt like we had never left Salt Lake, it was just we hadn't hung out with everyone in a while.

Hopefully I can get some pictures from Tracy who ran with us and had a water proof disposable camera. I will put those up if I get them.

until next time...

china - day 4:

2008-06-10T09:01:00.008-07:00

As Cash like $$ so notably pointed out, I have been slacking on my China posts as of late. So let’s dive straight into Day 4 of our China adventure. Sorry for all the pics, hope it doesn't take too long to load.

Day 4 began with us meeting Solo at our hotel at 9:00 am. Solo is a friend of Yolanda. Yolanda is a friend of Aiko. Aiko is a friend of my Dad and Mom who has showed them around in Shanghai. Aiko moved to Beijing so she suggested Yolanda. Yolanda was going to show us around until Thursday she found out she had to work on Saturday. Yolanda suggested Solo could show us around. Solo is showing us around today. Got that all? There will be a quiz later.

Solo quickly became our friend upon meeting here that morning. She was a young Shanghainese who was just finishing up her stay at the University. Very hip with the Shanghai style. As Whitney and I noticed, the young adult “chic” population of Shanghai was very put together. They were all dressed very stylish etc. Very metro – however it seems “chic” is the word these days in Shanghai.

Solo was to take us to the old city in Shangai as well as Yuyuan Gardens. This is one of the more famous sight seeing areas in Shanghai. And of course after all of this, we were to head to the fashion marketplace to purchase real authentic goods such as (but not limited to) bag, watches, wallet.

En route to the old city, we seemed to go through, what originally I thought China would be like. These were small streets with shop fronts and markets and lots of people riding bikes. It was a weird experience walking through these streets, and maybe the pictures can do better than words. It was pretty cool as well. There were markets with just a row of ducks hanging from some wire. I wouldn’t want to eat that, it’s been sitting out in the hot sun all day (and it was HOT). There were clothes hanging to dry, people dumping nasty water in the drains of the streets. Just look at the pics. Turns out we really didn’t need to go through this area, we were in fact lost according to Solo. So we jumped on a bus and got back on track. However, I must say, I am glad we got lost indeed.

kid on the street

Whitney and me on the street

Ducks anyone?

Crazy area with lots of people and stuff

Next up: the old city. This place was beautiful and weird all at the same time. It was that old world architecture like you would think, with places like McDonalds and Starbucks. Whitney put in a order at Lina Store for some custom made pearl jewelry that we could pick up after our tour of the old city. It was a cool place and Whit picked out some great pearls. Then right in the middle of this koi pond was a tea house – or should I say The Tea House. The same one that graced the cover of our travel book. It was only approachable via zig zag bridge pathways (ghosts apparently can’t turn corners). So for lunch this day we decided to do a tea ceremony with Solo. It was quite an adventure. We each ordered some green tea (I think Solo got Jasmine – which consequently has arisen as one of my more favorite Chinese teas). Then the waiters start bringing all these snacks! Wait a minute, we didn’t order this stuff!!! Are we getting scammed??? No, just the way they roll at the Tea House. See the spread in the picture below. There were a lot of goodies like green tea sweet mushy rice cakes, beef jerky satay (very good), quail eggs (no takers), bean curd (surprisingly good), rice/pork wraps and walnut cakes. What a delight.

Old city?

The Tea House

The Tea House snack spread

the gang at the Tea House (Arica took the pic)

Next was Yuyuan gardens. Very beautiful gardens with great architecture. I will let the pictures do the talking here.

Arica and Solo in Yuyuan Gardens

Then we were on our way. We stopped at some shops were I got my first taste of bargaining. Immediately I was hooked – addicted (and apparently not too shabby at it either). There was this green laser pointer that Kevin had expressed interest in until hearing it was 800 yuan ($112). Absurd, so Kevin left, but I told the guy I would give him 80 yuan ($11.20). The guy says “YOU CRAZY” but I kept going back and forth with him until he wouldn’t drop to 80 so I left. He cam crawling back to say “OK – 80.” So I asked Kevin if he wanted it for 80 and he was like “Sure.” My first taste.

It was off to the fashion market place. It was nutty and my bargaining skills came in handy. I was on fire… taking names… spending yuan! It actually was a lot of fun, but after a while it gets tiring. Walking through these halls getting yelled at by all the venders “Hey you want watch, wallet, bag?” “Hey lady, pretty lady, you want bag, coach bag!” Pretty nuts. “How much?” I would say. “760 yuan,” they reply. “No way” I say. “How much you pay?” “50 yuan.” “You crazy…you’re killing me” they yell back. I say “No, you’re killing me - 50 yuan.” “Ok for you, but you are tough, you crazy, I make no money, you very clever.” I saw these venders speaking every language they encountered. It was incredible. It seemed they didn’t know a lot of each language, but they knew enough to sell there merchandise to any westerner that came by (and this place was chock full of westerners.”

Now it was time for dinner. As we were walking around during the day I had asked Solo what her favorite restaurant in town was. I figured since she took a day of her time to show us around, the least we could do was take her to dinner at her favorite restaurant. So she took us to this really cool district were there were tons of cool stores and places to eat. A complete contrast to our earlier walk through the more run down areas of the city. We ended up at the People Cuisine restaurant which had a secret entrance way in which you had to stick your hand in some sculpture to open the door. It was a very chic restaurant and the food was delicious. We also got Solo’s favorite dish which was iced broccoli. See Kevin’s blog on more about this dish. Simple and delicious.

Whitney, Solo, Ryan

Finally it was time to part ways with Solo after a great day of fun and exploration through the heart of Shanghai. Kevin and Melissa are on their last day as well. They will be heading back to the states tomorrow. It was a great day. I think everybody is in agreement that it was one of the best (if not the best) days we had during our stay in China.

Thank you Solo.

Until next time…

china - day 3:

2008-06-03T09:04:00.007-07:00

The last day of the conference. It is Friday. I think everyone is doing good on jet lag at this point. Although, it wasn't all that tough adjusting. In fact, I am having a harder time getting back to US time still!

So the conference ended on a good note. Overall it was a pretty good conference. In fact, I learned a bunch and it gave me a better perspective on the potential field I may end up researching in the long term. Enough with boring biosensors conference talk.

Conference over. That means it is time for us to go get some DINNER! Actually, before I get to that I must comment on something else. In China you have to get use to a couple things. These in include spitting, the smell, the pollution, toddlers going to the bathroom on the street etc etc. I am not being negative here, it was a great experience by all means. In addition, we also had to endure A LOT of staring. I mean people would just stare at you. I can see why. Here we are, clearly the minority, but that wouldn't happen here in the States. At least I don't think so. Along with the staring, we were ask by several people to take pictures with them. So here is one from Whitney and Melissa's day while we were at the conference. Whitney was like ok, but you have to let us take the picture as well.

Whitney, Some Guy, Melissa

Ok, so we want to cross the river and go to the Bund and Nanjing Dajie for dinner tonight. We have taken the metro which is an experience. So this time we decided to take the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel which had it's entrance located right in front of our hotel. Words can't even describe what this thing was. It was a ride you got in a little pod. It takes you under the river over to the Bund. This is crazy there is music, lights random English, words. The video is courtesy of Arica's camera.

Crazy Pods

Video of the Tunnel Ride

View from the Bund onto Pudong. Our Hotel is the one with the glass globes.

Whitney, Melissa, and Kevin on the Bund

Once we got to the Bund side of things it was time to seek out dinner. This was truly our first night on our own for dinner as two nights ago we had a buddy and last night we went to a place suggested by my dad (which was AWESOME). Kevin and Melissa had already tackled this issue as they stayed in Beijing the weekend before coming to Shanghai. So here we are on Nanjing Dajie (Road). Some guy comes up to us with a menu, and to our excitement it has English on it. So it is consensus that we go ahead and eat there. It could of been shady since some guy just came off the street to tell us about it, but it seemed a bunch of restaurants were doing the same, particularly targeting westerners.

Dinner

Up next, a couple of shots on Nanjing Dajie.

The Nanjing Road was pretty sweet with a bunch of shops etc. It is closed off to cars so it was a cool place to walk around. So we walked around, had some dinner and headed home via metro to get ready for our big day with Solo tomorrow. She was to meet us at 9:00 AM. On the next post you will see some old world China, since up to now it has been mostly pretty metro.

until next time...

White Gold is White Gold

2008-05-30T08:51:00.004-07:00

If you have some spare time check out more on Youtube or Whitegoldiswhitegold.com.

I personally like the "D-string" and "muscles" videos, but check them all out. Fun times.

These are the mild commercials going on in California. Do you guys have these??

until next time...

china - day 2:

2008-05-28T22:13:00.005-07:00

Another day at the conference, another day in China. Today was the second day of the conference, which means one more day. It also means from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm I was there while Whitney and Melissa went sightseeing. Looks like they took a walk in the French Concession across the river near the Bund and then, before meeting up with us, they took a dip in the hotel pool. It was pretty hot and humid while we were in Shanghai, so I bet it felt good.

A picture of bikes that Whit took during the day

Whitney at Fuxing Park during the day

At this point, the jetlag has caught up with everyone, so it will just be a trip to dinner tonight via the Shanghai subway system. A little note on the subway system in Shanghai. It is WAY crowded. I mean beyond crowded. You may look at the car approaching and think there is no way that more people are fitting on that thing when it stops. And sure enough, more people fit on that thing. Personal space - don't know the meaning of that. You are smooshed in there with everyone. Good thing Kevin and I are taller than the average Chinese person. He would go down to the next doorway and enter with some of the group, and I always knew they were on because he could give me the thumbs up and I was able to see it across the sea of people that made up the commuters in the subway car. We also had to switch lines often in Peoples Square which was a station where many lines met. That place was a circus. You can see it there right in the middle of the map. Our hotel was near Lu Jia Zui on the green line (also towards the middle).

The subway system

Dinner was at the Face Bar in the French Concession. It was a restaurant that had a Thai side and an Indian side. Whitney and Melissa had made reservations earlier for us. This place was definitely more for the westerner as compared to the place last night. The Indian food we had was to die for!!! Better than any I have had back here in the states, and I have had some good stuff. Just ask Boutder and Whitney about Bombay House. Anyway, amazing food and good times was had by all. Probably our most expensive meal while we were in China but well worth it. And by expensive I mean a reasonably priced nice meal here. Here are some pics from the restaurant and our walk through the French Concession. Cool place.

Whitney outside Face

Whitney and me at Face

Kevin and Melissa at Face

Night in the French Concession

Then it was back to the hotel (via the Metro) to get ready for bed and final day of the conference. The posts are about to get even more exciting since the whole day is filled with stuff we did. Right now I am stretching to get a longer post, but be prepared for what is ahead. Two days down, 8 more to go! This is also our last day in the suite, then we have to move to a normal room.

until (a post about day 3) next time....

china - day 1:

2008-05-28T08:37:00.007-07:00

As many of you may already know, Whitney and I (along with some colleagues/friends of mine/ours) took a little trip to the Far East in a country called China. Here is Whit's and my day to day experience in this foreign country. I will start with the first full day of the trip which was Wednesday, May 14th. That is because we left our apartment early on the 12th and arrived in Shanghai late the following Tuesday evening. Keep in mind, when it was Tuesday evening in Shanghai, it will still only Monday evening where most of my readers reside.

I will give a brief synopsis of those travel hours: LONG. We flew out on the day of the big earthquake in the Sichuan Provence in China. A terrible disaster that fortunately did not affect the areas we were to visit. Here is a map:

Our first stop was Shanghai, were me and two of my lab mates would attend the Tenth World Congress on Biosensors. I will skip those parts of the day too, because in all honesty, it would be quite dull for most of you. The earthquake hit in Chengdu area so a little over 600 miles from where we were.

Here is wonderful Shanghai as seen from our hotel room. They didn't have our requested room so they free upgraded Whitney and I for two nights in an amazing suite.

The Bund

This is a look across the Huangpu River at the Bund. It was a pretty view, but man it was always very hazy in Shanghai (Tomorrow I should have the hi-res pictures instead).

Oriental Pearl TV Tower right outside the hotel

Me after a long day at the Biosensors Conference learning things.

After the conference we headed to dinner with Chunhai, a former post-doc of our lab and a Shanghai native. We went the the "Super Brand Mall" which was a short walk from our hotel. At this point, my first impression of China is that it smells really bad. I know that sounds mean, but it was hot and muggy and just smelled everywhere. Maybe I got use to it, or maybe it was never as bad as it was that first day but it smells.

The restaurant (don't know what it was called)

Anyway, he took us to get some traditional Shanghainese cuisine which is apparently typically sweeter than most other Chinese cuisine. We had squirrel fish (pictured below) which was very tasty, some pork dish with peanuts, black fungus, mushroom soup and boiled water. Oh yeah, when you get water it is served warm. It is not customary to drink cold water in China at restaurants as we are informed by Chunhai. When he spent his time in the states, he found it odd to get ice water. We also had these pork gelatin pieces with bits of pork in it (although it seemed like the bits of pork were intestinal bits). These and the small perhaps quail eggs did not go over to well. We also had some sticky rice stuff for dessert that was pretty good. A sweet fish appetizer that was cold, but actually tasty once you navigated around the bones. Also a lot of shrimp, and in China they don't removed the shrimp heads, that is your job. Not a great place for non seafood lovers, but I think even Kevin (who doesn't like seafood) enjoyed the fish dishes.

Squirrel Fish Head (Actually pretty yummy)

Thanks Chunhai!

After dinner, we swung down to the bottom of the mall to Lotus. Sort of like a Chinese Walmart, where there was food and other goodies. We got some breakfast bars and other treats and drinks to enjoy back in our hotel room. Here I am in the 10 story "Super Brand Mall" about to head down to the Lotus. It was a big mall with actually a lot of western stores. More upscale designer stuff. A pretty cool mall, and a good staple with Lotus close by for our time in Shanghai.

SUPER BRAND MALL!!!!

Well there you have it. Day 1. Not much China yet. Since the conference is going on at this point, I am there from 8:00 am till about 6:30 - 7:00 pm. Whitney explored with Melissa while we were at the conference, but I will let her blog about that. And, don't you worry there is plenty more China to come as soon as the conference is over. In fact the post about the upcoming Saturday in Shanghai should be pretty jam packed.

Until next time (when I talk about Day 2)....

soon to come....

2008-05-27T08:21:00.003-07:00

There are a lot of things to blog about these days. Whitney and I just got home from our two weeks abroad in China and it was awesome. That is some of the biggest news that needs to be blogged. Now that all the pictures are up on our computer I will try and do that tonight. Basically it has been a long couple of days trying to adjust back to Pacific Standard Time that triumphed in a terribly hard morning to wake up. So, China posts should be on the way starting tonight. We kept a road journal of the trip so I figured I would do a day by day post of our trip. That means I have material for my next ten posts!!! So keep posted, it should be up there soon, and if I can figure it out, I may get some video up on the blog from our trip as well. Though, that is proving to be more difficult than I anticipated. For the meantime, why don't you check out the dueling cracks here.

until ~~tonight~~ next time...

vegas and a silver anniversary

2008-05-07T08:17:00.003-07:00

Last weekend Whitney and I drove out to Sin City a.k.a. Las Vegas to meet up with my parents and sisters in order to celebrate mom and dad's 25th anniversary. It was a great time, although to short for us while everyone else is still there today. Although, we couldn't stay longer since in 5 days we will be en route to China!!!!! More on that later.

The drive was actually not all that bad out there. It took 7 hours, with a stop at the Mad Greek as seen on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network. It was glorious. I ordered the dinner combo and apparently they mixed up and sent me the PLATE-O-MEAT. It was delicious, I only ate about a quarter of it. Whitney got the classic gyro - also a crowd pleasing good meal.

Mad Greek = Crazy Statues

Dinner combo or plate-o-meat

Then off to Vegas where we met up with Erin late that night and the rest of the fam around 11 in the morning when I picked them up from the airport. The highlight of the weekend was the anniversary celebration which took place at Rao's restaurant in Caesars Palace. AMAZING is how you could sum up the food there.

The happy couple.

the girls

Enough about food. It was great to see and hang out with the family and for such a great occasion for that matter.

until next time...

whale dolphin watching

2008-04-24T09:19:00.003-07:00

This past weekend while Bob and Diane were in town, we decided to go whale watching aboard the Double Dolphin. I think I eluded to this in a previous post. Well we took to the high seas off the coast of Santa Barbara and... we didn't see any whales. This is ok though, for we saw some dolphins and sea lions and that in itself was pretty cool. On top of that, the boat ride was gorgeous. It was a little chilly. Bob and Diane stayed in the back of the boat where they were shielded from the wind, but Whitney and I took to the top most part and sat there the whole trip. It was about 2.5 hours and worth every penny. We got out in the middle of the SB Channel and it warmed up when we weren't moving near as fast. We hung out in the channel for a while but unfortunately we saw no whales. However, the Double Dolphin gave us return passes and they will continue to until we see the great brethren of Moby Dick. We took pictures, and I also got video on our new video camera, those will be up later.

Whitney, Bob and Diane at the back of the boat

Self portrait

Whitney did a good job capturing this dolphin

And these sea lions

All in all it was a great trip and I look forward to going out again, hopefully when it is warmer though. We also enjoyed our visit with Bob and Diane where they experienced, for the first time, a Flavor of India (that's the restaurant's name) in which they tasted Indian food for the first time. I think they likie.

Some jam packed weeks coming up with Vegas and our China trip. I will keep you posted on all that is to come.

until next time....

irrational fears

2008-04-22T11:49:00.002-07:00

We all have them right? Well I seem to have a bunch. I may have touched on this a while ago, but here it goes.

Here at the environmentally conscious UC-Santa Barbara (after all SB is the birth place of Earth Day - which just so happens to be today) we have motion sensor lights. Sounds like a good plan. Well if I am sitting at my desk working on the computer, the lights go out after 15 minutes or so. Well ok, not such a big deal. But lets say you are in a different room (like perhaps the bathroom) and there are barriers to the motion sensor, and it is early morning so there is not a lot of traffic to keep the sensor in check and you are spending some time in that room. Well the light is going to go off. There are no windows!!! It will be pitch dark. WHAT DO YOU DO??? Just sit there and hope someone walks in in the next hour. Then you start to move and startle them. Do you attempt to open the said stall door and wave your hand and risk someone walking in and catching a glimpse in the mirror as you scurry to get the door shut. Think about it, not a very good situation to be in. What to do?

until next time...

18 and 3.75

2008-04-17T08:57:00.004-07:00

Do those numbers mean anything to you? Well they shouldn't. I was just writing to say that yesterday I biked 18 miles (which is my round trip commute to work) and ran 3.75 miles (the longest I have ever ran to date). BOOOOOYAHHHHHHHHHHH.

That's right. I did my normal routine, which has become more normal with the warmer mornings, of biking to work. The nice 9 mile ride in is very relaxing and then a tad bit more taxing on the way home. Then I got home and Whitney and I took the DIOJI to the park and ran 3.75 miles. She finished a tad bit before me, but hey at least I was able to do it at all. Oh, and the DFP is a terrible place to run, imagine seeing this whilst you run:

(Ok, maybe by terrible I meant it makes running a tad bit more pleasant)

185 lbs, here I come. Hopefully on May 31st I can write a post that shows that I have lost weight. In fact, I have been weighing myself every morning since we got the scale. It's amazing how running and biking, although nothing has physically changed on me (we have been running for ~ a month and a half to two months), allows me to all of a sudden feel good about wearing half the clothes in my closet. Ok now I sound like a girl. Well, Whitney and I are now on a training plan for running that 10k in June in San Deigo with the Bohatys and Ervins.

This weekend we are going whale watching with Bob and Diane on the Double Dolphin. That should be fun.

Oh, and on Cash like $$'s suggestion, I made some chicken parmesan last night. I had never made it before so I just winged (wung??) it and I've gotta say, call up the Food Network because there is a new chef in town. I think my show would be "Real Meals for Real People with Chef Ry the Real Guy." How bout that Rachel Ray or BAM IN YOUR FACE Emirel, put that in your pipe and smoke it.

until next time...

mariah

2008-04-15T21:52:00.002-07:00

Need I say more. Now I know it may be a bit unmanly to admit that I like Mariah Carey, but come on, who doesn't? Sure she had some hot tub meltdown, and of course she did make glitter. Bad career moves you say? Little known fact: Mariah Carey just surpassed Elvis for the most number one hits of any solo artist. For real, she BEAT ELVIS. Well MC was on Idol tonight, so I though I would post this blog.

Anyway, I don't actually own a MC album. Well maybe the Christmas one. However, some of you may remember a post a while back about how my mom would blast songs throughout the house when I was a youngster. They were usually good songs too. I don't remember if I put this one on the list, but I remember it well.

It was Mariah Carey singing "I'll Be There." Good song, mom check it out, I found the video. Ahh the wonders of youtube.com and the internet. You could find anything on there. MC videos, crazy skateboard stunts, crocodiles attacking wildabeast, i could go on forever.

until next time...

visitors, CA 1, klondike pizza

2008-04-14T08:36:00.002-07:00

Hey all. We had some visitors this weekend. Bob and Diane came in Friday night right after our first ultimate game. I must say, Whitney and I both successfully caught and passed the 'bee. It was fun.

So we had visitors. And we had friggin 92 degree weather. What happened to always 75 and sunny. Oh, it came back today. This weekend it was brutally hot though. So Saturday after a visit to the farmers market where we bought the most delicious strawberries (I think the farmers watered these things with sugar water) we headed out to the dog beach for a couple hours. The beach was packed with people and dogs, but we found a nice little clearing that we set up shop and hung out in the sun. Hopefully Bob got some pictures of this and I will get them up, but there were DOLPHINS just peaking up in the water just beyond where the waves were breaking RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. It was pretty amazing. They stayed there the whole time we were at the beach. Really incredible. I think Diane loved seeing all the dogs hanging out on the beach and frolicking in the water and such.

Sunday we hit the road on CA 1 to go up to Arroyo Grande to drop Bob and Diane off at their friends' house (they will amtrak it back to us on Friday). CA 1 was pretty awesome on the way up. We were more inland at this point in the route so we were driving through farmland. Everything was very green (probably won't last once we hit the summer). It was beautiful. Then we got to the friends house which sits on top a hill where you can look out the front of the house (which is essentially all windows) and see the ocean and such. Really spectacular views.

On our way home, Whitney and I made a Target run (as we don't have any of these near us) and got some pictures made. We went to Klondike Pizza for dinner which looked and felt like a pizza joint in Alaska. We felt like we were in Chris and Kim's neighborhood. I don't know where the Alaska theme came from for this restaurant but it was cool, and the pie was good.

So that was our weekend in a nut shell. On the way to work today I told Whitney how I was excited about work today because I got a new molecule in the mail on Friday that I want to try. She called me a DORK. That about sums it up.

Also I am finally about to get serious about biking in to work again. Now that the weather seems to be a lot more consistent. I have a target weight for the end of May I would like to meet. Whitney bought a scale at Target so this morning I was 198.00. My target for May 30th is 185. I think that is a reasonable goal. Maybe on the 30th I will revisit this and let you know how I am doing. Although, my computer on my bike seems to have been disconnected as a result of being locked up at the ultimate frisbee field Friday evening, so my mileage won' be tracked right now. Sort of a bummer as I am approaching the 2000 mile mark. I need to get that fixed.

Ok enough of this hodge-podge post.

until next time...

the BG's?

2008-04-11T08:18:00.002-07:00

So Whitney and I are playing in our first ultimate frisbee game this evening on Team BG's. I don't know what that stands for, other than it has to do with some science related thing. Go figure. Well, I don't know about Whitney, but my experience with ultimate frisbee is quite limited. Limited to probably the 2 times I played in college (UNC) with some group called FCA. Again, I don't know what that stands for, but this one was a religious group rather than a science group. Although, those don't necessarily have to be mutually exclusive. Anywho, essentially all I remember back then was running around, and probably not actually touching the frisbee once in the two times I played. This may be a reason I only played twice. Ultimate frisbee, or any sport for that matter, is not very fun if all you do is run around the field and never touch the object the game is built around.

Now, I am sort of scared about. We would like to do this for fun. Meaning, we don't really care about the games and the scores. It is sort of like when I played softball on Bill's chemistry team. We didn't win a game, but we had a lot of fun playing. Or like when Whitney and I coached soccer. It wasn't about winning, it was more about did the kids who were playing (and did we) have fun. And we did. Ah, but alas, there are always to few that take things way to seriously. I know you all know the type. So I fear for this -- mainly because I already know I am not going to be all that good. Sure I can throw a frisbee, but do I know what stacking is or how to foil out to allow for my team mate to throw it to me. No. Do I know proper defensive strategies? No. I will just be running around hoping that the frisbee comes to me on occasion. We will see how it goes. It could be a lot of fun too. That is why we are giving it a shot.

until next time...

idol gave back, did you?

2008-04-10T08:15:00.002-07:00

As cheesy as you may think the show American Idol is, you have to give them credit. Hear me out. I know that the cynic in everyone could pick out all the things that are wrong with American Idol Gives Back. For example, Snoop Dogg had some bling encrusted microphone. What if you used the money to make that for something more useful. I mean, hell, you are up there singing and asking the everyday American to do the same. Or how about all these celebrities that visit rundown areas wearing the most fashionable gear there is out there.

Well, all negativity aside, American Idol is a pop culture phenomenon. Like it or not, it is here. So, give them credit for at least taking the time to raise some money for, what I think, are some good causes. They seemed to focus on children, which I think is a good cause. They also focused a lot on American children, which I also think is a good cause. There were some cool after school programs spotlighted on the program, and as you all know if you are a long time reader of the blog that I am a huge supporter of education. So bravo Idol. You even convinced Whitney and I to donate a little sumpin sumpin for a good cause.

I am not saying that you have to donate to Idol Gives Back. I am sure that there are variety of venues that you can donate a little money to whether it be through your church, school or what have you. It is just nice to see some well to do people out there taking the time to raise a little money. Geez Great Britain donated 20 million mosquito nets to Africa. That's $200 Million. Sound like a lot. That is 0.04% of what has been spent on the Iraq war to date. That is 0.04 cents on every $100.

Ok enough preaching. Overall I just thought it was a relatively inspiring evening watching this thing.

until next time...

jan and dave's visit

2008-04-09T07:30:00.003-07:00

I better blog about Jan and Dave's visit the other weekend since we have more visitors coming this weekend. I don't want to fall behind in my visitation blog posts.

Two weekends ago Jan and Dave came out to visit us. Well Jan came on Wednesday and then Dave drove down from San Jose after, what sounded like, an excellent conference in which he got to attend the Google campus for a day. It sounds pretty cool with it's 17 FREE restaurants and what not.

We had perfect weather while they were here so we hung out at the beach and the lagoon on campus. While we were at these places we saw some pretty crazy birds. Jan and Dave are bird watchers. On your normal daily routine, I am sure you don't notice all the birds around you. But, when they are in town, all of a sudden the world is being overcome by birds. You never notice them, and then all of a sudden they are everywhere. So we saw some cool ones like the American Coot or something like that and lots of pelicans and some hooded oriole that the novice Whitney picked out twice. That's a lifer.

Overall, a very fun visit, in which we didn't drink a single sip of wine (wink).

until next time....

3 boxes of tissues

2008-04-07T16:59:00.002-07:00

You know that commercial where the people have colds and it feels like their heads might explode. Well thats me today. I have a cold and I went through 3 boxes of tissue today. Smaller boxes that we have in the lab, but they are all in the trash now. Don't believe me huh? Well check out my new red mustache from all the blowing and wiping and blowing and wiping and blowing and wiping and blowing and wiping........

until next time...

FYI

2008-04-07T08:18:00.001-07:00

Feeling a little under the weather today. I got sick from what Whitney had, from what we think Uncle Dave had.

But FYI... My letters came. In fact, I drove down to the central mail services on campus (yes I was that desperate) and they were just sitting there. They were probably there since Wednesday. So all that added stress, which undoubtedly contributed to me getting sick, was not needed.

until next time...

a day in the life of ryan

2008-04-03T18:25:00.003-07:00

I thought it would be fun to document a day in the life of Ryan. I should of picked a more interesting day, like when I am doing experiments in the lab etc., but this should do. So here was my day on April the 3rd, 2008:

6:30 – I got out of bed and took a shower. Turned on the news and had a bowl of cereal. Cinnamon Toast Crunch – mom would be proud.

7:00 – I am watching the beginning of the Today Show whilst ironing Whitney’s pantalones for work. My favorite green ones in fact – easiest pants in the world to iron. Next up make the bed and iron my shirt – typical morning routine.

7:30 – I took the Murph out to go to the bathroom where he played with Tyler. Tyler is the new neighbor ~~horse~~ Great Dane.

8:00 – Pedaling away on my way to work. Its wet from yesterday’s rain, but surprisingly warm out. Just shorts and my cycling long sleeve shirt and a fluorescent vest.

8:30 – Still pedaling away, curving into Goleta Beach. I am almost to work, and starting to get sweaty. The clouds are breaking though, should be a nice day outside.

9:00 – Sat down with a fresh brewed cup of java. I am about to start proofreading my proposal so that I can get all the required signatures today.

9:30 – Still proofreading my proposal. Boy, am I sick of this thing. Must keep going though…press on

10:00 – Still going at it. Although now I am getting ready to open up the document and start making the changes I noted in the text. All-in-all it seems pretty good if I must say so. I also went and checked my mailbox around this time, as you will notice I will probably do this several times today. I am anxiously awaiting my reference letters for this particular proposal, since it is due very soon. Good news – they are in the mail on their way- bad news- no clue where they are. WHY AREN’T THEY HERE YET!!!!!! <-- adding way to much stress to my day.

10:30 – Working on making the changes in the actual document. Notably, I also checked my mail again. What is your guess? They were not there.

11:00 – Still typing away. I had to pass on attending Camille’s mock exam presentation with the promise of free pizza. Instead I am here still working on this proposal. Keep in mind that I have been working on it for several weeks now. I wonder if my letters are here yet.

11:30 – Nope. No letters. Chances are the mail has already been delivered for the day but I will probably check every 30 minutes or so. I ran to the café in the engineering building and got a rice bowl to eat at my desk. Finished making all the edits to the research proposal.

12:00 – Told you so. I went and looked again with no success. Got some papers signed and brought them to the office (front page of the proposal). Talked for a second with my Dad on gmail.com. Sent an email or two to Whitney.

12:30 – Overwhelmed with stress over something, at this point, I can’t control. I have decided to take a break from the proposal and do an experiment. Since most experiments I do now a days takes at least about a whole day from start to finish, and I am not signed up for instrument time until tomorrow, I decided to just do a little experiment.

1:00 – Just finished measuring the absorbance of my sample at 260 and 280 nm. Maybe now I can get a feel for the concentration. I will probably figure it out by the next update after doing a quick literature search to find the extinction coefficient for this particular protein. Although, first, let me go check my mail once again.

1:30 – Honestly, what happened to this hour?

2:00 – Meeting with the bossman to discuss yet another proposal, which happens to be due next week also. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

2:30 – Yes, I checked again, and no THEY ARE NOT THERE. Ok Ryan, they aren’t coming today, move on. Now, I am researching what sorts of things people test for when you donate blood. That way I can formulate this new proposal such that it meets the scope of the funding agency. Now I can forget the other one for a while. I think it is pretty much done, just need those crucial recommendation letters. By the way, if you were to ask me if this is how I saw my day going, I would of said “you crazy!”

3:00 – Are you kidding me? What happened between 3:00 and 4:00?

3:30 – ?

4:00 – Ok, it is 4 o’clock. So I have spent, what is soon to be (as you will see at 4:30), the last ~2 hours starting a new proposal that I need to whip out by Monday so that it can go through the Office of Research here at UCSB. Luckily, I am starting to become a pro at writing these things (not necessarily at receiving them), and this isn’t that unreasonable of a goal. Oh, and I did check my mail one last time for the day. I promise I won’t again.

4:30 – Just got off the phone with someone about this new proposal. Good news, doesn’t have to go through the Office of Research, which means it isn’t crazy urgent, just normal urgent. I am starting to get a headache. Looking forward to the ride home. I should go talk to the bossman for a couple minutes.

5:00 – Went to the bossman’s office, he wasn’t around. Happenstance, his office is near the mailboxes. Still no letters, no duh.

5:30 – Pedaling home. It is cooler than it was this morning I think. I saw a lot of birds. Herons – white and blue. I must say, I notice them more since Jan and Dave were here. All of a sudden birds seem to be popping up left and right.

6:00 – Almost home. Now I am even more sweaty than this morning. It seems the closer I got to home the warmer it got. It was a nice relaxing ride though. Some pretty clouds up on the mountains etc. Now its time to cook dinner. I’m out.

6:30 - Posted this blog.

Hope this wasn't too boring.

until next time...

my hair did, I

2008-04-02T21:46:00.003-07:00

Last night I cut my hair. Out of laziness of not wanting to go to the barber (Arturo's to be exact), I decided to take matters into my own hands. Well, I guess Whit's hands were involved too - its hard to do the back without and extra mirror. That, and she cleans up the neck line. So I took out some clippers and buzzed the sides, and then took out the scissors and cut the top. It is difficult to look in the mirror and work those scissors without cutting your knuckles. When all was said and done, I would say it is better than a Supercuts cut, but a little less than Arturo's. No problem, will work for me.

(new 'do watching Idol)

My car still smells like bum.

until next time...

home of the babe

2008-04-02T08:28:00.003-07:00

I just heard on the radio (although it is probably old news) that this is the last year for good ole Yankee Stadium. The commentators were disappointed that, rather than rebuild around that field, they are going to build a new stadium close by. The argument was that this is where Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams etc. etc. etc. played. Well, maybe there is something to that.

I have had the privilege of visiting this stadium on several occasions. The one I particularly remember was when I was in the 8th grade. We had a cheesecake sell-a-thon for Farmington Little League. Now, as was customary, my dad obviously brought the sales form into work for all of his colleagues to buy cheesecakes. This kind of stuff goes on all the time, so it wasn't cheating. In fact, just the other week I bought some delicious Girl Scout cookies from my bosses daughter. Anyway, being on the top sellers of that 1995 season, I won a trip to Yankees Stadium. I wonder if my parents even remember this. I went on a bus with the other winners. I don't ever remember who was the chaperon, or anything. But I do remember going, and this was probably the last time I went.

So even thought not a Yankees fan, it is cool to say that I have been to that stadium. The HOME of the GREAT BAMBINO.

By they way, looks like you guys are in for a treat, as I am in the blogging mood as of lately.

until next time....

smelly car

2008-04-01T19:39:00.002-07:00

I am pretty sure that someone crawled into our car last night and slept in it. Particularly, I think it may have been a bum. No offense to bums, but, our car smells like someone with really extremely nasty BO (body odor) slept in the back of our car last night. We accidentally left one of the windows open last night after we got back from our jog up at the dog park (we did 3 laps = ~3.75 miles - we are training for the 10K Mud Run). Given the warmer climate of this area, and the high population of "transients" (as Utahns liked to say) in Santa Barbara, and the fact that I think some guy comes and takes all the cans out of our recycling relatively often I don't think that it is entirely out of the question. In fact, couple this with the fact that it actually was a little chillier than normal last night, I think that spells recipe for sleeping in the back off a relatively warm Saturn Vue.

Seriously though, our car stinks of the most foul body odor and we can't figure out why that has occurred. Whitney drove home from work this evening with all the windows open and the stench is still there. I don't get it.

until next time...

sand art

2008-03-31T10:54:00.003-07:00

Here is some sand art at the wharf in Santa Barbara.

Pretty cool huh? This guy charges for you to take pictures of his work, so don't tell on me.

until next time...

gift cards

2008-03-23T09:33:00.003-07:00

Again, I have been a lame blogger. I know this, but this time I am actually busy. I have been working on another proposal, actually I resubmission of one. So it has been consuming my mind. However, the other day I thought of this post.

Ok, I have a bone to pick with the creators of the Visa gift card. While I like the idea, it makes sense right, someone wants to give you cash as a gift. Instead they can preload a credit card of sorts and send it your way. I have decided however, that the banks giving out these cards are winning. Let's say you loose it. The bank will just keep that money. Or you don't use it in time, the bank starts charging interest taking money away from the card.

My biggest beef though, it what happens when you have $2.36 left of the said gift card. For some reason you can't just swipe it and use it all up as you would a specific gift card. For example, if you have a Target gift card with that amount and the bill is $2.37, you swipe and owe 1 cent. If you have a visa gift card, you swipe and it is declined: "Insufficient funds" or something like that. So you say, well just tell them to charge $2.36 to that card. Fair enough, but the people that work at the registers sometimes don't get it, and when the line behind you is building up, in frustration you just say "Oh put it on this card."

Don't forget the people who don't know the exact balance. If they say "Oh I think there is $3 or so so put that on the card," it will get denied. Then they forget to check the balance when they get home and the vicious cycle continues. So I bet, if I went around and collected the last few unused dollars on the worlds Visa cards before the banks start charging interest and consuming that money, I would be a rich man. So if you have them and you don't want to deal with them, just send them my way :-).

until next time...

an omelet...

2008-03-17T08:17:00.003-07:00

...fit for a king!

I like to cook. I like to eat. One thing, however, I am not good at cooking, and normally don't like eating, is breakfast foods. Give me a bowl of cereal and I am happy.

Well this weekend, I was inspired to cook an omelet for Whitney. So Sunday morning I whipped up some eggs and some bacon, diced up some tomatoes and avocado (both fresh from the Santa Barbara Farmer's Market) and shredded some cheese.

I also have never been good at forming the omelet. Usually, somewhere along the way, I mess it up and it just turns to scrambled. I had to take a page from Damon's book. I had to remember back to June 16th, 2005 (well I think it was the 17th at that hour) in Cornelius, NC. After a trip with the guys to Vinnie's at the Lake (where the waitresses had good personalities) for a little drink and food (two nights before my wedding), we got back to the house and Damon started cooking up some omelets. I had to remember his flipping technique on to the plate for the perfectly folded omelet.

Well it worked. And it was spectacular.

On a side, Friday I beach cruised it home from work at record speed, rivaling my road biking time home. I busted it home so that I could run with Whit. Man was I tired. Oh we had some friends over to play the Wii. Until our neighbors got upset we were jumping around playing at 10:30 Saturday night.

until next time...

as my mom pointed out...

2008-03-11T08:27:00.001-07:00

I have been a lame ass blogger as of lately. Yes, this is true, and is not even because I have been overly busy or anything. I just didn't feel like making everyone jealous whilst I blog about spending the weekend at the beach located approximately spitting distance from our dwelling.

So instead: The "skip ahead" day light savings time has been great. Now that it is lighter out at night, Whitney and I have started running again. As much as I despise running....

...FLASHBACK...

When I was about 12, I played baseball for the pirates. We won the championship that year. I think it was 1993 (I can't remember and sadly my mom sold the trophy at a yard sale for 25 cent - what the frick). Anyway, I had this coach. As much as I can remember, I didn't really like this coach. In fact, he made me run laps one day because I had failed to call him and tell him that I was going to miss practice the previous day. WHAT!?!?!?!? Are you KIDDING ME??? Maybe if I was getting paid to play, then ok I expect that, but dude, why don't you run a couple laps to help shave off a couple pounds instead of taking it out on some 60 pound 12 year old with glasses bigger than his head. ANYWAYS, to make a flashback story short, during one practice, the coach continued to make fun of the way I run IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE TEAM!!!! Maybe this is the origins of my hatred for running.

...BACK TO NOW...

... it actually has been nice to run. We go to the dog park, so the Murph can run with us sans leash. It's nice to get outside, and nice that we can this time of year.

The HEELS beat DOOK this weekend to secure their place at #1 in the Nation. Here's to a good run in the tourney!!! We watched the game downtown. It was fun.

That same night, our neighbors (not in the same building) threw a party with a live JAzz band who played a killer jazz version of Billy Jean by the great Michael Jackson.

(That picture is actually Breen Field where we use to play Little League)

This post is just a bunch of random blurts.

until next time...

nothing but flowers

2008-03-04T09:18:00.002-07:00

Here are some pics I took this weekend outside our apartment.

until next time...

hollywoood!!

2008-03-02T11:32:00.003-07:00

I know I have been a bad blogger lately. I had a big proposal due, and frankly I just wasn't inspired to write anything on the blog.

Well well well, are you in for a treat. Here is an inspired post coming straight to you from Hollywood. This past Saturday, Whitney and I decided to go down to Hollywood Blvd. I mean, we live close by, so why not take advantage of it while its here. So we drove down and saw the Chinese Theater with Marylin Monroe impersonators, Superman, Spiderman, Darth Vader, Optimus Prime, and some weird looking devil man thing.

It was pretty cool, especially right by the theaters. However once you get past there it turns into stores where you can buy shoes and "clothes" that would make your grandma blush.

Here are some pics though. It was a lot of fun.

Me with the Journey Star (YES!)

Whitney and Marylin's hands (although her hands are smaller, Whitney is prettier :-) --> ewwww BDA)

The Chinese Theater

until next time...

these guys...

2008-02-28T07:45:00.005-07:00

tried to rob a bar full of bikers. See how it turned out here:

Dumb Criminals!

Some of the story highlights on CNN.com

Story Highlights

Two masked, machete-wielding robbers burst into club and empty cash registers
50 bikers meeting in adjacent room hear commotion and intervene
One would-be robber ends up hogtied; the other in hospital
Police arrest men and charge both with attempted armed robbery

Oh, and while I am being lame, check out this guys blog:

Sweet Rigs

He chronicles his findings of the most bestest tricked out rides.

until next time (sorry for not posting much lately)...

what the frick

2008-02-21T09:22:00.003-07:00

Any Scrubs fans out there??? Nevermind.

Ok, what the frick. The other day I was looking in the mirror and noticed that my hairline is receding. Check it out, this picture doesn't even do it justice.

Now I know it's not that bad, but it is noticably further back than I can ever remember. My dad always teased me that Uncle Freddy was bald in high school (on my moms side). You know what that means!!!!!

Well luckily I am not bald yet. But here is a photoshop preview.

Don't be blinded by the glare!!!!!!!!!!!!!

until next time...

you lint licker

2008-02-20T08:25:00.001-07:00

Ok, the balding blog post is coming, but the pictures are on my laptop. So here is one to hold you over.

What the french toast.

until next time...

shout out!

2008-02-17T22:05:00.003-07:00

So, the other day Whitney and I were walking through the UCen. This is essentially the Student Union on the Campus at UCSB. The bookstore is there as well as some eateries of sort. I was suppose to have a lunch meeting so I did not bring my lunch to work, but it got canceled, so I decided to meet Whitney at the Jamba Juice at the UCen since she had some dental work done that morning.

As we were walking through the UCen, some dude shouted out:

"Hey Origins of the Universe Guy!!!!"

I was like "huh." Turns out this guy had attended my lecture the previous week. He mentioned that he really enjoyed it and introduced him self, but then quickly left as he was leading a tour through the building.

Anyway, talk about making my week. Some dude liked my lecture enough to just shout out in the middle of some tour he was giving. Granted the lecture was on theories of the origin of life, and not so much the universe. I still appreciated the shout out.

Since I couldn't find a better picture I decided to put the Master of the Universe up. Not really the same thing, but funny nonetheless. By the way, why is He Man just wearing undies and who is the dude with the mustache....what's going on here???

Until (the) next (post about how I am going friggin' bald) time....

while on the topic of dreams...

2008-02-15T10:24:00.004-07:00

that reoccur. I had another one last night, and I have had this one before. Different context but I have had a dream where a grizzly bear is chasing me. This time it chased me through some small town and caused a lot of chaos and damage in the town. Previously (in other dreams) it had chased me around a campus until I hid in a cupboard. Haha stupid bear didn't know how to open a cupboard. Although it did ride an elevator to get to the same floor. What do you think this means???

carpoolers

2008-02-14T22:55:00.002-07:00

Best show on television that I am pretty sure only Whitney and I know about. Does any body else out there watch this show. It has these little moments of comic brilliance. If you haven't seen it, check it out Tuesday nights on ABC.

And Erin, this post is for you.

until next time...

the little red clock shop

2008-02-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

I have had many upon many part-time jobs in my day. Let us count the ways, and I will skip things like mowing Mr. Carlson's lawn. I am talking about legitimate part-time jobs where I received a paycheck. Here they are in order:

1. Farmington Country Club (Farmington, CT) - Bag Boy (soon to be the focus of this post)

2. Einstein Brother's Bagels (Ann Arbor, MI) - Bagel Server*

3. Lake Norman Brewing Company (Cornelius, NC) - Waiter

4. Steve and Barry's (Ann Arbor, MI) - Sales Person/ Clothes Folder/ Cashier

5. Northstone Country Club (Huntersville, NC) - Pro Shop Attendant

6. Gran Cafe (Chapel Hill, NC) - Server/Cashier

7. Carolina Annual Fund (Chapel Hill, NC) - Caller

8. Office Supplies and More (Chapel Hill, NC) - Sales Clerk

9. The Inside Scoop (Chapel Hill, NC) - Ice Cream Scooper/Artist

10. Gran Cafe (Chapel Hill, NC) - Short Order Cook

11. Granville Demolition Crew (Chapel Hill, NC) - Demolition Man

Now rather than a example of my "lack of commitment" it should be known that jobs 3 and 5 were summer jobs whilst I was home from college and 7,8, and 9 were also summer jobs held simultaneously whilst I spent the summer at college. Yes it is true that I didn't care for the Annual Fund job, too much rejection, so I didn't stick with it too long. Nor the Office Supplies and More job. Job 11 I just did for a week as an option from Gran Cafe. They paid us a lot of money to go start help tearing down the rooms in Granville so that they could start renovating. So technically I got a paycheck from them.

The point of the post is this: I continually have dreams about job numero uno. I don't know why this is. In fact I had one last night, instigating my blog writing. I had another dream about the Farmington Country Club. This time it was a reunion of sorts with all these people who had once worked there. Maybe it was the lasting impression working there made on my young impressionable adolescent mind. I did hold that job the longest. 3 years of high school until I went off to college. It seemed while I worked there, than many of the club members sent there sons (who all seemed to have recently run into problems at their private schools) so that the golf pro Mr. Murphy could straighten them up and turn them into fine young men. That was probably it. He once told me that I was "going places" and that many of the kids that worked there just didn't have that "it factor" but with my strong work ethic I would be set apart from my "peers." Maybe this is why I continue to dream about this place. I guess it really did make an impression on me. I mean after my first day of work I cried and told the folks I never wanted to go back, but as they usually are correct, my parents said that "you are going back!"

until next time....

* it should be noted that I only held this position for a total of 2 hours and never actually received any pay.

wii have some catching up to do

2008-02-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

Now it seems everyone is full force in the blog-o-sphere, which is great, but now I spend more time reading than typing. So here is a catch-all blog entry getting you up to speed.

1. Wii

So, for Christmas, Whitney and I got $$ to buy a Nintendo Wii from Bob and Diane. We were also instructed that is must be named the Bob and Diane Memorial Wii (more on that is a second). So finding a Wii is nearly impossible. Every where we would check said they were out of stock. Well that was until a little birdie told us to check Circuit City last Sunday. That little birdie was correct and we rushed to the store 10 minutes after it opened and sure enough we got voucher #22 (of a total of 22). So we got a Wii, and it is awesome, and I am sore from playing it (lame).

2. Lecture

Well I gave my first lecture ever to college students. Yes it was in astrobiology (hey wait didn't you get your PhD in chemistry?). So I lectured for an hour putting notes on the chalkboard and now I know how Mr. Cucia of 7th grade pre-algebra felt after each day of class in which his (always) dark pantalones would be eaten by the crazy chalk dust monster. Overall I would give the lecture a 6 out of 10. It was more, how bout Ryan throwup (like hurl) all of this overwhelming knowledge on the board faster than any one can record in their notes (especially if I am standing in front of what I am writing). Basically, it wasn't terrible, but that's the point. I got the chance to do it and given more chances I can only get better.

3. Tutoring

So I have a new student who I was recommended to by a previous student. Alright referrals!!! Anyway, I really like tutoring. It is fun, it fine tunes my chemistry skills while allowing for me to help someone else learn about it. Kind of fun.

Ok that is it in a nutshell thus far. I couldn't come up with any good pictures for the post so I made this movie for your viewing pleasure (check out that manly beard).

until next time...

bueller, anyone? anyone?

2008-02-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

Now you see class... the lipid-world hypothesis...

Yes today is the day. I am giving the Astrobiology lecture today at 2:00 in the pm. I know, in reality not that huge of a deal, but still it is a glimpse into what being a professor might be like.

On a side note, Whitney and I voted in our newly registered BIG-DOG state ( in terms of primaries). That's right, we voted. As you can see I am having a little too much fun with the webcam this morning.

Also, come on admit it, you see the beard. People keep asking me if I am Rupert from Survivor.

Until next time...

can you tell yet....

2008-02-04T09:37:00.000-07:00

until next time......

bacon burger

2008-02-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

not a burger with bacon on top, and actual burger made out of bacon. my arteries are clogging just reading about it

Check out: Peppers and Smoke

until (if you eat this there might not be a) next time....

ever hear of astrobiology?

2008-01-31T21:14:00.000-07:00

Yeah me neither. But next Wednesday I am filling in for my boss who will be out of town to give the lecture for that day.

I will let you know how it goes (and yeah, thats my boss's name as the author of the text).

until next time...

breakfast of champions

2008-01-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

When: August 2005
Where: Grand Teton (that's French for boob) National Park, Wyoming
Who: Damon, Whitney, Ryan
What: Sausage patties an inch thick cooked to perfection on the grill, potatoes seasoned and grilled to greatness, and eggs, and toasted english muffins.

Whitney, Damon and I took a trip to Grand Teton National Park in August of 2005. We spent two nights camping. This was the first morning. A most glorious breakfast was cooked up and enjoyed by all. I believe we made the best sausage mcmuffin ever fabricated by humans...ever. It couldn't get any better. I think later that day we sat at the lake's edge and drank Wyoming beer and were most likely thoroughly tanked by maybe 2:00. That night Damon drunk dialed from the tent..IN THE MIDDLE OF A NATIONAL PARK!!!!! I can't remember the name of the camp ground, but there was a lodge there too if I remember correctly. On the way home we went to hot springs and to a music fest in Wyoming. One of the best trips ever.

until next time...

i know so...

2008-01-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

Ok so I am trying to grow a beard. Ha ha ha, funniest post ever. I just figured why not. This is about 2 weeks worth now. Can't you tell. Just squint your eyes and get about 3 inches from the screen. Still no? Oh well. However, I feel like the this guy in the Domino's commercial.

until next time...

someone get this kid a....

2008-01-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

OSCAR, SAG, Golden Globe, MTV Award, you name it, this is the person who deserves it. Forget Atonement and Kiera Knightley (spelling?).

until next time...

hiking

2008-01-21T09:18:00.001-07:00

This weekend I did my first California hike. A lab mate, Kevin (see Cash like $$) invited me along with him and his wife for a hike up Rattlesnake Canyon. It was a shorter hike, 3.5 miles round trip, and it was a great one. It was my first time visiting the mountains here in Santa Barbara. Since we have moved here, most of our focus has been towards the beach side of things since we just moved from Salt Lake City, where mountains are abundant and beaches are scarce/ non existent. (Well technically there are swimming beaches on the Great Salt Lake, which we did in fact visit and swim once, but I would hardly describe it as a desirable beach. If you like the stench of rotting brine shrimp and a cubic foot of thick dense little flies right at the waters edge, then sure it's great. It was fun to swim in it though. Now I can say I was in the Great Salt Lake and I was super buoyant.)

Anyway, it was a good hike. Here are some pictures.

(me)

(Kevin and the Murph)

until next time.....

not for the team that begins with see...

2008-01-20T10:09:00.001-07:00

and ends with eattle seahawks.

On a lighter note, see below. Stick it out until the Brett Favre part (a true gunslinger).

until next time...

i know this is lame but....

2008-01-18T22:20:00.000-07:00

I am all alone this weekend, sans Whitney and I have had a couple of beers. So I know this is lame, but here it goes.

I just finished watching Iconoclasts, which is come random show on this random Sundance Network we get here on our cable program. Anyway, Iconoclast is like an interview show and this one happened to be an interview with Sean Penn and John Krakauer. I am currently reading a Krakauer book entitled "Into Thin Air" about his disasterous hike on Everest. I have read one of his other books, "Into the Wild," which happens to be what this particular episode of Iconoclast was about. Sean Penn made a movie adaptation of the book by Krakauer. Now I have seen the movie as well, and although not as good as the book, I still liked it in the sense that I am truly fascinated by the story. Let me refresh.

(movie poster)

The book, which is a true story, is about a kid (24ish actually) who graduated college, gave up his college fund savings, and just lived on the road for ~2 years. Eventually, he was found dead in Alaska, his ultimate destination. Now I know many people have read the book and/or have seen the movie and think the guy was a complete idiot going so unprepared into the wild without a map etc. And, not that I totally agree, but being anal retentive, maybe he could of been better prepared, but this is beyond the point. The point is, this guy (Chris Mccandless) just wanted to live and this is how he thought he wanted to do it. He wanted to escape to this world of great wilderness. I can sort of relate to his love for this so called wild. To me, the wild is an amazing unknown for me. In my mind, Alaska is an amazing place. Utah was an amazing place with the mountains etc. Not that mountains make things wild, but some of my fondest memories of Utah are things like camping up in the Uintas, or hiking to White Pine Lake above the tree line. Times when we were all far away from any of the worries of the "real world."

(the real Chris Mccandless)

Ok so what's the point? The point is that I am amazingly attracted to this story. I mean I really like and it really touches and fascinates me. Chris took a risk. He gave up everything he knows and just on blind faith took on the world. I know again, unprepared and dumb right? Well my answer is no. Think about it. Was Chris any different than any of us. We enter things everyday underprepared and dumbfounded, whether you are starting a new job leaving the comforts of a job that you knew well, or whether you are moving somewhere to pursue a career that is sort of in this unknown "wild" if you will.

We all do things like this. If we don't, we should. Think about this. At some point in time, you made a decision to be where you are today. Before you got to where you are right now, when you think back, it probably seemed improbable. Maybe you are a CEO of a company, or studying collision induced dissociation or what-have-you. Before you got there, there was some element of unknown and on some level you were probably unprepared.

Maybe my unhealthy (not really unhealthy) fascination with this book comes from the fact that I read it while attending this sort of once-in-a-lifetime meeting. I got the opportunity to attend this meeting where I get to interact with, essentially, my peers, but more-so the people that will hopefully being putting in a good word for me whilst I am interviewing for faculty positions at their universities. There I was in my own wild. The unknown, unprepared, and eventually scared stupid. But I went on with and and I tackled.

So did Chris Mccandless. He wandered into his wild. And yeah, he wasn't so lucky. It didn't turn out so well for him. We can all learn a lesson though. Take that chance. Go into the unknown. It may not always turn out well, but thats ok.

Maybe this is the weirdest post ever on the What's Flying Ryan blog. And for those of you who are beginning to worry, I am not about to wander off into the wild etc. But, I can't deny that there is a part of me that thinks it would be completely amazing to go live in the wild for a while. Maybe show myself that I can survive. I think that is why this story is so fascinating. It is why movies such as I Am Legend are so popular. There is a bit in all of us that thinks or wishes that we could have that freedom and test of surviving out there.

until next time (and I promise not to be as lame...)...

Oh, and by the way, the newer header pic is one I took while camping in the High Uintas