busy, boring....

Now that I'm as finished with my paper figures as I can possibly be, I'm back to doing experiments to keep me busy at work. I haven't consistently done experiments myself since last April, so it's nice to actually be doing experiments instead of sitting on the computer playing in photoshop or excel or some other computer program analyzing data.

We had amazing weather over the weekend. While Joe was at work Sunday I took the big bad camera out to learn how to use it's manual settings. I went down to the park a few minutes from us and wandered around taking pictures of the flowers that have already bloomed in this spring-like weather. Here are some of my more favorite photos... let me know what you think!

-teeny tiny pinecones

-magenta flower

-buds and translucent leaves

-yellow crocuses

-opening seeds

-pinecone leaf sitting in a branch

-kitty in the grass

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yes, it's that time of year again when the buses and metros alternate their bus route number with "Les Amoureux" and everyone attempts grand gestures of love all thanks to the marketing team of Hallmark. Valentine's Day is a nice day to spoil your loved ones; it can also be stressful to find something perfect to give your loved one... especially when you've contracted your 3rd illness in 5 weeks and can't get off the couch/bed to do anything. Seriously, I've had 2 colds and the stomach flu since we got back from vacation! I'm very mad at my immune system...maybe it's getting back at me for getting a flu shot, who knows. All I know is that I spent all afternoon yesterday sleeping and moping....and admiring the flowers Joe bought me for Valentine's Day! Finally, I had a subject to photograph! The flowers and the sunshine gave me an opportunity to play with my new fancy camera that Joe's mom gave us for Christmas. I'm still not quite sure how to use all the manual settings, but here are a couple pictures I took this morning playing around with the morning light in the kitchen.

-the entire bouquet from Joe (yes, the camera manual is in plain view)

-farting around with the camera's aperture settings


Over the years I've become pretty good at taking pictures of flowers...now I just need to figure out how to expand this to better artistic photos of people and scenery as well!

Stephan's Birthday & I almost won the lottery!

Well, we haven't had a party like this, well, probably since Joe's birthday last spring. I have photographic evidence that Stephan took 14 shots...I'm pretty sure he had more than 14 and he was also drinking beer throughout the evening. Somehow he managed to stick around at the bar until midnight! good job Stephan!

-the disgusting shot with Jaggermeister & tabasco...what was Sai thinking?

-Irish Car Bombs from Jen

More birthday pictures!

After our late morning of sleeping in Saturday, I found out that I had actually won 44 francs in the EuroMillions drawing... too bad I didn't have more numbers!!

24 hours of beards, boars & beach! Part 3: Beach in Barcelona

3:45pm: With about an hour left before we absolutely needed to be on the Aerobus from Place Catalunya to the airport for our 6pm flight, Jen and I decided to head to the beach!

-the video I made while hoofing it through the sand

-I caught Jen screaming as the water crashed into her legs

-Wishing I could do this more often!

Going to the beach was really awesome, especially since the beach was closed last March when Joe, Sai, Adrian and I were in Barcelona for a long weekend. The water was a little chilly and getting my socks and boots on with sand-covered feet was a bit of a challenge, but well worth it!

5:25pm: Jen and I arrive at Terminal A just as our flight starts boarding. We walk straight to security, no line. Jen set off the metal detector, but her wanding is minimal. We head to the gate and directly board the plane to head back... just like Joe's dream trip!

9:35pm: I arrive at home, a little later than expected, because our flight was a bit late. Hang out with Joe for a bit before I go to bed.

More Barcelona pictures.

PS. Happy Birthday Stephan!

24 hours of beards, boars & beach! Part 2: Boars, aka suckling pig in Barcelona

Wednesday, February 6th, 7:42am: It's pouring down rain and miserable in Lausanne. Jen and I board a train from Lausanne to Geneva airport to catch our 20 CHF flight to Barcelona. As some of you know, this trip was supposed to be taken by 8 of us, but 6 people (Jacqui, Joe, Adrian, Sai, Stephan & Kristen) managed to forget about a conference they had to attend at EPFL also occurring on Feb. 6th when we booked the tickets in November. So, in the end, only Jen and I were willing and able to head to Barcelona for lunch for some much loved suckling pig at El Yantar de la Ribera.

-checking in at a self-help kiosk in Geneva airport was a bit against the point of walking directly from train to plane and back, but it did produce this awfully guilt ridden photo-op. As the screen says, 'Any remaining passengers may check in later'

11:05am: Our plane lands in sunny Barcelona where Jen and I disembark to the tarmac like rockstars and realize that we forgot our sunglasses. We decide that it doesn't really matter because it 18 degrees Celsius and there's no need for a jacket!

noon: We arrive at Place Catalunya and head to a local bakery for a snack before lunch. We then take the metro and walk to the restaurant.

1:30pm: Lunch!

-Like always, I'm too embarassed to take pictures with the flash on, so all my pictures of the inside of the oven were coming out blurry. So I had the 'brilliant' idea to take a video of the oven master seasoning the meat and putting it back into the wood stove.

-Jen & I with our meals... Can you tell I'm excited!

3:00pm: Dessert. Jen and I decide to split a pastry and enjoy the basket of liquors... maybe a little too much...and then discussed what we should do in our last hour or so in Barcelona.... to the beach!

24 hours of beards, boars & beach! Part 1: Beards

February 5th 7:30pm: Jacqui, Joe and I scarf-down potato chips watching TV while waiting for Adrian and Stephan to arrive before we order pizza

8:45pm: mmm.... Raclette and Salami Passion Dominators from Domino's

9:15pm: beard activities commence....the before photos

....and then the shaving begins....
9:40pm: half way through shaving....chin hairs are missing...

10pm: I think they escaped from the Village People Summer camp....the construction worker, the leather man, and the police officer

10:10pm: Stephan and Joe....so sexy
10:15pm: the babyfaces have returned

if you want to see more fun photos from the Mega beard shave-off.....click here!

Mega beard shave-off is tonight!

So tonight is the big beard shave-off! This is what hairy Joe looks likes as of Sunday night....


I forgot to get more updated photos of Stephan and Adrian, but I'm sure I'll get plenty of pictures tonight before, during and after the shave-off.

And then tomorrow's the big Barcelona lunch, except only Jen and I can go...the rest are stuck at some lame conference at EPFL....maybe I can convince the others tonight to skip the conference!!

And here's the beautiful view of the snow covered Alps out of my lab window at the moment... the camera really doesn't do it justice, but I thought I'd try....

One year later....

I did it! I actually have kept up the blog after one year! Congratulations to myself for actually keeping a new year's resolution for once!

In other updates, Paris sucked again, especially the first 4 hours. I arrived and stinky lady wasn't there, found her student who had no idea I was coming and then went to get re-acclimated with the microscope. I was just getting into the swing of things when I clicked on the wrong button and the microscope stage advanced toward the objective, crashing the objective into my slide and shattering it....think accidentally backing your car into a garage door after putting your car in Park... I don't know what retard set up this microscope, but in no way should that have ever happened... these things have sensors!! Then, an hour later, the lightbulb blew out, the student didn't know how to fix it, so I went shopping the next morning while stinky fixed it. thankfully, I knew what to expect this time, so I was prepared to be by myself and got to go shopping!

-The windowless room in Paris...this is where I was stuck for hours at a time

Then unfortunately in the middle of the night Saturday, Joe got sick with a 24-hour stomach bug so he was 'poopy' all day Sunday and we just hung out in the apartment. Of course, then I got the same thing, but worse Monday at bedtime... I've never been so sick and sleep-deprived in my life....it was horrible... of course, Joe got to sleep through the whole evening....
Carolyn at 10:30pm: I have a lot of gas and that 'I'm going to vomit' feeling in the pit of my stomach. I think I got what you had.
Joe: If you do get sick, I can't help you 'cause I just took my sleeping pill and you know I can't get up once I've taken that.
So, there I was vomiting and diahrrea-ing by myself, sleeping on the bathroom floor mat and crawling to and from the bathroom and the living room all night. Finally I kicked the bedroom door in at 7:30am and said, 'You need to get up now. I'm vomiting green liquid, I think it's just bile, but I need you to look online to see if I need to go to the hospital.' Oh my god. I wouldn't wish this on anybody....it was awful. Once Joe was awake he was great and got me some Gatorade to drink (and subsequently throw up) throughout the day. He even came home a couple times to check on me...how sweet ;) I think he felt guilty for giving it to me. And as usual, I push myself too hard and I should have just stayed home all day on Wednesday as well, but I went to work in the afternoon to finish up an abstract for my advisor anyway...I'm an idiot. I feel much better now, thank goodness.

This weekend, who knows...all i know is that if I haven't watched the season premiere of Lost by the end of today, I will be watching it tomorrow.