Love, Me

Our friends Matt & Brandy got married today at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. The ceremony was an interesting mix of traditional Jewish customs and more non-traditional elements that I'd never seen before. But what really got me was the very first guitar solo of Collin Raye's song Love, Me. Its an old country song that I hadn't heard in years. And it took just about everything I had to hold back the tears.



I miss you, Grandpa.

The name on your birth certificate said L Z, but everyone called you Luke or Luther. You grew up during the Great Depression and that taught you never to be wasteful. You served in the army during WWII. Doing what, I have no idea because I never thought to ask you. You taught my mom to shoot, and she loved it. You were tall and strong and had a soft-spoken voice. If I try to think of a time when I ever heard you raise your voice, I come up blank. You were never in a rush but also never still. You were always fixing something around the house or tinkering in your little workshop at the back of the house or spending hours and hours in the garden. I was your first grandchild. You made me a wooden rocking horse, a bed that had a Strawberry Shortcake cushion for my stuffed animals and a four-story dollhouse that I still have in the garage. I remember playing in your garden and pretending it was a wild, lush jungle because that's what it seemed like to me. I climbed that big tree and ran through the clothes that were drying on the line. When we got on Grandma's nerves, which was quite often, you would take us aside and calm us down. I remember sitting with you and your smell and your scratchy chin. You loved Alistair MacLean books. I borrowed a few from you but never got around to reading or returning them. You always had this old mint green jeep in the driveway, but I never remember it running. If there was a problem, you knew how to fix it. You taught me how to get rid of garden slugs with an aluminum pie plate and a beer, not that garden slugs were ever a problem back home in the desert. I found it horrifying and at the same time a little amusing that they were both attracted to and killed by the beer. You taught me how to fix a sticking door with a dry bar of soap. You were the McGuyver of household repairs. :)

Your granddaughter Sarah died in your arms as you gave her CPR. I remember you once came to visit us and passed out while you were working in the yard all by yourself. You didn't tell anyone about it until much later so we wouldn't worry. I remember getting a shock when I first saw you in that severe hospital bed in your den, like it was a permanent fixture. And unfortunately, it was. I remember how you slowly got weaker and weaker. That is not how I will remember you. I promise. I wish I had recorded your stories. The one that sticks out most in my mind is of your brother who would drink a cup of half coffee and half sugar and who once broke out of jail with a spoon. I wish I had brought you more Alistair MacLean and Louis L'Amour books. I wish I had taken that trip up to Albequerque so you could have met Greg. I think you would have liked him. And I know he would have loved you. All the boys did - Dad, Mr. Mac, Trav. You were always someone a man could look up to. The way you conducted yourself, your values, your strength - you were real hero material and that's the way I'll always remember you.

After 86 years, your struggle finally ended on August 27, 2007. I know you know that I love you.

Its Good To Be Home...

Two days late, jetlagged, and wreaking from clothes reworn one too many times between washings.

We're home. Finally. And we're safe and sound. That's the important thing. Portugal was fabulous. The flight back from Portugal - an absolute nightmare.

Let me just say that I HATE U.S. Airways with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns - but that's a story for another day...

Right now my priorities are as follows:
1. tylenol
2. shower
3. laundry
4. sleep

I've never been so happy to get home after a vacation!

Cookies! Massive quantities of cookies compliments of Debbie for our trip.

Shelley, your mom rocks!

Bye!

Travel Superstars!

I'm so proud. We just finished packing for our 2-week trip to Portugal and a) its not 2 a.m., b) everything we need is in two carry-on bags, and c) we even have room to spare.

Tomorrow we leave for Houston after work and spend the night at Debbie's (Shelley's awesome mom) where she's going to spoil us rotten. I spoke with her earlier today, and she was already talking about making us sandwiches for our flights. What a sweetie! Tuesday morning she's taking us to the airport, and we arrive in Lisbon at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning. Once there, we are on schedule for some major bumming and jetlag. Then on Thursday Fred and Kristie are flying down from Manchester to meet us. And let the festivities begin!

It should be interesting. Its really the first trip we've taken where we're going to be somewhere without a 'tour guide' or a friend's place to stay. This is the true test of how good Greg's planning skills have been. Wish us luck!

Why Do I Smell Like a Brewery This Morning?

Because last night Greg saw fit to knock a full beer into my lap at the Ginger Man. What's worse is that it was his first beer of the evening. Nice! On the bright side though, it was a hot night so I found it refreshing as I sat there and felt the beer slowly saturate my jeans. Thanks, babe. I know you're always thinking of my comfort. :)

(Marriage tip #394: A good sense of humor is essential to survival, kids.)

Job Prospects!

Its been an interesting couple of days.

I plan on graduating in December with my PhD, which means its high time I start looking into the job market. When I first entered the graduate program, it was with the intention of one day becoming a professor at a smallish liberal arts college and teaching chemistry and biochemistry. Well, that was before meeting and marrying the man I love, who also happens to have a job in chemistry - something that is rather geographically limiting. Unfortunately, the chemistry and biochemistry industry in Austin is limited at best. Both Greg and I love life here. Austin is a great place to live. We have a house and big plans for renovation. Greg absolutely loves his job and coworkers and is one of the few people I know who is truly happy in his career. I don't want to be the cause of uprooting us. We know too many of our friends who have moved on and would do just about anything to move back to Austin - we really are spoiled here. So staying means compromise when it comes to my job prospects.

I met with the careers counselor for natural sciences here at UT on Monday and spent a good hour in her office discussing job possibilities in the Austin area. She had a few prospects I hadn't thought of so far, one of which included coordinating programs in the natural science department here on the UT campus. The only problem is that most programs tend to come and go based on success, funding and interest - not the best option for job security but still very interesting. Then we found a somewhat promising possibility as a grant writing specialist for a group of 6 professors here at UT. The pay is good. I think I'd be well qualified, and it would be interesting because I'd be writing and learning about new science. I've TA'ed ('teaching assistant' for those of you who have never had the pleasure) for one of the professors (the one who has a reputation for being the hardest to work with), and I'm pretty sure he likes and respects me. Plus, my friend Alisha works with 2 of the guys involved so she was able to give me valuable insider info on the position. Thanks, Lish!

So I was somewhat excited about the prospects and then out of nowhere another one fell into my lap. A biochem prof upstairs wanted to talk to me about a TA job that would start in the Fall semester and continue through the Spring. It involves working in a relatively new program, where basically freshman and sophomore students are given the chance to learn lab skills and think critically about scientific problems in their early education, rather than just getting their hands dirty in their senior year as is usual. They're divided up into 'streams' and each stream works on individual aspects of one large, encompassing research project. They all do similar experiments but each has a separate protein, gene or whatever to work with. Well, this prof's stream is taught by a PhD biochemist who is pregnant and due in December. They were looking for someone reliable who could basically teach the stream while Grace is on maternity leave. And she thought of me. :)

I met with her and Grace yesterday to talk about the position. I let her know that my plan was to graduate by December so I wasn't sure if it would be possible. She suggested that I 'drag my feet' a bit on finishing so that I'd be eligible to TA in the Spring as well. The thought of this didn't really appeal to me until I finally got the message. She wasn't just asking me to be a TA. She was implying that next year new streams will be opened and they'll need Research Educators (Grace's job) to lead them. By taking this job, I'd be getting a sort of on-the-job training, meet all the movers and shakers of the program, and be in an excellent position to step into that role! Brad, Alisha's husband, is actually going to be a Research Educator for his PhD advisor. Judging from what Alisha said about the job, it also has very good pay and it would be more on the student schedule, i.e. I could potentially still have spring breaks and winter breaks, a big consideration for when we have kiddies. Best of all, it fits almost perfectly into my original goals! I'd be teaching a small group of students about lab techniques and critical thinking in the spring semesters. Then in the summer and fall semesters, I'd be supervising and overseeing their research endeavors.

This program is also one that is likely to remain intact for a long while. The dean of natural sciences is very excited about it, as are the NSF (National Science Foundation) and the HHMI (Howard Hughes Medical Institute) who provide the funding. From what I hear, it is going to continue to expand greatly in the following years, which translates to job security for me if I were to get a permanent position.

So I talked to my boss about delaying my graduation until the Spring, and he's on board. He realizes that this is a great opportunity for me, and its right up my alley. Its the closest thing to perfect that I can think of! I really can't believe it.

So that's the latest. I'll let you know how it progresses, but I really am looking forward to the next few semesters.

We're Running a Marathon!!

Ok, so maybe not all by ourselves...

For the last 2 years, Greg and I have organized teams of 5 people to run the Silicon Labs Relay Marathon. Last year we had two teams; this year we have three! This is how its split up:

12K: Larisa, Claus, Suvi
10K: Greg , Diana , Chris N.
10K: Katie, Brianna, Mitra
5K: Derek, Mark, Kim
5K: Brian, Morgan, Chris S.

Both Greg and I are a bit leery of the prospect of having to run 6.2 and 7.3 miles at the end of September, especially considering how its starting to heat up around here. We struggled to finish 2.2 miles on Monday morning. We leave for Portugal next Tuesday for a 2-week vacation. When we get back, we'll have 4 weeks to train for this run. Ok, so I guess the taper is out. Its much more important to ensure that we'll be able to cross the finish line without crawling or dying of heat stroke than it is to actually make good time. That's my theory anyway. I'm sure Greg's competitive spirit will win out over reason in the end. Hopefully we won't be carrying him back. :)

Simpsonized Larisa

More time wasters... Go here.

South Park Larisa

Speaking of Cartman...

Me, as of last week - a reminder of better times while I'm slogging my way through research...

Feel like procrastinating? You've come to the right enabler. Make your own South Park self-portrait.

Weakling...

Again with the phlegm! I spent the first days of my Cayman vacation getting over a sinus infection and now its back to haunt me.

In a weak and dying Cartman-type voice, I cry Oh why has my God foresaken me?