An Epic Ballade of New England

Episode CI: California There We Came

2012-01-17T14:01:00.000-06:00

As per tradition, I traveled back home to California over the Christmas/New Year holidays. This year I brought along my wife as well- indeed, thanks to the recent marriages in the family, our household was 33% larger than it usually is at this time of year.

This was the first Christmas that Meg and I spent Christmas or New Year's together, and let me say that it was a lovely, lovely thing to do. I recommend it.

At Grandma Shearer's Christmas Celebration we introduced a brand new tradition of a walk around the block (with frisbees in tow, of course.) A pretty nice tradition for a locale where Christmas Day was a refreshing sunny-with-a-high-of-seventy-five.

For Brian's birthday the family adventured on over to a giant complex full of trampoline-based excitement. Jumping on trampolines for an hour straight the day after playing a few hours of basketball makes for an interesting feeling in the legs, let me tell you.

Some of the family also took a trip up to Simi Valley to take in Ronald Reagan's Presidential Library and Museum. It was a very nice museum set in a lovely area. I recommend it. Here are Meg and I posing in front of Air Force One (a previous iteration.)

The Norrises rung in the New Year in high style this year, watching a DVRed Lakers game and then giving Megan a New Year's kiss (at least that's what I was doing.) We also had the good fortune of being able to hang out with a bunch of family and friends at a two-day New Year's church meeting up in LaVerne, which was nice.

Finally, I wrapped up my vacation with a traditional Norris family Christmastime trip, this time to Arrowhead Lake (and yes, it included Costco hotdogs.)

The cabin we stayed in was posh- we could have spent all day indoors playing billiards, foosball, ping pong, Xbox, etc...

But it was also extremely nice weather, so we went outside as well. We played some multi-story frisbee:

And went on a hike around Big Bear Lake:

The only negative (that I know of) was that the water heater broke shortly after we arrived. However, this turned out to be a positive (in my books) when the property manager arranged for us to have free access to the Arrowhead Resort hotel, complete with a day spa (including my favorite gratuitous comfort experience, a steam room.)

After a last-minute trip to In-N-Out on the way back, it was time for Meg and I (and Alicia and Chris) to pack our bags, and return to our own abodes. And so it was, a seemingly action-packed (but highly enjoyable) Christmas vacation.

Episode C: An Epic Ballade of New England

2011-12-02T12:08:00.000-06:00

First: notice the title of the current episode? That's right, it is Episode C, coming from the Latin centum, or 100 (from which we derive century, or centurion). Which means, this is the 100th Epic Ballade post! Can you believe it? Second: notice up at the top? Coincident with the 100th episode, I have also renamed the entire blog to An Epic Ballade of New England, in accord with the results of the blog poll- although while the original plan was to call it An Epic Ballade of Cambridge, I since decided that since I don't actually live in Cambridge, and since I hope to relay interesting things from all over the region, the new official title shall be An Epic Ballade of New England.

This particular episode will be a hello to Massachusetts and a goodbye to Kansas.

Hello Massachusetts

My wife and I are moving to the most populous (0ver 6 million people) and I daresay most interesting of the six New England states. Massachusetts has some of the richest history in all of the United States, claiming such notable distinctions as the home of the Pilgrims' Plymouth colony, birthplace of the Revolutionary War, the nation's first institute of higher learning, a leader of the Industrial Revolution, the Transcendentalist and Abolition movements, and major contributor to U.S. politics from Samuel Adams to Mitt Romney, from the Adams family to the Kennedy family, Calvin Coolidge to Barack Obama (Harvard Law alum '91).

In coming episodes I will no doubt inundate you with tales of our adventures here in New England. For now, however, let us say adieu to The Midwest.

Goodbye Kansas

I had a great time in Kansas. I met some great people there. I had some great fun there. I met my wife there. I earned my Ph.D. there. I did lots of other things there of significance and insignificance (as detailed extensively in this very Ballade). Perhaps it has been Epic, perhaps it has not. One thing for sure that it has heretofore not been: a Ballade. A ballade (not to be confused with a ballad) is a poetic form that goes way back to 13th-century France. A good explanation is offered by Wikipedia:

"[It consists of] three eight-line stanzas, each with a consistent metre and a particular rhyme scheme. The last line in the stanza is a refrain. The stanzas are followed by a four-line concluding stanza (an envoi) usually addressed to a prince. The rhyme scheme is therefore usually 'ababbcbC ababbcbC ababbcbC bcbC', where the capital 'C' is a refrain."

And so it is, dear reader, after 99 episodes of the Epic Ballade, I finally present to you An Epic Ballade, of Kansas...

[Setting the scene photographically. It's a grassy field just outside of Lawrence.]

An Epic Ballade of Kansas

by Adam Norris

Oh for a land of blue and cloudless day
Without just cause to speak a downcast word
Oh for a land where quadrupedals play
With lowing, ne’er objecting voices heard
From those who next to fate stand undeterred
But rather stand and chew in myriad files
And wander honeyed trails of freshest curd
Where one can see for miles, and miles (and miles)

Oh for a town of people on the way
To whom no thought of pining back occurred
Who do not let the past obscure the day
Nor linger o’er the hearth of thoughts absurd
But rather sweep with freedom as a bird
And thus the sky reflects the peoples’ styles
And thus the two create a happy third
Where one can see for miles, and miles (and miles)

Ah for that land, a silent tear I lay
Upon the cheeks in grassy splendor gird
For those who in this lovely land still stay
For whom no freedom in their breast had stirred
A love for light or life but yet preferred
To slovenly heap up the land with biles
Retain the sound of joy and peace unheard
Where one can see for miles, and miles (and miles)

Dear sir (or ma’am) I’ve seen and felt and heard
That those with wiles indeed are those with wiles
Yet still the land and sky stand undeterred,
And one can see for miles, and miles (and miles)

[Good bye, Kansas]

Episode XCIX: A Long Road Trip

2011-11-14T15:50:00.010-06:00

After our wedding, my wife and I went on a honeymoon to Europe, and eventually returned to Kansas, where all of our stuff was waiting in storage. We stayed in Lawrence a couple of days with the always-hospitable Tom and Beverly Griffin, while we made arrangements for U-Haul to move most of our things for us, and stuffed the rest of our belongings into our two vehicles. We then set out on a road trip to Massachusetts, going through lots of cities and states on the way, many of which I had not previously visited. Here’s a little map of our general zig-zagged route (we had essentially nothing planned ahead of time, just woke up and decided where we wanted to go that day.)

Put that together with our honeymoon travels and we begin to look like veritable globe-trotters (alas, Google maps only allows 25 points on a map, otherwise it would have shown us going from points A to Z.)

In total we spent 9 days on the road. Here are very few highlights:

Abraham Lincoln’s Springfield home (the only house he ever owned.) An entire handful of blocks restored to their 1860s condition, and a handy cell-phone audio tour explaining the histories.

Chicago. Way cooler than I had anticipated. The Shedd Aquarium is a world-class aquarium, but it was made 10 times cooler for us because they were showing a limited-time traveling Jellyfish exhibit! (In case you were unaware, jellyfish are the coolest animals ever.)

Some of the most delicious pizza ever, Chicago-style, at Gino’s East Pizza.

Indiana Sand Dune State Park; this particular sand dune is moving quickly enough that it should be resting on top of the highway in a few decades. Swam in Lake Michigan. Had delicious double-decker PBJ sandwiches.

[Editor’s note- this was the last point at which my digital photos were backed up off my phone. Since my phone recently got stolen (yes, for those keeping tally, that’s THREE thefts in three months for me and Meg) that means I have no first-hand pictures to accompany the rest of the trip]

Mill Run, Pennsylvania. Fallingwater. Possibly the coolest single house ever built, architecturally speaking. One of a dozen or so edifices we saw on our journey built by the great Frank Lloyd Wright. Built into a waterfall. Not above, or near, or around. Into a waterfall. Well worth the drive out into the boondocks to get there.

Cedar Point. Sandusky Ohio. “World’s Greatest Amusement Park.” It was indeed really nice. Loads of great rides, including the second tallest and fastest in the world. Plus, it’s on an island in the middle of Lake Erie, so every time you go up in the air you get a fantastic view.

Albany, New York. State Capital. Strange architecture.

And finally: Old Orchard Beach, Maine. This is where Meg’s parents live, and we crashed there for a few days while setting up a place to live here in Massachusetts. More on that next time!

Episode XCVIII: Love & Marriage

2011-10-07T13:35:00.000-05:00

I got married! It's been a couple of months, but I am now prepared to upload some photos and video of the day.

The day began with a photo shoot in a park near my parents' house. It was a lovely day, and we got some really lovely photos (Thanks to Steven, Deyon, Quinn and Jenny).

I then had a Hot Pocket and spilled some Dr. Pepper on my shirt (did anyone notice??)

Then it was off to the church building in Anaheim, for setup and some more familial pictures.

And of course, it could hardly be a Norris family event without a little bit of Frisbee playing.

Did I mention our theme was daisies?

The wedding went really well, thanks to loads of help from loads of people. You all know who you are, and Meg and I really appreciate your efforts. It made the wedding go very pleasantly.

Perhaps you will not be surprised to hear that one of my favorite parts of the wedding was the food. I was very satisfied with the deliciousness of the tacos and the desserts, although I wouldn't have minded sticking around for an additional 3 hours just eating and hanging out with all the cool people who came to the wedding.

But alas, all good things must come to an end (and/or pass on to more good things). So off we went, the newly married couple, to the beginning of our honeymoon (which I have already written about extensively).

To all who came: thank you so much for sharing this wonderful moment with us! For those who didn't, have no fear! I have posted a full video of the ceremony at the bottom of this post. Or, if you prefer a shorter reminisce, take a look at the first video, which I have created as a sort of "Greatest Hits" of the wedding. The multimedia of this blog post would have been impossible without the fantastic services of Brian, Steven & Children, Deyon and Aaron. Thanks for your hard works. Enjoy!

The Norris Wedding! from Adam Norris on Vimeo.

Episode XCVII: European Vacation (The Good Part)

2011-09-01T20:52:00.000-05:00

OK, so I just got married, and I just went on a honeymoon to Europe with my lovely wife. In the previous post you got to read all about the bad part of the honeymoon. Now, read about all the good parts. I have divided the post into three easily-digestible segments, the three best parts of any good honeymoon: Food, Fun, and Kissing.

Food

I was going in to this trip with high expectations about the quality of the food, and I was in no way disappointed. Every time we ate at a restaurant we had a fantastic meal, and in general we did not pay an arm and a leg for our food (although a can of Coke would run ya around four euros [make that SIX DOLLARS] in a restaurant!!!)

Things got off to a great start when we went to Bologna early on and I had the most rich, fresh, mouth-wateringly delicious pasta I have ever had (a close second coming later when in Rome).

Later we were in Naples (birthplace of pizza) and indeed, had some fantastic Napoli Pizza at a 100+ year-old pizzeria (Bill Clinton once ate here.)

As an aside, the pizza is just about the only thing good about Naples (plus one very solid antiquities museum.) Otherwise, you will simply find a city clogged with people, clogged with congestion- mopeds, pedestrians, cars, pigeons- and clogged with trash and grime. And if that's not enough, you'll probably have your wife's purse snatched by a thief.

Anyhow, back to the story: we also enjoyed the local European cuisine by stopping in to a market now and then and making ourselves a picnic to enjoy (this is a highly recommended activity.)

And don't forget French food! Yes, it was delicious. Yes, it was rich. Yes, it was fantastic. Yes, it was fairly expensive. But you get what you pay for, and then some!

Fun

One thing I was pleasantly surprised by throughout Italy and France was the number of things that were just plain fun. It started in Venice, which sure, it's all romantic and stuff with the canals and whatnot, but it's also like a giant (entire city) maze adventure for grown-ups! Navigate the bridges and streets, twisting and turning between curved four-story buildings on either side of you. You may come upon a dead-end piazza with a cute little fountain, you may pass a street-accordionist on the corner, or a giant fish market, or run right in to a massive gold-mosaic basilica on the edge of the canal.

Similarly in Rome, if you randomly walk around long enough (as we did on our first night) you are bound to run in to some millenia-old Roman ruins, or a Baroque-era water fountain extravaganza (we actually managed to stumble upon both the Roman Forum and the Trevi Fountains that night [both 10X cooler at night than during the day.])

Pompeii was one of the highlights of the trip for me. Although there was some solemnity to the site (the whole city was buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD), what remains 2,000 years later is the structure of the city, just as it was in 79 AD, replete with houses, courtyards, hotels, fast-food joints, brothels, and a theater to watch people get ripped to bloody bits. And the coolest thing is- you can walk around all inside it! Sit on the theater seats, walk the original streets, lean on the original walls, sit on the original latrines, and picnic in the original dining rooms! Yet another playground for grown-ups.

And finally, lest Paris should feel left out- the wide, tree-lined boulevards and amazingly symmetrical gardens (and I mean amazingly symmetrical) of Paris are truly a splendor to walk through, stroll through, or romp through. Quite frankly, I was not particularly excited to go to Paris, but I was blown away by how simply lovely (and fun) the place was; and if I had to pick one city to return to from the trip- it would be Paris (it helped that no one robbed us while we were there...)

Kissing

Finally, it was our honeymoon, right? So of course we had to do lots of kissing in front of the famous sites. Some of the places we visited were:

The Colosseum...

The Cathedral of Notre Dame...

The Tower of Eiffel...

The Pantheon...

And the aforementioned Trevi fountain.

In conclusion: A GREAT TIME! Better than I could have guessed. Recommended to all (just make sure to wear that money belt!)

Episode XCVI: Vice City, Italia

2011-08-20T03:48:00.007-05:00

Dear Reader:

Yes, I was just married about two weeks ago. Yes, I am having a fantastic time on our European honeymoon. I shall tell all soon, I hope. But first, a story of crime, suspense and drama.

[This post is a true story; images have been re-created and/or snatched right off of Google Images.]

It was a Friday night in Naples, Italy- city of pizza, knock-off purses, and population pollution. Meg and I had just watched a fairly picturesque sunset over the port of Naples, and were walking back to our hostel.

This is a real picture of the real sunset, viewing Mount Vesuvius

We were walking up the sidewalk of one of the few streets not choked with masses of people and weaving mopeds. In fact, the only other person in sight was a moped prepared to turn left and come down the street that we were ascending. As we prepared to cross the street we were astonished that the moped didn't cut us off to go first (aggressive mopeds are as Naples as pizza), but waited for us! In fact, as we crossed the street, he actually backed up for us.

But then, right as we reached him, he gunned it past me, turned sharply past Meg's left shoulder, and sped down the street. He was nearly out of sight by the time Meg realized what had happened, and gasped. The gentleman on the moped had snatched her purse, which she was carrying securely across her body, by snapping the shoulder belt. We tried briefly to pursue, but we had a late start, and it was a fast moped. We had just been robbed.

The thief looked reasonably like this (at least that's how the police sketch came out)

Her purse had been pretty packed for such a small volume. We lost quite a lot of cash, her camera, credit and debit cards, passport, and a little crucifix souvenir that had been blessed by the pope.

Fortunately we had internet access at the hostel we were staying at, and were able to contact our mothers, who helped us cancel credit cards and figure out what to do. The next day we filed a police report at the Naples police department, filled with a bunch of officers that seemed to do nothing but sit around, chat about wine and whiskey, and laugh uproariously.

The most important thing to do next was get to the Rome embassy to replace Meg's passport. It was a Friday, and the embassy was closed on the weekend, plus there was a nation-wide holiday on Monday, so we had to wait four days before we could get the passport issue resolved.

In the meantime we moved to Rome, where we continued to enjoy the sites and have a good time in spite of it all. Then early on a Tuesday morning (around 4 am) I awoke to the silhouette of a man outside our hotel window. I instinctively threw a punch through the curtains, but the man had disappeared. An inventory of the room showed that my small carrying bag had been snatched off of the nightstand next to the window.

The thief must have jumped up to the ledge of the window, opened the closed (but unlocked) shutters, as well as the closed (but unlocked) window, to get to my nightstand. I assume I scared the guy off before he finished, as he left my wallet and cash sitting on the nightstand next to the bag.

This is the actual window. Evil Italian ninja placed to give an idea of the scale.

The loss of the bag meant I lost my passport, an iPod, two train tickets to Paris, a guidebook, a notebook of sentimental value, and a crucifix souvenir that had been blessed by the pope (what kind of a blessing was it, I wonder?)

Conveniently enough, we were already planning on visiting the embassy to get a passport later that morning, and now we just had to add an extra passport to the order. At the embassy there were about a dozen people in the room for U.S. citizen services, and every single one of them was there to replace a stolen passport, each stolen in a different manner.

We got our passports, and with some help from my mom we got some extra cash, and we filed a police report for the second robbery. We got a chuckle both from the U.S. Embassy and the Rome police department when we told them that among other items stolen was a police report for a robbery.

Police report detailing the theft of a police report (bottom line)

So there you have it! We got robbed twice in the span of a single extended weekend. It set us back a fair amount of money, and wasted a fair amount of vacation time, but Meg and I survived just fine; in fact, it's the trying times that help you grow the most, I daresay. And now we are back to having a good time, seeing Europe. We are safe and sound in Paris now, where we will finish out our vacation and then return to the states. Au revoir everyone!

Italia: Hollywood had it just about right

Episode XCV: A Little More Kansas, A Little More California

2011-08-01T16:14:00.006-05:00

In just a few, very short days, I will be a married man! You can see any of the details you like at Meg and Adam's wedding page, including a countdown of the days until the wedding, should you need the reminder.

Of course, it seems like I just came back from California, and that is because I did! Myself and seven other Norrises went on a backpacking trip up the Sierra Nevadas, and a good time was had by all.

We all (eventually) made it up the mountain, and camped for several days near a lovely lake.

There was fresh, flowing water all around us due to the large amounts of snow and snowmelt everywhere, which led to some delicious drinking water, and some lovely sights.

On the way back we encountered some adventures (car troubles, a pair of elderly backpackers we picked up as hitchikers, and a stop at a gas station where a homeless woman attempted to steal my phone as it lie charging in an electrical socket.)

We did make it back in one piece, thankful to sleep on soft beds again, and I am currently back in The Midwest, preparing to move out of the condo, get married, go on a honeymoon, and start a new job in a new part of the country.

One question that now arises is this: what should be done with this blog? It is, after all, called An Epic Ballade of Kansas, and my tenure here is essentially over. So I am asking you, dear reader, what is best? Shall I continue to post my life's triumphs and tribulations on this site, or has the blog run its course? Please do send me your comments. With these and after looking at some viewership statistics, I will decide whether or not the blog will continue to be of interest. In fact, to make it really easy to respond, I have set up the poll below. Just check your answer, then hit Vote!

Episode XCIV: More California

2011-07-01T18:08:00.009-05:00

The last time I posted, I wrote about my California escapades. Guess what? This post is about some more California escapades. (!!!)

First of all, I was at UCLA last week (June 22-26), along with the rest of the lab, for a science conference. It was a good meeting, and we learned lots of neat things.

A scholarly luncheon

I also had some time to spend with my family in L.A., going to the Getty Villa...

...the Griffith Observatory...

...and Pink's hot dogs!

Second, as I type this very message, I am preparing to fly off to California yet again to go on a backpacking trip in the Sierras with the Norris boys and the Norrises (Dad's brother's folk). It should be a blast.

And only a couple of weeks after that, I will be returning AGAIN to California (yes, that would be my fourth trip to that state this summer) to get married!

Let me tell you a little bit about the wedding. First of all, I will be marrying my beloved, Megan Leigh Razak. She is 5'8", was born 6/5/1989, likes playing sports, making art and doing science, and the last four digits of her S.S.N. are 5308. If you want to know more about her, check out this previous post.

The wedding is being held Saturday, August 6, at 5:30 p.m. You are all welcome. If you have not received an invitation by email, check your spam folder. It is Meg who is sending out the emails. Even if it's not there, you are still invited. Below are the invitation documents, created by my lovely fiancee. If you plan to attend, it would be great if you would email Meg at mrazak17@gmail.com. To those who live far, far away- please don't feel obligated to come. We know many of you have just returned from California for some other person's marriage, and we really would rather not put people out. We promise we'll send you a video or something if you like. So there's that. Also, for more information on the wedding, check out our wedding site ewedding.com/sites/AdamAndMeg.

Finally, I know you are all dying to know- the color scheme/theme is daisies: green, white and yellow (it's Meg's favorite flower.) Please come with your favorite daisy-themed object. (Just kidding.)

That's all for now! Looking forward to seeing many of you on my next California trip! Or the next one after that!!

Episode XCIII: Excitement on the Coast

2011-06-13T17:58:00.009-05:00

As many of you know, I recently returned from a very eventful trip to The West Coast to see my sister get married. I brought along my girlfriend, who has never been west of The Rockies, so we had a good time introducing her to California, including palm tree after palm tree after palm tree.

The main event- the wedding- was of course lovely.

After the wedding, Meg and I did all sorts of neat things. We toured L.A…

With the top down...

"Thanks for the car, Kyle!" says Meg on her first-ever top-down ride

Celebrated her birthday…

Rode bikes with the Norrises...

Frolicked on the beach…

Watched the sunset...

And got engaged!

He's about to pop the question!

No, we don’t have definite wedding plans. But we’ll let you know when we do!

The other main excitement after that was, Meg and I decided where we would like to live for the next few years- we have decided to go to Cambridge, where I will accept the postdoctoral offer I have received at Harvard University. We think this will be a good place for me to go to position myself for a good career in science, and it also affords Meg many good opportunities for excellent graduate schools to apply to. And finally, we hope it will be a good first adventure of our lives together.

That’s about all the details I know right now, about getting married and about moving/working. I’ll let you know more as time goes by.

Episode XCII: Becoming a professional

2011-05-23T19:29:00.008-05:00

Ladies and gentlemen. It has been many, many long years, but Adam Norris has finally reached the end of the road: there is no more schooling remaining- he has reached his terminal degree. It has been a long road, and a fun one. But now it is over.

And now he must become an adult; a professional.

Graduation was this weekend (thus the previous photos). Here is a video of my official doctoral "hooding". I am preceded by my colleague Kellen Voss, and succeeded by Rafael, who you should all know.

The day after our commencement exercises, I headed out to the second of my two major postdoctoral interviews at Harvard (don't worry folks, I have relegated the Germany option to back-burner status.) I will probably choose between these two places, as I am happy with them both.

Summary of my two trips so far-

Novato, CA: the city was lovely, the lab was exciting, and the building I would work in was new, modern and beautiful.

Cambridge, MA: the city was lovely, the lab was exciting, and the building I would work in was new, modern and beautiful.

I am writing this brief update from the Boston (Logan) airport. Next I return to Lawrence in time to pack, do a couple things in lab, and then fly to California to see my sister's wedding. I'll see many of you out there!

Episode XCI: Dr. Adam

2011-04-24T21:53:00.009-05:00

Last month, March 30, 2011, I became a Doctor. A Ph.D., that is. It was the culmination of nearly five years of classes, teaching, and most importantly, research.

I gave a public presentation on my research in the afternoon to the whole department, and to anyone else who wanted to come.

The presentation was preceded by what has now become a tradition in our lab: an interpretive skit depicting the various elements of my research.

After my research presentation the audience left the room and my committee, comprised of six professors, sat and asked me various questions about my research and future plans. Then they had me go outside the room whilst they conferenced among themselves, invited me back in and congratulated me on becoming a doctor!

Which meant that I could then go and celebrate with family and friends.

The celebration included Dr. Pepper, Oreo Cookie Dessert (made by Rafael) and a cake featuring a worm, GFP and neurons!

As per tradition (at least in all of the sciences that I know of), after the defense we played a game of Ultimate Frisbee…

And then it was off to dinner for one additional celebration. Hooray!

It was very nice to have my family come out to see the defense. And after the defense, they all stayed a while and we had a nice time visiting and such over the next couple of days.

Now, the question which everyone asks is: what next? Well, let me tell you. The idea is to go somewhere new to do postdoctoral research, where I perform research that is much more independent and where I can take that research project with me if and when I choose to start my own research program (e.g., as a professor at a university). The ‘postdoc’ lasts a minimum of two years, and perhaps an average of 3-4 years.

I have submitted numerous postdoctoral applications to numerous labs, mostly in the cities of San Francisco, San Diego and Boston. So far I have three positive responses: one from an institute in the Bay Area (Novato, actually), one from a lab at Harvard, and one from a lab in Cologne (Germany!) The tentative plan is that I will be traveling to Novato and to Cambridge shortly to tour the labs and meet with the people to decide where I am best suited.

What do you think? Not knowing anything about the scientific or professional aspects, where do you think I should go? San Francisco, Boston, or Germany? Or should I give up on this whole science thing and apply for a position as a Boy Scout camp leader?

Episode XC: Megan

2011-03-16T21:34:00.009-05:00

A certain someone named “Meg” has been appearing in some of my blog posts recently, but I am afraid I have not properly introduced her. Allow me, then, to introduce to you my girlfriend, my darling, my sweetheart: Megan Razak.

(She's the one on the right)

I met Meg when she started working in the same lab as me as an undergraduate researcher, thus breaking one of the fundamental laws of relationships, namely, to never date a co-worker.

(See? Lab outing. Both Adam and Megan present. Conflict of interest!)

Here are some things about Meg:

She’s a very good artist, as well as a good maker of crocheted things. Here is a sampling of her work.

(Self-portrait)

Meg is also very smart. In fact, she’s so smart that sometimes I get nervous she might be smarter than me and then I would have to break up with her. For instance, not to toot her own horn too much, but I will just a bit- she decided to take the MCAT, spent a couple weeks studying for it, got an insanely high score on it, and then decided she didn’t want to go to medical school anyway. See? How can I possibly date someone that smart?

(Meg caught smartly explaining her research at a conference)

And of course, without getting too deep into the details, I think that she is beautiful. For one, she has a smile which I’m pretty sure could cure a dozen known illnesses. And that’s all the more I’ll say about that subject for fear of getting cooties.

(See? Look at that smile. Don't you feel better already?)

What else? She’s athletic. She can run longer distances than I can even stand to think about, she’s good at soccer, and is a rec league all-star for her dodgeball team.

She also fits well with my personality (that is to say, puts up with just about anything I do)- she enjoys going to my concerts, she likes watching my volleyball games, she can stomach my constant sarcasm and silliness, she likes watching Lakers games, and the list goes on...

Finally, she has been searching for a spiritual home and Spiritual Truth, and she has found it. Just last month she was baptized into Christ right here in Lawrence. And she is already inspiring others in a variety of ways, including through her very own blog that she has been keeping located here.

And finally finally. Yes, I made it through the entire post without including a single eewie picture of us smooching, but here’s one that comes close. Salud!

(We're sharing a romantic barbecue turkey leg meal)

Episode LXXXIV: Brazil! Part II: Things That Weren't Beaches

2011-02-22T18:06:00.012-06:00

Here in Part II, I will detail for you some of the things I did that did not involve beaches. I have noticed that even breaking this vacation into two separate posts has not allowed space to talk about everything I would like to, but so be it!

One of the most interesting things about Brazil besides the beaches is THE JUNGLE!!! (cue Guns & Roses.) Conveniently enough, a number of protected areas and national parks have kept large swaths of jungle around and in the major metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro. In other words, I did not have to travel far at all in order to reach dense, thick regions of rain forest, with waterfalls…

… and monkeys, yes: real, live, monkeys, just chilling out in the forest.

Probably the most iconic image of Brazil, set atop a towering mountain, is Christ the Redeemer. He stands with his arms open to the incoming ship traffic into Rio’s port, welcoming them to the city. Here I traveled up the mountain to give him a hug.

One thing I really wanted to experience, and which Rafael was not so keen about, was visiting one of Rio’s favelas, or slums, another icon (unfortunately) of the city. He did finally, reluctantly, take me through one. The favelas, which have been quite in the news recently, are made up of a bunch of squatters living in the hilly areas of Rio, where they build little shacks and lean-tos, and live in crumbling buildings amongst narrow, craggy alleys and treacherous streets. It’s really neat! In this picture you can start to get an idea of houses with corroding paint, rotting wood, and lack of cohesion of the neighborhood. Also note the differences in emotions between Rafael and myself.

We took a plane trip up to the city of Natal, near the equator, where we stayed in a hotel overlooking the beach. Natal is a much quieter, cheaper, relaxed place to be, where many of the local country folk still use horses and carriages for personal and commercial transportation.

While there we went dune-buggying on some of the extensive sand dunes located throughout the region. While the Brazilians still call the vehicle a “buggy,” they pronounce it “boogie,” or perhaps more like “booogie.” Anyhow, it was a load of fun. We had the option of riding “with or without emotion,” and of course we chose the former, sliding straight down dunes and crevices; we also stopped at a number of nice vista points, secluded beaches, etc.

Notice how, in this post about things that were not beaches, I have already mentioned beaches twice? Here’s a third: another famous landmark, a contemporary art museum in Rio’s next-door-neighbor city; one of the most noteworthy things, besides its fantastical architecture, is its remarkable view of the beaches.

One of the most pleasant surprises for me in Brazil was the prevalence and quality of fresh fruit juices, everywhere you turn. Beachside kiosks abound, where you can order truly fresh fruit smoothies.

Everywhere else there are scores of vendors selling you all sorts of beverages, including chilled coconut water, straight from the coconut.

And at our hotel in Natal, we were greeted in the morning to a breakfast buffet of a dozen choices of fresh fruit, a half a dozen fresh fruit juices, and a table overlooking the seaside.

Finally, and most importantly, none of these good times in Rio would have happened without the more-than-generous hospitality of Rafael’s family, who were extremely gracious, helpful and friendly, cooking for me, buying me food, driving me places, etc. etc. etc. So here is one last shout-out to Rafael, my fantastic tour guide, and the Demarco family, my gracious hosts. Salud!

Episode LXXXVIII: Brazil! Part I: Things That Were Beaches

2011-01-23T21:04:00.009-06:00

I went to Brazil at the beginning of this month, where I stayed with Rafael’s family and he toured me all around the city of Rio de Janeiro and elsewhere in Brazil.

I figure I have enough to talk about that I will divide this into two posts. Part I (this part) will be called “Things That Were Beaches.” Perhaps you might like to guess what Part II will be called? It will be called “Things That Weren’t Beaches.”

So: Things That Were Beaches.

One of the nicest things about Rio de Janeiro, and about all of Brazil (that I saw) was its fantastic beaches. In my opinion, the two main fascinations with Brazil’s beaches are (1) their great variety, and (2) the natural beauty in which they are set.

In terms of variety, I experienced beaches that were chokingly populated with umbrellas and towels, and beaches in which I saw not a single human being. Beaches serviced by congested four-lane streets plus a two-lane pedestrian and cycling street, and beaches you have to off-road to get to. Beaches with art, sculpture, beautiful stone walkways, exercise machinery, drink kiosks, street vendors, traveling blanket salesmen, and more.

Natural beauty is the most distinctive thing to me, however. The beaches of Rio are interspersed between hills of densely green forest that naturally wall off one beach from the next. It is hard for me to express, or to put into pictures, just how pretty of a natural setting this all is. I will attempt a couple of pictures though.

One kinda neat thing found on the famous beaches of Rio is a game called Footvolley, which you can see in the video I took below. It is basically sand volleyball without hands, and a lot of Brazil’s former soccer stars like to play the game when they get old and out-of-shape. This game is being played at Copacabana beach, the birthplace of Footvolley.

While I unfortunately did not get to play a game of Footvolley, I did get to play a game of sand volleyball, at the very same beach.

Finally, let me tell you a story about my first day of staying in Rio. Rafael and his family were not arriving at their house until 32 hours after I arrived in Rio. Hotel prices being exorbitantly high for the famous New Year’s celebration, I decided to have an adventure and sleep on the beach my first night. I chose Ipanema beach (perhaps you have heard a song about said beach.) It was convenient that they lit the beach at night with floodlights, and there were handfuls of people enjoying the sand, or playing pickup games of soccer through the night; it made me feel a little more normal.

It was inconvenient that at around 3 am, shortly after I had finally fallen asleep, it started raining. I scurried off for shelter underneath a little tiny awning provided by the lifeguard tower. It turns out, however, that this was also the domicile of a homeless man. The man was kind enough to let me share the place with him for the night, and I helped him break apart a large cardboard box for him to construct a little lean-to. He didn’t speak any English, so I got some intensive practice on my Portuguese. Anyhow, there I spent the night with my new homeless friend. (It smelled like urine.)

The next morning I woke up in time for what was overall the most wonderful sunrise I have ever experienced. Again, words/pictures don’t do justice, but here is a photo anyway.

Coming up next time: Brazil! Part II: Things That Were Not Beaches.

Episode LXXXVII: Christmastime with the Norrises

2010-12-31T02:30:00.006-06:00

Went home for the Christmastime, as per usual, but I had to make this trip shorter, as I was leaving the country for Brazil on the 31^st. Nonetheless I managed to pack quite a bit of things into a brief week-and-a-half:

We had some good family time in which I got to see the entirety of the (local) Norris relatives, including the very well-protected and sporty Logan Sanchez.

I received my traditional biannual shear, thanks to my mother. Probably lost a pound or two, as seen below (also seen below, I turned from a friendly teddy-bear into a startled thug…)

We celebrated Christmas! Day One with the immediate family, which was lots of fun…

…And Day Two at Grandma Shearer’s, which was also lots of fun! Here was one exciting gift of the day (though by no means the most exciting): an afro pick for Kyle!

It was also Brian’s birthday, a mere two days after Christmas.

And finally, the family took a wintry trip up to Yosemite. On the way, we made a stop at Costco and I had my first ever $1.50 jumbo dog / soda deal, under an umbrella, indoors!

While there, we had our first cross-country skiing experience ever. It went pretty well until we made it to our destination, and then my ski binding failed, and I had to hike back the 1.5 miles with my skis and poles in tow.

It snowed quite a bit our second day in Yosemite. Here is the view from the parking lot, with Yosemite Falls in the background. Wishing you a Merry Christmas / Happy New Years from the Norrsises! And now I am off to Brazil!

Episode LXXXVI: Wrapping Up the Semester

2010-12-18T23:14:00.007-06:00

It is the end of the year, the end of the semester. The end of my last fall in Kansas, in all likelihood. Here are some of the random things I have been up to.

Dining with Dinosaurs

My girl and I, being the mature adults we are, had an absolute blast going on a date to a dinosaur-themed restaurant the other day. We ate inside a giant clam-shell booth, underneath an even-gianter octopus and various jellyfish (my all-time favorite animal, should you not already know that).

Afterward we decided, being the mature adults we were, to forgo Chuck E. Cheese and instead play arcade games at Dave and Busters. (Meg won the Jumpin' Jackpot! A game you should definitely play, by the way.)

Eating Spongebob

I ate Spongebob Squarepants. In the form of a cookie.

9th and Vine

As a belated birthday present to Rafael, I took him to the historic 9th and Vine district of Kansas City, a really nice little area paying homage to the excellent jazz history that occurred in Kansas City in the 30s, 40s etc. For instance, Charlie "Bird" Parker, who just about invented bebop jazz, grew up and started his career in this very neighborhood. Here I am kindly cleaning out the earwax from his likeness.

They also pay homage to Negro League baseball at the very interesting and very well-produced Negro League Baseball Museum. Honestly I really knew nothing of the Negro Leagues before attending, though they were the home of some of the greatest players of the 20s and 30s, including Satchel Paige, who is posing with me below.

Fame and Fortune

The band of which I am a member, New Inhabitants, has been playing some good shows recently, after training our new drummer. It's been fun, we have improved, and- we made it into the Lawrence paper as a Best Bet for the evening!

Episode LXXXV: Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T20:59:00.012-06:00

Thanksgiving 2010 means my fifth annual Thanksgiving Road Trip. Seeing as how this should be my last such trip, I am reflecting on where Thanksgiving has taken me in the past: first it was Oklahoma, to see the world's largest praying hand sculpture, then Dallas, Texas the second year. Year three I adopted two co-pilots (Rafael & father) and went to Branson, Missouri for the most Christmas-y Thanksgiving ever. Year four was a trip down to Nahleans for some warmth, and this year we made up for that by going to bitterly-cold Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.

We left Wednesday for Omaha, where we encountered our first bison sculpture:

This turned out to be a theme of the trip, encountering homages to bison everywhere we went.

It was as if the bison was the official state animal of Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming (actually it is the state animal of Wyoming, which is the only state where we came across live bison- in the middle of a highway no less! [real bison not pictured])

(Below: yes it's bison! It is actually the bladder of a bison, used by natives as a drinking vessel. Turns out the ureter of a bladder makes an excellent drinking straw!)

We also came across some bighorn sheep, which were even more exciting to me (and yes, again, some of them were in the middle of the road...)

Thursday was Thanksgiving. That meant just about every tourist attraction was closed. But not Mount Rushmore! I got to spend Thanksgiving evening with some American Presidents.

Earlier in the day we had stopped at Rapid City, where there were statues of all of the former Presidents on various street corners throughout the city. Including my favorite President ever, Calvin Coolidge:

And the fellow who helped me achieve the "national radio spotlight," Old Tippecanoe himself:

Saturday we stopped at the only archaeological mammoth site in the nation in which the bones are left intact, where they were discovered, for tourists to see. It was quite a neat experience.

There are plenty of other places to mention: a couple of state capitols, a couple of beautiful National Parks, a couple of Native American sites, a fort, an indoor hot springs, etc. And there are plenty of other stories to be told. Perhaps they will be told another time. For now, give thanks folks, and I will leave you with a picture of the world's largest ball of stamps, around five feet in diameter and 600 pounds, in Boys Town, NE.

Episode LXXXIV: Various Small Stories

2010-10-29T00:25:00.005-05:00

In this episode of the Ballade, three small stories that I have overlooked:

1) Slashing and Burning

Some time ago, Rafael and I went out to the country to help some folks from church, who live out in the woods on a large plot of land. Our task was to help cut down trees, chop the trunks into firewood...

...and burn off the branches and dead leaves.

Now it turns out that I was walking around pretty close to the fire, which was quite hot (occasionally disorientingly so,) and when I was done, the flannel shirt I was wearing (see below) had quite a few burn-holes in it.

2) 10-Day!

Recently we stumbled upon a very important day in history: October 10, 2010 (10-10-10, that is.) To celebrate, my girlfriend (more on that later, hopefully) and I decided to go to Arby's and order ten items off of the $1 value menu.

(Yes, we dressed in our Sunday-best attire: this was an important date!) The food was actually not half bad, it was a lovely time, and we got pretty stuffed on only ~$10.

3) How to Make a Jayhawk

KU was recently visited by Jorge Cham, who writes a popular academia-themed comic strip called PhD Comics. For instance, this one. Part of his presentation finally answered this age-old question: what kind of bird is a Jayhawk, anyway? The answer, apparently, is:

(That is: it is a cross between a Dodo Bird and Foghorn Leghorn)

Episode LXXXIII: Summers in Kansas

2010-09-04T19:33:00.008-05:00

Summer in Kansas is winding down. If I am lucky, it will be my last summer in Kansas. I find Midwest autumns to be amazing and incredible, Midwest springs to be quite nice, Midwest winters to be exciting and generally tolerable, but Midwest summers? No thank you.

Nonetheless I did have some good times this summer. For instance:

Kyle came out for a couple weeks. Spent a couple days here in Lawrence, but most of it in Iowa. We went to Des Moines and played Frisbee at the capitol building:

And in the capitol building:

And in the fountain across from the capitol building:

And we got the true rural experience, using a giant excavator to dig up dirt and stuff.

I must say, that while Kansas is not the most exciting place in the world in terms of attractions and things, Iowa is twice as bad! And on top of that, I got really shoddy (almost non-existent) cell reception the whole weekend, up until we were finally on the interstate that led us back out of Iowa.

Speaking of driving, Trusty Rusty (my truck) hit a major milestone this summer: 100,000 miles! Yes, you heard right: a 24-year-old truck, with only 100,000 miles on it.

It just so happened that we hit 100k right in the middle of a thunderstorm, on the highway, on the way to play a show with my band. I nonetheless took the time to get off the highway so that I could get a picture of the odometer, as well as pose with Rusty (thanks to photographer/roommate Rafael.)

Coincidentally, I think, within the next week or two: (1) I cracked my front blinker light, (2) my brake light switch malfunctioned so that the brake lights were always on, (3) the blinkers stopped working altogether, and (4) as a consequence of a number of factors (long story) my parked truck, as my neighbor explained, “started rolling down the hill” (albeit very slowly) in my condo’s parking lot:

Not to worry, though, I have fixed nearly all those problems, without even spending a dime. Rusty- here’s to 100,000 miles more!

Episode LXXXII: Wisconsin

2010-08-04T21:53:00.010-05:00

After traveling to California in June, I took a flight directly to Madison, Wisconsin for a C. elegans science conference, similar to ones I have written about in the past.

Once again, this meeting was half pleasure and half work. The pleasure part included the fact that summertime in Wisconsin is beautiful, and that the university which hosted the conference was built right on the lake, with vast outside space to sit, eat and enjoy the outdoors.

This time some of us decided to do something unique, renting out a sail boat and sailing around the lake. The good thing is that it was a beautiful day, and I had a lovely time reclining on the boat and feeling the sun and the water. The bad thing is that we were over the maximum capacity of the boat, we didn’t have anyone on the boat that actually knew how to sail, and we began our trip by going backwards and running directly in to the dock. However, we eventually made it out and then back in, safe and sound.

We also had enough free time scattered here and there to go to the art museum, which housed a couple of paintings from one of my favorite artists (as previously mentioned, Thomas Hart Benton) and to go to the geology museum, which included, among other things, this large and beautiful fossil of a bunch of sea jellies. Who would have thought that little flimsy pieces of jello could make such beautiful fossils?

And then of course there was the work. I learned a lot during this meeting, and I also presented my work as a short talk, just as I did last year at UCLA. This year my boss and my labmate Rafael also gave talks, so our lab was quite well represented.

Finally, it was possible to mix work and pleasure, such as this guy, who was supposed to be explaining his research displayed on the poster behind him. But instead he did card tricks all night. Perhaps the idea being, if he distracts everyone with magic tricks, no one will ask him any difficult questions about his research.

Episode LXXXI: California

2010-07-04T14:48:00.009-05:00

I traveled home to California for a week and a half in June. Here were at least three good reasons to do so:

First and foremost, I came back to help the Lakers win another championship. They were on the ropes, down 2-3 to the rival Boston Celtics. I came to the rescue, flying in to Los Angeles hours before Game 6, in which they demolished the Celtics. And the rest is history, as they say. The 2010 Lakers went undefeated in the playoffs as long as I was in SoCal.

Second, my dad happened to be celebrating Father’s Day while I was out there. Here he is doing one of his favorite activities, shopping for sweets in the bakery section of the grocery store!

Third, there was this campout going on up in the Sierras (upon which I have formerly reported) which is a lot of fun. This year was no exception. Here are some of the unique aspects of this campout.

First of all, I forgot to bring a pillow. That, plus the fact that I was sleeping on the cold hard ground, and the fact that I played volleyball with the Norrises every day of the week, made for the sorest shoulder I have ever experienced. For a while it was hard to breathe even. But don’t worry: it’s all better!

Kyle and I played in the traditional Shaver Lake horseshoes tournament. Neither one of us expected to be particularly good, but due to a combination of good luck and budding talent, we won the tournament, upsetting the clear #1 seeds and former champions, The Filippis.

And of course there was the lake. I swam in it, I gazed out at it, and I rode upon it.

This trip had one major difference from years past, in that Alicia and Brian decided they had something “better” to do than go camping with us. Which meant I had room to bring my guitar (Yesss! Thanks Brian and Alicia!) We had a few good camp song sessions, including this one, where I learned some traditional Mexican tunes.

I also came home with the official Ironfoot award, for playing volleyball barefoot even though the court was surrounded by forest filled with pine needles, rocks and other various assorted hazards. I’m sure you will be grateful to learn that I will not be displaying a picture of my sap-riddled feet, but will instead close with a picture of the award.

Part II of my vacation will be my next post. Stay tuned.

Episode LXXX: My Great Great Great Grandfather

2010-05-09T20:37:00.007-05:00

I have an interest in my family history, which I have previously written about, and which I sporadically delve into. Recently I have been learning about a great-great-great-grandfather of mine, on my mom’s side of the family, and whose place in my family tree you can see below.

His name is Jacob Stoner Flory, and he turns out to be one of the more interesting characters I have yet to discover in my family ancestry. Born in 1836 in Dayton, Virginia, Mr. Flory spent most of his life as a preacher for the Brethren Church (a very interesting group of Christians, by the way.) True to his pacifist Brethren beliefs, he argued against the secession of his home state of Virginia and used his influence to prevent his younger brethren from joining the Civil War. He had to flee North shortly after the war began, and upon returning found his buildings and property destroyed.

Good ol' JS Flory. Check out the beard!

Mr. Flory then moved to Colorado, which at the time was very much a frontier-land, full of bison and Indians. Here he established, among other things, a retreat of sorts that was intended to be a place of healing springs. His legacy lives on in that the town is called Hygiene, Colorado to this day. What’s more, he helped organize the construction of a church building, which still stands over 100 years later.

Finally he moved further west to California where he assisted in the creation of a town called Las Covinas (now known as Covina) and helped to establish a university known as Lordsburg College (now known as University of LaVerne, where my sister received her Baccalaureate degree.)

Now the recent item of interest is the fact that Mr. Flory wrote two books while in California, and a few weeks ago I got my hands on one of those books, entitled “Mind Mysteries.”

I obtained this book via Inter-Library Loan, and one stipulation was that I could not remove the book from the KU library. So on one sunny afternoon, I got a mug full of tea, went to a quiet, deserted corner of the library basement, hunkered down and read it.

In fact the corner of the library was so deserted and quiet that I could really make myself at home.

The book makes it clear that Mr. Flory was interested in both faith and science, and he attempts to use science to debunk fraudulent claims of wonder-workers and miracle-magicians of the time. This introductory page gives you a good idea of his topics:

Did you know that the Christian Science religion was over a hundred years old? I had assumed it was a more modern creation, but in fact my own great-great-great-grandfather, way back in 1899, was denouncing their practices in one of his chapters. Here, another passage gives you a good glimpse into his opinions, and a good idea of his prose.

Truth be told, I would not recommend this book to anyone for their casual reading. It was very much a product of its time, and I have no doubt that it was useful then, but I’d have to say it would be more of a curiosity these days. Well that's all for now.

Great-great-great grandson of JS Flory,

Adam Norris

Episode LXXIX: "Nationals"

2010-04-17T13:21:00.007-05:00

Now that the season is over, here is a post about our KU club volleyball team.

First of all, after only two tournaments in our history of being a club, we were ranked 20^th in the nation. How about that! I certainly don’t think we deserved it, but it still felt kind of nice.

Also, here’s a picture of me jump-serving during our second tournament. It almost looks like I know what I’m doing!

Now let me tell you about “Nationals.” This is where qualifying club teams from all across the nation meet to duke it out and crown a champion. This year the tournament was in Dallas, TX. Our team got together with the KU women’s team, and with Nebraska’s two teams, and we all rented a charter bus, which is quite a way to travel, I say. When you want, you can look down upon the rolling hills and fields and enjoy near-panoramic views, and when you’re tired of that you can watch any of the 3,000 movies brought along for the trip.

Everyone at the tournament stayed at the Dallas Sheraton (we’re talking like 500 total players,) which made for one hectic hotel. The Sheraton was about 35-40 stories tall, and the elevators were so fast that our ears popped every time we came down to the lobby.

The tournament was held at the Dallas Convention center, where they converted one of the large rooms into a giant gym, with a total of 17 courts playing simultaneously. Imagine all the whistle noises!

Now here’s the bad news. Somebody at the KU registrar’s office reported to the volleyball officiating body that I was neither a full-time nor a half-time student at KU. This was false. Our club president should have caught this before we left. I also should have caught this. Also, the guy who gets paid to ensure KU club sports teams’ success should have caught this. Unfortunately, nobody caught this until the refs in Game 1 at Dallas, TX. Long story short, the KU registrar apparently is full of lazy, incompetent (and clearly overpaid) workers who are unable to (or refuse to) perform simple arithmetic. They failed to rectify the situation, and I was left sitting on the bench all week.

Which meant that I was on VACATION!

I lounged about at the pool, ate some Texas BBQ, went to the Dallas Museum of Art, which is really nice, and has one of my new favorite paintings by one of my favorite artists. I ate at the restaurant of “celebrity chef” Stephan Pyles, and had the most delicious ceviche I’ve ever tasted. I also hung out with some of these Texas Longhorns; there’s probably 20-30 of them just standing there in the middle of Downtown Dallas.

One additional thing they were doing at the tournament was teaching people to play “sitting volleyball,” the official Paralympics version of volleyball. I did get to play a game of this, and I daresay I was pretty good.

In conclusion: I didn’t get to play, and the team didn’t do as well as it should have, but I still had quite a bit of fun and am still glad I went.

Episode LXXVIII: Most Boring Spring Break Ever

2010-03-28T19:21:00.005-05:00

It’s official: this Spring Break was my most boring Spring Break ever. I did nothing, I went nowhere. I didn’t even celebrate St. Patrick’s day. I did plan to take a roadtrip on Saturday, but it snowed around 4 inches so I canceled that. Then the Jayhawks lost in possibly their biggest upset ever. Then the next day the “Healthcare Bill” passed, meaning I will be forced to purchase health insurance or pay a “fee” of nearly $700. So, you could say that my Spring Break was not cool (although my mom and grandma probably appreciate the mandatory health insurance part.)

However, I did have a few good times locally. First, my band played a show in Topeka, where I saw a sign saying “Home of the 3 Pound Burger.” Upon further inquiry, it turned out that yes, that was 3 pounds of beef. So of course, I ordered one. (To share with Rafael.)

And what comes as a side dish to the 3 pound burger?

My sister was out in the Midwest, and I had a chance to see her for awhile, and to see her bling-ring as well.

On the day it snowed, I attempted to make lemonade out of frozen lemons, and went to the local pool to relax in the hot-tub for awhile. That’s right, my body was in 100-degree water while snow was falling on my face! It was quite a pleasure.

Maybe you can tell in this picture, my hair and face are covered with little icicles.

Finally, I became a plumber extraordinaire. You see I’ve had a kitchen faucet that’s had a leak in it for a few months. When I first set out to fix it a month or two ago, it took me an hour to figure out where my water shutoff was, after which I had to stop to go watch the Superbowl. The second time I managed to remove the appropriate brass nuts (while getting all sorts of debris and dust in my eyes) only to realize that I needed a special basin wrench (?!) to fully remove the faucet. Finally, over Spring Break, I finished the work.

After only a small leak…

…I can now consider myself a master plumber.

Episode LXXVII: A Busy February

2010-03-13T15:18:00.007-06:00

February, as you may know, is a short month. This February, however, seemed to be filled with enough stuff for me to fit into two regular-sized months. Anyhow, now that February is long gone, let me tell you about a few things that occurred.

First, as I mentioned last time, I have been fairly busy with the band in which I am- practicing, recording, playing concerts and then eating IHOP pancakes late late at night.

In the meantime, I won this award called the Newmark Award for biochemistry at the University of Kansas. Basically I had to submit a résumé and reference letters to the department, which invited five finalists to give a brief talk on their research; based on these, they chose their winner. And this year, that winner was me! Huzzah. This is nice because (a) it will look good on my future résumé, and (b) it comes with a nice $$$ (cash) prize as well.

Also, this semester KU started up an official men’s club volleyball team. Tryouts were in February, and I made the “A” team. One nice thing about the team is that even in practice we are playing some really good volleyball, which is a lot of fun. Another nice thing is that we occasionally practice in the official stadium where the NCAA women’s team plays, where the floors are always freshly-finished, and where we even get to use the “clubhouse,” complete with Gatorade, TV and plush couches:

Another nice thing is that I get to wear a real University of Kansas jersey with lucky #17 on the back:

So in late February we played our first-ever tournament in Lincoln, Nebraska, against a number of regional teams, and guess what? First tournament ever, we win the whole thing! I forgot to take a picture (I suppose I was busy), but here is a pretty accurate representation of what we looked like:

And now, ladies and gentlemen, please excuse me (and the rest of Lawrence) while we prepare for MARCH MADNESS!!!

Episode LXXVI: Formed a Band

2010-02-16T20:27:00.008-06:00

Perhaps you remember a post, quite some time ago, in which I discussed my ambitions of producing a full, legitimate CD of my music about United States Presidents. (Here was the post when I got one of those songs on National Public Radio.) Anyhow, I am still working on that project, steadily but slowly. In the meantime: I joined a band!

I met these folks here at KU in the summer of 2009, so I guess we've been together almost six months. The name of the band is New Inhabitants, and we are more or less an indie rock band, kind of like (if you are into modern music) Deathcab for Cutie.

If you like you can check out our website at www.newinhabitants.com, where there are some photos, info and a couple of embedded songs.

Here's a nice picture of (from foreground to background) the bassist (Daniel Webb), the guitarist/singer/songwriter (Tyler Jenkins) and yours truly, the pianist/guitarist/backup vocalist.

We have written a handful of songs, and have played maybe half a dozen shows here in Lawrence, in Kansas City and in Topeka. Below you will see our two moments of fame thus far:

(1) we played at the Beaumont (a really big venue [granted, we were just one of ten bands playing]) and even had tickets printed with the name of our band!

(2) One of the clubs we played at made their own chalkboard sign advertising our show (and of course they got our name wrong.)

We have done a few do-it-yourself recordings, which I think have turned out pretty well. Here's an mp3 of one of our songs. You can download it by clicking here or simply listen online here. (Actually, it's a cover song by the way.)

Finally, we played recently at a dive in Topeka, KS which happened to have a live streaming video online. Here is one of the songs we played; yes it's rough and yes it's raw, but it's the best video we have so far, and it gives you a decent idea of what the band is like in concert.

Episode LXXV: Things Which Happened In January

2010-01-31T15:43:00.007-06:00

Here’s something interesting that happened in January: I had a birthday!

In celebration of my birthday Rafael took me to a crazy restaurant in Downtown Lawrence where this Japanese chef serves no more than two tables every three hours (reservations required, of course) and freshly prepares an eight course meal. The food was exquisite. Here is one example, a filet of white tuna that has been carved into delicate pieces the thickness of rose petals, accompanied by a chef-made soy sauce served in a shotglass made of ice.

I received some nice cards and presents in the mail from family and such. Thank you all. Some random and otherwise noteworthy gifts include Spongebob Squarepants boxers, and a Shiatsu foot massager, which I have started a daily tradition of using. It serves as an excellent relaxant after coming home from a long day of labwork.

I happened to remember that I had some old birthday cake in the freezer, which my girlfriend had baked for me. Two years ago. I thawed it and ate it on my birthday. It was as good as new!!

Also, Rafael got me an issue of The Sun (similar to the National Inquirer.) In just a few pages worth of reading, I have learned the following:

1) An alien cat was found on the International Space Station (it looks super creepy.)

2) Werewolves are real. And they are extremely ugly (artist’s depiction, based on eyewitness account.)

3) Noah’s ark has been found (and kept a secret) by the CIA. It has strange electromagnetic powers.

Most importantly, I can finally say that I own some reading material truly worthy of a spot atop the toilet.

It was Cold

I believe I already mentioned this, but January was cold. The icicles on my condo reached at least 3 feet. Elsewhere they were even longer, but my fingers were literally too cold to operate the camera anymore.

The Coach and I

A friend of mine got some amazing tickets to a recent KU basketball game. Really, you have to know someone rather important to land these tickets, as far as I can tell. Anyhow, besides being a fun game to watch, we also got a couple of phone calls during the game saying that we were on TV! Lo and behold, there we are in the photo below. Note that I (second-left, top row) am engaging in some non-verbal communication/strategization with Coach Bill Self.

Episode LXXIV: Flying West for Winter

2010-01-09T16:53:00.006-06:00

Once again I traveled home over the winter break to be with family and friends, and had an excellent time.

In addition to our traditional sibling games of Monopoly and Guitar Hero, we also had time to, among other things, put together a puzzle:

And play a rousing game of Risk:

We also went to an indoor Go Kart racing place (Look! It’s Mom in a race car!!)

Without a warm-up lap, I managed to not find the brake on time, and on my very first lap rammed full-speed into the barrier on a hairpin turn. The car slid under the barrier, cones and rubber tires, which pinned me into the car, and sandwiched my hand between the steering wheel and the barrier, so that I couldn’t move it. Needless to say, this was painful. But I suppose it counts as some sort of success to come home from a race with minor cuts and bruises, and a bit of whiplash.

The family also went up to the San Bernardino mountains for a while, where we did all sorts of exciting things, such as talking on our cell phones:

And playing Frisbee on a frozen lake!

I received many unique and interesting things for Christmas. Arguably the most unique and interesting came about because I used a fake online psychic-genie to predict what your loved ones would get you for Christmas. I typed Kyle’s name in, and it said “Kyle will get you a tattoo of Cher.” Lo and behold, I open up a Christmas present from Kyle a few weeks later, and look what I get!!!

(Don’t worry Grandma Shearer, it’s temporary)

Finally, it was time to go home. When I arrived at the airport, there was snow everywhere! The bed of my truck in fact had accumulated about a foot and a half of snow! And since I’ve been back, the weather has been just as bitter: another five or so inches of snow, and temps as low as -20 degrees Fahrenheit!

Episode LXXIII: Games & Fun

2009-12-21T15:21:00.009-06:00

Rafael and I went to St. Louis last weekend to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra play, and yes they do put on quite a spectacle. Also, while we were there, we went to this place called The City Museum (although I am almost certain it is a completely private enterprise). Basically it is nine stories worth of caves, tunnels, ladders, slides, chutes, mazes and tubes for you to walk, climb and slide through. It was the most fun I've had being a kid since Kindergarten!

They even had a human-sized hamster wheel to run on.

I wound up with minor scrapes and bruises on my shins, knees and hips, plus a button on my shirt got ripped off. Which means it must have been a good time.

Also, guess what? My sister is in town! And she even graced me with her lovely presence. Here we are watching Avatar in 3D. Those glasses worked like a charm. It was like I could touch her!

California folks: hope to see you all soon. In fact, I am at the Kansas City airport as I write up this post. Everyone else: Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, etc. etc. See you in the next decade.

Episode LXXII: Giving Thanks in the Big Easy

2009-12-08T00:25:00.009-06:00

In keeping with my newly-established tradition, this Thanksgiving I went on a seat-of-the-pants road trip. In keeping with last year’s tradition, I went with Rafael. On this particular occasion, our main goal was to get to New Orleans, but on the way we wound up hitting numerous cities, in eight states, in just about five days. Here are a few snapshots.

As you may know, I am fascinated by American history, including the Civil War, which made a trip south to Vicksburg, Mississippi quite fascinating, as it was the site of one of the most strategically important battles of the war. You can see that we took our tourism duties just as seriously.

One of the things I liked most about The South was its food. Both the fried-chicken/grits/okra side of things and the seafood/gumbo/jambalaya/crawfish side of things were very pleasing to my palate, and I availed myself of them quite substantially.

Even more spectacular to me was the music scene in New Orleans. Say what you will about New Orleans and the French Quarter (past or present), it must be the most happening jazz & blues scene in the world! The variety and quantity of music in such a small area was astounding. Of course the range of quality was also remarkable. For instance, we went to the Preservation Hall Jazz Ensemble show, where a six-piece band played very traditional New Orleans jazz to a small, jam-packed hardwood-floored room. After the show we hadn’t even walked half a block before we passed a club blaring lousy hip-hop karaoke music, speakers in the windows pointed out toward the street.

[In this photo, I join in the musical festivities:]

We took an additional trip down to the Gulf of Mexico, because- hey, why not? Sure it was windy and cold, and it may have been “against the rules” to jump over the protective sandbags, but you only live once, right?

We did eat a Thanksgiving meal on Thursday night. It just happened to be a Fancy Thanksgiving meal, with, for instance: duck-sausage-stuffed turkey, Creole mashed potatoes and a delicious caramel bread pudding.

Finally, no trip to The South would be complete without a visit to a plantation, no? These particular folks owned about two hundred slaves up until the Civil War!

Oh, and one last thing on the music. This was my favorite part. Here on the corner of a really noisy street, a bunch of kids- all teenagers, I think- got together on the sidewalk and played some really rocking New Orleans jazz. Band members, dancers and spectators came and went as they pleased, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it went on for six or seven hours both of the nights that we were down there. Good times…

Episode LXXI: A Slow Month

2009-11-22T23:40:00.007-06:00

These last few weeks have been fairly unremarkable, except for the fact that we got our first snow on November 16^th, the earliest snow I can remember in my 3½ years here (don’t worry, it has warmed back up since then). While I’m waiting for something exciting to happen, here are a couple of recommendations:

A Book About Everything

If you are a fan of interesting things, then you should check out the book Freakonomics and its successor Superfreakonomics (the latter of which I just finished reading). Both books aim to use “economic” reasoning to look at all sorts of interesting and random behaviors, from sumo wrestling to realty to suicide bombing. What they are really doing is using science, and data, to look at the world in a different way. On the subject of fear, for instance:

-Should you be more afraid of terrorism or suicide? The average American is 575 times more likely to die of suicide than of terrorism.

-Should you be more afraid of guns or swimming pools? The average American child is almost 100 times more likely to drown in a swimming pool than die from a gun shot.

-Should you be more afraid of sharks or elephants? Worldwide, elephants kill at least 30 times the number of people sharks do.

I should note that some of the things analyzed in this book are fairly grisly, like drugs, violence and harlotry. So I amend my above statement to: if you are a fan of interesting things, and an adult, you should check these books out.

A Wicked (in a Good Way) Musical

I went with some friends last weekend to Kansas City to see the new musical “Wicked," a retelling of the Wizard of Oz story from the viewpoint of the Wicked Witch of the West and of the Good Witch of the North. It is quite a show, and has everything that the perfect musical should have: drama, action, lights, powerful music, comedy, plot twists, and fantastic performers. So, if you’re interested in really fun things, you should check it out.

Now I had gone super early to the show to see if I could get an extra (cheap) ticket for a friend, as all the affordable tickets (less than $70) had sold out. What they do is run a drawing for a limited number of unclaimed tickets for $25 a piece. I was a winner of the drawing, and the ticket I got for him was in the very front row (which normally would have cost $200!) And as it turned out, the seat next to him was empty and I got to sit front row as well. I also won a "Wicked" button along with the ticket, and wore it the rest of the evening after the show, until I started running in to people who had never heard of the musical, and thus thought I was endorsing wickedness. Which is in fact not what I was going for.

Finally: Happy Thanksgiving to everybody! Sorry to all my California peoples that I won't be there, but I should see you all soon.

Episode LXX: Paper

2009-10-28T15:09:00.008-05:00

Hi everyone. I am happy to announce that my first scientific paper has just recently been published, in the journal Neural Development. The title is... (deep breath)... "The Arp2/3 complex, UNC-115/abLIM, and UNC-34/Enabled regulate axon guidance and growth cone filopodia formation in Caenorhabditis elegans". If you are interested, you can find it online at neuraldevelopment.com, or if you prefer, go to Google and search "Adam D Norris" (in quotes) and the first hit will be a link to my paper. How's that for fame and glory? [editor's note: subsequent to its publication, this very blog post beat out my paper as Google's 1st hit. Oh the irony...]

If you lack the time or the interest to actually download the PDF (and I wouldn't blame you for it), here is the title page for ya (note the authors- Adam D Norris et al.)-

If you want the interesting part of the publication, without the boring parts (that is, 99% of it), here is an example video of what I do. The point is, you see a neuron as it grows from the bottom of the worm's body to the top, similar to the way a neuron from our spinal cord would grow from the spine, around the body, and up to a muscle cell on the abdomen, for instance. Unlike in humans, however, we can keep the worms alive, light up their neurons with green fluorescence, and image them as they grow. Then we can ask questions about how certain genes and gene mutations affect the process of neuron growth.

(If the video gives you trouble, just rewind it and start it over again. And blame it on blogger.com)

So, getting a publication as a first author is very important, as it is usually a necessary step toward graduating with a Ph.D. Which is not to say that I'm about to graduate, it just means that I'm on the right track. No change on that front, as I still hope I can graduate in about a year and a half (assuming all continues to go well).

Episode LXIX: Canada- Land of the Canadians

2009-10-12T23:36:00.006-05:00

One day Thomas Kuhn sent me a text message saying “I hear Vancouver is a nice city”. I replied saying “OK, sounds good, let’s go”. And that is the amount of planning that went in to our vacation last weekend (I exaggerate a bit, but only a bit). What follows are some anecdotes from the trip, neither exhaustive nor representative, but hopefully interesting.

The Stang

The first thing of importance is that while I was using the restroom at the airport, Thomas was secretly upgrading our rental car to a 2010 convertible Ford Mustang. Which, in the long run, I can’t say I criticize the choice at all.

Now one piece of advice, if you happen to have a 2010 Ford Mustang lying around (or a comparable vehicle thereto), do yourself a favor, and get someone to drive you up a mountain road with the top down on a crisp autumn day. Even better, sit in the back seat. Push the passenger seat forward, and use it as a footrest. Result: bliss.

Victoria

Victoria is a very lovely city, on an island that is only accessible via sea. It has nice old European-style buildings and gardens, and an excellent museum.

Speaking of Europe, I was surprised to see how much love there is for England in this region of Canada. Most countries are proud that they threw off the yoke of colonialism and became a free country, but it seems that in Victoria particularly they still think that they are a British colony. Every Canadian coin, in fact, has the face of the Queen of England on the front of it. Not a Canadian politician, or a Canadian leader, or even a Canadian citizen, but the figurehead of a foreign government! And the British Columbia flag has the Union Jack right on it:

Anyhow, guess what the $1 Canadian coin is called? A loonie! And guess what a $2 coin is called? A toonie!! No kidding. And believe you me, these coins are used all the time. Thomas and I got a big kick out of every time a cashier, waiter or panhandler would say the word ‘loonie’ or ‘toonie’ with completely straight face. Ha!

Not to be confused with their American counterparts:

Vancouver

So now we come to Vancouver and the post is already longer than I was hoping. Thanks a lot England! OK, less commentary and more pictures:

This postcard-esque location is a ‘clothing-optional’ beach. Don’t worry, it was cold enough that everyone (even Thomas) was wearing at least two layers of clothing.

The Winter Olympics are swinging into gear in just three months in Vancouver, so we went around seeing some of the sites. The figure of this statue is also the official logo for the ’10 games.

I will leave you with a pretty little waterfall north of Vancouver on the way to Whistler. If you want to see more pics check out the face book here (no purchase necessary).

LXVIII: My Country Estate

2009-09-15T09:38:00.005-05:00

I recently spent a couple of weeks house-sitting for Tom and Beverly Griffin while they took a trip to Alaska (you may remember I lived at their house for a month or so, back before buying my condo). My job was to take care of the house, the mail, the plants and the pets at their lovely house south of town, which shall henceforth be referred to as: My Country Estate.

It was pleasant to become reacquainted with the pets, who were fairly well-behaved. One funny thing about them is that at dinner or breakfast time, each of them would try to eat out of someone else’s bowl, and would only return to theirs if the other two were already taken. For instance- here is a picture of Bandie (the dog) waiting for Millie to get out of the way so that Bandie can eat Millie’s food, while Raton leaves her bowl alone in favor of Bandie’s dog food:

Later, Bandie eats Millie’s food, while Millie looks on longingly…

So Millie approaches Raton’s bowl, which unfortunately had already been licked clean by Bandie:

One unfortunate thing was that Bandie tended to wake up at odd hours and bark incessantly until I would get up and let her out to relieve herself. For that reason I had the unusual (and involuntary) pleasure of seeing the sun rise.

I also had fun hiking around in the country. And these stacks of Brome hay doubled as acceptable Frisbee golf holes.

Being in the country, I saw quite a bit of wildlife. The weather was beautiful, so I ate almost every dinner on their back porch, where I could see acres and acres of country. I saw a group of five deer playing in their yard, as well as field mice, hummingbirds, fireflies, all sorts of unusual bugs, and a flock of wild turkey. Finally, speaking of animals, in the interest of being one with nature, I learned to enter and exit the house through the cat door.

Episode LXVII: The Summer That Was

2009-08-31T12:56:00.003-05:00

The summer is over! School just started here in Kansas, and guess what? I’m actually taking a class for once! It is being taught by one of my ‘mentor’ professors, and hopefully I’ll learn a lot. Anyhow, here is a short list of some things that happened during the summer that was:

Rafael and I went this event called Symphony in the Flint Hills. The idea is, each year the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra plays an outdoor concert somewhere in the middle of the Kansas prairie, the exact whereabouts of which are not revealed until you purchase tickets. The day of, you get to drive out to the middle of nowhere, where you park in a prairie, then hike out to a field, where there are day-long festivities, capped off with a Kansas-themed symphony performance. It’s really quite remarkable, watching a top-notch performance, outdoors, in the middle of nowhere, as the sun sets, and cows and horses wander around you. I recommend it.

While my siblings were out here in the Midwest, my mom and dad, being the spontaneous folks they are, decided to fly to Florida, pick up a Pontiac Solstice, and drive it all the way back to California. What a crazy young couple, eh?

Readers of the Ballade with acute memories will remember that last summer I went to a carnival, where I won that horse-racing game, and got a stuffed animal who I named Billy the Boar, and who guards my truck from thieves and criminals. Well, I went back to the carnival again this year, and guess what? I won the horse-racing game again! Which means now Billy has a tag team partner, a cute but ferocious-looking cheetah who is as yet unnamed.

From the outside, of course, the only thing people get to see is their ferocious and menacing rear ends.

I have a roommate! Remember Rafael, my labmate? Well, beginning in August, he became my roommate as well. So far, so good. He (and his mom) have helped the condo look a bit prettier, and so far he has been an excellent roommate (he has even cooked dinner for me a few times already, though I have yet to return the favor). In the picture below you see that we had to remove the camper shell from Trusty Rusty to fit Rafael’s mattress (and even then it wasn’t a great fit).

And finally: one of the professors in the department was having a party at his house, and it included a couple of inflatable pools for the kids. His son was playing around with a squirt gun, squirting me in the back as I sat on the deck. So I dove into the pool, tackled him and splashed water on him. He then proceeded to cry for the next half hour. See? I’m good with kids! I learned him a good lesson!

Episode LXVI: The Siblings Cometh

2009-08-15T12:49:00.007-05:00

Guess what? My siblings came out to the Midwest recently just to see me! They were here for about two and a half weeks, and spent a total of almost three days hanging around with me.

I suppose I was having too much fun to take very many pictures, but here are some that I have.

Here is Kyle driving my truck. He did a very good job learning how to drive good old Trusty Rusty, if I do say so myself.

One day the boys and I played some sand volleyball with some of my homies. After a few hours of hard work, we refueled ourselves with some all-you-can-eat pizza before jumping into the lake (that other Brazilian-looking guy in the picture is Rafael, my labmate [and now roommate, but more on that in a later episode]).

Most of my siblings’ time here was spent at a church meeting. Here is a picture from one evening where the upstairs meeting hall was so full that we had to go down into the basement and watch a live video feed (church on TV!!!)

We did lots of fun things in the Kansas City area, such as eating, driving, throwing a frisbee around, skating, bowling, playing volleyball, eating, skating, seeing old friends, driving, eating, and here: getting ready to play ULTIMATE FRISBEE!!!

OK, that’s about all I’ve got as far as pictures, I’ll try to do a better job next time my siblings come out to see me (wink wink, nudge nudge). I will leave you with two pictures that I managed to snag featuring myself with two different lovely ladies.

Episode LXV: Business and Pleasure

2009-07-10T16:44:00.005-05:00

I spent about a week and a half in LA and Orange County for both business and pleasure purposes. First, I attended a science conference at UCLA, the “17th International C. elegans Meeting”! For those of you who wouldn’t think that C. elegans community would be large enough to warrant such a meeting, let me alert you to the fact that over 1,000 people were registered for the meeting. Ha!

So anyhow, I was fortunate enough to be able to give a talk, which went well, and which my family even showed up to watch! I learned later that a current Nobel laureate (also in the C. elegans field) was also in the audience during my talk.

[Apparently I was too busy that day to take a picture of the occasion- thus no photo to share with you all. But my labmate did take this picture beforehand to prove that I did in fact dress up.]

Also that day we noticed helicopters hovering above campus all afternoon. It turned out they were there because Michael Jackson had just been declared dead at the UCLA medical center, only a block or two away. In fact, I parked my (Brian’s) car right next to this local news reporter (CBS I believe).

After the meeting, my labmate Rafael stayed at my place for a couple days, during which time we hit up four different beaches, the Hollywood walk of fame, the new L.A. Live area near Staples Center, and boat ride to Catalina Island (my first time!), among other things.

Had some good times with the family too, including another trip to the beach, a trip to Lucky Strike bowling (my first!)…

...A Dodgers game, where we got to run amok on the field while watching post-game fireworks...

…And, for the first time since I moved to Kansas, I spent the 4th of July with my family, where we played lots of volleyball, ate lots of food, and went out to see the Disneyland fireworks. Hooray!

Episode LXIV:

2009-06-08T17:34:00.004-05:00

You know, life has been fairly placid this last month or so. Summer break has begun, and no super-unbelievable things have happened to me recently. But that’s not to say I haven’t had some good times. Here are a few of them:

First and foremost, I got to see lots of the female members of my family- namely my mom, grandma, aunt (Carol) and cousin (Jenna [and she’s growing up so fast!]) It was very nice to see them here in the Midwest, even if it was only for a day.

Guess who else I got to see? Bob and Elizabeth Dole! They came to give a lecture/discussion at KU, and they are a pretty hilarious couple. She would be telling some flowery, glowing story about some historical accomplishment, and Bob would interrupt her and say “Honey, are you ever going to finish this story?”

Unfortunately, my water heater developed a leak and had to be replaced. An expensive replacement. (One could argue that this is the third plumber that shows up in this post).

In other news, faced with the absence of anything more entertaining to do, I let a friend of mine stun me with a stun gun. It was shocking. Actually, it felt more like a cheap massage chair.

And finally, I got to play in a grass volleyball tournament with some friends. Unfortunately, the night before it had rained like crazy. Two of the four courts turned out to be alright, but the other two were fairly gross. But we did win- and a cash prize no less! Here’s a post-game photo at the ugliest court.

Episode LXIII: Adam Norris, Information Technologist Part II

2009-05-22T14:24:00.002-05:00

Here is the long-awaited update on my official, boring IT job and the Blackberry (BB) that came along with it. Basically, I was just instructed to stay “in the vicinity” of where the teleconference classes were being held (i.e. within a short walking distance), and carry about my normal business until I got a call on the BB asking for technology help (which hardly ever came). In the meantime, I would (in decreasing order of truthiness):

Surf the net on the BB while sitting in lab…

Take pictures with the BB at the campus art museum…

Read emails while playing on the pianos in KU’s practice rooms…

Keep tabs on the BB while playing volleyball at the Rec Center…

(picture not found)

Text friends while driving through countryside farmland…

And check emails while riding up the ski lift…

Needless to say, it was a worthwhile job.

Unfortunately, after a year of service, I was essentially "laid off". Not, mind you, because of improper use of the BB in Colorado, nor was it due to actual performance issues, nor even was it due to the recession (although that would have made a better story). In fact, I think the university finally figured out that my position was really just a superfluous, overpaid, underworked, marginally useful load of bureaucratic excess.

And I’m happy to have been a part of it.

Episode LXII: (Another) Trip to California

2009-05-10T20:03:00.011-05:00

So my good friend Emery decided to get married in California, which was an excellent excuse to take another trip back home. This time my buddy Thomas Kuhn and I decided to make a road trip of it. For those who don’t know who Thomas Kuhn is, here we are together standing in a tree (he’s the one on the left).

We had a lot of fun adventures on the way. For the first thirty or so hours we took turns driving and sleeping. This got us through quickly enough to arrive at the Grand Canyon for sunrise, which was very nice. Also on the horizon at that point were the moon and Venus sitting right next to each other, which was pretty cool (although difficult to see in the picture).

Not far from the Grand Canyon we (by we I mean Thomas) were pulled over by an Arizona cop. Here are a few of the exciting things which ensued:

-A warning for “following too closely”

-A warning for incorrectly mounting the GPS device

-A litany of questions regarding our trip (directed at Thomas)

-A litany of questions regarding past drug use (directed at Thomas)

-A litany of questions regarding our trip (directed at me)

-A litany of questions regarding past drug use (directed at me)

-Frisking of Thomas and me on the side of the road

-Searching of the car for drugs by his dog

-Manual search of the car by the cop

-Near-identical repetition of the same exact questions (see items 3-6)

-Release upon satisfactory inspection

-Realization that the cop left with Thomas’ vehicle registration

-20 minutes spent trying to get a hold of the sheriff’s office (after repeated dropped calls)

-Return of the registration by the same cop, with scarcely an apology

We finally set up camp and rested at Sequoia National Park. We spent about two days there, and it was a very nice time. The weather was beautiful, the trees were huge, and the crowds were light. In addition, Thomas is somewhat of a hydro-phile, which meant that we would stop at essentially every possible water feature, whether it was a river, lake, waterfall, stream, different fork of the same river, or a little ditch with stagnant water and maggots in it.

Eventually we made it to Bakersfield, where we were able to take a shower. Oh, and there was also a wedding. It was beautiful, and I had a great time there.

Also, before I left I had a chance to say a belated happy birthday to my dad, and a premature happy (50^th!) birthday to my mom. She explicitly mentioned including the following picture on my website. Or did she mention not including it? It’s hard to remember such detail.

Episode LXI: My Spring Break Without Insurance

2009-04-15T13:38:00.008-05:00

Here are the two things that you must take from this post: (1) I no longer have health insurance, and (2) I went on a spring break trip.

Yes that's right: now that I am 25, I no longer am allowed to be on my dad's health insurance plan. Which, of course, means that I no longer have any health insurance. So, based on my mom's advice, I decided to go on a DANGEROUS spring break trip with some friends. We had to drive for 8-9 hours through the middle of the night and early morning...

... to make it to Denver, Colorado, where we spent two days skiing! And yes, I did ski some dangerous BLACK DIAMOND SLOPES (not shown) !!!

Also, we spent some time touring downtown Denver. We came across a large concrete area that explicitly indicated that swimming was prohibited...

...but I brazenly challenged the police to shoot me with rubber bullets, by SWIMMING IN IT ANYWAY!

Later, we went to the Denver Art Museum, which was an excellent museum. It had one my my favorite pieces of art, seen below, wherein I was attacked by no less than FOUR HUNGRY FOXES in restaurant gone mad.

After escaping that, we exited the museum, only to find that Rafael's car had been towed. Ouch! That costs an arm and a leg in Denver! This was probably the part of the trip that was the most dangerous, in fact. We arrived (3 hours later) at the impound place, where there was no building, no office, no lights, no nothing- just a chain wire fence, a ferocious dog and a 16-year old dressed up like a gangsta. We had to pay cash, no questions asked, and were frankly happy to get out with our lives (and our wallets [and our car]). Although, as we did have five men and a dog of our own, I drafted some mental contingency plans just in case we were forced to bust out of the place ourselves.

Later, Rafael and I went to a historic restaurant in Denver, where the dangerous things we ate included rattlesnake, alligator tail, and (don't ask) rocky mountain oysters. But we survived!

The final dangerous activity I chose to undertake during this spring-break-without-insurance was on the way back from skiing, when I boldly BROKE IN to Jurassic Park, where I posed with GIANT DINOSAURS!!! (or their foot prints anyway [don't worry it was legal]).

So yeah, I had a good time.

Episode LX: Adam Norris, Information Technologist (Part I)

2009-03-16T14:08:00.006-05:00

As some of you may know, I have been “working” in a sort of part-time job in addition to my full schedule of researching, teaching and attending seminars. Basically, at the beginning of the semester, the Assistant Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences sent a memo out to graduate students that the school needed someone to be on-call to help with any potential technical issues that may come up from time to time in the university’s evening-hour teleconference classes.

So I applied, and got the job. It’s pretty cool because all I really have to do is just sit in lab and do my own thing, waiting for a phone call (which is a very rare occurrence). And the system is pretty well-built, so most problems I have encountered have been very minor and easy to fix. So, in other words, I get paid a decent hourly wage (10 hours a week) for doing a little bit of IT work, and a whole lot of nothing. I’m certainly not complaining.

Finally, a perk of my new job: my very own Blackberry! Stay tuned for part II of this episode for the Blackberry story. For now, though, the upshot of this story is that I can currently describe my employment as that of a researcher, teacher, and IT professional.

Disclaimer: photos in this episode were not taken by me, rather, they were stolen off the internet.

Episode LIX: A Short Vacation

2009-02-22T15:11:00.005-06:00

So I got a good deal on flights and was able to take a quick weekend getaway back to California to watch my cuz get married. I flew Southwest, and love was already in the air.

I didn’t have much time to spend that weekend, but I did have time to eat at one of my favorite eating establishments in the world. Also in this picture you will see that I ate with my old friends Rachel and Emery, who are themselves soon to be married. One other thing to note in this picture: the beautiful, beautiful sun!!!

Later that night I got to spend some time with some of my Norris family, which was a very good time. As an added benefit, I found one of those old View-Master toys where you see 3D photos through a binocular-like contraption. I got to learn a lot about flowers and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (which, by the way, took place in 1952).

Oh- and there was a wedding!

And of course another California wedding means another too-cool-to-be true photo shoot with the Norris boys.

Episode LVIII: A Happy Birthday

2009-02-07T12:00:00.005-06:00

My apologies for falling off my routine of regularly posted updates, I guess I’ve been a bit distracted. Well this time I will tell you about a nice birthday that I had about three weekends ago. It was my lucky day because I was turning 25, it was a Saturday, and it was warm (in the sixties)!

First, a few friends and I went over to Kansas City for a couple of things. The first was an early lunch at Andre’s, a Swiss confectionery and restaurant (serving lunch only). It was a very nice place in terms of service, ambiance, food and charm. By the time I blew out my candles and enjoyed the desserts, there was probably a 30-person line waiting to be seated.

Next we went a few blocks over to the Nelson-Atkins Museum, a really nice place with a world-class collection. The main reason we went was to see a new “modern” building that had recently been added to house the modern-art collection. It was pretty cool.

Speaking of cool, the sun that day was not enough to melt the solid ice of the reflecting pool outside. As seen here, I was able to walk halfway across the pool (walking on [frozen] water!) before a security guard came and kicked me off.

Later on, back in Lawrence, I opened presents from family and friends (of which there were quite a few!) and ate some birthday cake. It was a nice time.

Later on I also went out to eat with some friends at a Mongolian / Chinese / Japanese buffet, where I got to show off my presents and have a good time. It was a very pleasant birthday.

Episode LVII: California

2009-01-10T18:38:00.007-06:00

I have recently returned from my third annual wintertime trip to Southern California, where I had a very nice time at home with friends and family.

On this particular trip I was able to relax quite a bit, as I had no oral prelims for which I had to prepare, no classes for which I needed to gear up, and no homework or projects to complete. In other words, for the first time in a while, I was completely free and easy. Therefore I would say one of the most important things I accomplished in California was: taking it easy.

One of the major events of the stay was a family trip up to a cabin in the Lake Gregory area (as seen in photos above and below), where we had a very nice, relaxing time.

Also, of course, was the big family shindig at Grandma’s. It was a lot of fun, and we got plenty of cute presents, such as this Cabbage Patch doll:

Family photos:

And an interesting assortment of head attire for the ladies:

And, as if that wasn't enough, there were even more reasons to celebrate, including Brian's birthday (his second)...

...and, of course the new year! It was a pleasure to see everyone throughout the trip and I had a very nice time. Hope to see all of you Californians again soon.

Episode LVI: Traveling South for the Giving of Thanks

2008-12-12T21:38:00.011-06:00

This Thanksgiving weekend my lab-mate (Rafael) and I wanted to go on a road trip. As it turned out, Rafael’s dad (who lives in Brazil) scheduled a business/pleasure trip to The Midwest which entailed him arriving in Kansas City on November 27^th. Unbeknownst to him, at the time, was that November 27^th happened to be Thanksgiving Day in America! Therefore, beginning Thanksgiving morning, Rafael, Rafael’s dad and I took a road-trip toward Branson, in the south of Missouri.

Our first destination was Springfield, MO where we spent a few hours eating and visiting the famed Bass Pro Shops flagship store, an outdoor-goods store that has its own indoor waterfalls, rivers, aquariums and shooting range. After that the majority of our time was spent in Branson. Here are some of the highlights.

Thanksgiving dinner: We were grateful to get to Branson just in time to eat a late Thanksgiving dinner at a traditional family-style restaurant. On a related note, I managed, for seven straight days, to eat at least one Thanksgiving-type meal a day (i.e. turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing). I was a very thankful man.

Festivities: As soon as Thanksgiving was over, and indeed before it had even begun, Christmas was EVERYWHERE in Branson. And I mean EVERYWHERE! The first night we went on a 2 ½ mile driving tour through a park that was covered in holiday-light extravaganzas and cute little animatronics displays. The second day, at the theme park Silver Dollar City, every single building was bedecked in bright lights, and the highlight of the night was a spectacular coordinated show where the giant central Christmas tree, along with the surrounding shops, blinked on and off and changed colors in synchrony, dancing along with the music which was broadcast all throughout the park. It gave me some serious goose bumps (or maybe I was just cold).

Attractions: For the first time ever, I went Black Friday shopping! Which felt to me just like shopping, but early in the morning. At least I was at a really lovely mall built along the river. Then I went to the Titanic Museum, which was a really well-done production, with both artifacts and elaborate recreations of the Titanic experience. Finally, we saw the Dolly Parton Dixie Stampede (Christmas version, of course)! It was a four-course dinner served to a very entertaining show, which began with an incredible juggler, ended with some remarkable horse riding and competition, and included singing, magic, ice-skating and a nativity scene that descended from the ceiling.

Finally, we decided it would be fun to go into Arkansas for just a bit. We traveled around through a couple of towns, and decided we would go to Bentonville, where we could see The Original Wal-Mart, and where we could drop in on my aunt and uncle! (And cousins). It was great fun to be spontaneous, to see the family growing up (I think Brett is about 6’10” by now, while Jenna can speak excellent Spanish), and catch some football highlights of KU winning a crazy game. Below you see the Pluimer family, with me, next to the humungous Christmas tree. Assuming that Brett is about 6’10”, I’d have to say the tree is about seventeen feet tall!!!

Episode LV: The Great Kansan Fall

2008-11-27T07:39:00.004-06:00

Autumn is one thing that I have really come to appreciate out here in the Midwest. Today’s Epic Ballade is dedicated to the Great Kansan Fall, in words and photographs:

Ahh, there is nothing like a home football game on a sunny fall day. The picture below was taken from my buddy’s apartment complex. You should take note of three white vehicles, each employed by a towing agency. They are at his complex to tow away non-residents who are parked there to go to the football game, and who do not have a permit. If you look closely you can see that my vehicle is also parked in this lot. Fortunately for me, my friend had already procured a parking pass for me, specifically for times like this.

The campus of the University of Kansas is known for being a remarkably beautiful campus, and this is particularly the case during autumn. It sits atop a hill, where one can see for miles off into the distance, and it is full of small hills and valleys covered with deciduous trees. I took the opening photograph, as well as the one shown below, on campus.

Of course, at some point, the leaves are all gone and all that is left are bare branches. Below is a photograph which I thought was creative, of just such a tree (as seen from a restaurant).

But just because the leaves are off the tree, doesn’t mean they’re useless! In this picture, I had just climbed up the tree to the left, and jumped off into a huge pile of leaves. Which, in many senses, was the encapsulation of a Great Fall.

Episode LIV: Politics and the Economy

2008-11-08T23:41:00.003-06:00

First off, for those of you who have contacted me about the family tree, I plan to get those invitations out ASAP after I add a couple of photos. For now, a post about politics and the economy (a la Epic Ballade).

Politics

As you may know, the United States just had a national election. In case you care, here are some of the things that happened on the local and state levels here in Douglas county, Kansas:

We re-elected an incumbent Republican senator (Pat Roberts), elected a Republican congresswoman (Lynn Jenkins) over the Democratic incumbent (Nancy Boyda), and elected a Democratic state senator (Tom Holland) over the Republican incumbent (in this race the Libertarian candidate [for whom I cast my vote] managed a respectable 5.4% of the votes!)

We also approved THREE SEPARATE local sales-tax increases. One for roads and infrastructure, and two to rescue our local bus system, which is unpopular, inconvenient, hemorrhaging money, operating at a huge loss, and is only afloat now because of large amounts of taxpayer money.

Also, contrary to what you might have guessed, the turnout in our fair county during this election was actually lower than it was four years ago.

The Economy

I am happy to report that the economy is doing just swimingly as far as I can tell. My evidence is this: the cheapest tank of gas I have filled in ages!

Episode LIII: Family Tree

2008-10-25T19:03:00.009-05:00

Kyle (my brother) was asking me for some family tree information for a project of his the other day, which got me to once again crack open the genealogy documents that I have. Noticing some holes here and there, I decided to spend some time online looking for some old relatives. In particular, I was looking for some great-great-great-grandparents on the Norris side, and I found them! Below is a picture I found online featuring James Riley Norris, bottom left (my great-great-great-grandpa), and Elizabeth (Garman) Norris bottom right (my great-great-great-grandma).

I think you can clearly see some resemblance between James Norris and my dad, no? If not, the picture below should help (James is on the left):

James moved from Kentucky to Missouri, where his son Simeon (aka Albert) grew up. Simeon worked as a farmer then as a street-car motorman. Simeon's son William was a grocery store merchant as of 1930 (according to the U.S. census) and paid $15 a month rent on his house. William had a son named Billie, who happens to be my grandfather, and that's about all the history you probably care to hear right now.

Feeling inspired, I decided to put some of the informationI had on an online family tree at ancestry.com. I would ask the readers of this post (especially those who are relatives of mine) to look at the tree and tell me if the information is correct. There should be birth and death dates and locations for everyone on the tree. If you notice info that is wrong or can fill in info that is missing, please let me know via email or by a response to this post. Later on I will be adding marriage info, pictures and great-great-grandparents and beyond, but I want to make sure the basics are down first. Thanks!

Unfortunately, to access the full interactive version you need to send me an email at razjericho@yahoo.com and I will personally 'invite' you. In the meantime, you can enjoy a bare-bones version here. Please let me know if you experience any difficulties. Enjoy, and then get back to me!

Episode LII: Billy the Wild Boar

2008-10-11T09:54:00.008-05:00

KU hosted a “Carnival” the other night, and Amanda and I decided to check it out. It turned out to be fun, with a ferris wheel and games and rides and everything! The turning point of the night was when Amanda and I played the horse-racing game, pictured below.

She managed to place second, and I managed to win! Which meant that I won my choice of ridiculous-looking overstuffed animals. I chose this chubby wild boar with flames coming out of its rear. We hit it off immediately, and I called him Billy the Wild Boar.

We did everything together! We went on rides together…

We played games together…

We even went on the spinny whirly doodad ride together…

Then we got sick together…

Then we recovered by drinking some Diet Coke together (but we agreed it didn’t really taste that good)…

Finally, when we worked up our appetite again, we ate cupcakes together…

Oh, and I also had a good time with Amanda as well:

Now Billy the Wild Boar lives in my truck. He sits on the dashboard and intimidates any would-be car burglars. So far he has been 100% successful!

Episode LI: Weekends

2008-09-27T12:49:00.006-05:00

I am no longer taking “classes”, I am no longer studying for my oral exam, and I have not recently gone on any crazy vacations, which means that I have had a fair amount of free time lately. And I have had free weekends! Here are some samples:

For KU’s second home football game, the Student Union sponsored a pre-game tailgate with free hot dogs, chips, sodas and T-shirts to all students. I went with some friends and got absolutely stuffed over an hour-and-a-half of eating. The whole time there was a lovely little praying mantis sitting at our table, and it seemed as though every time I would get up or move seats, the mantis would turn so that it could face me.

The next weekend KU played a nationally-televised road game, so I went out to watch the game. As you can see, Rafael, Amanda and I all wore our free T-shirts from the previous weekend. Interestingly enough, the dude in the background with the blue shirt (to the right of my head) is purported to be the student who designed our T-shirts. What a coincidence!

The next weekend (on a Friday afternoon) I got to hear my first ever tornado siren! Apparently a tornado had been spotted touching down somewhere in the county, and we were supposed to go to the basement. However, from our porch on the fifth floor of Haworth Hall, we had a perfect view in the direction of the purported tornado. Unfortunately, we did not see so much as a strong wind, but I did get a picture of a dark sky and circled the general area where the tornado was supposed to have been.

Finally, the weekend after that Amanda and I went on a quick drive into rural East Lawrence, where we toured a farm and picked our own fruits and vegetables (tomato and okra mostly). Then we went down the road a bit to an apple orchard and picked our own apples!

Episode L: I am a Molecular Biologist

2008-08-30T11:43:00.002-05:00

The purpose of this post is to update you on my teaching duties, and to prevent the following conversation from occurring:

“So what kind of research do you do?”

“Well, I do molecular biology”

“Ooohh… sounds hard… boy, Microbiology, that’s impressive!”

Believe me, numerous conversations like this have in fact occurred. So the purpose of this brief post is to explain the significant difference between Microbiology (which I taught last semester) and Molecular Biology (which is what I research, and what I am currently teaching).

Microbiology

Microbiology is in essence the study of microscopic, often single-celled, organisms, such as bacteria, fungi (including yeast), and even viruses. Interesting experiments in microbiology could include things like: what makes Salmonella bacteria so pathogenic, and how can its outbreak be prevented? Or: how do I identify this unknown infectious organism that was found in this patient? Or: what are the ideal conditions for using yeast in bread making?

Molecular Biology

Molecular Biology, on the other hand, is concerned with biology at the molecular level, and processes that are involved at the cellular level, such as DNA, RNA and protein synthesis, and the interactions among these molecules. My lab, for instance, is interested in how various genes and proteins are involved in maintaining the cell’s ‘skeleton,’ and how these proteins can be persuaded to reorganize and induce the cell to move. The techniques in molecular biology are many and varied, but some of the most ubiquitous and important are DNA gels and Western blots (protein gels), shown here.

Caveat

Of course it is possible that one could perform Molecular Biology on microbes, in which case one would be studying both Molecular Biology and Microbiology. This, however, is not really the case for me. Therefore, I am merely a Molecular Biologist. Thank you for asking.

Episode XLIX: Road Trip!

2008-08-17T15:45:00.008-05:00

Last weekend my friend Thomas Kuhn and I decided, while it was still summer, to take an unrehearsed, unstructured tour through the heart of Kansas. Here are some highlights.

The first stop, and the only stop that would really be considered a “conventional” tourist attraction, was in Abilene, Kansas to view Dwight D. Eisenhower’s memorial library, museum, resting place and childhood home. It was a very nice place in a fairly small town. I really came out of the museum admiring the man as both a general and as a President.

For the rest of the journey you must understand that we were in the middle of Kansas, and that the middle of Kansas does not have much in the way of natural wonders, historic places or cultural significance. Therefore, most of the places we visited were either oddball, weird, kitschy or a combination of the three.

For instance, in Minneapolis, KS there is a place called ROCK CITY (!) where one can pay three bucks to play among these natural oddities of large granite rocks strewn about a field the size of a couple of football fields.

Or take the town of Lucas, Kansas, which houses the Folk Art Museum, displaying only oddball pieces of art, such as an exhibit inspired by toilet seats and outhouses. Meanwhile the most famous attraction in Lucas, and inarguably the weirdest attraction in central Kansas, is a place called the Garden of Eden. Basically, this guy owned a house in the middle of town, and he decided to start building a bunch of large (maybe 30-foot-tall) concrete sculptures around his house, inspired by themes from the Bible and populist politics. The “garden” itself is quite a work, but the kicker (on the weirdness scale) is that the guy built himself and his wife a mausoleum in the backyard, where visitors can view his body in a glass coffin.

We camped at a lake with a lovely view and lots of privacy. We managed to grill ourselves some delicious meat and enjoy the lovely evening. Unfortunately, around 3 am, a ridiculously powerful storm came through and pounded us, so much so that both Thomas and I had to stand up inside the tent and push against it for over a half-hour to prevent it from completely collapsing upon us. When there was finally a lull in the storm, we abandoned our soggy ship and spent the rest of the night in the car. When we woke up in the morning, it was another beautiful day.

Finally: the event around which the whole trip was planned. It pretty much speaks for itself, no commentary needed. For in the small town of Cawker City, my friend, can be found the WORLD’S LARGEST… ball of twine!