An Epic Ballade of Texas

We celebrated the holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve) with family this year. We went to see Meg's parents in Maine for Thanksgiving (where it snowed around half a foot). We then finished up Thanksgiving weekend with a short road-trip to Rhode Island, where, among other things, we brunched in America's oldest tavern (established in 1673!)   For Christmas we visited both sets of families. While in Maine, Meg got her hair cut. While in California, I got my hair cut. Below is the before & after picture: Some other things we did in California- We celebrated Brian's birthday: Ate sushi off giant conveyor belts: Compared and contrasted new in-laws: And spent a few hours celebrating the New Year with church friends and family. Right before boarding a plane to return to Boston.

Last year at about this time the city of Boston teamed up with the Play Me, I'm Yours organization to distribute dozens of pianos throughout the public spaces of Boston and Cambridge. I traveled to a good handful of them and brought my video camera along. The result was this little piece: a nine-piano cover version of my own song "Oh All The Beauty," inspired by Calvin Coolidge, and available wherever fine music is sold (like here !) Did you miss any of the other videos? See them here . Did you miss the album? Get it here .

My cousin Amanda, who is currently going to school in Blacksburg Virginia, got married last weekend! Meg and I had some work flexibility, so we decided to make a road trip out of it. And we also met up with my parents there at the wedding. The ceremony was lovely, being held outdoors on Virginia Tech's campus, surrounded by autumnal foliage and the stately stone university buildings. Meanwhile, we had been road-tripping our way to the wedding, stopping at some places Meg wanted to see, such as Philadelphia: And the District of Columbia: And a place I wanted to see: Shenandoah National Park, with its beautiful 3-hour Skyline Drive road, weaving through mountain and forest.   [Appalachian Trail!] We also spent an extra couple of days after the wedding with my parents, doing things like touring Jefferson's Monticello:  Visiting the Jefferson-designed University of Virginia: [Just about the loveliest campus you'll ever see] And dinin...

Here are some September Adventures my wife and I have been on this year: Departmental Retreat in Cape Cod This year Harvard's Molecular Biology department graciously allowed me to attend its annual retreat on The Cape (though I'm not technically a member of Molecular Biology), so I got to join my wife for a weekend with lots of science, seafood and lovely scenery/weather in Woods Hole, MA.   [Nice location for 'work,' eh?]  Camping in Acadia  As a (belated) celebration of our anniversary, Meg and I took a camping trip to Acadia National Park in Maine. It's a lovely little park. A nice place to just soak it all in- the sea and the forest and the salt and the changing leaves. While on the beach, I came across two of the biggest clams I've ever seen. I took them back to camp and cooked them over the campfire. Best shellfish ever! Harvesting Acorns We have this little white oak tree in front of our house, and this year it is having a b...

I recently returned from a two-week trip to Japan. I had so many unique experiences there that I will have to present my trip in the form of a top-10 list, ranked in no particular order- Top Ten Cool and Unusual Things About Japan: 1) Toilets Japanese toilets make Western toilets look severely outdated. Nearly every toilet in Japan has (at minimum) heated seats and a contraption for rinsing one's nether-parts after one has relieved oneself (saves on toilet paper!) Other toilets get fancier. For instance, this one: [Plays music for greater discreteness, sensitive control of the water temperature and pressure, and a bunch of buttons in Japanese that I couldn't decipher] Also, for toilets located in small spaces (a common occurrence), here's a two-in-one toilet/sink. The sink starts automatically when you flush the toilet. 2) Kyoto This is such a nice city! A great mix of old and new. A lovely river full of waterfowl. A world-class shopping district where Ja...

I am happy to announce that my first research article as a postdoctoral fellow is now fully published, available online and anywhere highly-specialized molecular biology journals are sold. If you happen to be at a library or a university, you may be able to access the paper in all its online glory by clicking here . Otherwise, check out the PDF , and/or read on! This paper was a bit of a family affair. As you can see above, I am the "first author" of this paper, but my wife also appears as a "middle author" ( i.e. she had substantial scientific contributions to the paper- this was while she was working in my lab the year before entering graduate school). [In case you missed it the first time] Moreover, while he is not acknowledged in the paper, my brother Brian gave a helping hand as well. I needed to run a program in Linux, but the program was no longer being updated/supported, and thus the OS needed substantial modifications to run the program. Who ...