Home Sweet Home

Jay just returned from a business trip to Georgia where he took a little extra time to visit friends and family. Meow and I missed him a great deal, and were so happy to have him back home with us! Our little apartment seemed very big and empty without him here.

When we first moved into our apartment, I had promised a post showing it off. Well, we've been here almost two years, so we'll call this better late than never! We live in UCLA housing in a neighborhood called Westdale. It's about 5 miles from UCLA, and is on 3 public bus lines. A very pricey neighborhood, and we probably couldn't live here if we didn't have the university to subsidize this complex. I'll have to ask you all to excuse the clutter and any messiness - I didn't clean up, I just snapped some shots while I was making dinner tonight!

Our apartment is a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom just around 900 square feet. Since it is just Jay and I, it's actually a good size for us. A little tight perhaps since we were downsizing from a house in Massachusetts and a much roomier apartment in Athens, but still cozy rather than just too small! We live on the second floor. The kitchen, dining room, computer nook, and living room are just one large area with the two bedrooms and bathroom towards the back of the apartment off of a short hallway. Many people live in this complex upwards of 5 years, and they take the time to paint. We just left the walls the white they were painted when we moved - we'd had quite enough of home renovations by then, and needed the break! Below is our kitchen and dining areas:
The computer nook is tucked neatly on the other side of the sink in the above photo; the living room is where I took the picture of the dining room. A couch and chair separate the dining room and living room from one another, but I left them out of my shots. Below is the computer nook and living room:



That leaves the bathroom and two bedrooms. Well, I won't show the bathroom. It's pretty standard stuff :). One bedroom we use mainly for storage, and it has a desk though we never work there. Jay camps out in his recliner with his laptop, and I work at the computer nook or the dining room table. The other bedroom, of course, we use for sleeping. To the left is one view of our "office." We use it mostly as storage. The wall to the left of the desk is covered in shelves. In front of this I hung a closet rod (12 feet) and hung 4 curtains from IKEA to hide them.



Almost all the furniture is from IKEA. Since we lost most of our furniture when I overturned the truck, it was the most affordable option we had for a mass purchase. The shelving there is fantastic, we had tons of options that fit our spaces and budget.

Well, there you have it! Our little pad. Which, by the by, is always open to friends who wander out here to the west coast. We only have an inflatable bed, but the company is pretty good! And we have an excellent wine selection :)!

The Getty Villa

Whenever we have guests visit, we always, always take them to the Getty Center off the 405. It is one of the most amazing examples of architecture I have ever seen. The view of the city is absolutely incomparable. There is also, of course, the art. But this post is not about the Getty Center. It's about the Getty Villa. The Getty Villa is the original J. Paul Getty Museum. When the collection outgrew it's home, the Getty Center was built. The Villa was completed in 1974, and now houses the antiquities portion of the Getty collection. It is modeled after the partially-excavated Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, that had been buried by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79. While it is free to get into both museums, for the Villa you must make a reservation ahead of time as admission is limited. Below is a photo of the entrance to the Getty Villa.
We arrived and had lunch, then dove head first into the collections. There are many pieces from the Greek, Roman, and Etruscan civilizations, some more than 5000 years old. They were all breathtaking. The artistry and craftsmanship is unbelievable, and we took hundreds of photos. Below is a photograph of one of the most famous statues in the collection, of Herakles (Hercules). The floor in this room is a recreation of one from the Villa dei Papiri, and is composed of over 7000 individual marble tiles.
The photo below is of a fountain that is based on one uncovered in the "House of the Large Fountain" in Pompeii. Any detail that couldn't come directly from the Villa dei Papiri was taken from other Roman villas of the time. This fountain is covered with colorful tiles and seashells, and on each side you can see the greek theatre masks.
J. Paul Getty was adamant that the gardens be as accurate as possible, right down to having a working herb garden as would be found in a true Roman villa. There are two main outdoor garden areas in the Getty Villa, the inner Peristyle and the outer Peristyle. Where you see a statue, there had been a statue found in that spot in the ruins of the original Villa in Italy. Truly remarkable! Here I am standing in front of the pool in the inner Peristyle. In the original villa, the pool in the outer Peristyle was 4 meters deep and likely contained fish that were raised for the household to consume.
We spent about 5 hours in total combing through the myraid collections and examining the gardens. There is so much more to learn! You can easily get overwhelmed in a single trip. Afterwards we drove to Ventura to have dinner with Jay's workmate Linda. Linda is a fascinating woman. She lived in Turkey for a little over 20 years, and has had so many experiences in life! Dinner with her was wonderful, we were incredibly well-entertained. As you can imagine, we were exhausted and enjoyed a Sunday of doing absolutely nothing at all. I leave you with a dark image of us in the Atrium of the Villa. Behind us is a little pool. In a true Roman Villa, the atrium was open to the sky and this small pool collected rain water that drained into a cistern below. This water was then pumped throughout the home, so that the Roman nobility could enjoy running water. Nice! I also ask my friends out there to note that my husband's hair is getting a little too out of control. Please feel free to mount an email campaign encouraging him to get his hair cut. I beg you.

Another trip to wine country

This post is an update on what we did two weekends ago. About 2 hours north of LA (you can take either the 101 or the PCH) you can head away from the coast through the San Marcos pass in Santa Barbara. Through the mountains you will be in the Santa Ynez Valley. This area was made famous in the film "Sideways," though to be honest I have yet to see the film. We often make the drive up for a day trip just to get away from LA. The above photo is taken in the car as we drive up the PCH. It was quite overcast that day, which is normal for this time of year in southern California. It's called "June gloom." It's gray and chilly, and I do not recommend visiting this time of year. You will miss the normally wonderful weather we have here otherwise. As you can see, the southern coast here is gorgeous.

We now have a routine for our trips. We start with a wine tasting at Curtis Winery on Foxen Canyon road. The whites here are fantastic! We buy a picnic lunch at the Los Olivos Grocery, and then head to Bridlewood Winery. Bridlewood is a picturesque place, and since we are members we can picnic on the grounds here near the lake. We usually do a tasting here, where the reds are our favorites.

Following our tastings, we head into the town of Solvang. Solvang is a Danish settlement, and the architecture reflects that. We often browse the world-famous antique store (cannot afford a thing in it) or visit the Hans Christian Anderson Museum tucked away on the top story of our favorite used book store. We always get a coffee and pastry at one of the many Danish bakeries in town! Below is a shot of the Solvang windmill.

It's a relaxing and fun retreat from the urban life of LA. We often head to Solvang with friends and stay for dinner.

ACS Relay For Life

Dear Family and Friends, April and I have decided to take action against cancer by participating in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life event right here in my community. Relay For Life is about celebration, remembrance, and hope. By participating, we are honoring cancer survivors, paying tribute to the lives we've lost to the disease, and raising money to help fight it. As many of you may know, we have both lost many family members- I lost both of my grandfathers to liver cancer, and my mother is currently undergoing treatment- the second time in fifteen years- for lymphoma. April lost her grandfather to lymphoma, and her grandmother to cervical cancer, and her grandmother's twin sister is currently undergoing treatment for a tumor in her leg. Cancer has taken the lives, or threatened the lives, of loved ones of all of us. Please help support us in this important cause by making a donation. It is faster and easier than ever to support us by making a secure, tax-deductible donation online using the link below. To donate online now, click here to visit my personal page. Whatever you can give will help - it all adds up! We greatly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on our progress. Sincerely, Jason & April PS If you would like to mail a donation, please make your check payable to: American Cancer Society Fighting cancer can be easier than you think Especially when you participate in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life. Visit http://www.relayforlife.org/relay/findevent to locate an event in your community today. Double Your Money Many employers offer matching funds programs. Most of these programs match contributions dollar for dollar, and some will even double or triple the amount of your gift. Please inquire with your personnel/HR department to complete the paperwork required to get your gift matched. Visit our Matching Gifts page for more information. Fight Back How does the money you raise help fight cancer? In so many ways! The donations you collect enable the American Cancer Society to fund cutting-edge research, provide up-to-date cancer information and education, advocate for all people to have access to critical cancer screenings and follow-up care, and offer free programs to improve the quality of life for patients and their families. Questions? Contact Angela Baca, Online Chair, at: relaylongbeach@gmail.com

Renaissance Faire, revisited

As I sat down to write this post with Jay, an earthquake happened. It is the first one Jay has been able to feel. As usual, I got dizzy. Meow was perfectly calm the entire time, and in fact sat with me, purring and licking until she decided a nap was more interesting. According to the quake data, it was a 5.0 and lasted around 30 seconds. Not fun. The epicenter was about 2 miles south, 3-4 miles east.

On Saturday, Jay and I went to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire. Jay had attended last weekend, and bought me a beautiful costume. This costume, while lovely, involved a corset and that really took some getting used to. Jay's costume was extremely creative, and he pieced it together with things he had on hand and a couple of items from Target.

We had a wonderful time wandering through the faire, bowing and curtsying to the nobility. We even spied Queen Elizabeth I several times, including sitting with her court.




We ate at the vendors (the required turkey leg and beef ribs) and spent quite a bit of time watching performers. There were singers, dancers, comedians, and many talented musicians. We watched part of the jousts and toured the tourney camp. We also bought some new pottery pieces for our collection. We spent 6 hours at the faire, and left exhausted, dirty and very satisfied. We will be back for more next year!

AWIS Cal Tech Science Writer's Panel

Last night Jenny and I attended a Science Writer's Panel held at Cal Tech in Pasadena, CA. It was co-sponsered by AWIS and the Cal Tech Post-Doc Association. The speakers were fantastic. We had Greg Critser, Dave Zobel, and Jorge Cham. For those of you who do not recognize the name, Jorge Cham writes the Piled Higher and Deeper (PhD) comic strip.
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php
Everyone I know of in graduate school and post-doc positions loves these comics. He really manages to capture life in academia, and all the ensuing chaos. It was really a lot of fun to meet Dr. Cham, who is a very nice and funny guy in person. I immediately managed to wrangle the position of assistant for the night, helping him out with selling his books before and after the panel talk. I ran the credit card machine and took money, while he signed books and chatted with his fans. Afterwards, he posed for a picture with me and gave me two autographed books. In one he drew a sketch of Jay, and dedicated it to my "sugardaddy" and in the second he gave me a reference for future job searches: Swipes really well. He has a really good sense of humor, and I had so much fun!The above photograph was taken by Sophia Tsai, another AWIS member, of Jorge Cham and me with his latest volume of PhD comics. Thanks so much, Sophia! The entire panel at CalTech was a lot of fun. I have to say, the AWIS events just seem to get better and better.

Adventures as of late

Well, I haven't got any pictures to put up with this post, but I thought you might like to know what we have been up to recently. Following our visit to Joshua Tree National Park, we had a wonderful dinner with our friend Justin Widener. Justin was a labmate of mine in the Duk lab, and we both worked on TLF. He is now a program manager for Merial, and was here on the West Coast for training. J-dawg, it was awesome to see you again! I really miss that guy.

We also attended a play here in Hollywood. Plays are very numerous and popular here, as sometimes you can catch famous actors or actresses getting in some stage time. The play we went to see was called "Photograph 51" after the piece of data taken from Rosalind Franklin's lab and used to develop the structural model of DNA published by Watson and Crick (they did not acknowledge that they had taken her data until after they were awarded the Nobel prize). It was at the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood, and Jay and I really enjoyed it. Jay was very involved in drama while in high school, and also during the one year of college he bothered with. I think that we will be attending many more plays, and the Fountain theatre was one of the most intimate settings I have ever been in.

Last weekend I attended a conference in San Diego, Women in Science and Technology. It was awesome, especially because I got a lot of ideas about what I want to do next in my career. I am usually a big planner, with the next 5-10 years of my life detailed out. That has fallen by the wayside since I finished my PhD and started my post-doc. There are a lot of options out there, and I have had a difficult time deciding where I want to go next. Jay is such an open and supportive spouse that no doors have been eliminated based on where he wants to live or what he wants to do (although he is very keen on me going overseas for a while). At any rate, if any of my friends are not current members of AWIS, I encourage you to join and take full advantage of their networks and education offerings. It has been a real boost for me.

Since Jay was left on his own for a couple of days with no one but the cat for company, he made lots of plans with friends. He started Saturday off with a trip to the Renaissance Faire here in LA, and I really wish I had pictures to show you! Don't fear, we are supposed to return there this weekend so I can explore as well. After the faire, he went to see Star Trek with a friend, and then out to dinner. We both crashed pretty hard on Sunday!