Pumpkin Carving and Football

Before I post about my trip back to Kansas over Halloween, I have a little catching up to do.

The last Stanford home game brought a victory not only to the Cardinal, but to our Flip Cup Team. Take that ASU Frat boys. Here is some of our winning team.

Kevin and I had been fighting off illness the week before so we didn't stay long into the actual game. We had to get rest for our Pumpkin Carving Party the next day.

Crock pot chili, cornbread muffins, pumpkin cookies, roasted pumpkin seeds, and pumpkin ale. Made for a wonderful fall evening.

Here are all of our pumpkins. Kevin's is the third from the left (it is Lupin), and mine is the cute little goblin second from the right. The castle pumpkin was Jonathan's. His first ever pumpkin. Pretty good for a rookie!
We had our neighbors over to look at our pumpkins. (They are from Ethiopia and aren't that familiar with the tradition.) Ethiopia (that is her name too) had just come back from visiting and she brought us back these hand stitched shirts. We were blown away that she thought of us while she was there. She said it was difficult finding one that she thought would fit Kevin because people just are built much differently over there. It fit perfectly though!! The craftsman ship was incredible and they are very soft and comfy.

Kevin's Latest Paper

Kevin's second paper was published yesterday in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS). If you'd like to take a look check out the link. You aren't expected to read the whole thing.


http://www.stanford.edu/group/boxer/papers/paper267.pdf

I am very proud of Kevin and the work he has done here at Stanford!

Inner tube Water Polo

This is my third official post on this totally sweet blog. Cara wasn't around for the events below, so I have to give you the down low. It was a bright sunny Saturday, and the conditions were perfect for an inner tube water polo match. That's right, I said inner tube water polo. It's a sport for people that like throwing balls into goals and being in the pool like water polo players, but are too lazy to tread water for that long. The picture below is me showing some girl how to really play inner tube water polo.



Somehow our team (shown in the picture below), which was composed of all graduate students, ended up getting second place in the tournament. The team we lost the championship to was the undergraduate club water polo team. They practice five times a week! The club water polo team entering this intramural tournament is like me entering a one on one basketball tournament with third graders. Anyway, we beat all of the other teams with a few close calls. I mostly played defense, and I stuffed one of the players, but my specialty was playing dirty by holding offensive players back so they couldn't get in good position.

First Storm of the Season

Thought I'd show you a picture of the tree branch(s) that fell in our parking spot during last weeks storm. Luckily I was at work so it didn't go through the windshield of our car. It was a pretty crazy storm leftover from a typhoon that hit Japan the week before. Lots of wind and rain. I guess it is the first sign that rainy season if upon us.

Weekend in Reno

This last weekend was a road trip to Reno! We left early Friday evening and dealt with a little of the infamous Bay Area Traffic. After stopping for dinner in Davis, CA, we made it to Reno a little before 11pm.

Now none of us our major gamblers or anything so we mostly just hung out around the slot machines and played penny slots for awhile. Kevin was down about $7 and I was down about $10 when I won a bonus round and won $40! We only played a little bit longer and then called it a night while we were ahead.

Kevin and Jonathan enjoying the slots!




On Saturday we headed back into California to check out Lake Tahoe. I had never seen it before and Kevin only once before. It was so beautiful! The water is amazingly clear and the weather was perfect!



Me and Sarah chillin' by the lake.


A gorgeous view.





After enjoying the outdoors for awhile we headed back to our hotel. We decided to play cards in our room for awhile where you don't risk losing any money. Here we are playing Euchre....a card game Jonathan taught us.



Here we are in are almost identical shirts. I guess great minds think alike :)


That night Sarah and I stuck to the slots some more and spent a few dollars on the entertainment. The boys tried their luck at some Blackjack and had a blast playing. They only played with $5 bets and Kevin left with what he put in to start with. It was a really fun night...but we were still amazed by the people putting down $500+ per bet. I guess bigger risk...bigger rewards...but that much money is just CRAZY!!!

On Sunday Sarah was wanting to stop by this Animal Sanctuary she read about online. Our GPS was broken so we didn't know exactly where to go but we heard about a zoo just north of Reno.

Here is the sign advertising the zoo. Let's just say it made the 'World Famous Topeka Zoo' look World Famous.



The first animals we saw after entering were some domestic cats, a couple rabbits, and some turtles. Naturally we were a bit pessimistic. They ended up having quite a few interesting animals including a White Tiger, Camels, Lions, Patas and Vervet Monkeys (baby monkeys too!), Baboons (another baby as well), a Bobcat, Zebras, a Black Leopard, MaCaws, and a few other interesting animals. They also had a petting zoo and we enjoyed getting friendly with the goats. It wasn't the best zoo by far, but I guess it could always be worse. The zookeepers seemed to love the animals.

Here is my favorite goat.


Overall the trip was a blast. Next we are thinking a trip to Vegas + Grand Canyon. I think it is good to add something outdoors to city trip in order to keep some sanity.

Beating UCLA

Saturday was another awesome day of football. It was a little cooler than last weeks game which I think we all appreciated. The game was also a lot earlier (12:30pm vs 6pm) so we had to get out there early. It turned out to be a pretty sweet setup. Scott brought bagels and coffee, Dan put his culinary skills to work with torizo omelets, and we grilled up sausages. It was delicious!
Luckily my friends Anne and Irene were able to make it to the game. Irene went to UCLA so I had to give her a hard time. She behaved and only wore a blue shirt giving no real indication that she was really cheering for the other team.


After taking on UCLA in another 'Flip Cup' game. (And completely annihilating them I might add...one round we had the perfect game...one flip each), we were ready for some football.

One of the drum players came over and let Kevin play his drum.
Pete, Dennis, Cara.
It was a really good game. Stanford played pretty well except for a little in the 4th quarter. They'll have to work at that for when they play some more difficult teams later on. This Pac10 win is great for them though!


Next week they hit the road to play the 3-2 Oregon State Beavers. It will be an important win to snag. We'll have to catch the score from Nevada though. Road trip this weekend to Reno! I can't wait!

Cardinal takes the Huskies

Last Saturday's game was a great one. We started our tailgate pretty early since we were helping our friend's Sarah and Jonathan with the set-up. Back by popular demand was Sarah's home made cornhole game. I actually had a chance to play this week and even though I'm not very good it is a very fun game!

Taking a break from the grill to play.
This year the newest class of Chemistry graduate students has a little bit of an attitude problem. (only a specific few...I guess I shouldn't say they all are that way) We decided we needed to take them on in a game of 'Flip Cup'. We were able to teach them a lesson by smoking them. Here is some of our winning team.
A little later we were able to round up some Washington fans to play against. The first round we made the mistake of allowing two first years to play so we lost. After replacing them with more experienced players we were able to snag a win. We were 2-2 and as we prepared for our last round for the title, the Washington guys started picking on me. I guess they thought if they intimidated me or something that I would mess up. I was pretty ticked off and I think my teammates were pretty riled up too. The last round started and then it was my turn (about halfway through). Only one try and I'd flipped my cup. Kevin continued on after me with a stellar performance and we not only beat Washington....we smoked them.

I wish I had a picture of our victory but let me tell you....it was sweet. We think that we may have to make this a tailgate tradition. That way, even if we lose the football game, we'll at least have 'Flip cup' :)

I think we look pretty cute here. (I'm a little biased though)
The game was a blast too. Stanford started out strong with a kickoff return touchdown. The final score 34-14. One online article I found described Udub like this.... "The Huskies simply came out flat, got punched in the mouth, and did not respond."

With this Pac10 win, things are looking much brighter than past seasons. We'll just have to see if they can keep it up. This Saturday...UCLA. It is supposed to be another win for Stanford but we'll just have to see. I have a friend coming to the game who went to UCLA for her undergrad. She is a pretty big fan and it is going to be fun to see Cardinal crush the Bruins!