Oregon Bound!

Today Kevin and I are in Berkeley since Kevin is giving a talk on his work at Stanford and the Molecular Foundry (Lawrence Berkeley National Lab). I am looking forward to getting to see Kevin give a presentation since it has been awhile since I've had the opportunity to do so.

Immediately after Kevin presents we are hitting the road and headed up to Oregon where we will watch Stanford take on the Ducks at Autzen Stadium. Both teams are 4-0 and I think it is going to be an amazing game. Look for us on College GameDay...we might be there if we can wake up early enough to make the 6am live taping after a 10 hour drive today.

If you want to know more about tomorrow's showdown you can check it out here.

Palo Alto Moonlight Run

The K-State game is on hiatus due to lightning so I thought I'd take the time I'd being watching football to work on a few posts.

We decided a week or so ago that we should run in the Palo Alto Moonlight Run this year. I managed to get Kevin and Moria to agree to it even though we didn't exactly have a lot of time to train. I was a little nervous since I'd only been running sporadically over the last few months but we wanted to give it a shot anyway.


We ran into a few other friends who entered the race as well and it was fun to hang out before the race started. Our friend Brett who is a serious runner did the 10k and ended up winning the whole thing. His final time was 34:46...a 5:35 pace!!!The rest of us stuck with the 5k.

The start of the race was a madhouse. It was a mass of people funneling into a small opening to the baylands trail. After getting past the first 400 meters it was little less insane.

It was pretty dark out there. Luckily there were a few headlamps scattered throughout and we all had glow bracelets so it wasn't a hazard or anything. I was actually feeling pretty good during the run and it felt great to race again. I found a guy in a white bandanna that I tried to keep pace with. It helped me to keep pushing at the end of the 2nd mile. I tried to pick it up a little in the last mile and I had enough to pass white bandanna guy in the end. My goal was to beat 25 minutes and I was pleased to finish in 24:44. I just found out I was 9th in the 20-29 year old female division so I was excited about that.
Brian did a good job of getting us all at the finish. I don't think Kevin was as happy with his time as I was, but now we have a starting point and we'll just have to run another one in the future.
Kevin and Luke enjoying free food after the race.

This was Moria's first 5k and I was very excited to run it with her.
Whitney, Kendra, me, and Moria.
This was Palo Alto's 26th annual moonlight run. They had record registration this year with 3500 participants in all three events (5k walk, 5k run, and 10k run). I'm so happy we did it and I truly look forward to the next race. Luckily there are tons of races in the bay area so it shouldn't be too hard to find one close by.

Trivia Night

The Graduate Student Center (GSC) does a monthly trivia night. We had never been before...mostly because we suck at trivia, but we thought it would fun to check it out. Our team didn't end up doing too bad although I'm not sure how much I ended up contributing. I offered to take our sheets up to be scored after a few of the rounds so I guess I earned by keep.

Kevin balancing a bunch of pitchers while helping clean up after the event.

Our team! While we didn't win we still did okay. I hope we can go again next time and try to win at least one round. It was also fun because we got to meet Colin's girlfriend. She lives in Canada where they are from and it was exciting to put a face with the name and stories we've heard over the years.

Amy's Visit and Wake Forest

Last weekend I was lucky enough to have Amy in town for a visit. I picked her up late Thursday afternoon and she stayed until Sunday. First thing we grabbed something to eat in downtown Mountain View so we could have a chance to talk and catch up. We talk on the phone...but there is nothing like chatting with a great friend in person.

On Friday we go up to go do a hike at Rancho San Antonio. Kevin and I have been there a few times and I thought Amy would like it. We got a very nice workout in and were able to enjoy the mild weather which Amy is definitely not used to from Phoenix this time of year.

We stopped to check out the petting zoo on the way out.
We did a little shopping and later Sarah and Jonathan came over. Sarah had met Amy briefly the the last time, but then she and Jonathan were gone for the rest of Amy's visit. It was nice being able to introduce friends to each other.

The main event during Amy's visit was the Stanford football game. Since we are running the Chemistry Dept tailgates this year Amy came along to give us a hand.

James and Kevin with a former graduate student Chad. Chad originally started the tailgates about 7 years ago. I was glad he could make it and see that we've helped keep the tradition he started going.
Since Stanford was playing Wake Forest it was a little difficult to find any fans from their team to beat in our usual Flip Cup competition. We found a group of people that looked like they were up for the challenge.

Kevin, Dennis, and I always play standing next to each other since it seems to work for us. At one point we switched up the order of the three of us so that I was across from a young man that seemed to have a problem with being across from a woman. He began talking trash and when we won again and he still talked trash I challenged him to a little one on one action. We went head to head with 5 cups each and then I beat him. He was clearly not happy with the results.

My expression here is.... "this guy actually thought he could beat me" and I like to think that his is the sour taste of defeat.

A few of us celebrating our win.

There was a great student turnout for this game since it was the first game that the undergraduate students and first year graduate students were present.
A random Stanford fan. I thought he looked a little crazy so I had to take a picture.
Go Stanford!

We felt like it was a great tailgate and a great game. This win gave Stanford their third win in a row. It was especially nice to slaughter the Deacon Demons since they handed us our first loss last year.

For this game the band unveiled a new mascot. We aren't sure if it is a permanent thing or a one time only deal. Either way I think it is still pretty bad. I did a side by side so you can be the judge.
Kevin with random guy wearing a red spandex body suit.
Sunday morning Amy and I went out for brunch and then to Shoreline Lake to sit and talk a little more before she had to head back to Phoenix. I had a wonderful weekend with her and I hope she enjoyed it just as much.

Football and a Beer Festival

Since Stanford was playing UCLA down at the Rose Bowl we decided to have people over to watch the game on television. Stanford hadn't been able to beat UCLA on their turf since 1996 so we were ready for a win.
Luckily we were not disappointed when they shut them out 35-0.

At half time we made a cake (from the box), and Sarah worked her magic with a little whipped cream. I was quite impressed with her block letter skills.
The next day a few of us headed up to San Francisco for Brews on the Bay. We had such a good time last year that we had to go again.

Kevin, Dennis, and Brian on Caltrain.
Here we are on the Muni headed to Pier 45 to board the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien.
It turned out to be a really nice day although I was glad I remembered by sweater.
It was a little windy.
This year was a Van-Halen cover band. They weren't as good as the Bono cover band from last year...but how can you not appreciate a guy willing to wear leather pants and sing for you?
They had more of the ship blocked off than they did last year so we weren't able to wander around very much. It was still cool to be able to hang out on a boat in the city all day with great friends.

We grabbed dinner afterward before catching a train back home. With the long commute it was a long day, but we definitely had a blast!

First Tailgate of the Season!

Football season is finally here and that means we are going to be busy this fall. Kevin and I (along with the help of our friend Dennis) are in charge of the graduate chemistry tailgates for the year. We've been mentally getting ready to take on this task for quite some time and it was exciting for the first game to finally be here.

I was wanting to make something special for the first game so I decided to make helmet and football shaped cookies. I spread out the stages over the week so it wouldn't be so overwhelming and Moria came over one day last week to help me decorate them. I was very grateful for the help.
Here is a picture of the final product.
I was very happy with how they turned out. I love excuses to make themed cookies. Plus when I make them for an event Kevin and I aren't stuck with a bunch of cookies to eat.
Lupin wanted to get in on the action.
Our awesome tailgate spot. This picture was taken early on so there weren't many people there yet. I was actually surprised with the number of people who came out to watch Stanford against Sacramento State on Labor Day weekend.

Daryl, Dennis, Chris, Kevin, and Scott. It was our friend Chris' last day at Stanford before heading back to New York. Luckily we'll see him next month when he returns for a wedding.I finally broke out my new shirt (Thanks Patti!).
Miguel is a post-doc in Kevin's lab and is from Germany. He brought his friend Francesca who is from Italy. Neither of them had even been to an American tailgate and we were very excited to show them a good time. They beat us in beer pong (Kevin and I aren't very good) but I was able to beat Miguel in one on one flip cup later on.
Kevin on the grill.
After beating Miguel in flip cup.
As you may remember from last year we try to find fans from the opposing team to take on in flip cup. Sac State fans were a little slim for the picking, but we were able to find some older gentlemen to play us.
We had to teach them how to play, but I think they had a really good time. They were really good sports and they took getting annihilated pretty well.
Overall I think our first tailgate was a success. Stanford also beat the tar out of the hornets so it wasn't a bad day for them either. My friend Amy will be in town for the next home game and I'm really looking forward to that...stay tuned!

Wicked in San Francisco

Wicked has been playing in San Francisco at the Orpheum theatre since early 2009 and I'd been really wanting to go see it. (Interesting fact: San Francisco's Curran Theatre originally hosted the previews for the musical back in 2003 before reworking some of the songs and heading to Broadway later that year). With the show ending its run in S.F. in just a few weeks I knew it had to be soon. Plus it would be fun to head up to the city with Kevin for a date.

Balcony tickets were already sold out and we weren't really feeling up to paying over $100 a ticket so we decided to enter the Wicked Lottery. You have to show up 2 1/2 hours before the show and enter your names. We were each able to enter to increase our chances (you get a maximum of 2 tickets if you win)

Then you had to wait 30 minutes for them to do the drawing and announce the winners. You have to be present to win and you must decide right then and there if you want the tickets paying with only cash. It can be a gamble because the seats are side orchestra and with the set of wicked those seats have more of an obstructed view than with most other shows. However, for only $25 a ticket, we were excited to take the risk.

They drew the first name and the lady that won screamed in excitement! I was holding my breath as they called a few more names and then they called my name! It was very exhilarating and I marched up there to claim my "I won the Wicked lottery" button and to buy our tickets.
Our original plan was to head to Little Italy for dinner to have a nice Italian meal, but we decided that the hassle of driving over there and finding parking and then coming back to the Orpheum wasn't worth it...especially since we found a really nice parking spot already and those are rare.

Instead we just walked a little bit trying to find a decent restaurant nearby. We ate at the Hayes Street Grill. After walking in and being seated we quickly realized that we were the youngest people there and that everyone else was obviously very wealthy. Luckily for us we had eaten a little bit when we first got into the city so we weren't famished. It was VERY expensive. The food we did get was delicious, but we probably wont be heading back there any time soon.
After dinner we headed back to get seated for the show. The Orpheum theatre opened in 1926 and the interior was originally designed after a 12th-century French cathedral which basically means it was incredibly gorgeous.

While part of the stage was blocked from view from our seats we were pretty happy with what we got for the price. We were able to scoot one seat closer and it was really only when they were further away from the front of the stage that we had any difficulty seeing. The show was fantastic (although we liked the first Act much more than the second) and the songs were incredible. If you have the chance to see the show I highly recommend it!

It was a great date night in the city and we'll have to head back soon so we can have our Italian dinner!