School Starts and Poison Ivy

Classes are about to begin here at Duke University, all this means for me is that I will start to attend seminars and begin my one-on-one tutorial on x-ray crystallography. I will be continuing my research that I was doing during the summer. My PIs returned from their summer at their cabin. I talked to both of them about what I was learning and proposed I side project. They were both enthused about what I was already doing and what I had proposed. I will, as always, be busy; I’ll never have to say ‘I wonder what I will do tomorrow?’

I had my first exposure to poison ivy and can say I react very badly to it. I went to the doctor and she prescribed some medicated cream and Benadryl. However, the thing that I think worked the best was a $16 4 ounce tube of poison ivy scrub. It took about two weeks in all to get over it. The only place I can think of that I contacted poison ivy is when I was weeding in my back yard. However, subsequent investigations of the yard have yet to identify any poison ivy. I am a little more tentative about working back there now. Enjoy the pictures below.

The quote for this post comes from last General Conference in which President Uchtdorf gave a great talk on patience in the priesthood seesion:

‘There is an important concept here: patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can—working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!

Finally I can write another post! The past three weeks have been hectic with getting ready for my trip to Chicago and Utah, the trip itself, and getting back into the swing of things here in Durham. First I went to Chicago for a conference, the American Crystallographic Association. It was in the heart of down town along the Chicago River. The conference featured talks from three 2010 Nobel laureates. It was awesome to hear of their work and that they we normal scientists with big ideas. The conference had other talks during the day. Poster presentations and social events took place in the evening. I presented a poster on my research that I have been working on for the past year.

Chicago itself was an AWESOME city. I would definitely recommend a vacation to simply visit the city. There are tons of things to do. We went to the top of the Sears Tower looking over the city and Lake Michigan. We went to Navy Pier and watched the fireworks. Also, we rented bikes and rode along the shore of Lake Michigan for about an hour. Millennial Park is definitely a must when visiting Chicago; it’s a neat park!

While there Transformers 3 was being filmed. The coolest part was that it was being filmed right by where we were. In fact, there was a scene set up immediately adjacent to our hotel. We were only permitted through at one point because we were staying at the hotel. As we walked by they were shooting a scene! There was a woman on an overturned bus saying her lines with newspaper blowing all around. The coolest part, by far, was a night when we were trying to go to dinner, as we were walking along the river we could tell that they were about to shoot a big scene. People lined the river. In the river there were boats that had been wrecked and were obviously some kind of props. As we walked a man told up to keep moving because ‘this is not going to be a good place to be in a few minutes. As we got to the bridge to cross the river they were not allowing anyone to cross. We didn’t mind as the tension was clearly building, something big was about to happen! A few minutes later the helicopter with the big camera flew in, maneuvering between the tall buildings like it was nothing. Then it started. The boats in the river were set ablaze and very large, bright, white, flaring fireworks were set off from the top of about ten different skyscrapers. It was clear that a Decepticon was raising hell going after some Autobot. It will be fun to see what it looks like in the real movie.

Utah was great. The first full day I was there I went to the eye doctor to get a prescription. Later we ahd a BBQ at Grandma J’s where I was able to see most the family. Then late that night I picked up my friend from Duke, Jeremy Block, who had taken the old Zepher from Denver to Salt Lake. It was a 15 hour train ride, beautiful but long. I spent the next few days showing him around Salt Lake and the surrounding area. We went to Music and the Spoken Word after which we took a long car ride. We went up Big Cottonwood, over Guardsman’s Pass, and down into Park City. We spent a few hours in Park City browsing though some of the stores on main street and grabbed lunch at Wasatch Brewery. We then went by Jordanelle, Heber, and Deer Creek. We stopped by Sundance to get a drink and then took the Alpine Loop.

Then bright and early, ok, dark and early, at 4:30 AM we started our car ride to the Uintas where we backpacked for three nights. Those who went were Jeremy Block, Christopher Davis, Kyle Metcalf, Sterling Adams, and myself. We stated at the East Fork of the Bear trailhead and hiked up to lake Allsop; a lake I had visited on my first backpacking trip when I was 13 years old or so. Most of the day was spent getting up to the lake and setting up camp. Tuesday we took a day hike to one of the ridges in the bowl that we were in. We hoped to summit Yard Peak but we found this too technical so we just topped the ridge at 12,000 feet and called it good. The ridge provided great views of the canyon just to the west where Priord Lake and Norice Lake reside. Wednesday was a cold rainy day. It didn’t rain a ton but just enough to make you want to stay around the campfire.

Thursday morning we woke up to some high clouds and decided to see what would happen. We took a walk around the lake to take pictures. The clouds were thickening so we decided to go down rather than stay another night. As we packed up and started to head down the canyon the clouds disappeared and it was as sunny as could be, deceivingly sunny. The trip down was slow going, it was not like the other backpacking trips that I’d been on where the trail is so steep that the trail is a factor in helping you get off the mountain quicker. The last half of the decent clouds started to thicken up. Then with three-mile left it started to sprinkle. The last mile and a half was a downpour; Jeremy and I were soaked and muddy as could be. It was not fun being soaked but an overall GREAT trip. Here are some pictures.

Friday We recovered at home taking it easy. Saturday we went downtown to do some genealogy research for Jeremy. As expected we didn’t find much due to repeated destruction by Jewish persecutors of towns where his ancestors hailed from. We then headed up to the Rendezvous Service Ranch where I addressed the boys on how to become successful. All in all, I believe it went well. I was invited to speak again next year and plan to do so if timing permits.

This Last week I’ve been getting back into the swing of things, getting up early, doing research, being social, etc. It is great to be home.