PHENIX: Santa Fe

Every six months I attend a Phenix developers workshop. Phenix is a software package for structure determination via xray crystallography. My lab is mainly concerned with the validation step (there are many steps in structure determination). This spring the workshop was held in Santa Fe, NM.  We stayed in an old hotel, La Fonda, in the heart of the city (the building on the right-hand side of the picture is La Fonda).

We arrived late Sunday evening. The format of the workshop is pretty free, meaning that the developers work on their projects like any other day. The difference here is that all the developers are together in one room. This is very advantageous as the developers can collaborate face-to-face, which is infinitely more effective, and thus more productive, than long-distance communication. There is also a day of talks and an industry roundtable discussion. During the day of talks various developers give presentations on new features they have incorporated into the Phenix package. This essentially puts all developers on the same page. The industry roundtable discussion allows people from industry (think of a structural biologist at a drug company) to have input on what they would like to see developed. These workshops are very productive and also leaves the developers with new ideas and a lot more work!

I've been to three of the four workshop locations, which rotates among the four different labs working on the project. I've been to Berkley, Santa Fe, and, of course, Duke; In September I'll be going to the final location in Cambridge, UK. So far Santa Fe is my favorite. Santa Fe is a cute small town with amazing shops and fun art galleries. I had ample time to walk around the city; what else was I going to do at 5:30 AM when everyone else was asleep? I love the pueblo architecture, the rich history, the food, the dry desert air, and just about everything else about Santa Fe. Here are a few pictures from my phone:

I bought a new bolo!!

Elk tenderloin on the last evening  (Coyote Cafe)

Banana-cream pie (Coyote Cafe)

Edgar Meyer, Double Bass

This evening I went to an amazing performance by a very talented artist, Edgar Meyer. Meyer plays the double bass, the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra according to Wikipedia. He first played Bach, Suite No. 7 BMV 1007 to be specific. Then he favored us with some of his own work  and work of other modern composers. Overall the performance was outstanding; Meyer is truly a master player. The pieces selected were varied, which I appreciated. Bach was Bach, I enjoy Bach a great deal but it was something I've heard before. The rest of the pieces were new and I really enjoyed them. The two that I thought were most excellent were 'Barnyard Disturbance' and 'Pickles' (which was entirely strumming). Here is a piece for your hearing pleasure.

Barnyard Disturbance (try to imagine just the bass solo)

It was a great performance!