june moon

for want of a hammer

Small Update of good pics

Spring is here with lots of new adventures starting up.  I (Eric) have been invited to join a gang of Brazilians (and one Honduran)  in a weekly soccer match.  

Last weekend was our first game.  I played well but felt completely wrecked by the amount of running.  The kids came and played on the playground with Margaret and watched the game.  

Oscar made friends with a Brazilian who was on a smoke break.  Oscar Made sure to tell him smoking will give him cancer.

My post-doc is leaving for greener pastures so on the same day we went to an old-school roller rink and tried skating to celebrate....the kids did not enjoy it much and so the skates came off after a couple of minutes and we spent the rest of the time at the ice-cream parlor and arcade.

Also the magnolia on the way to school is blooming big time....its definitely a magic elven tree so you (and by you I mean John) need to spend some time frolicking under it.

it's done!

I watched the Legend of Korra with the kids, and "my cabbages!" has been replaced with "Do the thing!". We finished that, but the title of the post refers to what Jesus said on the cross (happy Easter!) and that today I did the thing! It's done!

My research seminar was yesterday, along with a research 'roundtable', and today I had a teaching roundtable and lunch with grad students and postdocs, and meetings with faculty. I lost my voice after the seminar yesterday, so talking all day today was pretty gnarly. But everyone is so excited! I predict I will be joining the faculty of PSM some time this summer, as a tenure-track plant biologist!!!!!

thanks for the celebration moves John!

Meanwhile...

these cats might be on their way to figuring it out! Or it might be a verrrrrry cold day.

Sam and Ben are blender men.

Edie and I have been coloring this book together. I like her style!

trains and frogs

 I took myself on a little trip at the end of February! I rode the train to Chicago and hung out in the executive lounge for a few hours (omelettes were not on the menu), and gave a presentation NBD, and then rode another train to Champaign where Eva picked me up.

Loading up in East Lansing

Found my spot in business class woo woo! Yes I taped my mask to my face. No it did not stick well.

Heading out of town

The cushy work setup - wifi, outlet, footrest, two seats to myself...

Heading into the station in Chicago

Classic public works architecture

Reminds me of DC a little!

What a lamppost!

Waiting to board the next train

Finally! Walking down the platform

Double decker!

Hi guy!

The train had some problems, then we backed out of the station, then it had more problems. The conductor hung out at our end of the train while it all got sorted. Nice observation deck!

The windows tell you just what to do

This fat lady lives in Eva's lab, instead of in the frog room. 

And it turns out these are all the pictures I took - we were chillaxing too hard for a photoshoot! Next time - and maybe next time a deserving child can accompany me...