Parles-vous francais-part deux

I have to say that I was really disappointed by how ugly Villeurbanne looked.  Unlike the quaint country side, it was mostly 70s looking concrete Soviet looking architecture.  Ugly.  Having a few hours before the conference started, I checked into my hotel room, FaceTimed home and then went for a walk out to the Parc de la Tete de 'Or.

 

This park had a free zoo and botanical garden.  It was overcast and cold, and kept threatening to rain, but the park was nice enough. 

At this point, I was pretty hungry, having not eaten since the breakfast served on the airplane and it was 7 o'clock, so I decided to head back and attend the opening reception of the conference.
It started pouring rain on my way back (which took about 35 minutes) and by the time I reached where the conference was, I was soaking wet.  I went inside to the reception, pretty embarassed by how wet I was and discovered that the reception had started at 5:30.  (The program had said 17:30 and when I was trying to remember it in my head, I didn't make the translation from 24 hr time.)  So there wasn't much left over besides wine and cheese and Nathalie, the person who had invited me to speak at the conference, had already gone home. Since I don't drink, I had a few nibbles of cheese and went back towards my hotel, feeling very hungry and kind of worried that this whole trip might turn out to be a disaster. The only place I found open was the little restuarant next to my hotel that served Gyros and fries.  So here I am in France, (and Lyon in particular which is apparently considered the culinary capital of France,) and I am having what is essentailly a greek sandwhich...not really what I had hoped for. However, I will say that the gyro tasted better than pretty much any other Gyro I have ever had.



The next day got up early (time shifting is hard, but taking melatonin the night before really helped) and went to the conference, where I finally had the chance to talk with Nathalie.  We were both post-docs in the same lab nearly 10 years before, and she was one of the organizers of the conference, which is likely why I was invited to speak.  It was nice to know at least one person at the conference, because to begin with I felt very isolated.  Although the conference was officially in English, probably 2/3rd of the people were French, so they quickly reverted to French and that made it hard to join in conversations.

One of the wonderful surprises was that pretty much all the meals were included as part of the registration for the conference, which ensured that I got a chance to be totally immersed in French cuisine..  Breakfast was always things like chocolate croissant and other pastries and the lunches were extraordinary.  The first lunch, we sat down to a plate of pate and bread.  We when I was done, I felt fairly full.  And then they brought a plate of roast beef and other delicious sides.  Whoops, I guess the pate was just the appetizer! So by the time I had finished the second course, I was feeling stuffed.  And then they brought out a delicious dessert. 

So by then, I was super-stuffed, but quite satisfied that I had a least had finally experienced French cusine. It was a good thing that dinner was suppose to be on your own that day, because I wasn't the least bit hungry.  My talk went well, and I ended the second day in a very different mood.
The next day we once again had a nice breakfast and a wonderful lunch. The talks were perhaps less interesting to me, but that was alright. I had a nice conversation at lunch with several young French assistant professors who taught me a lot about the food and about French scientifiic culture and about their methods for measuring membrane properties, which is one of the things I found highly useful from the conference.

Parlez-vous français?

So every once in a while, a career in science has some benefits. 
Recently a the benefit was a week in France.

Some random thoughts and pictures

So I was happy that I had empty seat on the plane on the way over.  Still it was hard to really get good sleep, just no way to get comfortable even with the extra seat, a travel pillow, and such. 

After landing at Charles de Gaulle airport (which is huge), I found the TGV (bullet train) station alright, but felt like it was a bit confusing where I was to go to catch my train.  The problem is that my ticket said Lyon, and had the train number, but the big board which told you which platform to be on only listed a Lyon train that was suppose to be 45 min before my train.  The info person gave me bad information and had me stand in a line that probably was to buy a ticket and I might have missed it except there was someone walking through the line to answer questions and they were able to direct me back out to the platforms.  The problem, as I eventually discovered, was that the final destination of the train was Marseilles, so that is what was listed on the big display board.  When the train arrived, it did mention the intermediate destinations.

So I hopped on, couldn't find any place to put my luggage and ended up leaving it in the aisle where others pieces of luggage were as well.  Then I walked through the coach, trying to find my seat number.  When I did, a dignified older French woman was sitting in it.  I looked down and my ticket several times to make sure I was reading it right.  The french women started screaming and gesturing at me in French.  I was looking at here rather blankly, she suddenly grabbed her suitcase, stood up and walked to the other end of the car talking loudly to the other passengers and gesturing.  Finally one of the other passengers said something to me in French, and I said in English, I don't understand French.  They said something to the others that made them all nod and I quickly sat down in my seat.  My guess is that old lady was saying something like just sit anywhere and don't bother me.  Talking with my French host later on, they attributed her manner to her being a Parisian, which they viewed as rude and intolerant compared to the fine folks in Southern France.

By bullet train Lyon is 2 h from CDG airport because the train goes about 120 mph.  From my window I had a good view most of the time and was surprised by how much was simply open country side of farms and forest.  For some reason, I expected there to be many large cities, but it was mostly rolling hills, with extremely oddly shaped parcels of land, bordered by hedges or other vegetative boundary markers.  The villages looked beautiful, typically stone with slate roofs.

I arrived in Lyon, found my luggage gone, but that it had accidentallly been unloaded by a French family who thought it was one of theirs.  The apologized and all was well.  I then had to figure out how to get from the TGV train station to the tram, which is how I was getting to my hotel.  I exchanged some US dollars for Euros, but ended up mostly with bill for 10 and 20 euro with only a few coins, which proved problematic when I tried to buy a tram ticket.  One huge problem with being an American in Europe is that American credit cards lack the security chip of European credit cards, so essentially no train or public ticket machines will accept them.  ATMs will, and most stores with a person who can get a signature or the PIN number will, but the tram station machine only accepted coins or credit cards. Luckily, I had just enough coins to buy a one trip ticket.  It took awhile for me to figure out which direction of tram I needed to take, and ended up needing to cross to the other side, but eventually end up on the tram headed the right way.  It took about 15 minutes to get over to the INSA Lyon station in Villeurbanne, which is where the conference was at. 

Bird Watching (With a Shotgun?)

So one of my favorite things to do is to sit on our back porch in the early morning (okay if you know me, you know this means the late early morning) and eat my breakfast and watch the birds and such in our back yard forest.

However, lately, this has taken on a more ominous meaning because of the arrival of one species of very unwelcomed bird: the woodpecker.  Our home has wooden siding, and apparently one of these migrating birds has decided that our house is either a place to look for a meal or to build a nest, because he (or she) has begun pecking very large holes into the back of the house.  (To go with all our other problems out there.)

(AM please insert pictures here.)

So anybody got any bright ideas of how to keep them away from our house?

In googling the topic, it turns out that you can't shoot them as all migrating birds are protected by law.  (Not that we have a shotgun anyway and it would be darn tough to hit them without further damaging our or our neighbors house.)

We currently have put up two aluminum foil pie tins, to flap around in the wind (and bang against the girls and JPD's window) based on suggestions that came up in our google search.  So far (a couple of hours) that seems to have done the trick, but then again, I have also been sitting outside writing my grant, so that maybe what is keeping them away as well.

Hopefully these migrating woodpeckers will quickly move on, but knowing our luck, I doubt it.

Random Thoughts While Flying Home from Seattle

Frasier was filmed in Seattle I had fogotten that.  Apparently Seattle has an all Frasier channel, because I watched parts of four episodes while I was in and out of my hotel room while getting packed and getting stuff ready to go.

Nordstrom and REI all began in Seattle, as well as the more well-known Boeing and Microsoft.  Given Seattle's fame for computer software, it was ironic that my conference had more AV problems with Powerpoint than I had ever seen before.  (But that was because the guy running the conference used his students to do AV, instead of the hotel's staff, I guess to save money, but it was a joke.)


Is there a mobile app for checking into Southwest that would let you preload your info and then it would fire off the "check-in" click the instant the 24 hr window opened?


The Seattle airport had free wireless, does that surprise you? Wish they all did.


The crystal I was bringing back for JA apparently triggered suspicion in the TSA agent scanning my bag.  My bag was pretty loaded with clothes and I kind of had to laugh at how hard it was for him to closed it again after checking through it.

Twice on flights this trip  there as been an individual who immediately gets up after landing and pushes there way up  the aisle until people finally step out to block their way.  Is the tea party mentality taking over air travel as well?  It got me thinking about how such simple courtesies as waiting your turn are transmitted into the general population.   How do your learn how to behave in shared public space? To consider others interest as well as your own?


Every Southwest plane I could see landing at the Midway airport had a puff of smoke that came up from the tires when they hit the tarmac.  Is this normal for every airplane landing?  I know when we landed we slammed pretty hard and I was actually pushed out against my seat belt.  Maybe Midway just has a very short runway?

Why don't soft drink cans spray when opened during an airflight?  They are canned at essentially sea level (Atlanta) and opened at an aproximate cabin pressure equivalent to 8000 feet, isn't that enough difference to make them spray?  Is it that they are kept cold enought that they don' overpressurize?

Its great that Southwest doesnt have puddlejumpers, I hate those.

Collapse Complete

There was a moment around 11 pm last night that it looked like the Red Sox were going to finally stumble into play-offs, despite their best attempts otherwise.  Starting out the day tied with Tampa Bay, they needed to win and the Rays needed to lose for the Red Sox to advance to playoffs and avoid becoming the answer to a trivia question about the worst September collapse of a playoff team ever.
 
But at the moment, it seemed like the sinking ship had finally righted itself....

...At Camden Yards,the Sox were up 3 to 2, with  two outs in the bottom of the 9th, nobody on, and Papelbon pitching. At Tropicana Fields, the game was in extra inning, but the Yankees had two runners on with only one out...


And then the games took on the same cast as the whole season and shades of 1986.  Papelbon, one the game's best closers inexplicably gave up three straight hits, once again snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.  Then the  Rays got out of the top inning and later scored to win 8 to 7.

And so, the dream turned to nightmare season ends, and Red Sox fans are left asking...
...Did trading Manny bring back THE CURSE?

(Or maybe Theo Epstein should have traded for some pitching back in August.)

High Adventure

So this past Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday BikerBob and Jpd (yours truly) got to participate in a VERY cool high adventure trip with some of the other youth in our stake.  To be specific, there were only 6 scouts and 2 adults.  Having a small group enabled us to have a lot of fun.

Half of our group (me, Nick, Nick)

DAY 1

Early Monday morning (8:00 am, which is way too early) the eight of us piled into the leader's van (to give some background; he used to be a Ranger and Helicopter Pilot in the Army and does tons of high adventure things, very hardcore) and head off two hours to our destination, Virgin Falls Pocket Wilderness.  While Bikerbob and I have hiked there several times, this was our first with other people.  When we finally got to the trailhead parking lot, we ate lunch, saddled up, and took off on the 8 mile trail.  This being a high adventure trip we had several challenges to face.  The first and perhaps hardest was getting to know each other, since all but two of us were unfamiliar with each other.  Luckily we all hit it off pretty well.  Challenge two was to locate the first of two dinner caches (extra motivation), which was turned out to be a jar of salsa.  We hoped that the next cache would turn out to be more promising and substantial.

       The second cache did turn out to be more yummy.  I am proud to say I was the one to locate it, underneath a huge slab of rock in a cave underneath Big Laurel Falls.  Included in the second cache were 1) 12 packs of chicken 2)12 Chips Ahoy 3) 12 fruit cups; obviously a treasure to behold.  After cooling off a bit under the falls, our leader showed us how to build a one-rope bridge like the ones he used to build in Special Ops.  With a lot of pulling and a bit of knot tying, you can actually make a very reliable rope bridge.  To put it in use, we made one that ran adjacent to a large log that rested betwixt the falls and the ground.  We actually climbed the log, using the rope as a safety line in case we should slip.  Going up the log was the easy part, going down was a different story.  The slope that seemed gentle at first was now a lot more intimidating going down, but no one fell off or anything so it was a successful challenge.  
      We got our packs back on and hiked another few miles to Sheep's Cave/Falls.  The geography basically consisted of a cave stream coming out and falling one hundred feet or so into a large muddy pit and going back underground.  We decided to go down into said large muddy pit.  While it could have been possible for to do so just on all fours, for safety reasons we set it up as a repelling job.  While the rope definitely helped with not slipping in the mud, most of us got a bit of rope burn on the way down.  Once most of us boys got down, we explored a little and found a really cool cave that was sort of tucked in the side at the bottom.  Unfortunately only one of us though to bring a flashlight, so we couldn't explore the cave as quickly or thoroughly as we would have liked; however, it was still really awesome, with huge cave crickets and fairly large "rooms."  After everyone took a look around we hooked up to the rope again and climbed back out, which was made slightly difficult by a few large mud patches.  Back up top, now that we were sufficiently dirtied, we saddled up once again and hiked one last mile to the falls. There we set up camp, took a nice breather, and got a fire going; with which we heated our delicious meal of packaged chicken and salsa.  By now the sun had set, draping the woods in darkness.  It was then that I got mugged.  That's right, in the middle of a pocket wilderness I got mugged.  Let me explain:


       After dinner I went to clean that pot and utensil that I had used.  After walking a few yards away from the fire, on a trail, I set down said pot and utensil about to wash them.  However I had forgotten the camp soap, so I walked back to my pack to retrieve it and came back to the same spot.  When I got there I heard a strange metallic rattling noise and looking down, I noticed my pot was missing!  Within a few seconds I put two and two together and looked for the source of the rattling.  It did not take me long to spot the pair of eyes and outline of a raccoon at the bottom of the hill.  I paused for a minute in pure shock; this kind of thing only happens in movies, right?!  I would have immediately torn after this thief, except that he was at the bottom of a steep rocky incline.  By the time I managed to get down there he was already gone.  After explaining to everyone at the camp how I had been stolen from, my dad and I searched for the pot, hoping that the thief had abandoned it; unfortunately our search was in vain.

       The next morning we went down to the falls, where we actually went under them.  The falling water provided a refreshing shower to wake us all up.  After breakfast our leader challenged us to built a rope bridge across a pit by our camp site.  While it took us awhile to get it set up, the end product was successful. 

After taking down our rope bridge, we broke camp and headed out a mile or so to the nearby river, where we faced another challenge; our leader wanted us to rig a raft made of our packs, to be used by someone to float across the river.  Not only were our packs going to get soaked, but we also had to put in clothes and our sleeping bags to float it.  But the raft worked well, even though our packs were drenched and sandy.  We also found a rope swing, which we put to good use. From here it was a straight hike out back to the trail-head, which landed us at the parking lot around five o'clock; then we drove about an hour out to the leader's family ranch, where we crashed for the night.

       The next morning we had a nice big breakfast and went out back to shoot shotguns.  I myself have only shot one once in my lifetime, so it came as a surprise when I managed to hit about 80-90% of the clay pigeons.  While I've never been a gun fanatic by any means, I do have to say it was quite fun.  In addition, we got to take his dirt bike and dune buggy out for a spin on their property.  Unfortunately we were not allowed to drift (safety or something like that), which prevented me from executing my Mario Kart skills.

Anyways, this high adventure trip was definitely awesome and we will be doing it again next summer for sure.

A Great Urban Adventure

       So on the 4th of this fine June month I (jpd) had the chance to partner up with my Aunt B. to participate in the "Awesome Metropolitan Event" (GUR) in the city which she lives in.  For those of you who don't know what the GUR entails, the website describes it as "a wild urban adventure. Teams solve twelve clues and complete exciting mental and physical challenges while discovering the city in a fresh way!"  Basically it's a recreational version of the Amazing Race.

       At exactly noon the team were all given their clues.  There were 12 clues, all in the same envelope.  It was up to us as a team to decipher the clues, figure out locations, and choose which ones to do.  You are allowed to skip one, although on the website it states that some clues are mandatory while others or not.  This will come into play later.


      After we figured out the locations, we sprinted 2 miles to the first cluster of challenges.  We got our pictures taken by a friendly group of us "jumping' into a fountain.  It was so hot I was half tempted to jump in for real. Next we went into an upscale wine shop, where in the back we tried to get three corks a piece into buckets.  On our way to the next clue, we had our picture taken with a hobo who was carrying two grocery bags (to complete the picture tic-tac-toe).  

Me and my crazy hair.

Our second challenge took place at a necklace shop, with the requirement being to sort out one wooden bead from one thousand clay beads.  Once we found the wooden bead, we were to string it with six clay beads to form a necklace.

The final product.

  Next we busted down to a Greek Restaurant.  Funny thing about that, both of us were sweaty and I looked pretty wild by this time. We took the side entrance and walked in on a bunch of people who were nicely dressed and enjoying there dinner.  Needless to say, we felt significantly awkward.  Luckily a waiter rescued us by pointing out the challenge table in the corner.  The challenge was to take a picture of one partner feeding the other a piece of Baklava, a Greek dessert pastry.  With my large eating habits, it only made sense for me to do the eating.  This baklava was the best I've ever had (also the only I've ever had).  It  was very sweet with lots of honey and other good stuff.

Om nom nom.

       With the completion of this challenge, we were finished with the first cluster of clues and ran to the next.  Two miles later we found ourselves at a boutique/flower shop.  There our challenge was for one us to ask the other out to prom using a randomly selected accent and emotion.  I got a happy sports broadcaster, and while I gave it my best shot, I didn't nail it.  Fortunately we still got credit.

Me, all sweaty and crazy haired again.

       Next up was the football stadium, home of the professional team which are 10ac's bitter rivals (or so we like to think).  While Aunt B. searched unsuccessfully for office supplies in the gift shop (it comes up later), I went and threw some horseshoes to complete the challenge.

      Rejoined with Aunt B. we raced a few blocks over to the pro-basketball stadium, where we shot some mini-hoops.  Then another block later and we found ourselves on the third floor of a pub/restaurant place which served as a billiards club, where we had to shoot some pool to complete the challenge.

       From there we stopped by a local UPS store to buy basic school supplies (which are surprisingly hard to find in this downtown metropolis) for the charity challenge.  Then we ran (if you haven't figured it out already, we did a lot of running in the extreme heat) to the offices of a NASCAR branch, where we had to fill in the blanks of a common regional anthem.  Luckily we had iPhones to look up the lyrics, since the song was unknown to the both of us.

We then headed to the canal, where we paddled a few meters, around a fountain, and back in a kayak (the cold water was very refreshing to the near 100 degree weather).

Our approximate route.

            We finished up the picture challenge with

1) take a picture with a street sign with double letters

2) take a picture with a car with a different state licence plate

       Finally, we ran 2 miles to give our school supplies to St. Jude's Children Hospital representatives.  While we could have skipped this clue, I felt that since it was for charity we should still do it.  This did end up costing us an hour's worth of time, but it's all good.  So after that we used our last legs to get back to the finish line, with a finishing time of 2 hrs, 56 min.  As I said before, without going to the charity challenge we would have shaved off near an hour of time, which would have most definitely put us in the top 3.  But regardless we still finished in the top 24, qualifying ourselves for nationals (yes, they have a nationals for this) in New Orleans this November.  Besides getting a cool medal for qualifying, we also were the first family team to finish (one member has to be below 18 years of age, me) so we got a cool Car Racing prize pack with some shirts and shtuff.  At the closing ceremonies there was also a speaker from St. Jude's Children's Hospital who told a heart-warming story about her personal struggles with a brain-related illness.

Us with our prize (the city name is blotted out because my dad fears a  hacker attack or something)

Anyways, the Great Urban Race was definitely awesome and worth a 10 hr round trip drive from our residence in 10ac.  Through the scorching hot heat and massive amounts of foot travel Team Nike battled its way to the top 25 earning a ticket to a hopefully cooler November New Orleans.  I absolutely recommend the Great Urban Race to everyone and I look forward to doing another race soon.