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Spooky!

Tonight, as I was walking to my car at the Park N Ride, I felt an ominous sense that I was being watched. It was very dark and as I passed from beneath the street lights, I was temporarily blinded until my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I had no idea why I had this feeling of being watched until I looked up and noticed that something was staring at me from the bushes. Below is a picture that I snapped of the spooky parking lot stalker.

Jim Lehrer Speaks at UT Austin

Monday night, I went to a lecture by Jim Lehrer. Yep, that's Jim Lehrer from the PBS Broadcast: The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. I expected to hear some interesting commentary on current events in politics, economics or the war. Unfortunately, the lecture was written for journalists. It was an effort to reassure journalists that journalism is not in eminent danger. I would argue the opposite. Unless the media changes their tactics from profit seeking to ethical presentation of the news, the media will be facing extinction. Citizen journalism is taking hold of America and offers a bonified threat to the Mass Media. If you doubt this, go to any of the media conglomerate websites and you will see CNN has iReport, MSNBC has FirstPerson and ABC News has iCaught. All of these are citizen journalist divisions of the large news corporations. Anyway, here's the first of 4 parts of Jim Lehrer's lecture.

My new diggs!

Recently, I decided that I needed a change. I wasn't having much luck at my old research bench, so I decided to move. After Junhua graduated, she left some prime lab real estate to be claimed. So, I asked Alan if I could move into some new diggs. He agreed and I am now the resident of a much needed upgraded bench. Check out the easy access to the Speed-vac and microcentrifuges, not to mention multiple heat blocks and a 55 degree waterbath. I even have generous space to setup my own personal electrophoresis bench. And, at least for now, I can put my computer on the bench next to me and I never have to leave to check my email. Not too shabby, if I must say so myself.

There's even a comfy place for the dogs to sleep while I work.

So Long, ESB

This is the Experimental Science Building. Rumor has it that it will soon be history. I thought I'd take a second to memorialize it. During my first year of graduate school, I taught in this building. I had my first grad school office here and took several classes in this building. I won't say that I'm gonna miss it, but when it's gone, a piece of my past will be gone, too.

This is the balcony from my first graduate school office.

Halloweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!

This year Halloween fell right-smack-dab in the middle of the week...a highly inconvenient day to dress up and go to parties, so Cara and I decided to stay in, cook dinner and invite some friends over to watch scary movies. We weren't sure that anyone would be interested, but we had a really good turn out. We had friends from school, work and our neighbors. Cara cooked her delicious chili and everyone had seconds and thirds. We had hot apple cider and pumpkin pie, not to mention the desserts from our guests. One of my favorites was Dede's cake balls. After stuffing ourselves with all the good eats, we started the first movie, "Friday the 13th." Some couldn't make it through the movie and had to leave early, but a few brave souls stuck it out and watched the entire movie. It was a pretty cool night and we didn't even have to put on our costumes. Maybe this will become our Halloween tradition.

Joe's Halloween Party

Last night we attended our first Halloween party of the year. Joe and Bethany hosted the party at "the Playgirl Mansion." The costumes are always creative and often very funny. I wasn't too fond of the backwards James D. Watson, who speaks out of his a**, but I gave kudos for creativity. If you don't get the joke, don't expect me to explain it. Other costumes included Shawn from Shawn of the Dead, Little Bo Peep, Dude and The Stranger from the Big Lebowski, Hugh Hefner and Holly (the hosts), a Texas Hockey Player, John Lennon and Yoko, Lucy in the Skies, Two Butterflies and the Big Bad Wolf.
Cara and I dressed as Donald Trump and Miss USA aka Miss Guided. Here's a few pics from the party:

Happy Halloween!

I found this video on YouTube. It is footage of a ghost captured on security video in London, England. It will make you think twice about venturing out on Halloween Night.

Another great one!

Yesterday, we had another successful Gottlieb Lecture. Dr. Mario Capecchi, Winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology, gave the 6th Paul Gottlieb Lecture. Dr. Capecchi was a wonderful guest. We organized a breakfast and lunch for students to meet with him during the day. He was a very good conversationalist. He told us some great stories about his past and he shared some insight into the research that he is currently doing at the University of Utah. Travis, Joe and I had particular interest in speaking to him because his research is extremely relevant to our own research. We got a few bits of information that will help us with our experiments, but so many people wanted to talk to him that we didn't want to monopolize his time. Fortunately, he welcomed us to email him. Last night, we had a potluck dinner and a party for him. We celebrated his recent Nobel Prize Award with a cake that had the Alfred Nobel Medal on it. At the end of the eventing, I gave him a bottle of his favorite wine and we all said goodnight. He seemed to have a good time and after he left, everyone was very happy to have the opportunity to meet him. Some people are just great!

Pugkin Fest - Pug Costume Party

This weekend we attended our first Pugkin Fest. There was easily 100 pugs there, all dressed in cute costumes. Maddie and Cooper were Wonder Woman and Superman (Cooperman). It was a really nice day at the park. Here's some of the funny costumes:

Jenna Bush

Last week, Jenna Bush returned to Austin to promote her new book, Ana's Story. Now, a lot of people hate anything Bush, but I've come to respect Jenna for trying to do her own thing even in the face of so much adversity for the Bush family. She did an internship with UNICEF last year during which she used her teaching skills to educate children in developing countries about HIV and AIDS. Some have said that the Bush daughters should be sent to Iraq to fight their daddy's war, but I think Jenna said it right, "Obviously I understand that question and see what the point of that question is, for sure," she said. "I think there are many ways to serve your country. And I think … what's most appropriate for me to do is to teach or to work in UNICEF and represent our country in Latin America. But you know I don't think it's a practical question. I think if people really thought about it, they know that we would put many people in danger. But I understand the point of it. I hope that I serve by being a teacher." It was nice meeting her at her Book People.

Kayaking on Lake Austin

Last week, Cristin and Shawn came to visit for the weekend. We had a good ole Austin time. We went to an Esther's Follies show, did Sixth Street, had some Texas-style BBQ at the Salt Lick and went Kayaking on Lake Austin. I still insist that the Pug video says, "Boop, Boop" despite the fact that they won the democratic vote that it is actually "Woop, Woop." Here's a few pics from the kayaking trip.

Henry Middle School Fall Concert

Cara had her Fall Concert on October 11, 2007. As usual, she worked incredibly hard to get the kids up to the task. All the work paid off, because they played great! The Concert Band directed by Chris Arnold and the Symphonic band directed by Robert Herrings were also wonderful! All in all, it was a very successful night for the Henry Middle School Band Program. I can't wait for the Christmas concert!

Beth and Glenn Are Married

On October 6th, Beth and Glenn tied the knot. It was our first Jewish wedding. The ceremony had all the familiar hallmarks of a wedding, but featured some nice touches that were very new to me. My favorite part of the wedding occurred at the very beginning. After approaching the chuppah (the canopy under which they were married), Beth circled Glenn seven times and Glenn circled Beth seven times symbolizing that each is the center of the other's world. The wedding took place in downtown Austin at the Omni Hotel and the reception afterwards was at the Thistle Cafe. Here's short video of the wedding:

I can't believe it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last December, I sent an email to Dr. Mario Capecchi to invite him to come to the University of Texas at Austin as a guest lecturer in our Gottlieb Lecture Series. He accepted the invitation. On Monday, they announced the winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Who happened to be the winner? MARIO CAPECCHI is the co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize along with Oliver Smithies of UNC Chapel Hill and Sir Martin Evans. He'll be coming here on October 25, 2007!!! How cool is that? We have been pretty lucky over the last few years, but this timing is incredibly lucky and it comes on the heels of our recent visit from Dr. James D. Watson, 1962 Nobel Laureate, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA and founding father of the field of molecular biology.

And, here's a pic of me with Dr. Watson during his visit.

Soon Cara and I will be an aunt and uncle for the second time

Shaun and Christin are expecting their first child in November. Can't wait!

This is one of the many reasons I love the University of Texas at Austin

You never know what you're going to see on campus.

Al Gore presenting his Inconvenient Truth lecture at UT Austin

I added some music to make it more dramatic.

Recent visit to Sin City

I recently attended a bachelor party in Las Vegas for Thomas and Jason who are both getting married next year. The guys in this video are not my friends, but they sure did have a good time at the pool.
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas...right?

We stayed at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino.

We had dinner at the Social House, a Sushi Bar, and we met Carrot Top. He's huge!!!

A Sample of Circus Maximus

I recorded this sampling of the John Corigliano piece that Cara performed in Napa Valley, CA this summer. Cara plays throughout the piece but her solo begins with 2 minutes remaining at the end of this part. The entire piece is over 30 minutes in length. Turn up your speakers to get the full effect of the music. There is no video only audio.
Concert Review from "Napa Valley Register"

Leonine sound of 'Circus Maximus' blasts Festival into artistic stratosphere

By L. PIERCE CARSON
Register Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Commissioned and performed by the University of Texas at Austin Wind Ensemble, John Corigliano's "Circus Maximus" underscores the nature of spectacle by presenting one.

Both earsplitting assault and swipe at our current hedonistic times, Corigliano's third symphony was the featured work on an impressive Festival del Sole program staged at Yountville's Lincoln Theater Sunday afternoon.

Written for woodwinds, brass and percussion instruments, Corigliano's incredible opus is best described by the composer himself. Although he was ill and not able to attend Sunday's concert, the composer explained in program notes that he was "influenced by a desire to write a piece in which the entire work is conceived spatially. But I started simply wondering what dramatic premise would justify the encirclement of the audience by musicians, so that they were in the center of an arena. This started my imagination going, and quite suddenly a title appeared in my mind: Circus Maximus.

"The Latin words, understandable in English, convey an energy and power by themselves. But the Circus Maximus of ancient Rome was a real place — the largest arena in the world — 300,000 spectators were entertained by chariot races, hunts and battles. The Roman need for grander and wilder amusement grew as its empire declined."
Corigliano feels that "parallels between the high decadence of Romeand our present time are obvious. Entertainment dominates our reality, and ever-more-extreme 'reality' shows dominate our entertainment. Many of us have become as bemused by the violence and humiliation that flood the 500-plus channels of our television screens as the mobs of imperial Rome, who considered the devouring of human beings by starving lions just another Sunday show.

"The shape of my Circus Maximus was built both to embody and to comment on this massive and glamorous barbarity."

And that it did, in glorious surround-sound that had saxophones serenading the audience from the balcony, trumpets sounding alarms from strategic points along the outer walls of the auditorium, even a marching band prancing up and down the aisles as the larger ensemble held forth on stage.

Before he gave the initial downbeat, conductor Jerry F. Junkin termed the work "a warning as much as it is a piece of music." He did inform us that loud passages might make our pulses race and a surprise ending might shock.

Then, as cleverly arranged by the composer, Junkin and company set in motion a dazzling performance of a work that demands to be heard. I was impressed with the stationing of brass among the aisles, allowing for blasts of sound across the seats, and then calling on the trumpeters to play intricate parts without flaw. As one might expect, the Texans performed gloriously — and flawlessly.

In fact, so did the entire 75-member ensemble, whether it was saxophones playing a siren song from on high or percussion and winds conjuring up music of the night from both urban and outback settings, brass and drums heralding a new dawn, or all 75 musicians revving up to imitate an errant channel surfer flirting with white noise. If there was a disappointment, it was that the "shocking" final sound didn't sound like a shotgun blast at all.

Nevertheless, Corigliano's "Circus Maximus" got its point across in sometimes joyous, sometimes sinister fashion. Nobody slept through this work.

As if this wasn't enough, Sunday's concert was more than just the gargantuan Corigliano work. It included a work that Igor Stravinsky composed for piano and wind orchestra. Throughout the 20th century, Stravinsky also embraced a new world of sound. Whatever he came up with was original, surprising and challenging.

A taxing work to be sure, Stravinsky's "Concerto for Piano and Wind" received an impeccable performance fromJohannesburg native Anton Nel and members of the University of Texas at Austin Wind Ensemble.

Maestro Junkin's meticulous lead allowed for an ideal partnership with the soloist. It was the central Largo that stood out, wonderfully cool and reflective, immediately offset by the brilliance of the finale. This was an ideal marriage of soloist and orchestra, an ideal reading.

Also pleasing was the program opener, selected works from a collection of 38 dances by 16th century composer Tielman Susato, called "The Danserye."

This was music for sackbuts and timbrels, with bassoons belching, triangles ringing, brass singing, plus maidens fair and lords a' leaping. Very medieval — or was that a Renaissance-style galliard they were hopping to?

And the lights stayed on. Although I bet all hell would have broken loose if they'd gone out like they did last Friday night — and we'd have thought Corigliano had written it into his score.