It IS Christmas

Christmas was a wee bit different this year primarily because a majority of the family was somewhere outside the United States; Kate and David in Australia and Hennessy in Paris to be with Jeff and Jessica. Being resourceful we just imported more "family" from New Jersey, our great friends The Sawanoboris. Christmas Eve found us with 50 friends eating our traditional turkey sandwiches and sipping on Gloria Ferrer Champagne and then...just before bedtime...I pulled out the tattered (and often hidden) "The Red Ranger Came Calling". (Some things never change.) Bill and Keenan sat attentively through the entire reading and NEVER complained. (Some things DO change.) The following morning after we dragged Keenan from his bed Bill set up his tripod to take the traditional "family rounding the corner from the bedroom wing' photo and decided that due to the small number of family, he could actually squeeze into the shot this year. Kevin and Pauline came over around lunchtime and then the remainder of the day was spent alternately eating and napping. Happy New Year gang!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Finals have touched down at Cal Poly and it is stress center around here. I just keep reminding myself that in FIVE days I will be boarding a plane for PARIS! In preparation for this trip I have successfully learned absolutely no french. I have however purchased a very warm pair of gloves and European style hat, so while I am lost navigating the french streets at least I'll be nice and cozy.

I also bought a train ticket to San Sebastian, Spain for four days right after I arrive. San Sebastian is where I hope to study abroad next year and our good family friend Mia Carella is there right now so I'll get to check out the town and hang out with her a bit.

The apartment I live in is a "complex" (called the Pink Palace) that is really more like a house that was turned into four different apartments. Anyway our neighbors got into the Christmas Spirit and went all out with christmas lights. Amanda and I did our part by making the star in the window (which we've noticed they casually forget to turn on every night. I think it's a pretty damn good star)!

Keenan and I also made it to the ND game at Stanford over Thanksgiving. It was a good game that ended in a win for Stanford :( We still had a good time though.

As the official Miller/Mellin/Walker/Nicol ambassador, let me know if there's anything you want me to pass along to Jeff and Jess!

The Mutants are coming!

Allo! Second brother online finally. I gave my first lab meeting talk to an audience of 20 yesterday. Since I did it in English, and I mumble, I think probably only five people understood, which makes giving science talks a helluva lot less nerve-wracking I have to say. It went pretty well though, and I survived. Lab is pretty cool these days. I don't work in this building, but I work right next to it, and it's a lot prettier than my building so I decided to show you this instead. Actually, this is where Louie Pasteur used to live and now it's a museum. They still have his flasks where he proved that microorganisms come from the air and are not spontaneously generated. And they are still microorganism free! Pretty cool actually. As for me and my work, I'm pursuing some nice results in the lab. I've been making mutant bacteria which fluoresce which is cool since I can show you a picture. The bacteria growing on the right will be the topic of my first paper out of this lab I think.

Jessica started her nannying job yesterday and discovered that the three year old is a monster. She was pretty wrecked, so here's to hoping it gets better. If anyone has any great ideas about how to deal with a three year old monster, we're all ears.

Multimedia message

Light the fireworks!  Call the president!  Your son/brother has just taken the step into bloggdom.  Yes this is my first post....... ever.  I'm not much of a blogger in spirit and paitence.  As you can tell.    However,  I have worked it out to be able to blogg from my phone.  So. This is cool.  I'm liking it.  My messages will be in incomplete sentences with typos in order to maintain a texting "wild man on the go type feel".  I hope you enjoy.  I have included a pic of Kate and David's loving, kinda confused, awesome animals "kicking" it together.  And my favorite pic of P and I from the summer.  Our camping trip to the Yuba river.  The bed was in the back.  In a van down by the river!  Xoxo   

Ah, it's December

We celebrated First Friday at David and Kate's. Kate stuffed a pork loin with figs and it was delicious. Their new puppy Jackson provided all the entertainment. He and Shiloh the cat are an "item." (Well at least best friends.) The two of them not only share pillow space, they also are quite happy to smooch. (Yes, one is a cat the other a dog.) Jacque led us in a toast to Kevin who just signed a recording contract for at least one album. That break may be coming! Keenan spent most of the evening asleep on the den couch next to Melia who happily watched an "academic" video. Hennessy was absent (as is normal) studying for her upcoming finals as well as Jeff and Jess who are happily adjusting to life in Paris.

Slide Show #2

Thanks to Jeff for telling Kristy and me how to post a slide show to our blog. It'll save some room and keep the shots all in one place. Thought I would try my luck with three additional Thanksgiving photographs.

More Thanksgiving Photos