NEV

Shout out to Pam at NEV. We just got back from Blue C Sushi. Yum. I just realized we actually had fish for fish Wednesday and I thought about you and your weekly culinary post.

B's current favorite there is their seared tuna. I tried a really yummy new lobster roll -- it's a purple plate. Our normal strategy is to load up on green-yellow plates (cheap/starchy items) and then have a few blue plates (more spendy sushi/sashimi items) and see how much we can eat and how little we spend. It's a frugal dining challenge. We were out with guests today, so we ended up eating a rainbow of plates rather than our normal limited color palette.
~

IPCC talk

I got to see a talk by Dr. Susan Solomon today at work on "the climate yesterday, today, and tomorrow". Dr. Solomon works for NOAA and was co-chair of working group one of the IPCC. The same IPCC that shared the 2007 nobel peace prize with Al Gore for their efforts towards disseminating information on climate change.

We don't have celebrities, per se, in science. I mean you don't go around asking for autographs. It is very cool, however, to see scientists who actually make a difference in the world. One of the perks of my job.

Full disclosure: it was rather cool when I was a graduate student and Prof. Joseph Pedlosky came up to my poster and was interested in my work on Rossby waves. His text on GFD tortures us all in grad school and is referred to as the GFD bible by some. Can I help it if I had a total geek-out moment?


~~~

Bandwagon editorial... make that a rant

It's a good thing our President finally admits that climate change is a problem. Can we say grossly inadequate and too little, too late? The scientific climate (e.g., making it difficult for scientists to get funded to study/publish results on global warming) is the only climate he's responsible for changing while in office.

Can we finally join the rest of the world and work towards curbing our carbon emissions? My daughter would like a future that doesn't involve a global apocalypse, thank you very much.
~~~

The end?

We've been noticing a trend with "modern" children stories. They just end abruptly! What the heck? We were reading "bonsoir lune" - I ordered the french translation of "goodnight moon". After saying goodnight to every single item in the bedroom, it just ended by saying "goodnight outside noises". Then there were 3 blank white pages. Was that the end of the story? Would it kill them to have a page that says "the end" or "fin"? Does anyone know the true ending? I think we going to go to the bookstore or library to see whether it's a bad printing or if that's truly the end.
~~~

Tantalizing

Baby V dangled the carrot in front of us Saturday night and slept for 9 hours straight! Ah, the promise of an all-night sleep. That's what sustains me at 1am in the morning.
~~~

Future oceanographer

Baby V started her "swim-tots" class today. Basically it's a half hour class once a week that gets babies accustomed to being in the water. This being her first class, we thought she took it pretty well. It seemed like she enjoyed smacking the water with her hands and feet. Perhaps a future oceanographer in the making... or at least an avid swimmer.

At some point, though, it got too cold for her and fun-time was over. I've never had to get out of a pool with a baby, shower, and try to get a crying baby dried and dressed while still personally soaking wet (where did I put the key to the locker? why did I put her clothes under my clothes in the bag? why don't I have 3 arms? where the heck is her pacifier? d'oh, it's at home!). Only after halfway through this process did I realize that there is another row of lockers right next to a nice large changing table with a protective edge! Next time, I will definitely pick those lockers. Hopefully it will go smoother.
~~~

"We do El Niño"

We invited several francophones/francophiles to a brunch yesterday at our place. B's parents were in town and we wanted them to meet some of our friends and be able to speak French.

The invitees included my advisor (physical oceanographer) and a friend from graduate school (biological oceanographer).

Best line describing the work we do in the climate research division of NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory courtesy of my advisor...

"We do El Niño"

Best sarcastic/amused response courtesy of my friend (slightly paraphrased)...

"Oh! You're the guys that do that?"

B's parents are as we speak flying home. Bon voyage! Gros bisous!
-