What's currently in/on my...

Nightstand to read: A Suitable Boy
Knitting needles: Lotus Blossom Tank by Sharon Shoji
Kitchen CD player: The Very Best of Elvis Costello
Car CD player: one of the many Caruso CD's we have; Ivan requested it
DVD player: La Trovatore with Luciano Pavorotti, James Levine conductor
Toaster oven: Leftover pizza for lunch. Hopefully, Igor remembered to turn the oven back on after microwaving his food.

The month of June for me is somewhat of a blur. Except the week of the CDP retreat and the International Conference on Systems Biology and Human Disease (SBHD). Both went smoothly (thank goodness!). For the SBHD, a spider bite kept one speaker away, but there were thankfully no volcanoes to prevent the Germans (who made up one-third of the attendees) from coming. We had a number of good talks at SBHD, but the best ones in my mind were given by Markus Covert of Stanford and Alexander Loewer of HMS.

When I complimented Covert on his talk, I discovered that he is a big fan of Nancy Duarte, of Duarte Design (the people who made Al Gore’s presentation on global warming) and slide:ology. He actually hired Duarte Design to help him with his NIH Pioneer Award presentation. Imagine: final candidates are flown in to give a 15-minute presentation, then flown back. He got the award, and I now talk about Covert’s experience to motivate my students to improve their oral presentation skills.

When I wasn’t preparing for the CDP-related meetings, I was preparing for one of the three scientific communication courses I’m teaching this summer. The classes are going well (Google Docs rock!), and it’s interesting to see the different types of students in the various research programs. Thankfully, I haven’t had to change my lectures too much, but next week, I’m teaching something new: the poster presentation. Which is a good thing because I volunteered to present a poster when CDP meets with the other NIH-funded systems biology centers. And it's been a while since I've made a poster, in fact pre-Powerpoint days.

Other random things I did this past month:

• Give a presentation on the brain to Nikita’s class. Kindergarteners are so funny. Just try asking one how big he thinks his brain is, and he’ll likely stretch his arms out wide.
• Start preparing my materials for promotion: resume, draft of personal statement (apparently, the essay doesn’t end with graduate school!)
• Worked on the CDP Progress Report. And I got an NIH R13 conference grant put on my plate for the summer.

With work being what it was, I was sad to miss some of Nikita’s functions at school (farewell party where he made a Schultüten (school cone); his class performance at the Sommerfest – but Igor videorecorded it for me), but I was able to take him out to an unofficial school picnic after his last day of school. Probably my favorite artifact from his time in kindergarten is the journal he wrote/drew in every Monday since January. I took notes so that we can interpret his text years from now.

I also began Nikita’s swimming lessons at the pool this month. The Usborne book has some good exercises; I might buy the book. Unfortunately, the pool we use is too deep for Nikita, but he seems comfortable in it. So comfortable that he once tried to swim away from the wall without a paddling board (and I was a few yards away). Yes, I freaked out, but thankfully, he was okay and amazingly didn’t drink much water. Now, if I can convince him to lose the training wheels of his bike…

Meanwhile, Ivan and I seem to bond in the rain. I sat outside during a thunderstorm for the first time. Because Ivan wanted to. We had umbrellas, but Ivan wanted to go in when we could no longer see the front porch. We also got caught in a monsoon-like storm on the way to my boss’s annual BBQ. We’ve actually had a number of monsoons this month. Odd.

Of course, I’m still reading and knitting, though not at the same time. I felt ready for a big book, and so took up A Suitable Boy, which is wonderful. I also finally finished the baby blanket, which was a good thing because my sister-in-law, Erin, gave birth 10 days early. At home – she rocks! My new nephew, Creighton Micah, is beautiful (of course), and I hope he (or at least his parents) likes the gifts I just sent him:



Here are the details:

• Sweater pattern is from The Knitter's Book of Yarn; yarn is Peace Fleece Hemlock (one skein; size 5 needles?) I think this is going to be my go-to pattern for baby sweaters, especially if it means trying out all the colors of Peace Fleece!
• Blanket pattern is from Knitting for Baby; yarn is KnitPicks' Simply Cotton Worsted in Wave Heather (5 balls; size 3 needles).
• The hat is Nikita’s contribution; it’s actually from Russia, and was worn by both boys.
  

Since I’m the only one at the office most days, I can put up the volume on my music. My rediscovery of WERS has led to some new musical finds (well, new to me): Iron & Wine (“Boy with a Coin”) and JP, Chrissie, and the Fairground Boys. But perhaps my favorite musical find is Elvis Costello’s “I Want You”. Actually, I can’t decide which version I like better, his or the cover by Fiona Apple.