San Antonio

Jeff had a professional conference in San Antonio earlier this month, so I tagged along. It was beautiful weather and a gorgeous setting right down on the Riverwalk, so I entertained myself during the days and we had fun together in the evenings.

If you've never been to San Antonio, there is so much to do! I went up in the Tour of the Americas (built for the World's Fair) for a bird's eye view of the city. Then down through the parks and walking trails around the Riverwalk. One day I took the bus out of downtown and toured the Japanese Tea Garden and the San Antonio Botanical Gardens.











We, of course, saw the Alamo. It was a very special few weeks for the museum and shrine, as the historic letter written by Commander Travis requesting volunteers and stating their intent to fight (and die, if necessary) was on display inside the church. It had not been on the premises since it was written and sent 177 years ago! It was a very big deal, and there were lines up to five hours long to get in to see it. We toured the plaza, barracks, and other Alamo sites and made plans to come back to see the church and the letter another day. It turned out we saw the letter on the morning of March 6th, the same day the Alamo fell to Santa Anna all those decades ago. What interesting timing!







Since the Spurs were in town, Jeff hoped to see a pro NBA game. Several of his colleagues from the conference were interested, too, so Jeff arranged tickets for all of us to the Wednesday night game against the Chicago Bulls. It was aired on ESPN, so you might have seen us!







Dinners, a riverboat tour, and other enjoyable activities rounded out the week. All in all, a very fulfilling and fun time in Texas.

Designing Dinner

Jeff has wanted to have a get-together with a few of his graduate students for quite some time now, but schedules, house projects, and unexpected events kept getting in the way. We finally just set a date and went for it. We started small, with just four of his most active research group members, but it was nice size dinner party.

It was a casual gathering with a pleasant, outdoor setting. Incorporating vegetarian and gluten-free dietary needs into the meal planning was a bit of a challenge. But with homemade barbecue sauce, grilled chicken and veggie burgers, various types of buns, vegetarian baked beans, and several ingredients served as optional side items to the potato salad, it worked out. Dessert had me stressed for a moment, until I found an old recipe for flourless chocolate torte served with whipped cream and fresh berries. I'm just glad no one was vegan or lactose intolerant!

Home

Jeff gave his last finals early in December, so he's been freed from campus for the last week or so. He goes in occasionally for meetings, etc., but until classes resume January 10th, he's basically all mine! He has his own office at home when he needs to work on research, publications, and other professorial duties, but we certainly appreciate the blessing of his job in terms of the great flexibility and free time it allows.

We're taking advantage of the break to get some little niggly items done around the house. We have to make a list so we get the reward of crossing jobs off, since they are the kinds of tasks that bring little fulfillment, but need to be done. Don't you just hate those kind!

Jazzed for Jeff

More accolades for my dear husband! At the recent international conference he attended in San Antonio, Jeff was presented with the Keith J. Miller Young Investigator Award. It is given in recognition of past accomplishments and the potential for future contributions to the fatigue and fracture community. Nice job, Professor Evans!

Picturesque Prague

Overlooking the vineyards and Prague from Castle Hill

We had a wonderful experience in Prague. Because it was not bombed during WWII, it is one of the most well-preserved cities in Europe. We saw too many places and beautiful buildings to name! There are examples of all the architectural styles right through history. Almost every office building, business, and store is housed in a fantastic, ancient structure with ornate moldings, exterior fresco paintings, high ceilings, and beautiful colors. After a few days, we almost got used to it and stopped saying “Look at this building. And look at that building! And the one over there, too!”

In addition to architectural “eye candy”, we also had amazing food. My first meal in Prague was a lemon pepper salmon over roasted mixed vegetables. It was almost unbeatable in taste! Everything else, the Argentinian beefsteak, the duck over oranges, the butterfish with capers, the pasta platters, it all had to compete with the memory of that salmon. We ate lightly at other meals to try to balance the crème brulees, chocolate tortes, and cheesecakes we consumed for dessert.

Out to dinner with some very bright people!

We enjoyed the company of several of Jeff's colleagues from the conference as well. As a whole, they were a very well-educated, international group of engineers. I was able to finally put faces with names of long-time associates of my husband. We also met and made friends with many new individuals, such as a Brazilian PhD student studying in Germany, a professor from South Korea, a Frenchman teaching in Atlanta, an Australian government scientist from Melbourne, and a large contingent of Swedish scholars and students. Jeff is very good at networking and setting up collaborations, so I view any of these locations as potential travel destinations for the future!

The Daily Grind

As I type, the smell of roasted garlic is in the air. This is a good sign, as it means I was successful in preheating and using the oven for the first time here in our little efficiency apartment! The dials and symbols on the oven are a bit confusing, but I think it has several settings for bake, convection, broil, and additional combinations of the above. I want to make garlic bread to accompany our pasta dinner tonight, and I always try to keep some roasted garlic heads in the fridge back home, so this seemed like a good, low-risk first attempt. There's nothing like the smell of familiar foods cooking in the kitchen to make you feel at home.

Jeff and I each had our first day of “work” here. His went well with lots of introductions, hand-shaking, and settling in. He will give a technical presentation Tuesday so the lab can see his research areas and how his work will dovetail with theirs. My day started on the morning trains, like millions of commuters everywhere. I found my German class just fine and had an excellent session with students from Serbia, Norway, London, Spain, and the US. What a very international group we are here in Berlin!

My 'Psalm 37:4' moment

Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE my husband's job? My dear, intelligent, entrepreneurial Jeff has been offered a guest scientist position in Germany for two months. And, just like with Seattle, he has (of course) invited me along! What an incredible blessing this unexpected opportunity is!

This has been in the works for a few months, since we knew he was presenting at a conference in Prague and I was going to accompany him there. What began as a week in the Czech Republic has expanded to an additional seven weeks in Berlin at their federal institute to do research and form collaborations. It's all paid for and we get to pick the dates, set the agenda, everything!

They're putting us up in an adorable historic villa that's been converted to self-catering apartments.It's right near all the public transportation lines and shopping districts, so it will be super convenient to come and go. I've even found a riding stable less than 3 miles away on the edge of the Grunewald Forest, so I'm hoping to partake of some of the authentic German classical riding instruction while there.

While Jeff is playing in the well-equipped labs and networking with international scientists, I'll be taking an intensive German course in the mornings and then experiencing the sites of Berlin.

This feels like the realization of a dream from years ago. I always wanted to study abroad or work as an au pair or backpack through Europe, but I put those pursuits aside to push forward the fulfillment of other goals. I could never have imagined during those poor student days of cramming German and working in the stables to pay for riding lessons that I would one day be able to "summer in Europe" with my amazing husband and enjoy the language and culture of Germany!

Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. -Psalm 37:4

OTs are the "Must Have" new fad!

Jeff sent me this article link from Wednesday's edition of the New York Times about my former profession, pediatric occupational therapy (on the Fashion and Style section, of all things)!

In a nutshell, upper-class parents are hiring occupational therapists (OTs) to give their children a boost in fine motor and visual motor/perceptual skills (like handwriting, scissor skills, copying figures, etc.), often so they can get into an ultra-competitive nursery school or kindergarten. Additionally, many otherwise typical children are having difficulty with fine motor skills, partly due to a heavy academic push without time for normal "child's play" which builds these fundamental areas.

I have seen this firsthand, working as a pediatric OT for over six years, four of which were mostly school-based. My college thesis was actually on the role of extracurricular activities as it infringed upon free-play opportunities! Parents were often surprised when I explained to them that normal "childish" behaviors like crawling and playing in squishy/wet/sandy material is crucial for intrinsic muscle and sensory development.

It's nice to know therapy is no longer regarded as only for those with "something wrong". However, I never had the honor of being employed solely to give a privileged child an advantage!

Quoting from the article, one father from the Upper East Side says:
“Even with the economy like it is, the hottest question when we socialized at our country house this summer was not what country club do you belong to, but who is your child’s O.T. back in the city. And how can I get an appointment?”

Jeff is ever the entrepreneur; I'll let him know if he gets tired of Alabama, we can always move to Manhattan!

Safe in Huntsville

For all those who were wondering: yes, the University of Alabama in Huntsville where the shooting occured last Friday is the same university at which Jeff is employed as an assistant professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department. He knew both the shooter and two of the faculty killed (he had been working on an interdisciplinary project with the biology chair and one of the associate professors). Jeff's office is about half a mile from the Shelby center where it happened. We're all fine, and we appricate the concerned friends and family who called and emailed to check up on us. The campus is closed all this week, so it will be interesing to see how things go next week when classes resume.

Way to go Professor!

We're slowly making progress on the computer front, so I should be back up and running with full posts and pictures soon. It's going to be a busy week with family visiting for a few days, Jeff's colleagues coming for dinner, a house to clean, projects to wrap up, and a vocal solo to prepare and deliver! So the computer may be last priority for a while.

One thing that is top priority is a little well-deserved praise for a certain wonderful husband. I've always enjoyed the posts of proud parents filling us in on the latest achievements of their progeny. Since our dog hasn't done anything great lately, I hope you'll bear with me while I pat Jeff on the back for a minute, instead.

At the recent international professional conference he attended in Ottawa, Jeff had been asked to serve as a session chair. This he did while also delivering a technical presentation the same week. The presentation (and accompanying paper) was awarded one of six Best Paper Awards out of 665 submissions! This is a big conference with professionals from 55 different countries and it's only held once every four years (Jeff calls it the Olympics, as it is the premier forum for fracture and fatigue research ;-). So I'm really excited and proud of my boy. Congratulations Dr. Jeffy!