It’s 9:10 am. Yesterday I worked on getting an ARO white paper out the door, as well as organizing some thoughts for the meeting with Dennis Gilmore today about alumni matters. It seems Duke chemistry does not have any sort of Alumni Network, so making one should be a priority.
Yesterday in the afternoon I met with Feichen and Jiacheng. It seems we’re making good progress on the gel, should be wrapping up the data for the first paper soon. Also met with Micah and Myung Jun about the facet-select gold electrochemistry. The results are not as clear as they were for the copper case, so we’re working on that. After the meetings it was pouring so I had to borrow an umbrella to get my umbrella from my car so I could walk to the gym.
When I got home I found we received a water heater from Jesse that allows you to store heated water. He apparently bought it after seeing me use an electric kettle to heat water. Keira said he is too nice. Keira was angry at me for not paying attention to my data usage and we got charged an extra $30. I changed all my app settings to not use cellular data so that will hopefully address the issue.
After dinner we took the kids to the library. They played with some puzzles, Harvey pushed the button a lot on that little light-up town, and we got some new books for them. Alexandra likes the Thomas reader books, she can listen to those again and again.
It’s 9:54 am. I dropped the kids off at Notasium this morning. It was kind of stressful getting them out of the house because they wanted to play with their toys, and I didn’t want them to make a mess before Ana, our cleaning lady, came. It made me think about what it will be like to try to bring them to school in the morning in the fall.
Last Saturday night we went downtown with Jesse to a couple bars. Alexandra held Jesse’s hand and he had to bend over to walk with her. We took some nice pics at the rooftop bar, but it was quite crowded with young people. The line for the bar was probably like 30-45 min. So we went to the yard at Bull McCabes to grab a beer and have a more relaxing environment. Harvey like to help these people play the giant connect 4 set. Then he ran around throwing a ball.
Yesterady we all went to the Durham Museum of life and science. Harvey and I made some towers with wooden sticks, played with these balls in the air tube, and played in the sand box. We all rode the train, then went home for lunch. I took Jesse back to the airport at 2 pm or so.
Last night we walked to the playground. Alexandra liked to kick my butt on the swing some more. Overall we had a great weekend.
It’s 2pm, just put the kids to nap. Missed a couple days so have to catch up on the blog.
Thursday I worked on a white paper briefly for the army research organization in the morning, then did a bunch of other random work things. Met with Kathy Franz in the afternoon to talk about Alumni matters. Had the rabbit dissection as well. Looks like the implants are not getting rejected. Interestingly, the cartilage is growing over some of the implants. That will hopefully not happy in the goats, it’s just because the rabbits are immature.
Thursday night we went to the Nasher art museum because it’s free Thursday nights. They had an interesting exhibit in which there was projected onomatopoeia words on the walls, making you feel like you’re in a tv. It was a good exhibit for the kids to run around in.
Friday I wrapped up my bonding lecture finally, took forever. Still need to work on the demos and activities for it. Worked out in the afternoon, got a haircut, and went home. We ate some chicken, rice, broccoli and squash. Jackfruit for dessert. Alexandra didn’t want to eat much, she went to sit on the mattress in the living room and lied down. So I took the food over there so she could eat it. It was like feeding a little queen. Grandma was reading a book and Harvey joined as well. I would give him meat and after he ate it he yelled, “more meat!”
We took them to the playground and they had a good time kicking me and keira’s butts on the swings. They love that game.
After taking them to bath I had to run to the airport to pickup Jesse. There was lightning so he was delayed getting off the plane, and I waited in a wendy’s parking lot. We drove to an arcade bar and played Adam’s Family pinball and a bunch of other arcade games before heading home.
Today we went over to Duke garden for a picnic. We walked all over the garden, Harvey leading the way a lot of the time. Harvey wanted to stop and watch this liquid nitrogen truck unload at the medical school for like five minute, and didn’t want to stop. After seeing the plants in the terrace area, we headed to the tobacco barn. Mun ho’s family joined us, surprise to Jesse! Mun ho is a visiting professor in my lab now, but we new each other from when he worked in Younan Xia’s lab. Jesse was pretty shocked to see him, not sure he remembered who he was. It was a great picknick with mac and cheese, spaghetti, chicken, salad, fruit, and Korean foods. Yum. I enjoy sitting on that bench next to the tobacco barn in the garden chilling out, even though it was a bit hot and I got sweaty. The kids enjoy running around that garden, visiting the chickens, and playing with the water in the drinking fountain. Nice picnic.
