back from spain

You read the title. You know. I uploaded all the pictures this morning, so you can find them in the usual places. Also check out the "photo" page for an interesting new album titled "Where in Spain is the Snowman". Watch the movie I just uploaded as well. It is pretty good, just random clips we took on my camera while we were in Spain. Most take place while we are resting at cafes, or while on trains.

I don't feel like writing much else, so let the pictures tell the story of our trip.

reunited at last!!

So I am writing from Sevilla, Spain. I have been reunited with the Mart and it is great. I have taken so many pictures so far and uploaded a number from the first two days Mart and I were in Madrid. Following that we picked up my parents at the airport and spent 4 nights in Granada. Today we took the train to Sevilla, where we will be through Christmas. Check out the photos! More will be posted as I have time.

i'm so high!!

So high up in the mountains. Yup. I am in Salt Lake City at the Annual American Institute of Chemical Engineers Meeting. I am in quite good spirits right now because my presentation is all finished. It was this morning and it went great. It was on reserach I did at URI with Dr. Lucia, not research I am currently doing at Princeton, so I was worried that I wouldn't remember what I did, but I did fine. Tomorrow I hope to take a tour of the Great Salt Lake. Did you know that it is saltier than the ocean? I didn't. Here are some other fun facts about Salt Lake City, UT (ok, these are actually silly laws that are still on the books):

1. A husband is responsible for every criminal act committed by his wife while she is in his presence.
2. Birds have the right of way on all highways.
3. In Utah when a person reaches the age of 50, he/she can then marry their cousin.
4. It is against the law to fish from horseback.
5. It is considered an offense to hunt whales.
6. It is illegal not to drink milk.
7. It is illegal to detonate any nuclear weapon. (You can have them, but you just can't detonate them.)
8. No one may walk down the street carrying a paper bag containing a violin.

So Martha, if you ever come here and bring you violin, be sure that it is not in a paper bag. Also ... no whale hunting. Interesting in a land-locked state. Maybe there are whales in the Great Salt Lake. Perhaps I will find out tomorrow. I have apparently already broken a law here, as I have not had any milk since my arrival. Must remedy that soon. And now, for those curious readers out there, here are some real facts about the Salt Lake City area:

1. Elevation: In the valley, the city's elevation is 4,330 feet above sea level, and in the foothills reaches 5,200 feet. The Wasatch Mountains to the east are 11,500 feet tall, and the Oquirrh Mountains to the west are 9,500 feet high.
2. The Great Salt Lake, 17 miles west of the city, is only about 45 feet deep, and its water is 5 to 15 percent salt. The Lake is 48 miles wide and 90 miles long, making it the largest lake in the U.S. west of the Great Lakes. The Great Salt Lake is part of an ancient lake known as Lake Bonneville that used to encompass part of Nevada, which today is made up of salt flats.
3. Salt Lake City was founded in 1847 with the arrival of Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers who sought religious freedom. The settlement was originally called Deseret, and within three years of their arrival, the Mormons founded the University of Deseret, which is now the University of Utah.
4. With a population of over 179,000, Salt Lake City is the state's largest city and the capital city.
5. As a whole, the state population of Utah is the nation's youngest and healthiest.
6. The population boasts the highest literacy rate, highest percentage of high school graduates, and highest percentage of college-educated people.

Ok, those are enough facts. I am taking some pictures while here, but did not bring my USB cable, so they will not go up until I get home. So stay tuned. In the meanwhile, I did upload a few other pictures that my friend Sareh posted from our homecoming weekend celebration in Rhode Island. Those are in the "October" album, if you wish to see them.

cozier

Fall is here for sure. Every morning the sun is bright on my face and the air is cool (sometimes downright cold) and crisp. This is my favorite season for sure. For some reason, on autumn mornings, I really feel that the day is full of promise. Of course, the days are no more promising than any other day, but it feels different. The noticeable darkness in the evening is quite cozy at first. I know I will tire of it come mid-November, but for now, it is nice. Makes me want to go home, light my candles, and snuggle up with a book. Too bad I am too busy with school work.

Ah yes, school work. Do you want an update? Well, here it is: 91 pages and I am done! Woot. First Prop is officially written! I still have to bind it and pass it in, so I will hold the celebration off a bit longer, but as of this morning, I finished my abstract and printed it out. Only to discover that the color printer in the lab is terrible and the figures looked like garbage. What to do? Do I fork over $120 to get it printed at Staples or Kinkos (3 copies of a 91 page paper = a lot of money)? No no no. I call dad, who else? Having your dad work for a paper company with printing capabilities has its perks. I emailed him the report around 12:30 pm this afternoon, and circa 3 pm it was being given to a UPS guy to be mailed to me in NJ. 3 copies all printed out. Thanks dad! Now, when I receive them, I just have to bind them and pass them in. A good feeling for sure.

In other news, on Sunday I leave for Utah. Why Utah? Well, that is where the annual American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is holding their conference. I'll be there from Sunday to Friday. I go through bouts of nervousness and excitement. Excitement because I've never been to Utah and it looks pretty with the mountains and such, and I'm staying in a super swank hotel, and super swank hotels are fun. Nervousness because I am giving a talk on research I did before I came to Princeton (yes, while I was at URI). I am sure I will be fine, but that does not quite quiet the nerves.

I will be quite a happy camper when I get back from Utah, because the presentation will be over, First Prop will have been handed in, Thanksgiving will be around the corner, and my trip to Spain will be even closer. The only thing I'll have to worry about after that is the oral portion of my First Prop, but that isn't until January!

Until then, I will be content with warming up in my apartment on these blustery fall days. Tonight, I shall drink some cider. Huzzah!

P.S. I uploaded photos from the Halloween parties I went to last week. Have to find some time to have fun!

secret travel

As many of you know by now, I ended up in California for the weekend. I was just as surprised as many of you may have been to find out, since I did not find out myself until I was at the airport. Here is how Thursday's events transpired.

After enjoying my lunch by the fountain, I headed to the benches outside the E-Quad to read my Economist. It was hot, so I sat in the shade. Around 1:30PM, Tom approached me with a plain manila envelope. The envelope was sealed had my name typed on it. He said he was instructed to give me the envelope at this time, then left. As he walked away I opened the envelope. Inside the envelope was a single sheet of white paper, and upon this paper was typed "http://www.geocities.com/agent_bellows". I laughed. This looked like it was going to be fun.

I encourage you to click on the link and find out what my next instructions were. I was to meet someone at "the docks" and mention I wanted the "special with no onions". I knew where "the docks" were, they were these wooden benches by the fountain. I must have re-read the instructions 3 or 4 times, because I was unsure if I was to meet this agent that day, or the following day, and if I really was to pack up and leave work. After talking with Mart, I decided to risk it.

In order to investigate who I was meeting, I circled around the building before the fountain, coming to the fountain by a different direction. Along the way, I looked for clues as to who I was meeting. I found it in the form of a Colorado license plate on a nearby parked car. I saw the agent (Luc) sitting on the "docks" and approached him and gave him the code-phrase. He immediately got up and told me to follow him. We approached his car and got in. He asked if I had my wallet/keys/cellphone with me, then we drove off.

We stopped at the "safe house" (his apartment), where I dropped off my laptop and lunch box. We got back into the car and started driving.

I was obviously being taken somewhere, so I started to try to puzzle it out. First I thought we might be going to New York City, but we got on Route 1 South, not North, so that ruled that out. Then I thought maybe we are going to the Jersey Shore, or even Delaware or Maryland, but we got on 95 S, not 295 S, so that ruled those out. Now we were obviously headed toward Philadelphia, but I couldn't fathom what we would do there. As we passed through the city itself, I saw highway signs for the Philadelphia International Airport. Surely not.

We got off the highway an exit before the airport and proceeded to airport parking. Oh my goodness. I couldn't believe it. We were flying somewhere. After we parked, Luc popped the trunk and in the back was my luggage, all packed and ready to go. I had no idea. We hoisted our bags and made our way to the shuttle stop, and from there, to the airport itself.

At the check-in counter I anxiously awaited hearing our destination ... LAX. We were going to California. I couldn't believe it. I was thinking Providence or something. Not clear across the country.

The plan was to stay with Luc's dad, who was on sabbatical in LA. Luc had wanted to visit him before classes start, and oddly enough, plane tickets were half as much during my birthday weekend than during any other weekend, so he took me along and surprised me.

Once in California we went swimming in Santa Monica (saw the ocean for the first time), went to Disneyland on my birthday and I got to wear a pin that said it was my birthday and everyone wished me a happy birthday that day, and we went to Hollywood before hopping on a plane back to Philadelphia.

It was the best surprise ever. I put up pictures, so I direct you to the "travels" page and from there to the "photos" page.

missing my mart

She has left us. Left as all. 2 days ago, Mart embarked upon her adventure, leaving many behind sadly awaiting her return. Mart has left for Europe to study abroad in Granada, Spain, although, right now, she is in London an a 3 day excursion before landing in Spain. Lucky her. I meticulously tracked her flight progress across the Atlantic, and I will do so again 1 day hence when she flies to "the continent". Until she reaches Spain, contact with her is minimal. No telephone number. We await calls from her. Sporadic email checking. Here are some excerpts I received today:

Boo! I don't know what to say.

She does has a blog (as you can see by the convenient link from my page), but in the words of Mart:

So I don't have a long time on the internet so I have not updated my blog. I probably will when I go to spain.

Perhaps there will be more at a future date. Until then ... we miss you Mart!

road trip and other movies

It took a while, but it is finally here. Why did this take me so long to finish (it took about 2 months)? Well, 1. I am slightly lazy. 2. I was moving into a new apartment. 3. My computer broke ... twice. 4. Sometimes just didn't feel like editing. 5. Computer broke. 6. I took over 2 hours of footage and made a 5 minute movie for your viewing pleasure (I know my target audience). 7. Computer still broke.

Whatever the reasons, it is done. I hope you enjoy it. I had fun figuring out Final Cut (new video editing software I bought with my MacBook). I have also uploaded Jedi vs. the Blob (finally), so if you want to hear my Yoda voice, you should also check that out. Hopefully Manwitch will also be making a reappearance now that I can finally compress them (using Final Cut) so I can upload them for your viewing pleasure.

To see the Road Trip, just click on the embedded video above to start playing. To view all my movies, please direct your browsers to the "movies" link on the right. Happy viewing!

back from colorado

Let me just say this ... road trips out to your destination are much much more fun then going back home. Going back home feels a lot longer, and the trip was probably exacerbated by the fact that I caught a terrible cold about a day before we left Colorado.

Anyway, I am home again in good ole' Princeton. It feels good to be home, although I had an awesome time in Colorado. Most of anything I had to say about the trip I said in the previous post about Colorado. Since that post, I just went into more mountains and took more pictures, which you can find by clicking on the "travels" link to the right of the screen, and from there click on "photos".

** Note -- do not simply click the "photos" link to the right. You will find no Colorado photos there. Why not? Because this was a trip and as such is documented in the "travels" portion of the website.

colorado so far

For those of you who didn't know, on June 2nd I hopped in a car and drove west ... for a very long time. 3 days. My destination: Colorado. Why? Because that's where Luc's family lives. Also because I've never been past the Mississippi River. I cannot say that anymore. My current farthest westward point is now the restrooms just on the other side of the continental divide up in Rocky Mountain National Park. No joke.

It's been a good vacation so far. Even though the drive was long, it was interesting to see the changing countryside. I have uploaded pictures I've taken so far from the trip, for those of you who have been bugging me for immediate pictures. Since arriving in Colorado, I have gone into Rocky Mountain National Park and seen snow (yes, it was snowing up there, but 75 and sunny down in Boulder). I hiked up to the top with an elevation of about 2.3 miles above sea level, maybe 1.2 miles above Boulder. I went to the Celestial Seasons tea factory and saw how they made tea and got some free samples. Also ate in a persian styled tea house ... given to Boulder by their sister city in Tajikistan.

Boulder is an interesting place. Upon arrival, I kept hearing about all the crazy hippies that live in Boulder. It is true, but I suppose in a good way. These hippies are not your typical poor crunchy hippies, but more of the chic trendy blend. This I have discovered because it can cost $59 for a pair of shorts at a normal chain store (probably only like $45 back on the east coast). They also enjoy their super eclectic restaurants and bars and the big thing one notices is how into nature they are. Upon giving Luc's dog a walk, we found a spot of freshly turned dirt along the path by the creek with a handwritten sign stating, "a snapping turtle laid eggs here, please do not disturb 6/3/07". The dirt was surrounded by sticks to be sure no one trampled it accidentally. I have also heard that residents of Boulder wished to build a wall deep into the ground so the local prairie dogs could not wander out of the city limits where they could be shot (Boulder has a no killing of animals policy). Despite these oddities, Boulder is beautiful. That is the only word that could possibly describe the simplistic grace that this part of the country exhibits. Can air possibly feel any fresher or crisper when drawn into the lungs? I think not. Thanks to the hippies, this wonderful piece of beauty has been preserved, and probably will be for all time. No building in Boulder can be higher than 3 stories, to prevent overdevelopment which would block the view of the mountains. Everything is built to fit in with the surroundings. Boulder is apparently one of the 10 healthiest places in the country, and this is readily apparent with the many natural, organic and health food stores (thanks again to the hippies), the many bikers crisscrossing the streets every day (and when I say bikers, I mean top of the line road bikes ridden by helmeted, tight-clothed riders with shoes that clip into the pedals). People up here are serious about being outdoors and enjoying it. It is nice. Refreshing. I am loving it.

So check out photos and be ready for more updates. Just a reminder, since this is a trip, the photos are found in the "travels" section of the website. Tomorrow we leave for Keystone, which is in the mountains on the other side of the continental divide. Can't wait.

puerto rico

March 18 – 21, 2007
San Juan and Fajardo, Puerto Rico

(for pictures go to the travels page)

This was my first trip with Luc. Let me first say, that he is a first rate travel companion. No complaints that our flight was 1 hour delayed on our leg out (getting into San Juan around 2AM instead of 1AM), nor about the fact that I apparently cannot drive on the correct side of the road (island driving is crazy, what do you want from me … I was trying to fit in). He also didn’t complain about us shelling out ridiculous amounts of money for cab fairs because we were idiots and couldn’t figure out how to take the bus. Sheesh, you’d think I’ve never traveled before. Don’t worry. The trip was totally awesome. A real get-a-way … since we were only there for 2.5 days. We made the most of it though.

I am pleased to say that our first hotel, which was the crap hotel since we just needed a cheap place to get 4 hours of sleep (3 AM – 7 AM), had no bed bugs. Believe me, I’ve had that happened in Puerto Rico before. However, the Mango Inn is bed-bug free, for future reference. Our first day started out bright and sunny. We strapped on our packs and were ready to head back to the airport to pick up our rental car, because we were going to jet out of San Juan and head to quieter Fajardo, on the east coast. Now, when booking this first hotel, from the website it said that it was walking distance from the airport. Yeah, walking distance if you want to walk on a 6 lane highway. After a bit of walking (we had taken a cab the night before since it was so late), we determined that walking was not an option. Now, instead of thinking to try public transportation (which totally did not occur to me), we hailed the next cab. Luc told the driver (in Spanish, none the less), that we wanted to go to the airport, and specifically the Dollar Rental place. The driver told Luc that he didn’t think that Dollar was at the airport, but right outside it. Now, I figured we should just go to the airport, because if the rental place is not there, there would probably be a shuttle that would take you. That’s how these things work. The cab driver had better ideas. You see, there is a flat rate from San Juan to the airport: $13. If he took us to the rental place, though, then we would be charged $23. You can guess where we ended up in our ignorance. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

After we picked up our rental car, we hopped on the highway and made our way to Fajardo and the nearby beaches. We did quite well navigating, since we seemed to end up on highways that weren’t on our maps. Luc directed us to a nice beach near Fajardo: Playa Seven Seas. We were looking for a nice quiet beach. What did we find? Jackpot. There were a total of 5 people we could see and parking was free. We hit that up til lunch time, then drove a bit til we found some shacks serving lunch. Delicious. After that, we went back to the beach, but then walked about a half mile west to Playa Escondida (Hidden Beach). On the way there, Luc found a number of conch shells (5 total). Many were in good shape too. Upon arrival, guess how many people where there? Just 2 … me and Luc. Yes ladies and gentlemen, we found a secluded beach. I didn’t think they existed anymore. I was wrong. It was great. We lounged about the rest of the afternoon before making our way back to the car and finally driving into Fajardo where our hotel was.

Now, I was a bit nervous about this hotel. Luc booked the airline tickets, so then he made me do all the hard work and find hotels. I found this one and it looked far too good to be true. It was inexpensive, yet looked like a resort. I figured the pictures were lying. I can make bad places look good with my camera too. However, it was exactly as advertised. We had a room with a balcony with views of the ocean. The hotel had 2 restaurants and 2 swimming pools (one with water slide and waterfall). There was also a mini-golf course. Quite nice. Everything was clean and beautiful. We won again. That night we hung out at the hotel exploring, because that’s what you do at new hotels. We ate at the Mexican restaurant in the hotel (really inexpensive, and the food was good) and proceeded to have our first tropical drinks of the trip (strawberry margaritas … no little umbrellas though). After that, we were exhausted since we didn’t get much sleep the night before, so we went to bed. A very nice day.

Day 2 dawned bright and beautiful. We got our gear together because that day we went hiking in the rain forest. It was a quick drive (about 30-40 min) to El Yunque, the Caribbean National Forest. We hiked one of the more popular trails, because halfway down the trail one runs into a waterfall that you can go swimming under. We did that, naturally. The water was frigid, but it felt good after hiking in the warm forest. After hiking, we went back to the hotel. Earlier that morning we had tried to make reservations on a night time kayak expedition to a nearby bioluminescent bay (Laguna Grande). Unfortunately, there was no more space for that evening and we were heading back to NJ the next day, so we couldn’t do that. Next time though. Instead, we explored the large pool with waterfall and water slide at the hotel. It was nice and relaxing. We also played a round of mini-golf. Dinner was eaten at a local seafood restaurant, Rosa’s. It was quite good. Luc had conch … the animal from a conch shell. It was chewy. That’s all I have to say about that.

The last day we awoke early to get the car back to the rental place by 9:20AM. We made it just fine, even though it was a bit tricky to find the right roads to take us to the rental place. Then we took the free shuttle to the airport and started to have a few problems. I think that the San Juan airport just doesn’t like us. See, we were hoping we’d be able to do something with our bags, because we did not relish the idea of traipsing about old San Juan with our huge backpacks on. Ideally there would be a luggage storage room. If not that, then maybe we could check our bags, but our flight was not until 7:30PM and I didn’t know how early one could check luggage. We thought our hopes had been answered when we saw a sign that said “luggage storage”. We followed the sign but after a bit of walking with our bags, we were at a loss as to where this alleged storage place was. We walked back to the sign to see if we had missed something, but we hadn’t. I checked down a narrow corridor and there it was. Hooray! Except it was locked. Boo! We looked around to see if there was someone to ask, but there was no one. We headed back to the Jet Blue check-in counter and thought to try checking our baggage. After getting our baggage inspected by the USDA and waiting in line for a while, we finally got up to the counter. We mentioned how our flight wasn’t until 7:30PM and the lady said she could only check in our luggage 4 hours before the flight. Strike 2. Now what were we to do? She said there was a luggage storage place around the corner, and to find a porter to ask him to take it. So we searched for a porter and finally found one. Returned to the storage room and waited a bit til someone came and unlocked and took our luggage for $3.00 a bag. Finally success. I was getting a bit cranky because it was taking so long to get this accomplished, and the severe lack of people to ask irritated me.

We walked back outside, our packs greatly lightened, and found the bus stop. No more taxis for us. We got $2 out (since fare was $0.75 each) and awaited the bus. It came and as we tried to present the money, the bus driver informed us that the machine only accepted change. Gah! We frantically scrounged about and came up with 30 cents. It’s all we had. Luck was with us, though. The bus driver just motioned for us to throw it in and take a seat. Woot! We had to transfer buses to make it to old San Juan, and while waiting for our transfer we bought a pack of gum with $5 in order to get lots of change for the next fare. The bus ride into old San Juan was uneventful, if long (about 45 min – 1 hr). Our first order of business once we got off the bus was to find lunch. In my guidebook were two recommendations that looked good. Unfortunately, neither of them seemed to exist anymore, as when we approached the address, the buildings looked long abandoned. I was getting really hungry, so I said we’d eat at the next place we found. Around the corner we saw an open-air café. It was one of the places we were looking for!! It had apparently moved since the publication of my guidebook. Needless to say, it was amazing. Exactly what we wanted. Delicious panini and we had tiramisu for dessert. Wonderful! After that we made our way to the fort and just hung out there for a few hours. It was sad when we had to make our way back to the bus station and back to the airport. I could have stayed 2, 3, 4 more days. Probably longer. What a great vacation.

For pictures, I direct you to my travel page and from there photos. There are many of them. Hope you have nothing else to do.