Here is where we get to put whatever strikes our fancy onto a page for the world (or, more likely, just our family and friends) to see. ("Hi, Mom!")

				The opportunity of a lifetime: During her Fall, 2004 East Coast tour, Michelle Shocked had the daring vision to post her set list on her web site and invite her fans to learn the set and join her on stage during her concerts. Imagine, sharing the stage with a bunch of strangers! I took her up on it, learned the songs, and was able to play two whole sets with her, at the Regent Theater in Arlington, MA (shown here) and at the Colony Cafe in Woodstock, NY. Because flash photography was not allowed, the pictures are kind of blurry, but what an amazing experience it was, playing with one of the most talented singer/songwriters I have ever heard. She was brilliant!
	My right ankle was in a cast, but there was no way I was going to miss this!
			After the show, she gave me a signed copy of her latest release (Arkansas Traveler) to add to my collection, and even posed for a photo with me. She was so nice to everyone, it was just great. What a memory!

Random Item: "The revamped www.rpi.edu, as was the case with its predecessors, is intended to serve an external audience, not our current faculty, students, and staff." This is an actual quote, from an email to me from Gary Schwartz, Director, Communications & Collaboration Technologies at RPI. If I hadn't read it myself, I wouldn't have believed it. That's right, boys and girls, the RPI home page is NOT intended for us to read. Who comes up with these policies, anyway? Oh, right: Gary Schwartz does. What a genius.

Friday, September 12, 2003 approximately 4:30 PM. We just heard the news that our NIH grant was going to be funded. Now THAT was a party! "2.6 million bottles of beer on the wall, 2.6 million bottles of beeeeer..."

Audra in action! She's executing her role as TriBeta President by introducing Dr. Stuart Ravnick, Assistant Dean at the University of Texas Southwest Medical Center, who came to RPI to talk about applying to graduate school, and to recruit a few more RPI students to apply to UTSMC. He also bought us all pizza and soda- one of the perks of TriBeta membership.

The Stem Cell Class, 2003. During the summer, Sarah, Bill, and I taught a class on stem cells to a terrific group of (mostly) middle school and high school teachers as part of their Masters program.

Scenes from my Graduate School years: YIKES! Who is that hairy beast? Ted Kaczinski's evil twin? Sasqwatch's brother?... And to think, I used to wonder why I couldn't get a date! "Hey, baybee, wanna roll around in some leaves?" A few years ago, someone told me about a beard trimmer, and life has never been the same. I kinda miss those old days...

SCENES FROM THE ASCB CONFERENCE IN SAN FRANCISCO, DECEMBER 2004:

Audra experiences the sheer ecstasy of her meal, while Russ seems bemused by it all. Whatever she was eating, I want some!

My best friend, Chet, meets my lab members for the first time.

Yet another example of why beer and cameras should not mix.

Lab meeting on the beach

Crusin' San Francisco Bay

Lab meeting at the bar

Don has had enough. Seeks refuge. Gets caught.

By a stroke of sheer luck, GP got invited to participate in the National Academies Summer Institute on Undergraduate Education in Biology during the summer of 2004. You're looking at some SERIOUS teaching experts here (plus me, in the back row). What a great experience!