Poland 2008 - Kornik Photosession

Monika in Magnolias:


Monika, Moli, Ania, Agnieszka:




Monika, Agnieszka, Moli, Ania:

Fortune Cookies

Here is a piece of trivia for you: fortune cookies are not at all common in China and Taiwan, and in their current form they were introduced for the first time in San Francisco (check wiki if you do not believe me).

Few weeks ago we went with the lab to a Chinese restaurant (Eliza's), where we were served fortune cookies at the end of our meal. Here is a collection of prophecies that we got then (do not forget to add "in bed" at the end of each sentence!):

Point Reyes' Lab Retreat

At the end of July my whole lab went for a retreat to Point Reyes National Seashore. We were staying at Point Reyes Hostel that I can whole-heartedly recommend to you.

The purpose of the retreat was both to discuss science and to stimulate better communication between lab members. Because of the latter we had many team building excersises, such as "bio-olympics" games during which you had to cooperate with other people on your team to e.g. seed agar plates as fast as possible, run with a stack of agar plates on your had as fast as possible without dropping them, and so on.

The retreat was lots of fun and it served its purpose well. Immediately after we came back from it, I could feel improved social atmosphere in the lab. I hope it will become one of the lab's traditions to have a retreat every year.

On the way to the ocean:


Pristine Limantour Beach:


The Lab:


Bio-olympics part 1: Plates' seeding competition:


Bio-olympics part 2: Running with plates:


Bio-olympics part 3: Rope pulling:




Bio-olympics part 4: Can you trust your labmates to guide you through the mine-filed?


Bio-olympics part 5: Plate tossing:


On the second day we hiked on Coastal Trail to Santa Maria Beach, and we finnished the loop back to hostel on Fire Lane Trail:

Madison, WI

Last week I went to Madison, Wisconsin, for an aging conference. The conference was very good but also mentally and physically exhausting. The program was very intense and there was hardly any time left during which I could have explored Madison.

Madison was a surprisingly nice city. Small, but with many young people and liberal atmosphere. Still, I realized that I could not live in place like this anymore. In the end Madison has only 30-50 restaurants to offer, and that's it. After living in place like San Francisco, I just can not imagine myself anymore living in a place that does not have such vivid art scene and abundance of restaurants.

Here is Madison's Capitol, which is very similar to the one in Washington, and apparently was the second one (after the one in washington, DC) to be built:


The conference was taking place at the campus of University of Wisconsin, in this very building:


The conference building was located directly at the lakeshore:

the one with the partner in crime

A friend is someone who would bail you out of jail, a best friend would be sitting beside you saying 'Damn that was fun'

The Boys of Summer by Don Henley

Ania's Birthday

Last weekend we celebrated Ania's birthday in typical Polish style - with lots of food, alcohol, loud music and dancing. Below are few photos from that party.

Beautiful birthday girl:


Two crazy Polish chicas:


Wild dancing crowd :)

Now I am the dark one :)

black & white

Watermelon is a new Viagra

Apparently, eating watermelon exerts the same relaxing effect on our blood vessels as Viagra. The blood vessel relaxation fascilitates flow of the blood to the periferial tissues of our bodies, which can potentiate sensual experiences during a sexual act. From now on, I'm going to include watermelon in the menu of all my romantic dinners and breakfasts :)

wicked game; chris isaak

The world was on fire
No one could save me but you.
Strange what desire will make foolish people do
I never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you
And I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you

No, I don't want to fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]
No, I don't want to fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]
With you
With you

What a wicked game you play
To make me feel this way
What a wicked thing to do
To let me dream of you
What a wicked thing to say
You never felt this way
What a wicked thing to do
To make me dream of you
v And I don't wanna fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]
And I don't want to fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]

{World was on fire
No one could save me but you
Strange what desire will make foolish people do
I never dreamed that I'd love somebody like you
I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you

No I don't wanna fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart
No I don't wanna fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]
With you
With you

Nobody loves no one

Drinking from the longevity pot

Biking over Golden Gate Bridge

Last weekend Ania and I biked over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito. Actually, for almost half of the bridge we walked as we stayed on its east side that during weekends is reserved for pedestrian traffic only. The disadvantage of being forced to bike on the west side of the bridge is that neither downtown SF nor Alcatraz are easily visible from this side of the bridge. On the other hand, GGB is really long, so having to walk it all the way to the end takes a lot of time...

Palace of fine arts and Alcatraz from "Inspiration Point" in Presidio:


Biking the bridge:


If you need last-minute counseling:


Golden Gate Bridge from "Vista Point" on its north side:


Downtown SF as seen from Sausalito:


Golden Gate Bridge in the infamous fog:


Downtown SF from the ferry:

Mill Valley Hike

On Sunday, two weeks ago, I went hiking with several people from my lab in Mill Valley area. Beginning of our hike was pretty strenious - we had to climb 670 steps of the Dipsea Trail. But once we climbed the stairs, the trail became very easy - from then on we were mostly moving gradually downwards. All in all our hike was around 6.5 miles and took us around 4h (including picnic break). I thought that it was very beautiful and I would recommend it to anybody without hesitation.

On the road:


View from the top of the trail:

quiz

A friend who knew that I would be flying back today from Europe to SF wrote to me in the email following message:
Hope you are having a good flight right now, I'd be expecting some mild clear air turbulence over Idaho and central Oregon, caused by the jet stream that is messing up the flying here today. Booh!
Any ideas who this friend could be?

CA driver's license

As a resident of California I am obliged to have a Californian driver's license if I want to drive (legally) cars here. Even though I have my national driver's license for many years now, still I have to take both written test and driving test to get the Californian one. I just started studying for the written exam and I just can not stop myself from sharing with you this very interesting rule that I found in the official CA driver's handbook: "Do not shoot firearms on a highway or at traffic signs". Hmm, does it mean that you can shoot firearms at roads which are not highwyas and at all other things that are not traffic signs?