The BIG 30: More flags, more fun!

So it finally crept up on me, yep you guessed it the big three zero - I am now officially no longer in my twenties! Clearly, theres only one way to cope with the drastic realization that your getting old and thats to embrace your inner youth with a day thrill seeking at an amusement park. Our destination was the Six Flags discovery kingdom in Vallejo, 30 miles north of Berkeley.

Obviously, we did it in true style starting with vodka shots and chocolate cake (thanks to Anne for the baking work there) at 10:30am in the car park. The park is a sort of strange arrangement with lots of animal attractions since it use to be marine world prior to the arrival of rollercoasters some 10-15 years ago. The newest two coasters being absolutely bloody awesome. (1) Vertical velocity (which being nerdy scientists we dubbed V squared), see top left and top right in the photo, is the only 45 degree impulse rollercoaster in the world. The coaster’s track is essentially a large U shape that is loaded at the base and uses a series of linear motors to accelerate the train up each side of the track (0 - 60 mph in 4 seconds). These are similar to those used in the magnetic levitation trains. One side of the track is twisted track and the other side is a perfectly vertical straight track so you get some upside twisting on one end and the sense of weightlessness on the other with acceleration like being in a sports car between the two. (2) Medusa is one of the longest (0.75 miles), highest (150 feet) and fastest (65 mph) coasters in the United States and pulls 4.5 G at the bottom of the first big drop. As a souvenir we purchased (thanks Julie and Dave) the photo from the ride, see above, from the last ride of the day! V for victory!

What a great way to usher in the 3rd decade on planet Earth.
Let the good times roll!

Bay 2 Breakers 2008

The bay to breakers event in San Fransisco is an annual foot race that starts on the BAY close to the Oakland Bay bridge on the East of the city and traverses directly west through the city and golden gate park culminating at the Pacific Ocean where the BREAKERS pound pacific beach. The race attracts close to 100,000 serious runners and almost as many less serious ones! We were, as the photos will confirm, in the less serious category.

It is the longest consecutively running footrace in the world and started in 1912, as a means to lift the City's spirit after the disastrous Earthquake of 1906, which was of magnitude 7.8 on the Richter Scale. Public nudity and open alcohol consumption are prohibited although in reality it was more like the norm. A friend lent me an old bridesmaid dress (thanks Julie) so it seemed wrong not to go as "The Prom Queen" - and it was quite a hit with the other race goers! In order to facilitate extreme amounts of drinking, my friend Drew and I built a rickety old booze truck from a cooler, some pink string and wood plus wheels from home depot. Surprisingly, it lasted pretty well - 6 miles before we lost a wheel, by which point the 60 cans, half a mini-keg and 2 litres of Caipirinha cocktail where significantly depleted to render the crippled cart unnecessary.

Happy Days!

A little, longer lasting fame.

So I had my 15 minutes of fame, but heres a little, more long lasting fame - a photo I took in the summer of 2007 in Nice, France has been included in a online travel guide. Click here and then scroll down to the Port of Nice photograph and low and behold one of the 10 Port of Nice photos has my name on it! Very cool indeed - paparazzi career here I come!

'Sideways' the Russian Way.

Sideways as many of you well versed cinema goers will know is a film set in the wine country of California. Its a curious yet strange tale of a two man stagdo with what else but wine of course. It is supposed to be based in the Russian River Valley, a mere hours drive from San Francisco, although it was actually filmed down in Paso Robles near Santa Barbara. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that due to the unique meteorology of the Valley's and the strong temperature fluctuations caused by the marine fog that drifts up from the San Francisco Bay every day, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes grow really well here. Being more a fan of the reds than the whites, it was the Pinot that I was interested in sampling and what better way than straight from the barrel during the 30th Annual Barrel tasting festival.


Team Europe (from Left to Right above Silvano, Italian; Martial, French; Elena, Spanish; Me, obvious; Luka, Italian) as we shall now be known successful managed to negotiate 5 vineyards, try significant amounts of awesome Pinot Noir, got some accidentally very well priced Pinot and only one of us got completely trashed - that was Luka - apparently he blames sleep deprivation, though I believe it had a little more to do with his efficiency at getting samples!. One of the vineyards (Armida) had a heaven/hell theme (weird but definitely original) - clearly we were in hell for some time since thats were they were dolling out the Zin and Pinot. The weather was of course, hot and sunny - well it is California after all!

Take care for now...
Dave

Fifteen minutes of fame, well sort of...

So the say that everyone gets fifteen minutes of fame, so heres mine. The College of Natural Resources here at Cal has a magazine called Breakthroughs and we (myself and my boss Allen) featured in an article about the instrument we're developing. Follow the link to see the article:
http://nature.berkeley.edu/breakthroughs/break_feature1_fa07.php

Enjoy...

Dave

Colorado New Year and the great snowboarding saga!

Following the success of new year in the snow at Lake Tahoe last year I journeyed east this year, in search of a real winter, to Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. Fort Collins, home of the New Belgium Brewing Company, was the first destination to see in the new year at Chez Colette (photo 1). Colette having just moved there to start a professorship at Colorado State University. The new Belgium Brewery (http://www.newbelgium.com/index.php) were we spend new years eve with a tour and tastings would be a great place to work and not just because its a brewery! The company is a co-operative as in all the employees own a part of the business and therefore have a vested interest in the companies success. After one year of employment, a stake in the company is awarded along with a neat New Belgium bike. After 5 years, employees are rewarded with a week long trip to Belgium to learn skills from their master brewers. Recycling and sustainability also feature heavily and all the power generation comes from wind farms. All this and theres a slide that leads to the tasting room, what more could you ask for. Being Colorado (Denver is the mile high city, being a mile above sea level), there was plenty of snow, freezing temperatures, ice skating (photo 2; I'm the one on the floor, I suck at ice skating) and snowball/ice fights (photo 3). It was a classic way to send off 2007 and welcome in 2008 with a bang.

After new years I spent 5 days up at Winter Park in the Rockies learning to snowboard with Mike (english guy I met on a research course in France 6 years ago) and a bunch of his University friends from the UK. It was a tough first few days with multiple bruises and sore muscles before I final got the hang of it and was cruising down the pistes. For the final two days we were rewarded with real Colorado powder, 4 inches of fresh fluffy snow on the first day and 8 inches on the second. This was awesome and exactly what snowboards were designed to ride! I have truly been bitten by the snowboarding bug and this past weekend I was up at the Heavenly resort at Lake Tahoe with my housemate Lindsey and several of her friends to cruise the slopes. Two weeks previously Tahoe had had 12 feet of snow, I kid you not and although snow was not as fresh and fluffy the base was pretty damn thick and it was all good. The views from the top of the Mountain were impressive looking down over Lake Tahoe (photos 4 and 7) and for the Friday at least the slopes were not overcrowded (photo 6). An impromptu performance by the University of California's band (all the musicians on skis) added to the atmosphere (photo 5) and the fact that the Condo we we're staying in was 2 minutes from the ski lift and was free (the owners are friends of Lindseys parents) were definite bonuses.

Laters,

Dave

Happy Holidays 2007-2008!

Dear Friends, Romans and Country-'blog reading'-folk,

Firstly, I wish everyone a very merry christmas and a fruitful and prosperous 2008!
And secondly apologize for having been a little slack with updating my blog. Its been really busy here since I got back from the woods (BEARPEX) in October. I will endeavorer to make a new years resolution to provide an increase in blog posting frequency.

I hope that all are well and I will no doubt be in touch with you soon.

Have a mulled wine on me and drink to the USA signing up to the Kyoto Protocol in 2008, we can but hope.

Cheers and all the best for now,

Dave