A New Year

It's been quite a big 10 days. I'll start with the bad stuff and work upwards.

On Sunday morning I got a call from my dad. I thought he was phoning to remind me to call Mandy - it was her 30th (Woo!) - but instead he gave me the news that my Grandma had passed away. She had been in good health and was wonderfully alert as ever, so it came as a shock to us all. I'm not sure it's really settled in for me yet - it's so hard to take in what has happened when you're so far away - but on Friday, Madeline and I are flying home to be with my family and to attend the funeral.
Recently (September) she celebrated her 80th birthday. Although I wasn't there, my dad took some nice photos. I liked this one.

When I got to America five months ago, I knew that I had a fresh start, a chance to redirect and focus my life and change things without the ties of preconceptions and a stale routine. I'm here to study first and foremost, which in all honesty, was a shortcoming in my previous lives. I'll never forget arrogantly downloading my second year results in the garden of team house with Simon, Katie et. al. all standing by, only to watch my face drop as I hurried inside to put on shoes to go and argue that "there must be some kind of mistake". There wasn't of course, at least not on the behalf of the markers. The day was made significantly harder by a raging hangover because of an attempt by AJ and I to spring clean Team House's spirit cupboard in a night celebrating the blissful ignorance of our (my) impending downfall. I struggled through my final year, beginnning to put the foundation stones of independent learning in place (something which should maybe have happened a little sooner) and surprised everyone in the know by sneaking a 2:1. This wasn't in the same league as Bean's 2:1, but I was relieved none the less! I also remember speaking to Dave Jones outside the library at the end of second year and trying to convince him (myself) that all I needed for a first was 81%. Easy right? After a night drinking it had got the the stage where he was willing to put money on me, so sure were we that "if anyone can do it, it would be you Scouse". Maybe nobody can do it? Times have changed; this semester I managed to pull off a resounding 4.0, which in English is straight A's. More importantly for me though, I'm enjoying what I'm doing and my new approach to it all is working and I'm getting results.
I'm looking forward to next semester like I used to look forward to going back to primary school at the end of the summer. (Pic below is the first glimpse of our apartment interior design - picture selected by Madeline, quantity selected by me).

With the success of my educational 360, I thought that I might attack a different aspect of my life, and embellish it with New Year's resolutions - something I normally care little for. My general, all encompassing New Year's resolution is to make better use of my time. This will hopefully impact when I get up, what I do in down time, how I study, and how much time I spend with Madeline. It didn't get off to an amazing start - I slept in late from the 2st-5th, but it's picking up pace and we're even going to the gym more. A sub goal is to achieve something each weekend. This weekend we strolled through the Castro, brunched, and went to 2 new places in San Francisco - Twin Peaks (See pic below and flickr for more) and Buena Vista Park.

I'm also hoping to take more photos and continue blogging. For those of you who don't know, my photos are here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bendalziel/

and my blog is here:

http://bendalziel.blogspot.com/

If you're reading this on facebook, you're only seeing half the joy!

The only other newsworthy happening I can think of is that last Wednesday, Emilie took Madeline and I to watch Stanford vs. Cal. It was amazing, we had courtside seats and were riding every shot from down town and every alleyoop dunk. Despite being better and more impressive, Stanford were still no Furman.

So we fly out on Friday morning and are in England until the following Sunday. I'm looking forward to putting some pictures up of my family, and spending some time in a normal country where it rains more than it is overwhelmingly hot. This one is for Grandma.

From Christmas 2006 to January 2007

I've had this in draft for a while so I thought I might as well post it - not sure I'll remember the finer details now anyway.
Monday 25th December - Christmas Day with the Johnsons
Ocean swim, presents, Edith and Don's (Greg's parents), Ellen (Greg's sister), Todd, Adam - Kathy (Greg's other sister), Mike, Tom, Sarah.
Presnts for me included:
Subscription to Science Magazine (I'm so excited!), some clothes, flip flops to replace these, a bag of tools, Stem Cell Now, some pajamas, And Another Thing: The World According to Clarkson, a kettle (which doesn't turn off), Adobe Photoshop, tickets to watch Stanford vs. Cal BBall last Wednesday with MJ, Emilie, Kelly etc., Through the Lens: National Geographic Greatest Photographs, an ergonomic mouse mat, some floss and some other things I can't think of right now.
Tuesday 26th December - Shopping (Returns/exchanges) and
Meal with Edith and Don, Denny and Anne visit
Wednesday 27th December - Cinema, Attempted Bowling and an English pub
Thursday 28th December - Really not sure...
Friday 29th December - Sushi, drinking and dancing in downtown San Diego with Lilly and Rudey
Saturday 30th December - Oil Change and Fondue!
Sunday 31st December - 8 hour drive from San Diego to San Francisco & New Years Eve Party at Michelle's house.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

20 days in sunny December

A lot has happened in the 20 days since my last post so this may be a big one.
Thursday 7th December - Stem Cell research
I had a meeting with a new faculty member, Dr. Hui Yang, following her talk at the graduate seminar the week before. She's recruiting students for three projects she's working on involving data mining; analyzing protein folding, nutrigenomics and stem cells. After talking about each area, we agreed that I would join the stem cell research on an informal basis starting next semester. It sounds really interesting and it's collaborative with biologists at UCSF which will make it much more interesting, and a more valuable experience. Over the winter break I need to read up on stem cells and data mining and start thinking about what I can do.
Friday 8th December - Sushi and Beer Pong
Concerned that we were becoming too boring and old, Madeline and I met up with Michelle and Chris for Sushi near Russian Hill. Great food and sake was followed by a quick taxi ride (in the rain!) to Bar none, where we played some drinking games - beer pong, darts etc.
Saturday 9th - Sunday 10th December - Planning
Hangover from hell. Planning for Paddy and Tickle's arrival in Starbucks and Emilie's hot tub in the rain. I worked on my biology essay.
Tuesday 12th December - Take home #1
In the evening my programming team and I (so cool!) presented our coursework for OOP which went well, then we went for dinner with the lecturer.
Following dinner I had a lecture and received the first of two take home finals, for which I had a week to answer a range of questions. Finals each semester are a new concept, but thankfully American universities aren't quite as perverse as English ones, and value understanding over memory power. With Paddy and Tickle arriving in less than 24 hours, I panicked - staying up until 3am reassuring myself that it wasn't such a bad exam and that I'd have time to get it done.
Wednesday 13th December - The big arrival
When Pearly et al. came to visit in September; we were still finding our feet, living in a sketchy apartment, out of the city, with new jobs and responsibilities mounting. As a result didn't have much time to plan, prepare or entertain, but it was a great few days and wonderful to have a good friend come and stay, with Madeline, Manuel and I!
This time we were better prepared; living in a beautiful new apartment in the city, settled in our day to day lives and more than ready to hang out with another couple! We'd been excited for Paddy and Tickle arriving since they threw the idea into the world a few weeks earlier, and that excitement peaked as I met them in SFO airport, a little later than planned c/o British Airways. The short drive home gave us chance for a little bit of a catch up, as I explained that the weather wasn't normally so grim. Madeline got home from work; we went to the store, cooked and chatted over a nice bottle of white.
Thursday 14th December - Essay due and take home #2
I took the day off work to finish my essay and work on my first take home. I got my second take home later in the evening and came home to stir fry c/o Paddy and Katy. We thought about getting a film, but P and I just watched Zoolander as K and M slept.
Friday 15th December - Mexican and Mission
I worked all day, but took the night off from study to join Madeline in showing P&K their first bit of SF night life. Taxied to the mission district to meet Emilie, Kelly and friends for Mexican food. Went to Casanova bar while we waited for a table, taking down our first pint of "disgusting" American beer - Anchor Steam. Meal was excellent - a range of things for them to try, although Paddy was less than impressed by the margaritas. Got it all for a mysteriously cheap $30, then on to more bars for pool, more terrible American beer and good times.
Saturday 16th December - Biking over the GG to Sausalito + James Bond
More on this when I have photos.
Tuesday 19th December - Cal vs. Furman (Basketball)
Likewise.
Wednesday 20th December - Shopping, Lake Merced, Ocean Beach and vomiting
I had to go to campus to hand in my bio final, dropping P&K at the mall. Following an unsuccessful shop, we strolled around the lake in the sun before playing on the beach - even having a little paddle!
Madeline left for home, so it was down to P,K and I to have a big night out. We bought some steak, which I BBQed, some veg and chips and threw together the best meal ever. Drinking games with cards followed and then I got a call from Rocco saying that some of the comp sci gang were in town - we joined them, had some tequila, sambuca, Guinness etc. Paddy and I threw up; Katie went drink for drink and was fine. Surprisingly great night.
Thursday 21st December - Hangovers + shopping in the rain
We got up at 1pm feeling terrible. I needed to do some shopping, as did P&K so we made our way to the new mall on Market Street for some retail therapy. Big success all round followed by trip to the store - sausage pasta + film,
Friday 22nd December - Wine tasting in Sonoma
Earlier in the week, Paddy made the huge call to go wine tasting up north. We looked into Napa but after speaking to my friend Andy, decided that a day trip to Sonoma would work just as well. A leisurely morning and drive north found us in the visitors centre by midday. Very friendly man made some suggestions what we could do with the day, and we followed his advice, heading into the town centre for wine and cheese tasting, shopping and lunch. After lunch we drove north towards the top of the valley to a winery we had heard did tours of the vineyard and good tasting. The place was amazing; 90 acres of biodiverse vineyards set on the side of mount Sonoma - an extinct volcano. The tour was cheap, informative and almost exclusively for us, (it's the off season - just one other couple). It ended with some tasting, (amazing!) and a few purchases in the shop. The drive home was wonderful; we'd had a perfect day to end the holiday, were warmed by some amazing wine and food, and had some spectacular views of the city by night as we drove back across the GG. Store for food, salmon for dinner as I prepped the car, film, (V for Vendetta - V. good) and bed.
Saturday 23rd December - Drive to Encinitas and Pizza Night
I picked Emilie up at 5am after packing the car and saying farewell to P&K. Sad to see them go, but hopefully they won't be away for long! Long drive south on the 5; 500 miles, 8.5 hours. I drove as far as I could but the heat of southern California paired with 3 hours sleep and a stupidly early morning saw me tag out for Emilie to bring in the last 45 minutes. Eventless drive with the exception of me throwing an entire green tea around the car, stepping in dog poo, having a nightmare with the petrol pump and generally being a liability.
I slept through the afternoon, being woken by Madeline announcing that everyone was in the car waiting for me. I smelled terrible and felt worse so was grudgingly allowed to shower.
Pizza night is a Johnson family tradition before Christmas where they go to Edith and Don's for pizza. It's a simple concept which works. Good night, amazing pizza, home to bed.
Sunday 24th December - Day with the White's in LA
Woken with enough time to shower this morning! Drove up with Michelle and Kevin for a midday arrival. Football in the garden with the boys, trampolining, skating, a little present opening and a great meal saw us through to 7pm. We've just got back, wrapped our last presents, I'm writing this, and the Johnson's are watching 24.
Monday 25th December - Happy Christmas...
...to you all, from Madeline and I! Mandy and Dave, you sound to be having a wonderful time; I hope you're finding Christmas in the sun as weird as I am! You can look forward to recieveing a christmas/30th birthday present (!) when you return...maybe...
Mum, Dad and Mel, I hope you have a lovely day and like the presents. I would love to be home right now, but I guess we've done Christmas for this year. We're both looking forward to all your visits very soon :)

We hope you all have a great day; our thoughts will be with you. x

Homeless people and why to avoid peanut butter

My fascination with homeless people/drug addicts, et al. continues. Madeline was worried that my primary motivation for getting a new camera was to take photos of said people, capturing a snap shot of their record less lives in exchange for a dollar or half toasted bagel with peanut butter, (more on the death spread later). Her worries were of course unfounded, but I did capture this a week or so ago from the safety of our car, (locked and in gear).

There is just so much I want to know, understand and ask. One question which has been recurring is how do they survive during a cold night with one shoe and possibly a blanket? We had our first really cold night last week, and I spent a not inconsiderable time wondering what tog rating our duvet was, and whether we should invest in a winter season cover. It seems a little pathetic in comparison.
On a more positive note, here is a picture of a dog on the beach.

My interesting fact of the week is that peanut butter is one of the most carcinogenic products you can buy. Apparently there is a mold that grows on it which is the carcinogen and the FDA, (US Food and Drug Admin') nearly banned it because it's so bad!

World Aids Day

The sign reads: "Each Blue Flag Represents 40,000 people living with HIV in the world, 2.3 million are under the age of 15. There are an estimated 39.5-47 million people living in the world. This year over 3 million people died in 2006 from HIV."
Big shout out to Amy and Dave who are fighting the aids war on the front line!

While I was taking this photos I was propositioned. I gladly accepted, and left campus with a smile on my face: