Dinner with Possu Huang

An old friend from the Mayo lab is doing a postdoc in Seattle. His name is Possu. Last Thursday, Possu and I met up for dinner at Macaroni Grill. (My cousin Bruce and his wife Tammi gave me a gift certificate. Thank you, guys!)

From Possu Huang

Possu is quite the Renaissance man. Not only does Possu have a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics (same as I), but he can program, draw, take good photos, and he still keeps up with his violin. Possu is also my go-to guy for info on everything Apple (because friends who are actually at Apple are under NDA: Non-Disclosure Agreement).

Possu and I disagree on some big things, like political preference and our approach to finding God/Truth, but we still get along well. That's probably because Possu is a very easy-going guy (as long as you don't mess with his Audi).

From Mayo lab (9/01-9/02)

In the pictures, you can see Possu drawing a violin and his Audi--using *crayons* at the Macaroni Grill table! (They supplied the crayons and paper.) The bottom picture was taken by Possu in 2002; I still use it often as my profile picture. "Victory!" (Or, "Peace!")

Possu, I hope your research goes well! Keep up the hard work!

Taking Grandma to the Puyallup Fair

Puyallup is a city just south of Seattle. There is a big fair in Puyallup every year. I took Grandma on Monday. Since the fair is so big, we needed Grandma's wheelchair. One of Grandma's friends, Ms. Green, came with us and pushed Grandma around, so I got to roam around by myself. Ms. Green, thank you! (By the way, I wear that super-bright, neon-green shirt when I think people may need to find me in a crowded place. I got it at the Game Developers Conference.)

The Puyallup Fair has some big-name entertainment. They had concerts for Casting Crowns, Kid Rock, Fergie, and Carrie Underwood. They even had Michael W. Smith and Stephen Curtis Chapman on the same night! (Actually, that's tonight!) However, I decided to pass on the concerts this year.

There was also a huge vendor show with lots of interesting items: clever tools, mops, chamois, irons, sewing machines, cookware, teeth whitenings . . .

From Puyallup Fair

There was also a lot of farm stuff, like: A pumpkin weighing over 1000 pounds. Kids shearing sheep and spinning wool into yarn. A llama. (In the picture, notice that he is posing just like the diagram in the background.)

Another fun part of the fair is the food. I skipped it this time, but I know Grandma really liked the sweet corn and a BBQ sandwich.

And then there's all the carnival games and rides! Well, plenty to do next year!

You can see all the pictures I took by clicking on one of the pictures here.

A visit from some of the Mayo lab!

In grad school, I was in Steve Mayo's lab, which specializes in computational protein design. (The Mayo lab has nothing to do with the renowned Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, nor with condiments.) Some of the lab came up to Seattle for a meeting with collaborators. After the meeting, we met up just to say "hi." I got to see the base of the Space Needle, and we took the monorail into downtown. Then we ate at Pike Place Market.

In the picture, from left to right, it's Kyle, Roberto, Heidi, Barry, and Alex.

From Visit from Mayo lab

The weather recently has been wonderful: sunny, warm, clear skies, clean air. I'm grateful that it has lasted so long. In the picture, can you see the patch of yellow in the middle? Fall is almost here!

By the way, if anyone wants a higher-resolution version of a photo or video, I probably have it.

Israel

In May, I went to Israel with my family: Mom and sis, and my grandma. We all wanted to go, but the main reason to go was for Grandma, who is almost eighty-nine but had never been to Israel. (Grandma is a very strong follower of Jesus Christ.) On the way to and from Israel, we stayed a couple of days in England, where my sister, Mary, is. That was my first time outside of North America, except for a trip to Japan a few years ago.

Grandma lives in Seattle, only a long walk from where I live now. I will, say, however, that Grandma sure is a talker! Then again, she must have at least three times as many stories as I have.

From Grandma's pilgrimage, day 7: driving to Jerusalem and Bethlehem!

Clicking on the picture will take you to one of many online albums of our trip to Israel, entitled "Grandma's Pilgrimage."

But wait, there's more! On this blog, in the left-hand column, under "OTHER LINKS," there's a link to my videos online. That includes videos from England and Israel. Note that all of those videos can be viewed in "high quality": when watching one of the videos, look under the bottom-right corner, beneath the number of "Views," for the link "watch in high quality."

The Penny Arcade Expo!

From Get Motivated! seminar

Last Monday, my Auntie Nancy and I attended a business seminar including Colin Powell and Rudy Giuliani! That was really neat, but what I was really excited about was last weekend's Penny Arcade Expo (PAX). PAX is like a big video game and board game party . . . for 3 days!

From PAX 2008

At PAX, I met some old friends from Caltech and the Game Developers Conference, played some fun games, new and old, and I met the occasional celebrity, like Wil Wheaton from Star Trek! The only downside was that I got a cold afterward. But, I am almost better.

By the way, clicking on the pictures should take you to my online photos. Or, in the left-hand column, use the link "Geoff's pictures online."