My secret vacation to Caltech

Last week, I had the honor of taking a secret vacation to Caltech. It was a secret because I was coming to help at Caltech's "Ditch Day," so only a handful of people at Tech knew I was coming. Much could be said about Ditch Day, but here's an overview:

• Seniors spend weeks/months beforehand planning and preparing elaborate "stacks."
• Contemporary stacks tend to be puzzles/clues based on a theme, like "James Bond" or the TV show "Scrubs."
• On Ditch Day, the seniors set up the stacks and leave campus. The other students then sign-up to solve a stack, which lasts for the whole day. Even though there are maybe 30 stacks on Ditch Day, a student usually spends almost all his time on only one stack.

Ditch Day was a wonderful experience for me, on many levels. I look forward to writing a long and detailed blog about it next.



Besides Ditch Day, I also spent time visiting my old labmates from the Mayo lab, friends from Avery House, and I even got to see some friends from Anime Expo. Here are Ben (l) and Kyle (r), from the Mayo lab. A group of us went to La Estrella, which is a tasty taco hut.

Gretchen from my small group insisted I go to the beach at least once, and that was a great idea! My old labmate Jessica drove us near Venice Beach, and it was both fun and therapeutic. :-) Thanks to Gretchen for the motivation, to Amanda and Pete for letting us borrow the Smashball, and to Jess, for friendship.

I really wanted a picture of the ocean over my feet. I was worried my camera might get damaged, but it seems fine.





There were some trick bikers near the beach. I would totally be up for learning this . . . while wearing some pads.

Labmates 1

This is Amanda (l) and Laura (r), two of my labmates. They are showing their henna tattoos from a special event at the Weisman Art Museum. The Weisman was designed by Frank Gehry, the same guy who designed the fish sculpture I mentioned a few weeks ago.






The Weisman reminds me of anime, like Laputa or Howl's Moving Castle. I haven't walked around the Weisman yet, but I like the idea of being a stone's throw from a building that so easily sparks my imagination.

I'm on vacation!

This fountain is so cool. I should be here at least another 30 min . . .

I love my small group!

I've gotten "plugged into" a small group here in Minneapolis, and they've been very encouraging to me. We even have a blog: One Another! The name is from Hebrews 10:

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:23-25)

Even though I'm still struggling with my faith, these guys have welcomed me with open arms. It's been very challenging, too! I've learned much more about the value of fellowship, living out one's faith, and being open with people. I'm very thankful.

I left a good place. This new place, it is also good. What will I find if I leave again?

"All Good Things . . . "

"Out of left field . . . "
"Woah."
"Ironic, isn't it?"

My boss, Tim, has been at the University for 14 years. I left California and came to Minnesota because of Tim's vision for lupus.

Well, we had a mandatory lab meeting today. Tim announced that he will be leaving the university to go to Genentech, in South San Francisco, to do something even more visionary (but still involving lupus). It's unclear to me what will happen to the lab here or to all the wonderful labmates I have become friends with. A couple of people may end up going to Genentech with Tim: In fact, I may be able to do a postdoc in Tim's new, probably much smaller lab at Genentech.

Anyway, I just wanted everyone to know about this amazing, late-breaking situation. Genentech seems like a nice place to work. I can't imagine a more ironic--or incredibly fortunate--situation. Right now, I'm definitely leaning toward following Tim to Genentech. However, I want to take some time to consider what all of my options may be and to make sure that I decide for the right reasons. If I were to go, I think I'd start around July 1. So, I've got time to think, pray, and get feedback from all of you. Also, there's still lots of great work to do here! :-)

So, yeah, please e-mail me with any thoughts. If you have any questions, I will try to respond in a timely manner, but I imagine the next few weeks will be pretty busy no matter which path I choose.

One thing this situation reminded me of is the Bible passage about Naaman (2 Kings 5). Ironically, that passage was an encouragement for me to take a risk and leave California and come out to Minnesota in the first place. Yes, my vocabulary word for today is "irony."

The Abandoned Fairgrounds

While I was staying with Tyson and Shira, Tyson and I had a neat commute to the university. We had to cross "The Abandoned Fairgrounds." Woo-ooo-ooo-ooo . . .

Apparently, Minnesota has an awesome State Fair. If you Google "State Fair," the Minnesota State Fair is the top hit! I'm sure the place is bustling during the fair, as in this pic.


However, in the winter the fairgrounds are totally deserted. As Tyson said, "It's like walking through an empty movie lot." Anyway, I really enjoyed that commute; it was very surreal and peaceful.

Here's an entrance to the fairgrounds. It looks imposing, but the gate is still open . . . (Don't worry; it's legal. :-)

Peeps!

You know Peeps, those marshmallow candies you get at Easter? There are some silly sites about Peeps. My friend Rhonda told me about one: Peep Research. Some of it's pretty clever. (They even got a .org site.) My favorite part is the "Risk Analysis" study: The effects of smoking and alcohol on Peep health. Thanks, Rhonda!

My house, my labmates, and me . . . sort of

I guess you could call these teaser pics.

This Google map shows where I live. It's not exactly the house marked on the map, but I rent a room in a house on that street. To the south is the Quarry Shopping Center, which has a Target, a Rainbow Foods grocery store (open 24 hours!), Home Depot, Pet Smart, a video store, and some other shops. So, I literally live a stone's throw from many modern conveniences. Did you know that Target was started in Minnesota in 1962?

Despite being right behind a shopping center, the neighborhood is safe and quiet. It also has quick access to the freeway (see inset in lower-right corner). Now I just need a car.

I wanted to put up some pics of my labmates. However, I don't really have any right now. Well, there is this one:


Suffice it to say, we do a lot of genetic engineering in my lab. (Just kidding!)

I am sorry for not having many pics of myself. I am still getting used to the weather. For Minnesotans, 50°F might be t-shirt weather, but I would rather be wearing a balaclava. (This pic was taken when Tyson, Shira, and I went around Lake Nokomis.)

Where I work: Nils Hasselmo Hall

I currently work in Nils Hasselmo Hall (NHH). Nils Hasselmo was university president from '87 to'96. (The building was formerly called the Basic Sciences and Biomedical Engineering (BSBE) building, but it was renamed in 2005.) I think NHH is almost ten years old, but it looks brand new to me.

NHH is just gorgeous, inside and out. There is much more glass (and thus light) in the newer buildings than I would have expected. I imagined all these solid brick buildings, to protect against the wear and tear of the cold winters. However, my friend Tyson said that Minnesotans value warmth, but they value sunlight even more. Makes sense to me! :-)

NHH is right next to the student union. So I'm really close to the post office, bank, cafeteria, and bowling alley. In this pic, the student union is in the foreground and the rear of NHH is in the background, to the right.


NHH looks nice at night, too.

The portable dishwasher

I find this pic pretty funny: This dishwasher sitting in the middle of the kitchen. Sure, it has a nice countertop, but it plays havoc on kitchen traffic. And where does the water come from? Is it hooked up below?

Turns out this is a dishwasher on wheels. It's normally kept under the counters. When it's time to do the dishes, the washer is rolled across the kitchen, to the sink, and the hoses are hooked up to the sink. When you're done, you just roll it back. Isn't that neat?

Apparently these dishwashers are not uncommon.

I should say something about my job . . .

. . . after all, it's the main reason I came to Minnesota. :-)

I came here to study the disease lupus. More specifically, I study the genetic contributions to lupus in my work as a postdoctoral research assistant in Tim Behrens' lab at the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities campus). This is a bit of a shift from my graduate work, in which I studied computational protein design in Steve Mayo's lab at Caltech.

One symptom of lupus is a malar rash, as seen here. Click here for more info on lupus.

I'll try to talk more about my research and my labmates in the coming weeks. :-)

Weekend 1 recap

I still wanted to tell a little about my first week in Minnesota. I arrived safely Friday night, eventually. :-) (See earlier blogs.) Saturday morning, Shira and Tyson took me to their Jewish synagogue. (I've included their pics.)


This was my first time at a Jewish service. (Well, except for one bar mizvah, many years ago, and that bris in Avery . . . ) Anyway, this experience was also very memorable and reverential. They read and speak a lot in Hebrew, and I kept thinking about the similarities and differences from what I am used to. I also wore a kippa (those flat little hats). Everyone was very friendly, and we had a wonderful (Jewish?) lunch afterwards. I was surprised by how many young people were there. In hindsight, I was silly to assume otherwise. I guess I still have a lot of stereotypes to unlearn.

I would have taken pics of the synagogue, but I don't think we're supposed to use electronics in the synagogue, at least not on the Sabbath. Actually, I just forgot to take my camera. :-)

Shira knew I wanted to go to church Sunday, and she kindly took me to BBC (Bethlehem Baptist Church). I really appreciated her doing that. Turns out the senior pastor, Jon Piper, is on sabbatical for 22 weeks, but that's okay. Gives me the chance to see BBC without making an idol of the senior pastor. Also, I don't feel as bad about visiting other churches during this time.

Sunday afternoon, Shira took me to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. That's where the cherry and the spoon are. I'm really glad I got to see it while there was still snow on the ground. Here's a pic of Shira at the "Standing Glass Fish," by Frank Gehry. (Gehry designed the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.)

A lot more happened that first weekend, but I think I've already forgotten a lot of it. :-( I just remember that it felt like a whirlwind. Before I knew it, it was already Sunday night, and I'd be getting up at 7 am for my first day at my new job.

Coming soon: The Abandoned Fairgrounds . . . ooohhhh . . .

Winter to Summer in one week

It's been California-warm this week. Actually, I seemed to arrive right at the transition from Winter to Spring. There was tons of snow on the ground on March 24. I saw all kinds of cool ice formations and had fun making snowballs. (I've lived in California my whole life.) The grass was so brown, I thought it was dead and that everyone would need to reseed it.

Almost one week later, the weather started to get warm, it rained, the snow melted away, and the brown grass started to show some green. It really wasn't dead! It was just sleeping! :-) The picture of the houses was taken one week after I arrived, less than one week after I visited the cherry spoon in the snow! Notice how each house is a little different on the front.


One week after that, the weather reached 70°F. The average for this time of year is like 49°F. Anyway, people were out on the grass in droves. I haven't explored the U. of Minn. campus much, but it sure seems pretty.

I heard someone else comment how the weather is already like Summer, and that we skipped Spring. Global warming?

Oh, don't forget that you can click on any pic to see a larger version. I recommend checking out the ice one. :-)

Maundy Thursday

This week being "Holy Week," Thursday was "Maundy Thursday." I'm ashamed to admit I didn't know what that was until, well, Thursday. ("The Thursday before Easter, observed in commemoration of the Last Supper of Jesus. Also called Holy Thursday." from dictionary.com) My small group mentioned that Bethlehem Baptist would have a Maundy Thursday service. As even more incentive, Michelle (one of the girls from small group) offered to host dinner at her place!

I needed a ride to Michelle's place and to church. One of the small group leaders, Jon (see pic), offered to give me a ride--on his motorcycle! That's the first time I've ever been on one, and it was pretty exhilarating. I was wearing a helmet, and Jon rode very safely. Nevertheless, I was keenly aware of how easily I might die or be seriously injured. On the flip side, in a car I perhaps take that fragility for granted. But since the car gives a little more protection, I won't be buying my own motorcycle soon. The motorcycle did remind me of a waverunner, and now I can't wait to try the latter again! :-)



Dinner was tasty and lots of fun. I hope to tell more about all the people in my small group, but that'll evolve over time as we get to know each other. For now, it must suffice to say that a lot of the fun involved brownies . . . but I don't mean Berkeley-style brownies! (For shame!) After dinner, I got a ride to church from another guy, Pete, I guess because it seemed a little easier.

The Maundy Thursday service was dimly lit, as might be expected. In the front, there were 12 candles, representing Jesus' life. Throughout the service, a man read the story of the Last Supper up to Jesus' death, and the choir or the whole church would sing hymns. Every so often someone would extinguish one of the candles. I didn't have a very good view of the candles, but I still felt pretty sad as each of the last ones was extinguished. (The candles represent Jesus' life.) But it was a weird sadness; I think part of me was sad about not feeling as sad or connected as I felt I should have. Anyway, I did enjoy the service and I am glad I went. I hear it's different every year, so I will hopefully go to a Maundy Thursday service again next year.

After service, Jon offered to host ice cream at his place. I think Pete went to hang out with his family, so I got a ride from Jess, who is also in small group. At Jon's, we had fun talking about haircutting and stuff. I inadvertently coined a new phrase, that the full moon makes us sleepy. (I misheard "loopy.")

In the end, I got a ride back to the U. from Gretchen (also in small group), because Jess had left earlier. Then I biked home. It occurred to me that I had gotten rides from a different small-group person for each leg of my trip: Jon, Pete, Jess, and Gretchen! I found that amusing. I realize I'm also really lucky to have met them, especially since I've only been here three weeks.

Easter Sunday, I plan to visit Don's church and meet his family! I've also been meeting a lot of people who seem to know someone who has lupus. I guess that's expected, since I mention lupus to almost everyone I meet (if they ask what my job is).

It is a full moon out, and I am getting sleepy. Happy Holy Week! (I also heard it's the Cambodian New Year!)

My 29th birthday . . .

. . . was Saturday (April 8). Don't worry if you missed it; I forget a lot, too. :-)

Tyson and Shira took me out today. We went to Lake Nokomis, one of Minnesota's 10,000+ lakes. It was a beautiful day, and I took several pics. You can see the other side of the lake in the pics; we walked all the way around! Afterward, we went to Pumphouse Creamery, which is a small place but they make their own fabulous ice cream. For dinner we went to a neighborhood bar/restaurant with Nintendos and board games. They had a yummy garlic squash dip, and we played Yahtzee!

I flew into Minnesota on March 24 . . .

. . . and boy were my arms tired! All that flapping! :-)

On the plane, I met a really strong Christian named Phil. He leads a Bible Study at a big church south of Minneapolis. He had witnessed to hundreds of non-believers, and so he was very comfortable talking to me about my faith issues. It's not like everything got solved right away, but it was very encouraging, and sometime later I hope to visit his church.

My plan in Minnesota was to stay with my friends Shira and Tyson for a week, until I could move into my own place. Shira was in my research lab at Caltech (the Mayo lab), and Tyson's her husband. They wouldn't be able to pick me up, so I was to take public transportation to get from the airport to their house. Fortunately, the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) have a great transit system. On their webpage, you can even enter in your starting location and destination, and the system will figure out which buses you should take! So, I felt fairly prepared: the plane would land in Minneapolis around 8 pm, then I would take bus A, transfer over to bus B at 8:30 pm, and arrive around 9:30 pm at Shira and Tyson's house.

Unfortunately, my plane was delayed a bit; I arrived maybe at 8:45 pm. I then got on bus A, and I got off at the transfer point to bus B. However, after awhile I realized that bus B would not be coming: its last run for the night had been at 8:30!

Fortunately, I saw that I could walk to another transfer point . . . a couple of miles away. So I started walking . . . with my two suitcases and my backpack . . . and it was dark and cold, with lots of snow still on the ground . . . and I was clearly in an--urban--area.

As I'm dragging my suitcases through the urban jungle, one of them is behaving like a shopping cart that doesn't want to go straight. I'm moving slowly, and I'm not having much fun. I start going up this long, dark road with not much street lighting, and this compact car drives by, slows down, and comes to a stop a few yards ahead of me. A tall man steps out and says, "You need a ride?"

I got in the car. I would never berate someone for *not* getting in the car, and I did (and still do) let my imagination give me certain doubts. However, for me, I felt it was important to trust this person, to give him a chance. I knew that, in a real sense, my physical life might be at stake. But I do not want a worldly fear to prevent me from relating to others. That is how I interpret how my faith should be, according to the Bible. We can discuss this over e-mail more if you want to.

So I was a bit scared, when the guy came over and starting putting my bags in his car, seemingly a little too eager to help me. And when I told him where I was going, he said he knew exactly where that was. I also had fresh in my mind some of those horror movies in which people disappear from roadside truck stops. His car was small and dark: anything could be in the shadows of the back seat, the side compartments . . . .

The guy's name is Don. Turns out he's a Christian! We talked on the way, and he told me about his wife, his testimony, and his church. The name of his church is Evergreen--same as the church I went to in LA! (No relation, however.) Don drove me all the way to Shira and Tyson's place, and he offered to take me to his church. (I'll probably visit soon-ish.)

When I look back at the incident, I can see how off our judgments can be. If there were someone intent on doing bad, sure he might drive by at night and seem a little too eager and say he knew where to take you, even if he didn't. His car would be full of shadows. But if he were just a Good Samaritan, he would do exactly the same things! And of course the car was dark--it was at night! If I saw someone who needed help, I would be eager to help him just like Don was! Maybe Don was scared that *I* might be dangerous!

My only real regret is that I think my fears sort of paralyzed me into either trusting or not trusting. If the same situation were to occur again, I would probably tell the stranger my fears right away, and then I would ask for some sort of good faith action. Like maybe I would ask to use his cell phone to call Shira and Tyson first. Or maybe I would insist on praying first, or talking to him more first. Or having him promise first of his good intentions. I would be better at setting my Boundaries. :-) Anyway, I'll definitely get a cell phone soon, if at least for emergencies.

So my arrival in Minnesota was quite the adventure for me, physically, mentally, and spiritually. I met two cool Christians out of the blue. It certainly seemed like someone was watching over me. And the next morning, Saturday, I would visit Shira and Tyson's Jewish synagogue!

Week 0 recap

I have been here two full weeks now, but a lot has happened and I don't want to skip everything. I hope to bring everyone up to speed . . . soon . . . ish.

I decided to go to Minneapolis to do research on lupus. Why lupus? I'm not permitted to tell over the blog . . . I guess someone feels Jesus doesn't want the world to know. Google's a good way to find out the basics of lupus.

Before I moved to Minneapolis, I visited some friends in the Bay Area. Some were from Caltech, and some were from a video game conference (www.gdconf.com). While loitering around the conference, I went to the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose. My friends Redmond Urbino and Andrew Marzinske went with me. The museum was great, although we were in a bit of a rush. They have this whole section on biotechnology, including a "Be a genetic scientist in 15 minutes" lab. They have everything set up so you can insert GFP (a jellyfish protein that glows) into bacteria and create glowing bacteria in 15 minutes (or less :-). Of course, the bacteria have to grow into a big enough colony to see, so they have an example plate that has grown for awhile. But wait! Not to deprive you of the satisfaction of seeing your own glowing bacteria, they have an incubator for you to put your petri dish in, and they give you this special ID with a barcode. After 24 hours, the staff/volunteers take out your dish, photograph it, and post it on the web, and you can access your picture via the web using your ID number. Isn't that cool? I've included a pic of me and Andrew in the lab. I think Andrew is purposely trying to look nerdy, while I'm sporting my mad-scientist hair.

Lots more happened in the Bay Area, but I didn't take many pics. :-( Anyway, I arrived in Minneapolis on March 24. The plane was a little late. Just late enough, in fact, to make my arrival a little adventurous. Next time: God saves the foolhardy.

I'm in Minnesota, still alive . . .

. . . and still warm! Except when I'm biking to work . . . but I'm getting way ahead of myself. I will write more in a few days, and hopefully I will continue to blog with an update and pics every week. For now, below's a picture of me at the Sculpture Garden. Yep, it's me and a huge cherry. I didn't use Photoshop to alter the image. And, no, there isn't a huge bowl to the side . . . although that would be cool!

Coming next . . .
Week 1 Recap: Staying with Shira and Tyson. Winter to Spring in one week. New lab, labmates, church. The seemingly abandoned State Fairgrounds. Genocide in Darfur. Oatscreme shake at co-op. Ice and snow are cool! (No pun intended.) Getting up much earlier than usual. I love the building I work in! The portable dishwasher. Oh, and maybe some pics from my trip to San Jose right before I left for Minnesota.

Testing

That's it.