Greetings from California

I'm currently at a conference/workshop at a ski/racket resort on the California side of Lake Tahoe. It's nearly breakfast time so I won't say much here, but I hope to have a nice report upon my return. Not that I've gotten to see much except the inside of the lodge conference center. But! There are Jeffrey pine (NOT Ponderosa Pine) everywhere and it smells like pine and there are mountains and it actually did snow overnight even though I didn't think it would. AND! I keep getting winded walking up the gentle slope to the townhouse I'm staying in........definitely in the mountains.

I've been hanging out with my Michigan colleagues helping them on their project (and learning how to do things I need to learn how to do), and dining with my North Carolina colleagues because, well, North Carolina is flat awesome. I'm sharing the townhouse with one of them. She's a PhD student at UNC...though her masters is from Duke......so I guess all is forgiven. She's pretty great. And we've talked about ACC basketball, the Brewers (she's originally from St. Louis), and the Twins. I like it.