Let's Go Bowling.

So, on top of having two big projects to finish, preparations for other start up projects and probably the most important talk of my life to prepare before I leave for Paris in two weeks, we have been trying to sell our car.

Unfortunately, the car is partly in my name, meaning I have to relent my power of attorney regarding this particular issue. I first found out our car was being sold pretty much exactly one week ago. Had a I found out one week and a few hours ago, I could have simply taken the power of attorney form as it was to the American Consulate in Nice, had it notarized and been on my way. However, as it stood, I had to figure out how to print the form after being refused by my friendly French hotel manager, search the Nice airport unsuccessfully for a way to verify documents, figure out from the University what was the necessary process in Germany legally, find a German notary, get that seal approved by a German Apostille and overnight the resulting three page form, which was all done by Tuesday morning. Now, all of this added many hours of exhausting walking around, which on top of the shoveling dirt for my postdoc advisor left me pretty much wiped out.

The only positive thing was that the form arrived by Thursday, seemed to be sufficient and finally I was able to relax. Of course, upon going to the DMV today, my wife was informed that because in transcribing the VIN number onto my form I had forgotten one 4 in the number, the form was completely invalid even though there is only one Black 2001 Ford Escape registered to me as an owner with the obvious VIN number I had tried to include. They literally refused to transfer the title. Of course, I found this out near 5 PM here on the weekend where Monday is a German Federal holiday. So, I was able to actually get the form notarized, but it may take until Wednesday for another Apostille and yet again another overnight attempt with DHL, whose speed was not terribly impressive for the 51 Euros I paid them to expedite the process.

I feel out of sorts ... tired of being so far from home, exhausted from the hassles of living apart from my life, on edge from the levels of stress I have about my job and future, and despondent from the loneliness of being here by myself. I am just worn incredibly thin right now. Who knows how I would feel if there would have been a DMV official with a soul today, but really that may be asking just too much since bureaucracy stamps the soul out of anyone who deals with it, let alone someone who works in it. Let's just hope I can pull some semblance of myself together to get at least my two major projects finished and talk prepared for my two weeks in Paris surrounded by practically everyone in my field, including several collaborators, my former Ph.D. advisor, both current postdoc advisors and a host of colleagues who in the very near future could decide whether or not I get another job.

As the man says, sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you.

A look back...my first week in the States.

As promised, I wanted to actually recall the events of my first week in Berkeley. Sadly, I left my camera in Durham during that week, so there are no pictures to accompany this post.

After the wonderful dinner and time spent catching up with my cousins, I slept rather soundly in my cousin J's bed (without the dog the first night ... it took me a few to crack). After all the travel and the workshop, I was pretty exhausted, so I slept rather soundly under the amazingly warm comforter through the amazingly cold Berkeley night. The next morning I roused early with the family, watched everyone eat breakfast, flip through the paper, shower and head off to school and work before making my way to campus for a meeting my Ph.D. advisor and a former post-doc at Berkeley who was in town for the workshop to discuss a project we want to work on involving quasilinear Schroedinger equations.

My cousins have completely remodeled their kitchen and added a brand new downstairs bathroom with a somewhat psychedelic sea shell like tile in the shower and the most amazing shower head in history. Needless to say, I was exceptionally clean by the time I forced myself out of the warm shower and onward up the hill to campus I had climbed so many times before as a graduate student. Due partially to all the walking I have done the last two years and partially to the cool weather, the climb did not leave me nearly as sweaty as it used to, so I was in a pleasant mood when I arrived at campus.

Most of my mornings were essentially identical to this, with the addition of getting up early enough and taking the dog for a walk so there would be no trace of evidence he had slept with me the previous night. The talks in the mornings were rather productive, lunch with the group always enjoyable, in the afternoons I got some other projects out the door, the evenings I had dinner and/or beer with my cousins or other old friends/colleagues, some of whom were soon to graduate and one who had just gotten engaged. All told, it was a hectic and enjoyable week full of math during the day and catching up with a little math once in a while in the evenings.

Two events though stand out. The first was Wednesday night when I went with a couple grad students and another post-doc to have a traditional Ukrainian dinner at a friend's house. Unfortunately, my friend M was out of town, but his wife N made quite a spread with homemade Borscht and potato dumplings. The whole meal was delicious and the company became even more enjoyable as the wine and ice cold vodka disappeared. It is my goal to along with the honorary Cretan citizenship I have been granted to one day get honorary Ukrainian citizenship, so hopefully this dinner added to my chances.

The next night was the last one I had in Berkeley. Because my young cousins had been busy all week with school and swimming, we worked out that I could dodge out of work by around 3 PM to pick them up by around 3:30 PM or so after school and take them to the California Academy of Science since we all wanted to see it.

First of all, it was the first day all week it actually rained, and it did so with vigor. As a caveat, I had been ridiculed all week by my colleagues and dealt with hassles at airports in order to carry a rather decent umbrella because the weather report had predicted rain during the week of my visit. Let's just say I was vindicated by that storm.

I met my somewhat drenched cousins outside the school and we headed into San Francisco. Along the way, we talked about their days and the kinds of things we hoped to see at the museum, but mostly it was a rather easy drive that took us right to the museum, where we arrived at 4:15 PM. It was rather clear on the web-site that the museum closed at 5 PM, so we thought we had a good shot at sprinting through to at least get a feel for the exhibits. However, the web-site had failed to mention that it was impossible to enter the museum after 4 PM unless you were a member.

At least the outside of the museum looked nice, and rather than accept defeat, we decided it would be fun to go to a bakery we all loved back in the East Bay for a snack and some more time. As we left the museum, we wound up sitting in the worst bridge traffic any of us had seen for some time due to the rain, meaning at 7:30 PM we finally just left the road and parked near Union Square to eat some tomato soup and chilli at a Boudin's in the Macy's basement. In the end, my cousins actually wound up really enjoying their meals, the three of us exchanged stories, opinions and ideas for many more hours than I had anticipated AND we found out the older of my two cousin's L had managed to pull off a 31 on her ACT. I was so proud of her and just enjoyed getting to know both of them again immensely. These were two people I watched grow up for 5 years of graduate school and being so far from them for the last two years was rather difficult actually.

Even though we were rather unsuccessful at everything we attempted to do that night, it wound up being one of the best of my trip because I had the chance to get reacquainted with two people I really love. After finally managing to get back across the bridge around 10 or so, we went back home, where I spent a little time with the whole family before heading off to say goodbye one last time to my friend C.

The next morning I was off for the great MBA graduation adventure of 2009, though of course my flight was delayed and diverted into Dallas due to a nasty storm and several tornadoes, but at least I was able to grab some Mexican food with my cousin M, a welcome surprise. It is so rare I get to see her these days and for a time we had dinner together with our grandparents once a week. Anyway, she plied me with fish tacos and a strong margarita and dumped me back at the airport in plenty of time to go standby on what turned into the last flight out due to continued storms. My actual flight wound up just being cancelled that night, which of course meant my baggage did not arrive until the next morning. Of course, I could not have had a trip go by without some crazy air travel story, so it was fitting this happened and rather fortuitous it happened in Dallas where I have a close relative.

The Ignorant End of a Shovel.

Rather unexpectedly due to some conflict with neighbors over a dumpster, my postdoc advisor asked me to come to his house this evening to help with something. From the deck incident earlier, I was prepared for it to be a fairly labor intensive job. It turned out we were moving a couple giant piles of dirt. The only complication was that as the U-Bahn to their house rose from the underground portion of the track, I realized a horrendous thunderstorm had begun after I had popped into the train station. So, we really were moving two large piles of mud eventually. Anyway, the job got done and as my grandfather says, sometimes it is good to be on the ignorant end of a shovel.

Photos from the Hike in Theoule

My colleague CG who invited me to Nice took me on a hike Thursday because it was a holiday in Nice. Though I did not really know what I was getting into, the five hour walk was rather nice, it ended with a cold beer by the water, and involved a dip in the Mediterranean before getting back on the train. See the pictures attached.

A peak of reddish, volcanic rocks in the distance.

CG sporting his hat from this years at ANU.

A view of the sea near Theoule.

Another view of the sea.

An actual picture of me in Europe!!

A closer view of the red rocks.

Getting near the top of our walk.

The haze made it hard to see the snowy Alps in the background.

Another view from one of the peaks we crossed.

The sea.

The beach had smaller rocks than those in Nice, but rocks nonetheless.

The sea from a distance.

Almost to the pub.

The bay.

Family Photos.

So, Wednesday night I met up with many members of my family in Nice for a delicious and gigantic dinner of various quiches, an assortment of local meats, sweet tomatoes, cheese and homemade apple tarte. The photos do not do the dinner justice, but hopefully you enjoy.

The relatives telling stories around the table.

The amazing spread.

Uncle "Fulvio" laying down some knowledge.

All the relatives gathered around the table.

One more shot of everyone together.

Everyone enjoying the delicious dessert.

The young cousins posing together.

J taking photos of his granddaughter.

Listening intently to stories.

Saying Goodbye to a Loyal, Old Friend

Well, I am back from Nice and finally settling in after having a delicious dinner last night at one of my favorite breweries with an old friend in Germany on business. Tonight, I get the joy of working and doing laundry for the week. Then, I have to head to bed early because tomorrow morning I set off on a great adventure to get a document notarized and sent back to the US in order to finalize the sale of our car. It has been eight years of service by this trusty vehicle. Though there were occasionally hard times and dollars spent in upkeep, it has served me well. All told it drove me across North America three and a half times, moved countless of my friends, collected a number of parking tickets during the rather stressful time of finishing my thesis, and took us anywhere we needed to go throughout the better part of our driving lives. Right now, I am mostly focused on completing the transaction, so the thought of losing the car is kind of deeply repressed. Plus, living without a car for the last two years makes it hard to feel the nostalgia I know will wash over me when I realize it is truly gone. So, I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the Manimal for the many years of dedicated service to my small family, including the hours of joy spent driving on road trips, the memories obtained both on the way and at many destinations, surviving my wife speeding to school many times a day for two years and for teaching Mindy to love the open road.

A pit-stop while driving across the country.

Navigator Mindy.

Amber cruising down the road.

One last night.

So, my time in France is limited at this point. I will have one last dinner with my extended family, then leave out tomorrow around noon. They are all such kind, warm people and would make the trip worth it to any part of the world. However, it will also be rather difficult to part with the shimmering, blue Mediterranean, beautiful weather, delicious local food, amazing coffee with sugar that always comes in cubes and light, refreshing wine to cool you down on a warm afternoon. However, for someone like me, perhaps it is best to simply know that such a lifestyle exists but not be the one to live it all the time. That way, the joy of such an experience can be truly savored on those rare occasions such pleasures are available to you.

Nice Family Reunion.

So, my internet connection in the hotel is a bit slow, meaning pictures will have to come later, but last night I had a lovely family dinner with my relatives in Nice and the friend who invited me here named C. There was as required at any Marzuola gathering more delicious food than one could possibly consume, a great deal of laughter and a generous amount of wine. Seeing those I had met almost 9 years ago was enjoyable, especially since they had some pictures I had not seen to remind me of just how great a time that truly was. Plus, I met some new relatives who had been on holiday last time I visited.

Today, since the University is closed, C and I will be headed for a hike and possibly a swim just up the coast from nice in a place with supposedly beautiful red colored stones, white beaches and the deep blue of the Mediterranean. Should be a lovely place to talk about math.

Nice is nice.

So, I am here enjoying the amazing food and beautiful weather in Nice. My talk on billiard problems is later this afternoon in front of one of the world experts, which is of course a bit unnerving. However, later tonight I get to have dinner with the French wing of my family, which should be a rather lovely experience given what happened when I first met them 9 years ago. I will post more about the food and wine later hopefully with pictures. For now, I just wanted to post a brief update.

A Happy Anniversary.

A year ago this weekend, my friends G & J tied the knot. This was an occasion of great joy for me because I care for these two people very much, know they care for each other in a way that will last a lifetime and at the time the memory of Amber's father's passing was very fresh in our minds so a celebration of life was greatly needed. In the end, Amber arrived from China in time for the rehearsal dinner, where we ate, danced, laughed and had a fantastic time enjoying this happy event. I am posting here some pictures from a year ago in recognition of that time.

J, G and myself grooving after the beachfront ceremony.

Me with the bride.

They allowed us one non-serious picture.

Amber and me on the beach. There are actually dolphins swimming in the background if you have CSI-like image enhancement capabilities.

When you need the best groomsmen available, you call Team Ramrod.

Amber enjoying the reception and trying to stay awake despite the jet lag.
G being G.

G really being G.

Amber's Graduation Photos

Amber's graduation was two days of celebration. The first day's ceremony was for the Business School alone and the second day was the full commencement. Most people went to both though, perhaps mainly because Oprah was the commencement speaker at the main ceremony. Anyway, more on the weekend later, but I wanted to post some of the photos from the main events.

Amber in the top left corner having processed.

The Faculty of Fuqua.

Amber's family in the stands awaiting the start of the ceremony.

The stage awaiting the ceremony.

Amber's friends having arrived from Charlotte.

Amber walking across the stage.

Amber's name being called.

Amber waiting for her row to be called up to the stage.

Amber standing in recognition about her individual award for mentorship.

The stands full of Fuqua students.

Photos together after the ceremony.

It is obvious which of us is actually photogenic.

Amber and her friends.

Amber and her mother.

An extreme close-up during the ceremony.

Amber and her mother outside Walter Wade stadium.

Amber, me and her brother outside the Duke Basketball stadium.

Amber, her mother and brother.

Amber and Baby C after the ceremony.

Amber and her now 6'10" brother after the ceremony.

Oprah was so popular they ran out of seats for the graduates on the field.

Amber filing into the stadium.

The audience waiting for the commencement to begin. It was a beautiful morning with pleasant, cool weather but no rain.

The set-up for the commencement.

Mindy and Baby C playing together.

Amber with her Diploma.

Amber picking up her diploma.

Oprah taking the field.