Bella's first steps

Bella took her first real steps yesterday. It was amazing. She spent about 15 minutes standing and falling repeatedly. She's still a little dangerous, but I am very proud of her.

Here is a video update of Isabella. The changing table has become her favorite location, and mine too, because it's where we go to "talk".

Easter 2009

Its a beautiful Easter day, and Isabella is enjoying her fathers 4 day weekend. Primroses are blooming in most yards around the city. White and yellow tree blossoms are also starting to bloom. We had a wonderful visit from Auntie Alyssha last week. We went to Luzern for Isabella's first real travel. The city is beautifully surrounded by blue water and white mountains. There is a large pedestrian only area that runs along the river as it comes out of the lake. And unlike Zurich, they seem to care about the outside of the buildings as well as the inside, and most are covered with colorful frescos.

Its a girl

Isabella Jane Hayden was born February 27, 2009, at 7:21 pm CET. She was 51 cm long and weighed 3,650 grams. She and Bryn are very healthy and very beautiful.

To the hospital

Bryn's been having regular contractions since about 4 am. They are becoming strong and painful, so we are off to the hospital. So far she is doing well.

My Guarantee

We will have a baby by Saturday. Its official. If Bryn doesn't do it on her own by then, they are going to induce labor. Everything is fine, and this is standard procedure. Isabella's heart rate is normal and there is plenty of space in the womb. The doctor explained that the likelihood of labor complications increases dramatically 10 days after the due date. So, when they are certain about the due date they induce labor at 10 days past. So here we are. Maybe its the eternal procrastinator in me, but I really appreciate a hard deadline. Its very exciting for me to know that Isabella will absolutely be here in the next three days!

Birthday wishes

My birthday is almost over, and I did not get what I wanted. . . ISABELLA! Maybe next year. However, I did get an amazing homemade carrot cake form Bryn and her mom, which I am about to tear into. Bryn and I will go back to the hospital for a check up on Wednesday, if nothing has happened by then. Thanks to everyone for the nice birthday wishes.

Isabella update

Still no Isabella yet. Bryn is feeling fine, but anxious. Yesterday, we took advantage of some sunny weather and walked around the neighborhood. We found a walking trail that runs along a small brook, past a plot of vegetable gardens. Today, I woke up to white streets and rooftops. With the snow falling again, Bryn's mom is keeping us busy with baking lessons.

Still no baby

I just wanted to let everyone know that we are still waiting for Isabella. She seems to think that it isn't time yet. Maybe she is waiting for the weather to warm up a bit. Whatever her reasons, she has a strong will, and we encourage her to make her own decisions. I will try to update daily, and will definitely post when we are off to the hospital.

Due Date

Well, today was Bryn's due date. . . and nothing. We had an appointment with the doctor, to check the heartbeat and amniotic fluid. Everything was fine, indicating that the placenta is healthy and there is no need to induce pregnancy yet. We will go back in one week if nothing happens before then.

From my perspective, Bryn is having an incredibly easy pregnancy. You will have to ask her if she feels the same. She hasn't suffered from the usual problems; no morning sickness or back pains. She still moves around so well, that I sometimes forget she is pregnant. As fortunate as she has been, it is still a pregnancy, and I think she is ready to be finished. New challenges await right around the corner. The delivery. The new baby.

It was a beautiful day in Zurich today. Blue sky and below freezing, with snow on every surface to reflect the sunshine.

Project Approval

I had my first progress report last week, in the form of a presentation for my Research group. It was the first time that I really explained my project to everyone in the group. It went very well. The group was interested in this ribozyme business I'm in, and asked a lot of questions. In my experience with scientific presentations, questions are a good thing, because it means that the audience at least understood enough to ask questions. When everybody is quiet, it either means I didn't explain things very well, or my ideas are incredibly uninteresting. So I was glad for the questions. Dr. Wagner also approved of my ideas and the progress I was making, so I still have a job for a while.

Bryn and I furnished our new apartment last weekend, and it feels like home already. Although just the other day, I was rinsing the shampoo out of my hair, with my eyes closed, and I had the overwhelming feeling that when I opened them, I would see Portland. Not that I have been feeling especially homesick, just a bit disoriented.

This is the first year that I didn't watch either the NCAA football national championship game or the Superbowl! Maybe this is causing the disorientation? I found an "American" restaurant here that was showing the Superbowl, and I even made reservations. But when midnight rolled around, and it was time to ride my bike to the restaurant (the return would be too late for public transportation), in the below freezing night air, I decided to stay home and follow the score on the internet. Maybe I'm getting too old, or maybe I'm turning Euro. . . either way I don't like it.

Update from Zurich

I have received several requests for updates and information. Instead of the mass email route, I decided to return to the blog. Its good to back.

First off, Bryn and the baby are doing great, I think. My observations of the baby are limited to the sound of her heartbeat at the hospital once a month, and the increasing size and disturbances of Bryn's stomach. Both seem to indicate that our baby is going to be a hyper-genius supermodel.

Bryn and I just returned from a trip to Spain. We wanted to escape the entrenched below-freezing temperatures here in Zurich, and get in some final traveling without a child. We spent a few days in Seville with the family of my co-worker, Elias. They made us feel right at home and gave us an insiders tour of Seville. It is a beautiful, historical city, with many narrow cobblestone streats and a GIANT gothic Cathedral. Palm trees sway in the wind, and the streets are lined with vibrant orange trees. Elias' family even let us participate in their celebration of the Three Magic Kings, which is a day of feasting and gift giving. In Elias's family, it is also a day of singing, dancing, hugging and kissing. I'm not sure every family in Spain is as extroverted as his, but I like to think so. After Seville, we spent the weekend in a devalued four-star hotel (thank you economic crisis) in the city of Cadiz, located on a small penesula on the southern Atlantic coast of Spain. The beaches were beautiful, and the entire city is like a history museum. It gave me real perspective to stand in a Cathedral that is more than five hundred years old and look out over the Atlantic ocean, which is more than 4 billion years old. People have been standing in that spot and seeing the same view since before the United States existed. Before the writing of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, before slaves were taken then freed, before baseball, basketball or football were invented, before a single chemical element was known.

As far as work, I am settling in and finally getting some real work done. It is amazing how long it takes to get settled in a new place, especially in a new country. . . and maybe even more especially if that new country is Switzerland. We have a very diverse group here, both geographically and scientifically. Our group members come from India, China, Germany, England, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Chile, the U.S. and Switzerland. Dr. Wagner is from Austria. In the lab, we are evolving yeast, fruit-flies and ribozymes. The computational biology projects are looking at gene expression networks, signal transduction, transposable elements, and cooperativity/conflict in ecology. It is great to be exposed to so many different cultures and scientific ideas. If I don't learn anything about computational biology, I should learn how to make a mean Shahi Paneer.

Bryn is also keeping a blog, and she has been putting our pictures on the web.
http://ericandbrynhayden.blogspot.com
http://picasaweb.google.com/thebrynster

A new chapter?

Today I am leaving for Zurich to interview for a postdoc position with Dr. Andreas Wagner, at the University of Zurich. This is not the University where Einstein taught, that is the tech school down the street. This university is wonderful its own right, with its own traditions of excellence. Dr. Wagner is interested in evolution, at all levels of biology, and has a lot of interesting ideas on the subject. He spends alot of his time using computer models to study evolution, but time to time, he hires someone like me, to do "wet" experiments in his lab. The way things work these days, one person can produce enough data for four people, with four computers. Dr. Wagner has people in his lab that can handle these large amounts of data, which is good for me.

After my two days of interviewing, I'm taking a train to the Alps. I'll travel from Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen, where I will load up on food in the last grocery store before mountain huts replace resort hotels. In this part of the Alps, there are trains and lifts that can take you to just about any peak you want to ascend. On the Shilthorn, there is a restaurant at 11,000 ft. You can take a cable car up to it. On the other side of the Lauterbrunnen valley is a tiny farming village called Gimmelwald sitting at the top of a sheer cliff at about 4500 ft. There is a trail leading from there that passes through a forrest, criss-crosses a river, and ends up in a glacier field. Oh, the trail also passes a shooting range, which I will avoid. I plan on heading down the trail and finding a spot to pitch my tent and roll out my sleeping bag. I will post pictures when I get back.

Long time gone

Hey, here I am. So much has happened since I last blogged you. I picked Bryn up in Frankfurt, and we traveled up the Romantic Rhein, where each small town is equipped with a castle and a vineyard. On my way to pick her up, I went through the incredibly charming town of Marburg. Its not just the half-timbered buildings that give it the charm, although they create a very cohesive and German feel. But, there is something about cities built on hillsides. Maybe its just fun to explore when you can gain elevation so easily, and look back down on the city. I was doing this very thing when I walked through a pedestrian tunnel. Inside was a traveling guitar player, and a group of people who had banded with him for the night and were singing folk songs. The acoustics of the tunnel created a warm haunting sound, and the single torch lighting the way added to the ambiance.

On the top of the hill was a castle/palace, that now of coarse serves as a museum. I walked around the back, and sneaked off into a small trail that went through the bushes between two buildings of the palace. I discovered a dark staircase going down into the darkness to an unknown destination. Looking into the darkness and thinking about going in was terrifying, and this fueled my curiosity. Then I remembered, I had my head lamp. I turned it on, and it gave my the confidence I needed to take the plunge into the unknown. The stairs went down about 15 feet, to a huge wooden door. I started thinking about the prisoners who were tortured there, or the lepers who where banished there. . . I went up the stairs faster than I went down.

I had borrowed a tent from my friend Jan, and stayed the night at a campground in Marburg, right on the edge of the river Lahn. The camper next to me was a man in his 50's, who was biking from Dortmund to Berlin and back. He had done some impressive cycling trips. Once, he went from Rome to Dortmund in 8 days. Another time, he biked from Budapest to Dortmund. He told me his stories in broken English while we shared some wine.

Its getting late, but one more. I had dinner at this small medieval restaurant in Frankfurt. The owner was the barkeep, his wife was the service wench, and their large sheepdog slept on the floor. They served beer from larg clay mugs, and the owner also made his own mead. They specialized in wild game of Germany, and when they said the saddle of venison was for four or more people, I settled for the loin of a wild-boar. The food was the best I've had in Germany. The brushed steel fork and knife were also made by the owner. I'm pretty sure he was a long lost cousin. (see photo at http://picasaweb.google.com/autorec). When I asked about the bottles with handwritten labels above the bar, he explained that they have a man that distills liquor for them. In fact, in a recent competition, he was awarded 10 gold medals for his different liquors, and was crowned the best distiller in Europe. So, I had to try. I had a shot of the Hazelnut. It warmed my belly, and made for a pleasent walk back to the hotel.

Castle Concert

Just down river of Bochum, the Ruhr river is dammed, creating Lake Kemnade to the south. This turned out to be the center of my activities last weekend.

In the summer, there is a Castle on the edge of the lake that hosts concerts. Its a small castle surrounded by a mote. The concert I went to was held inside within the medieval courtyard. There were two rotating stages. The reason I hear about he concert is that Theodosii Spassov would again be playing, and he plugged it at the Kulturecafe. He was the first act I saw. He was great again, but some of the magic from the Kulturecafe was missing.

The next act was a gypsy band with a Jewish woman on vocals. She stole the show with her energy and exuberance. She was extremely animated, and reminded me of my Jr. High substitute music teacher (Ms. Shepard), except Jewish. She sang a lot of Jewish folk songs like you would expect to hear in "The Fiddler on the Roof". The musicians in the band were very good too, and they provided a somber counter the her, kind of like when James Brown's band calls back to him.

The last act, was this sort of extravaganza. The main band was a funky jazz band, headed by a German David Bowie. He played a killer guitar, and his band had some incredibly talented musicians on trumpet, clarinet, trombone and precussion. And the cool part was the show would cycle on and off different acts to play with the band, each with a cultural theme. There was sort of medeival marching band, a classical music section, some belly dancers and persian music, and even an American gospel piece. The next act would usually start in the middle of the courtyard, behind the audience. They would start playing as they approached the stage, creating a fade-in effect. Then the band would sort of work into the style, with some solos and some accompaniment. After the concert, one of the Castle towers was turned into a disco and with a DJ and a live latin drummer. You can tell I've been in Eruope for a while, because I used the word "disco". As luck would have it, I left in time to catch the last bus back into town.

Saturday, Jan and I went to this new bar that just opened up on the lake. They brought in a bunch of white sand, and created boardwalks, all inside the bar. You could choose between sitting in lounge chairs under umbrellas, or laying on a shaded bed. Nobody really swims there, because, well, its still the Ruhr. In fact its the Ruhr that has been stagnated and allowed to warm up. But to be fair, the Ruhr is clean enough now that people have begun swimming below the lake, after the dam.

On the way home from the bar, I saw not one, but two types of glowing insects. The first was a tiny green butted firefly. It was only my second firefly encounter, so I was pretty excited. These were very small, and quite green in color, and they stayed lit for a pretty long time. They were different than the flashing yellowish type in North Carolina. Then, as we walked along a wooded trail back to campus, we saw several green glows under the trees. At first we thought they were more fireflies, but as we approached them, they didn't fly off. So, I reached down and picked one up. . . and it was actually a glow worm. It was short and fat and had three glow spots on each side of its body.

quark, kaval, and kulturcafe

Quark! I feel like I discovered a new food group. Quark (pronounced kvark) is a yogurt meets cream cheese dairy product, with a nutritional content more like cottage cheese. German's dig it. And if you buy the lower fat version, its pretty healthy (I hope). You can mix it with herbs and spices, or fruit, or you can just spread it on some hearty German rye bread. German bread is really good. Don't know why the French get all the credit anyway.

Kaval! The kaval is a wooden shepherd's flute from the Balkans. Its one of the oldest instruments in Europe. Last night I heard a performance by Theodosii Spassov, who is basically the best kaval player in the world. He was playing in a trio, with a drummer and a keyboard player, who were also amazing. They play this mixture of traditional Bulgarian music and jazz, which Theodosii invented, some describe it as a new form of music. They play songs in 4/4, 6/4, but mostly 11/16 time. Try keeping track of that. And not only is he a master of the kaval, but he also does this crazy Bulgarian scat, and sort of beat-boxes through his kaval. The end of the kaval is open, unlike a flute, and at one point he played the thing backwards. Crazy. After his set, he invited the opening jazz group, to jam with him. So they played some classic jazz tunes, stuff that they all new well enough, then he would just jump in and improvise. For an encore, he got up and played an 8 minute solo, without stopping for breath. He has mastered the art of circular breathing, so he can basically play non-stop. I am reluctant to put his web page up, because it just doesn't do him justice. His stage presence is also just incredible. You can see that he truly loves playing.
http://www.theodosiispassov.com/theo.php

Kulturcafe! Not only was the performance amazing, but it was free! It was at the Kulturcafe, a student run place on campus. On Monday I saw a Kurdish folk band there. Its a big open space, a lot like something you would find in Portland. The beer is cheep, and they apparently get some great performances.

Okay, I have to go now because I am out of exclamation points.

Dusseldorf

I had planned on just staying around Bochum this weekend. Then, when I realized I can see stuff in Bochum during the week, I got this panicky feeling like I was missing out on something. So, I took the subway to the train station and jumped on the first train to Dusseldorf, the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia. To add adventure to the trip, my debit card had been deactivated by my bank, so I only had the cash in my hand for the trip. However, my Lonely Planet reassured me that there was a friendly hostel where I cold stay for cheep, and I hoped to use my credit card when possible. I haven't had a lot of luck with places excepting plastic. America has warped my budgeting skills.

I got on the wrong train. But this turned out to be a good thing, because I accidentally rode the very fast express train, with a regional train ticket, saving myself time and money. Upon arrival, I went straight to the hostel called "Backpackers". I was pleased to find room available, and acquired one of six beds in a vacant room. I jumped on the internet (yes, mom, hostels have the internet now), and bought myself tickets to the symphony. Well, it wasn't a symphony, but a cello soloist named Heinrich Schiff, performing Bach suites #2, 4 and 6. I guess the odd ones are no good. The guy was incredible. I don't think he had any music in front of him. Is this possible (Nelly, Mike, and Cara)?

Before the concert, I had a steak coated with a sweet mustard paste, and a few SMALL glasses of Alt beer. Alt is the popular style of beer in Dusseldorf, and it is basically an amber. They make about 10 different kinds in Dusseldorf. The beer halls, which were packed all weekend, have great German character form both the people and the decor. You know you're in Germany. After the concert, I wandered around the pedestrian only streets of the Altstadt area until the early morn. One group of college aged guys made me take shots of vodka that had been poured into these pouches containing a kool-aid type mix. They had four flavors, and they insisted I try them all. I also had my face drawn on by a bachelorette group, played some darts at an Irish pub (threw a 121), and got kicked out of a wood fire pizza place for trying to take pictures. The owner was not happy with the camera, for some reason, maybe his secret recipe was in danger. So we exchanged a few words in different languages, and I left. But I really wanted a pizza, so I had some guy on the street buy it for me, then I ate it in front of the window where the guys spread the dough. And I managed to get the pictures I wanted through said window. See pictures on my picassa page. (http://picasaweb.google.com/autorec)

Despite the lively night, I managed to wake up at a reasonable hour, and go to the K20 art museum. Dusseldorf has a very nice permanent collection, including work by Klee, Kandinsky, Mondrian, Matisse, Beckmann, etc. Really not a lot of names missing. I was also lucky enough to catch the last day of a Picasso installment. It was his late work from the 60s and early 70s. He knew he didn't have long to live, and he was working at a feverish pace. His work from this period is the work of a man who is racing against the clock, trying to create and live as much as he can, while he can. The works are vibrantly colored, extremely sexual, and quite alive. There were a lot of vaginae, and penises, and eyes on the wrong sides of the heads. Anyway, I think it accomplishes what it set out to do, make you feel alive. After the museum, checked out some old and new architecture around the city. The old harbor is now called the "media harbor", and is home to some really cool modern architecture (again, see picassa page). For lunch I had a curry wurst, and a very cold altbier, before heading for the train station to go back to Bochum.

Ruhr

Ruhr is the main river that passes through the valley where the University is located. You think it would be pronounced like sir, bit with an R. But in fact, it is a combination of sounds that I can't even comprehend. The main problem being the German R, which kind of rolls on the back of your tongue, but not quite. This is a problem, because people are curious what I am doing in Germany. When I tell them I am a traveling scientist, they ask where. I respond with a flem clearing/vomiting noise, and. . .well its not what you want from your Embassador of American Science. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=flem

Now that I have left the hotel life, and the restaurant paradise of Budapest, I finally made it to a grocery store. There is a supermarket type place at the Uni-Center on campus. The Uni-center is like a strip mall contained within the campus. Convenient and disgusting at the same time. I was pleased to find the usual sort of supermarket layout, with your meat at one end, and your dairy at another. There was a larger than expected section of canned meats.

Then I came to the wine section. And there wasn't a single bottle over about 8Euro, and most were between 1.50 and 3.00. So, I decided to include in my blog an under $3 wine log.

Piemonte Barbera (Italia 2005)

A nice bright, calm and sensible red. Actually calling it red would do a disservice to this plum hued vixen. Her sweet smell and front seems to be a rouge, which is quickly snapped away by a dry turn of the shoulder. Then, she teases you with only a hint of spice, only to console you with a mild caress of vanilla oakishness. Good with sausage and kraut.

Goes well with all the motorcycle racing and tennis on tv. Seriously, could I get some soccer at least. Or how about some poker. By the way, I am disappointed to say I haven't found a game yet. Apparently, the rest of the world is catching up.

So, my expectations of the Ruhr region were low. Dr. Simoyi (a wild and crazy professor at PSU from Zimbabwe) informed me that it was ugly and stinks. For once, I took what he said as literal. Everyone else I told where I was going sort of curled there nose and said, "Oh". However, I find Bochum to be just fine. Its no Budapest, but its a relatively clean small town surrounded by river valley and farmland. The views from the Univesity are nice. It is on something of a hill overlooking the river valley. You cannot see the river, but its life giving presence is all around. Why do you notice the songbirds more in foreign lands? The architecture and layout of the campus is very modern, and stark, but there are a lot of trees and plants. The stark contrast gives you the feeling that the plants are trying to take back the area for mother nature. Sometimes it feels like I was walking though the jungle and stumbled onto ancient ruins from 1975. The campus is also very difficult to navigate. It built on various man made levels. And just because you see the building you want to go to, the level you are on may not let you go there. Its like Metroid (video game reference, Mom).

Okay, enough blog. Enjoy the songbirds, wherever you are.

A new language to get lost in

I was sad to leave Budapest. Its a beautiful city, and my experience at the Collegium Budapest was amazing. The dinner with Eors was good. We had chicken stuffed potato pancakes (kind of like a crepe) in paprika sauce (of coarse), and a porkchop coated in walnuts. So that covered two of the main Hungarian food groups: pork and paprika. All in all, I am a fan of the Hungarian cuisine. Not a lot of fiber, but good amounts of salt and spices. And the wine is great. In fact, after work on my last day, I went to this "House of Hungarian Wines", near the Budapest Castle. Its a large wine cellar, and a small cover charge allows you to taste wines for up to two hours. Its organized like a wine museum, where each region of wine has its own area in the cellar with a map showing where the wines are from, and describing the climate and soil. They grow mostly white wines, but Pinot Noirs are doing very well. Lets just say I feel I got my money's worth.

From Budapest, I flew into Dortmund on Easyjet. Easyjet offers really cheep airfares all over Europe, but there are no assigned seating, so its first come first served, and every man for himself. It made for a fairly exhausting day. Then when I arrived in Dortmund, I took a shuttle to the train station. Except I got on the wrong shuttle, and therefore ended up at the wrong train station. In fact it wasn't really a station, but simply a train stop, with a machine to purchase a ticket. There was a schedule, but none of them mentioned going to Bochum. Eventually, I figured out I was in the wrong place, waited for a shuttle back to the airport, and got to the right train station. The whole thing set me back close to two hours. The secretary of Gunter von Kiedrowski (my research adviser here in Germany) was supposed to pick me up at the train station in Bochum after I called her upon arrival. Later I saw that she had sent me an email titled "urgent" that said (and I quote):

Dear Eric,

I am waiting for you at Bochum Station. What is the matter with you??? Please contact me at: 01775673221!!!!!

Oh, thats good. She also brought me some dinner that she made herself, and some snacks and supplies for PB and J. So, I have moved into my apartment in Bochum. It is within reasonable walking distance to the Universitat, but I will try to obtain a bicycle soon. It's nice to be out of a hotel.

Intellectual ferment

Two other fellows here at the Collegium Budapest, Sergio and Walter, also do work similar to mine. They are working on computer simulations of the types of reactions I do in the lab. We are finding a lot of similarities in our ideas about the origins of life, and we are all learning things form each other. The energy and excitement is great. We went out for beers last night, and we kept talking about science. We also discussed politics, culture, movies, and music. Although we have covered a lot of gaps in our knowledge of science, none of us fully understand the popularity of George Michael. He sells out here in Budapest, at 60 Euro a ticket. We think it is some sort of Wham-nostalgia syndrome. Sergio is Italian, so he doesn't handle his beer so well. After a few, he broke down and admitted that he really enjoys Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and has all the seasons on dvd. We also all like Tom Waits, but don't understand what he is singing about. So, all in all it was a very productive night.

The weather has cooled off some, and I actually needed a jacket last night for the first time. Lightening storms continue to blow by, quickly, each afternoon.

Tonight, Eors has invited me to a big fancy dinner a the Collegium. These only happen once every other month, so I came at the right time. With the dinner, the other scholars that are here right now, and the fact that this is the only week Eors will be here all summer, I think the planets are aligning for me. It is too bad I will have to leave Saturday but,

Eric Travels