Jeff Stuart - Memoirs of a CPUNERD

There’s been a lot happening in my life over the past few weeks. As should be expected, much of it revolved around the new school year. There were also some personal things happening in my life, but I shan’t bore you with those details.

I happened to meet a great group of international students and have been getting along quite well with them. A few weeks ago, we got together with Outdoor Adventures at UC Davis and did a huge trip to Yosemite. The trip itself was a blast, and it allowed everyone to get to know each other better while seeing some of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring sights in California.

This picture was taken in front of El Capitan, the largest single piece of (was it granite?) known to man.

A warm embrace with Half Dome in the background.

Starfish in Yosemite?

While small in comparison to its April size, this fall was still quite impressive.

My birthday happened to be a few days ago (hurray New Year’s babies!). I wasn’t planning on doing any sort of celebration for it. I was very pleasantly surprised when almost thirty people showed up at the Farmer’s Market for dinner. I figured it was just a good turn out. I was wrong though, Abhi had done some scheming and informed a lot of people about the night. Kristin and Margot (and Tom) also baked me a cake, which made the night even better. Of course, I turned bright red when everyone started singing “Happy Birthday”, but it was well worth the momentary embarrassment. One thing that I was also surprised at (okay, I might even say pleasantly surprised) was when, at 23h50, Abhi, Kim, Christoph, and Brad showed up with Champagne at my door. Yes, I was already asleep. Yes, I answered in my underwear. Yes, I scared them.

On my actual birthday (The Market was the night before) I had to be in San Jose for a conference. I got in around noon, went to a few sessions, then had a chance to go up to Sunnyvale to see Shakeh. After that, I went back to the conference, “presented” my poster which meant that I talked to about four people the entire time. My poster was one of ten (out of almost one hundred) unlucky ones to be outside of the main poster room, since there were too many. I then decided to fill up on fancy (a relative term) cheese and grapes, then at 20h sharp I split for Davis.

As soon as I got back, I grabbed my camping gear and headed for a looooooooooooong road trip.  Abhi, Christoph, Brad, Tony, Giacomo, and I drove to the Grand Canyon, Zion, and then back in the span of sixty hours. The trip was absolutely amazing. You can of course see photos in the usual places (Facebook, My photo site). I was asked to describe my feelings when I got my very first glimpse of the Grand Canyon. The response: “Words cannot describe the marvel and beauty. Pictures cannot accurately portray it. Any memory you have will pale in comparison to experiencing the views again.” All this occurred within a split second. Seriously, nothing compares to the first time you see something like this.

 
Taken at a mesa on the hiking trail down to the Colorado river.

Prolific shot of me at Zion.

Yoga in the desert, so relaxing.

Setting up a tent, when a bald butterfly emerges from its cocoon.

This picture doesn’t even do it justice.

Now, if you happen to see the views at sunrise or sunset, that’s even better! We were fortunate enough to not only see the sunrise and sunset, but we also got a view of the canyon by the light of the full moon. We couldn’t quite capture it on camera, but perhaps it’s better that way.

Sunrise on the rim.