There is a special place in hell...

For women who do not help other women- Madeline Albright.

This is not a dark and twisty post (thank you Meredith Grey!). Its merely an observation that I made recently. There is lots of turmoil at work. Boss is moving the lab to another city, lab is split into the pile of peeps that are going and the pile that are not. Needless to say turmoil brings out the worst in people. Gossiping, backstabbing etc., Our lab is mostly women- so a female senior scientist in the lab just published a paper independent from our current supervisor. She had a MALE postdoc in the lab do experiments that I had taught him how to do. The paper got published and I just came to know that he was an author. How do you think that made me feel? Angry? Upset? Yes I felt that but I also realized that we wax and wane and whine about there not being enough women in fields in Science and Technology and then something like this happens and it opens our eyes. While men have their own negative role to play in this by not giving women enough credit repeatedly, its also the WOMEN who are currently in a place of power that do not allow younger women to succeed. Do you think this female scientist thought about whether to give me the opportunity and dismissed me? If so, why? If she didn't even think about it, then again the question is why? and Ultimately, if I were in that position would I have done the same thing? I would like to think not, but you never know I guess.

Toodles,

S

California Trip

This post is so long overdue its not funny- details that I wanted to include are getting fuzzier by the day. So here goes- H and I took a late anniversary trip to California, Northern Cali to be specific. We flew into San Jose and then drove to Berkeley that day and spent the day there wandering around bookstores and UC Berkeley itself. Two things about Berkeley- lots of homeless people! and makes me want to go back to school but in the US :). We ate lunch at this nepali place called Mount everest- the food was decent (prices were atrociously big, but that is THE theme of the trip :)) BUT the kheer we ordered was SOUR- ugh! I actually texted my nepali co-worker to make sure it wasn't some tradition or way of cooking- NOPE, the kheer they gave us was spoiled, so that left a sour taste in our mouth- pun intended.

After Berkeley we made our way to Monterey, which was our "home" base so to speak. It took longer than normal because of crazy traffic but thats Cali for you!. As soon as we got closer to the ocean, I could smell it- man its the best feeling in the world, the first time you smell the ocean after being stuck in sucky Dallas for years :), but I digress. I made H pull over at the nearest beach before we went to the hotel to check in- and went into the water- and boy was the water COLD- but it was also full of seaweed- I eventually got used to it- but H was like eewwwwwwww and refused to get in the water.

Then we checked in and here is the review for the hotel http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g33068-d82133-r310660667-Holiday_Inn_Express_Monterey_BaySeaside_Monterey_Peninsula_California.html#CHECK_RATES_CONT

We went to this restaurant called Peppers Mexicali cafe for dinner and IT WAS AWESOME- I had their vegetarian chili (thats right people- they make chili vegetarian in the wonderful part of this country and its called California). H and I shared their stuffed green pepper for apple and he had veggie fajitas. This was the second theme of the trip, awesome veggie food available at all times without much work.

Next day, we were up bright and early and picked up bikes at Bay Bikes at cannery row and then started on the 17 mile drive. We got to about 4.5 miles and got hungry. We stopped at several places on the way to get into the water- little alcoves that were free of seaweed- I think they were tidal pools. Anyways, right across the street from the Asilomar beach is the Asilomar conference center which had this charming cafe called Phoebe's cafe thats open to everyone (non-conference attendees) and we had a delightful lunch there. We had tortellini soup and a salad. Then we turned back, because yours truly was tired and the drive/bike ride becomes uphill beyond this point. We returned our bikes and then grabbed a cold beer and some fries at the Cannery Row brewing company (I figured I'd earned it after a 9 mile bike ride? Common people, it was our vacation!!- no judgy).

We then walked down the street for some souvenir shopping etc., and then we went back to the room to get changed and head out to dinner. For dinner, we went to Ambrosia India Bistro and the food was decent- overpriced, but edible is all I am going to say, nothing to write home about though.

Next day was the drive to Big Sur and the Julia Pfeiffer Burns state park. So we started our drive stopped at a few beaches on the way (can't remember the names now, sorry!!) they were pretty decent- not too much seaweed. We went further south on Pacific Highway 1 and ended up at Big Sur Bakery and Restaurant for lunch (we made reservations, but were late, like an hour late). They took us in, but made a huge deal about how we would be the last customers for their lunch service. Boy was the food good!!! We split a salad (good), then I had a soup (can't remember what it was, had red peppers in it though- also good) but H got sandwich with avacados, honey and tomatillo jam- OMG this was one of the best things I have tasted. This place was EXORBITANTLY pricey- and then H went and got their holiday bread or something to go and that was like 40$, seriously? I am just NOT over the price at this place and its been a month.

We headed further south and then stopped at this place where there were lots of cars parked and then hiked all the way down thinking thats where the waterfalls were going to be, but instead we pleasantly surprised when we found two humpback whales. OMG- it was totally worth the hike down and up. They were beautiful. Nature amazes me and this was definitely one of those times that it did.

Then we went further down Pac H 1 and found the falls and honestly after pinterest stalking these falls, they were not exactly a let down, but they were meh!.
Then we headed back to Monterey/Carmel and ended up watching the sunset at Carmel beach. This was the prettiest site I saw on this trip. Nothing can beat soft stretch of ocean sand, people walking about and sun slowly setting, it was so romantic not in like the personal sense but with nature- I know that makes me a freak- but I cannot explain the beauty in words.

We went to Il Fornaio for dinner that night and the food was delicioso (H will roll his eyes at this). I had the minestrone soup and their butternut squash ravioli, H had their vegetarian pizza. I need to digress for a second here and talk about my obsession with butternut squash ravioli. A few years ago, H and I took a wonderful winter trip to Portland, OR and its when I fell in love with the city and the food in the city. But, in downtown portland there was this restaurant called Pastini Pastaria and I had the best butternut squash ravioli I have ever had in my life. The one in Carmel was not that good, but it was pretty good. It felt undercooked. They threw in free dessert (we got the tiramisu- this was really good).

We had to return to Dallas the next day! Alas! One of these days maybe we can move to the west coast- the land of the vegetarian friendly places :)

One thing that I want to note about the pacific ocean is, it seemed like this part of the pacific was angry, all dark and churning and angsty. I liked it- it was a big change from the pacific in LA or San Diego where everything is so ..umm whats the word? Chirpy? Happy? Shiny? I think this pacific was a reflection of where I am in life right now, I guess.

Toodles,

S