Austin is bringing his parents tonight! Caitlin started her senior year this week!

Jillian and Brit are going to the U-M/Oregon football game Saturday, and bringing Austin to visit for the weekend. I am so excited, it will be his first time visiting here! Caitlin and I will be watching him during the game.


Caitlin started her senior year of high school this week. So far, so good :)



Last week Brad's nephew Gabe and his wife Tera went to the U-M/AppState game with us. We had a good time with them, but the best I can say about the game itself was that it was a nice day to be outside. Brad's and my seats are in the 4th row, right next to the band.

Brad and I went to my friend Rachael's wedding a couple of weeks ago, but I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any pictures- she looked gorgeous, though.




I took some pictures as I was walking to work early Tuesday morning. Everything was still wet with dew, even though later it got to be in the upper 80's.

Thesis defense date

I had a thesis committee meeting this morning-very stressful, but it went pretty well and I was given permission to finish up and graduate. We set a date for the public oral defense of my dissertation-October 8 at 10AM. I have to get the written copy of my dissertation to my committee ten days before that date, among many other details, so I will be working very hard and will probably be pretty cranky from the stress! Please think positive thoughts for me (and for Brad and Caitlin to put up with me) in the weeks ahead!

One of the most important things...

Did you ever hear the saying that bravery does not mean the absence of fear, but rather doing something despite being afraid? I think I must be one of the bravest people I know because I am afraid of everything-but I am learning to do things anyway and have been quite astounded at how much I have been able to accomplish so far.

Well, something happened to me over the weekend that sort of threw me. The specifics aren't important, but it made me think. I have a sheet of paper posted at my desk at work with an inspirational message I printed out some time ago that really helps me to keep things in perspective (see below for the words and a link). It is about the importance of reminding ourselves to put failure behind us so that we can move ahead. I didn't fail (this time!) but it is hard for me to be willing to look bad in the eyes of others. Success can result in this as well as failure. Sometimes no matter what you do, certain people will not like you. I am just going to continue doing the best I can and hope for the best.

Anyway, here is the message:

ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS EVER
By Steve Goodier

We ALL fail!

And I’m not talking about your latest baking disaster or losing a game of “Scrabble”. We fail in some important areas. We may fail at a significant relationship. We may fail at a job. We may fail at doing something we are convinced we were always meant to do! We all fail. And sometimes we fail in pretty spectacular ways.

Baseball player Lou Brock said something important about failure. Brock once held the record for stolen bases. He was about 35 years old at the time and his days as a professional player were winding down. Brock was talking about why he successfully stole more bases than younger, faster players.

“When you start out in baseball,” Brock said, “you’re young and you have the speed and reflexes. However, when you try to steal second base and you get thrown out, it’s a long walk back to the dugout with 40,000 fans watching you. When you reach my age, you come to understand that records are not set by being the quickest, but by the willingness to look bad in the eyes of others.”

When Brock became willing to look bad in the eyes of 40,000 fans, he broke the chains of fear and experienced true freedom. (He probably also played better!) He learned how to do ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS EVER: he learned how to put failure behind him.

Unless we learn how to put failure behind us:

• We will never ask for what we need for fear of rejection.

• We will never ask a boss for a promotion for fear of her saying no.

• We will never go back and take classes for fear of failing.

• We will never change careers for fear of it not working out.

• We will never forgive others who hurt us for fear of being hurt by them again.

• We won’t do the things we want to do for fear of letting ourselves and others down.

Unless we learn how to put failure behind us, we won’t take any risk at all! And we’ll never fully live, either.

The Bible talks about forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. Learn to put your failures behind you and you can go places you never dreamed possible.

Steve Goodier books and newsletter: http://lifesupportsystem.com

Click here for a link to his website and to sign up for the Life Support newsletter.

Organogenesis Symposium brochure

The brochure just came out for the International Organogenesis Symposium at the U-M this October. Does the image on the front look familiar? I was so excited to see my image used as the cover photo, and even more so when I opened it up to see the schedule of speakers and saw another one of my photos as a background image! It doesn't mention my name since I signed over copyright to BioArtography, but I know :)

Drew & Dawn's wedding

We got a nice family picture taken, but we all missed John. Austin stayed home with Brit's Godmother.

Brad's nephew Drew and his fiancee Dawn got married Saturday. It was an outdoor ceremony, and they couldn't have asked for a better day. It was clear and warm, yet there was a cooling breeze that kept it comfortable. As usual, there was a lot of dancing and merriment.

Happy Anniversary, Jillian and Brittan!!

Happy 1st Anniversary, Jillian and Brittan- and wishes for many, many more years of wedded bliss. We love you very much. I just have to include this picture of Austin, our sweet grandbaby and your little "honeymoon surprise". What could he be thinking?

Harry Potter Days

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday last week were "Harry Potter Days" when Jacki was here. Monday we went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in Imax 3-D (it was our second time to see the movie, but 1st in 3-D). Here are Jacki and Caitlin in their 3-D glasses excitedly awaiting the start of the movie.

Tuesday July 31, Harry Potter's b-day for muggles who don't know ;) we went to see two Wizard Rock groups at the library: "Harry and the Potters"








and "Draco and the Malfoys".







We all know it was geeky, but it was fun anyway. Some people even made birthday cakes.






It was a great time for some sisterly bonding, as well.

Mugglecast

Jacki got here at lunchtime and we ate BLTs before heading out to Borders in Novi for the live Mugglecast. It was fun listening to a live podcast and sitting in on the Harry Potter discussion with Jamie, Mikey, Emerson, Ben and Andrew (Caitlin gave me their names).




There were actually quite a few adults there, and not all of them were there with their kids, either. Some of the "more mature" adults even got in line to ask questions for the discussion. Afterwards, The "Remus Lupins" played some Wizard Rock.








Jacki and Caitlin got their Pickle Pack wristbands, which has something to do with the Mugglecast fan base.







It seems to be top secret, because they won't tell me what it means. They are both still waiting for their Pickle Pack t-shirts, too, although we saw a couple of people there were wearing theirs.




Jacki and Caitlin both also got Mugglenet t-shirts, which were kind of clever.

Jacki's visit and BSRB pictures

Jacki drove up from NC today and is staying at Jillian's house tonight. I am sure they are excited to see each other, and Austin probably looks so big to her, since she hasn't seen him in about 2 months! We are all excited to see her, too. She will be here tomorrow at lunch time, then we are all going to attend a live Mugglecast taping in Novi. Okay, it is pretty geeky and we all like to "troop" to things, but it should be fun.

The U-M and Polshek Partnership Architects received the 2007 Institute Honor Award for Architecture from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for the Biomedical Science Research Building (BSRB) where I work. Most of the pictures of the building show the side with the auditorium, nicknamed "The Pringle" because of its potato chip shape. Click here to see photos from the constuction and last year's grand opening of the building.





I brought my camera today when Caitlin fed the fish and took some pictures of the side of the BSRB where I work. I have labeled the window next to my desk-it has a nice view of main campus and the Burton Carillon/clock tower (that picture is from last winter). The sculpture on the side of the building is called "Flame of Wisdom" and no one I have talked to seems to like it much. I like it, but I think it was incredibly expensive. I don't know who paid for it, but I hope they contribute to research, too. There is also a small model (~2-3 ft. tall) of the sculpture inside the building near the front entrance.

Jacque's visit

My sister Jacque and her kids visited Ohio from Virginia last week. My brother John and sister-in-law Cris had a party for them at their house Saturday. Brad, Jillian, Austin and I went (Brittan was home with poison ivy-ouch!). Most of my siblings and their families, and Dad and Rita were there, as well as a few cousins and my Uncle Tom. It was a gorgeous day and we had fun visiting for a few hours.

I forgot to mention before that last Thursday was Alex's last day in the lab-he and his family went back to Malaysia Friday. He gave everyone in the lab a bookmark from his university in Malaysia.

Harry Potter book release

Brad, Caitlin and I went to Border's Harry Potter book release on Friday/Saturday. There were a lot of people in costume and it was fun, with games and prizes, but it was pretty disorganized. We didn't get the books until 1:15AM. I was only going to read the first couple of chapters, but before I knew it, it was light out (8AM!) and I had been up all night. After traveling to a party at my brother's house Saturday afternoon (see next post) and numerous distractions, I finally finished the book last night about 11:30PM. If anyone wants to discuss it, I have a lot of opinions and would love to hear yours!