The latest and greatest!!

OK, its been awhile...lots of catching up to do.
First, school has been great! I'm learning a ton and it is really exciting. I've been asked by my advisor to switch from a Master's student to a PhD candidate! Classes are few, but very interesting...and technically my classroom is my lab, so I guess I am in class 5 days a week 8+ hours a day :)
Obviously, I have been busy with school, but that doesn't mean Maggy and I haven't had time to play. This winter has been full of skiing, on and off piste. Maggy loves off piste days because she gets to come...and she loves the snow!! Usually the next day I have a hard time getting her up for her normal walks she's so pooped! When we are not at school or skiing we can be found at Wash park...playing. Now that the weather has been warm Maggy gets to swim...even when I try and keep her away from the water she manages to find it and convince me she needs to play.
We had a few visitors over the past few months. Tim and Josh have come down a few times. BUT, a few long distance visitors found there way to Denver. Dave came down from Alaska for some goodbyes and goodtimes before he left for the Peace Corps in Guyana. Miss you Dave! Check him out: http://welankosguyana.blogspot.com/. During Dave's visit we did a lot including argueing about dirty dish placement, proper Sour Patch Kids to buy, and the X-Games in Aspen.
JJ also came up for a visit with his buddy Brian. We hung out in Frisco (cheaper than breckenridge) and skied for a 3 days. Josh, Chrissy, Tim, and Steph came down for the weekend to ski and have fun.
Needless to say, Mags and I have been busy playing and working. Here are a few pics from the last few months. Enjoy!!

Thanksgiving road trip to Tucson
Spider Rock at Canyon de Chelly, AZ

Trail to the Whithouse, Canyon de Chelly, AZ

The Whitehouse, Canyon de Chelly, AZ

Canyonlands, UT


Hike to Seven Falls in Sabino Canyon, Tucson AZ
YEAH! MOM WENT ON A 4+ mi HIKE!!!

Sabino Canyon, Tucson AZ


Skiing and other Misadventures!!


Maggy and I. Russ (skiing buddy) and Blue.

Hike to a peak where we saw a sweeter peak to hike to



The Sweeter Peak....No Name Peak, Berthoud,CO

The tired summit pic....time to ski!

Makin sweet turns!!! Check out Maggy keeping up!

No Name Peak from the gully on the way out. Left side...see our tracks...couldn't resist we had to hike and hit it again!


110's...or as I like to call'em the uno dieses!

Another peak...it was super windy hiking this sucker...I was scared.

Summit

Russ skiing down...I had the camera so no pics of me...check out Maggy!!!

Pheeew!

So, school is in full swing...kind of. It's almost embarrassing to admit, but I only have one real class. One class is a Journal "club", so we read journal articles on a regulatory biology subject (calcium biochemistry) and discuss. Most of my time is spent in the lab doing research, and Tuesdays I teach two undergraduate general biology labs. So far so good!
Maggy is doing great, she is super comfortable in the new place...she likes her grass I put down. We've had a few firsts. We had our first out of town visitor, Josh came to visit us for the weekend. We mountain biked and hung out. We also had our first dinner guests, Nicole and Bianca (friends from SF that live in Denver too) came by and had dinner.
This last weekend we went on our first backpacking trip since moving to Denver. We went to the Chicago Lakes under Mount Evans. It was a 4.5 mile hike into the lakes and we camped under Mount Evans. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so I only have a few pics from a buddy that went. Here you go:


Fishing at Chicago Lake (Maggy and I are of in the distance)

Lower Chicago Lake, Mount Evans in the background.

First 2 weeks!

Our first 2 weeks have been exciting and busy. I am starting my second week in the lab, and it is going rough. In Los Alamos I knew what I was doing and I helped to develop many of the protocols we used so I would come in every morning and kick some butt! Now, I am learning new instruments and techniques and it is going slow :( and this is a big change for me. My professor/mentor/advisor is very nice and extremely smart. Currently, we are trying to determine whether folic acid and homocysteine metabolism may be altered in Down syndrome and whether changes for folic acid metabolism can lead to intellectual disability and alterations in susceptibility to cancer and other disorders. This is really exciting work and I am indescribably excited to start focusing my research! Here is a link to the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute at the University of Denver that I am working under. In addition to taking classes and doing my research I have to teach two undergraduate labs. This will be a fun experience!!
Enough about me....
Maggy is doing great! At first she was a little apprehensive about the new place. My decision to rent a place with a yard was a great one. She was spoiled in Santa Fe with a pool and wonderful grass for her to relax on. Our new place has a nice little yard with gravel, I wanted to make Maggy comfortable, so I laid some sod for her...kind of ridiculous how spoiled this dog is!! Every evening we go to Washington (wash) park for a walk or run. We typically go for a 5-6 mile run and afterwards she gets to swim in the Wash park lake. I'll have to post some pictures of Maggy flying into the lake as it is hard for those of you that have not shared or witnessed Maggy's love of swimming to understand.
We have also gone on a few hikes. The first was a hike to Herman Lake, which is outside of Georgetown, CO. It is under some 13,000 and 14,000 foot peaks. The other was to a small lake I found on a map called Blue Lake. It was an easy hike up around a peak from Berthoud Pass, CO. Below are some pictures!! Enjoy!


Herman Lake hike, Georgetown, CO.


Herman Lake, Georgetown, CO.


Blue Lake hike, Berthoud Pass, CO.


Maggy diving and swimming in the pool, Santa Fe, NM.

Our new life adventure!!

Hello!
So, as most of you know Maggy and I moved to Denver 2 weeks ago. I am going to attend the University of Denver to work on my Master's degree in Biochemistry, and eventually my PhD. We decided to create the blog so that we could easily share our new life and our adventures in our new home! I hope you all enjoy, I will try and limit the writing, and will instead post pictures with brief descriptions.