Mahalo.ne.Trash

After using homemade (with iWeb) webpage for the first 2.5 years of my professorship, I decided it was time for a new web presence. I really wanted to highlight the diversity of people and interests in my growing group at Caltech. I worked with Trity and Vicki at Caltech E&S  to come up with a design that is attractive, simple and useable. Here's the final result: http://exolab.caltech.edu

Marcus recently decided that he wants his hair "short like Daddy's and Owen's." So the other night we all had a haircut party, with me, Owen and Marcus taking turns with the clippers. Erin is sad that she lost the battle of the curls, but was really only a matter of time. Now those are some handsome boys, if I say so myself!

Damn you, Hallmark! Damn your dark, pink soul for this annual dilemma! 

Campbell hall circa 1999 or 2011 Campbell Hall circa Feb 2012 (aw!) Back in 2000 I was a eager young prospective grad student choosing between Caltech physics and Berkeley Astronomy for the next 7 years of my life. When I visited Robinson Hall at Caltech (well before the crazy orange Cahill building), all of the students were in the basement. When I visited Campbell hall at Berkeley, all of the students were on the roof in the Cosmic Garden. There was a telescope dome in the middle of a courtyard in which a lemon tree and flowers grew. A flight of stairs led up to a bird's eye view of the Berkeley campus from 8 floors up, as well as an amazing vista of San Francisco, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. After taking in the view from the roof of Campbell for the first time I knew it was time to drop my life's ambition of physics grad school at Caltech for a new career at UC Berkeley. So what if I had to learn a brand new subject, a new unit system, and learn to plot t...

(Much more serious than my last post :)  

Ever wonder how astronomical images are modified? Here's how it's done:

Blake Griffin does it again. Go Clippers!