The First 100 Days

May 13, 2018 | Rob

It has been about 100 days since we moved to upstate New York. The extended winter has relented and what was once white is now very green. To the locals, this rapid seasonal change is nothing spectacular. To us, it is a refreshing novelty in contrast to our previous life in the desert. 

For Becky and Alex, the onset of warmer seasons opens up more possibilities for things to do during the day. They are regulars at some of the local libraries where Alex has enjoyed activities and unfamiliar territory to explore. Becky has also organized play dates with other moms from church. Now we also enjoy walks around our neighborhood and time at the local parks. The latter in particular is good news for Alex, as he now prefers to move on two limbs rather than four, and he is eager to explore the limits of his upgraded mobility.

As for me, I am eager to get out and explore some of the local hiking trails. While checking out a trail near my house recently, I visited with a couple hikers who were part of a local hiking club. Joining that club on their regular hikes might be a good way to get to know the area and see some of the beautiful places here, like these. 

For now though, I keep busy enough with work and home life. So far, I am very happy with the new job. I've taken on a variety of tasks such as: organizing interdisciplinary faculty meetings, compiling lists of faculty members and relevant information about them, writing brief biographies about faculty members, coordinating plans to build new shared instrument facilities, developing a business plan for acquiring a very expensive MRI instrument, coordinating a search for a consultant to advise us on said business plan, assisting with elementary school tours of the research labs, contributing to the 'Ask a Scientist' column in the local paper, and attending whatever lectures and seminars on campus that interest me so that I can be generally informed about what the faculty are doing. Some tasks are more interesting than others, but everything still feels like a new and exciting challenge to me.I have an outstanding boss who is competent, encouraging and professional, and the colleagues and faculty members I interact with are outstanding as well. So far, it's an ideal work culture, which is something that I will never again take for granted.

This past week, I attended a conference for people who work in research development in Washington D.C. There were over 500 people there from campuses all over the country. A few of my colleagues from Binghamton also attended, and I ran into an old colleague from Arizona State there too. 

As a basketball fan, the timing of this meeting was good because I could watch some games in the hotel. We don't have cable or a television for that matter, and so I miss out on basketball games (maybe next year I'll splurge on the Hulu package for NBA games). I was able to watch the Jazz play a couple games, including the one in which they were sadly eliminated by the Rockets. 

Since I had a hotel room, and Washington D.C. is a 5-hour drive from our home, Becky and Alex came along with me. We drove down there early so we could visit some sites together. We walked around the National Mall and saw some of the usual patriotic and historical things. While I was in my meetings, Becky and Alex hopped on the subway and visited more sites. On the way home, we happened to stop for gas and a break at Gettysburg, and saw more historical sites there too. I'm not a history buff, so it made me realize how little I know about the Civil War. 

Alex was mostly a good sport for the drive and long walks around the sites we visited. That is, until we were almost home and he started to get grumpy, and then puked Long John Silvers all over himself. I'm not sure if it was the car drive, bad milk or bad fish that made him naseous, but we had to stop and clean up that mess before continuing on for the last 30 miles of the journey. He was a happier traveler after that.

In other news, we've enjoyed the company of our small church group and had some people over for dinner in an effort to make new friends here. This is a very service-oriented branch, and they've been helpful in giving Becky some help with Alex recently when her back went out. Up until now, we haven't been given any jobs to do at church, but that changed today for me. So what is my new calling? Well, if you guessed executive secretary then you are right. This will be the 5th time I've held that calling. It will be interesting to see how it functions in a branch. I'm sure a calling is in the works for Becky as well.

Also in other news, I made this new home page for our family website robecky.org, check it out. It is a central spot where you can go to find updates like this, as well as photo albums and videos. We will occasionally add things like our photos from our trip to DC (which you can see here) and videos of Alex's early walking efforts.