You ask… I deliver… April 23, 2008

I have been asked by more and more people now to post pictures from the new house up online. I have posted the pictures that B and I took last night as part of our home inspection.

I will leave B to make comments on individual photos.

http://picasaweb.google.com/kugreg/PrescottHouse

Hope everyone enjoys!

Dr. Becky! March 29, 2008

Congratulations to Dr. Becky… the first Dr. Henkhaus of our family!!

I think I can say this for all of us:  We are very proud and happy for you!!!  You did it!

Good luck and best wished to Becky and Greg as there lives continue to change drastically this year… for the better, of course

Kurt is home :) March 20, 2008

Well as most of you know, Kurt is back in West Lafayette, yay! (as of Sunday, March 16th @ ~6:30pm)

But you didn’t know that he’s been sick… with a temperature and “stomach issues.” I came home from work on Tuesday (~7:30pm), saw his car in our parking lot, but when I entered the apartment, I couldn’t find him for a few minutes. I found him laying on the couch under several blanket, with symptoms of being cold and achy (which we all know that Kurt is never cold normally). Took his temp. = 100.6. Kurt no longer has a temperature, but hasn’t eaten much (a total of 2 apples and 1 banana) since lunch on Tuesday. Anyway,……. I hear Steven was sick this past weekend when Kurt saw the Fam in St. Louis. Hope he’s feeling better And I’m hoping I don’t get sick!

Other stuff: A few minutes ago, I payed the last bill for the no-interest-for-one-year loan I got to pay off the hospital bill from the docs removing my appendix, yay! … which happened in early October 2006.

Everyone ready for the maddness that is March Maddness!!! Kurt and I are taking a late lunch today and watching the KU game at Buffalo Wild Wings GO JAYHAWKS!!

Hope all of you are doing well!

I got the job! February 21, 2008

You can click on the becky-greg blog for the full story, but in short…I got the post-doc position that I interviewed for at KU! I am just terribly excited about it and immensely relieved. I am so looking forward to being back in the midwest, although the ice storm today give me pause…

Becky Updates November 11, 2007

I just realized I should probably just post an update for me (and Greg) since I haven’t spoken with anyone except mom and dad in quite a while.  For once I actually have some good news to share.  My first paper (I’m first author) has been excepted!  This, of course, is a huge deal for me.  I feel like I’ve been trying to get this thing published forever!  It only needs minor revisions and I will re-submit it for publication just before Thanksgiving.  Also, another paper that I am second-author on will be submitted early this week.  In addition to those two, I have another first author paper being submitted later this month and 2-4 more in the pipeline.  It is truly amazing.  I feel so happy and proud that all of my hard work for the last few years is finally coming to some fruition.

Also, this coming Tuesday, I will have my final committee meeting – the one where they tell me (hopefully) that I have permission to write my dissertation and schedule my defense.  Having my paper accepted last week could not have been better because they are way more likely to let me graduate with one paper already under my belt.  So although I still have some minor work to do on my meeting presentation, I am looking forward to presenting my data to them.  If things go well at my meeting, I will finish up most of my bench work by the middle of December and then go back to Kansas and spend about a month there with Greg, writing my dissertation and job hunting.  It will be a busy time but busy in a good way!  I plan to schedule my dissertation defense for mid-March…so anyone that wants an excuse for a trip to Tucson is more than welcome!

Greg also has some potentially exciting news, he has applied for a new job at the Spencer Art Museum at KU for the job of systems administrator.  This will be a nice move up the food-chain for him and will allow us to really look into buying a house next Summer after I move back.

I am happing to be hosting dad’s stay in Tucson, starting tomorrow.  He will be in town for the Tour de Tucson again this year.  Ironically, I will be out of town for part of his stay here!  Greg and I will be in Austin for his older sister’s wedding next weekend.  We’ll be there for 5 days, so although we won’t be together for Thanksgiving, it’ll be a nice time to spend together.  Plus, weddings are always fun!  I’ll be sure to post pictures of the trip.

Sophie is doing well, currently laying on her “thrown” on the couch.  I miss everyone and hope your next few busy weeks are very enjoyable!

K & R update November 9, 2007

I don’t know if Kurt has mentioned this to anyone or gone into detail about what’s been going on in Indiana, so I thought it’s about time for an update… also we have more details known now too. Kurt’s research requires him to test some of his specimens in Minnesota. There are also test specimens from KU that will be tested in Minnesota, but there are two new Master’s students from KU working on that part. Somehow it was decided by the professors on this project that at least one grad student from each of the two universities (KU and Purdue) will be in Minnesota for at least the first 6 tests (2 of these tests are Kurt’s). Their estimate for each test is one month. Around the beginning of January the first set of tests will start, and since Kurt is the only grad student from Purdue working on this research, he is required to be there for 6 months for the first part of 2008, while the two KU grad students will be taking turns.

How often will he be allowed to travel back to Purdue, you might be thinking at this point: a weekend once a month under the explanation of “creating new specimens” so the research project will pay for the flight. Apparently “going to see his wife” isn’t an acceptable explanation.

Rachel is “job hunting” for some source of income starting January 2008. It’s not really going as planned, but there are a few options… the decision making isn’t fun.

I guess that’s all I can say about that at this point. We are looking forward to seeing all of you in the next couple of months

Love, R & K

P.S. — I think all of you have met Kurt’s friend Dustin Smith (was the 3rd groomsman) and his wife Sarah. They had a baby girl Nov. 7th, Johanna Layne Smith! They emailed pics of her today, and she is a little baby female version of Dustin

Ron’s China trip October 28, 2007

My trip to China is now a set of memories. It was a combination business and pleasure trip and full of fantastic experiences. Of course IBM paid most of the freight. The route was St. Louis to Chicago to Shanghai to Beijing. The business and sightseeing were in and around Beijing. Not so sad to say, I missed the experience of lugging my luggage long distances, up mountains.

I went to teach local IBMers about the product I support, the DR550. The business portion was Monday through Wednesday. Thursday and Friday were sightseeing days. A friend from the Bay area and I visited the Forbidden City (where the Ming and Qing Emperors, Empresses, royal concubines, eunuchs, and other royal personages lived), Tiananmen Square, and a market called Silk Street (best described as a 5 story, massive bazaar) on Thursday. On Friday we visited the Great Wall (man, are portions of it steep!), the Ming Tombs, a jade working factory and outlet store, and a vase factory and outlet for the vases, more jade goods, silk, and many other types of goods all at a great prices. Unfortunately, it was very foggy for most of the time we were at the Great Wall so most of the pictures are so-so. I got over 150 pictures from the sightseeing excursions. Pictures are:

1) One of the larger of many palaces in the Forbidden City, 2) Tiananmen Sq., 3) Great Wall, and 4) One of the Ming Tomb buildings.

Beijing is safe, and the people very courteous. Of course it’s crowded as you’d expect of a city with 17 million people. There’s very little litter but the air quality is terrible. I wouldn’t want to be an Olympic athlete competing here next year unless they really get some control of the pollution. I would recommend Beijing as a great place to visit but not during the Olympics and at a time of year when pollution is not so bad (if there is such a time).

Greece Trip Posts October 13, 2007

Hi All- Just to let everyone know, I’m currently posting blog entries about my NYC/Greece trip on the becky-greg blog. So if you’re wondering how things are going, that’s where to get the updates. The trip is going well so far, I leave for Greece tomorrow. Also, I got together with Ruthie and Jake for dinner tonight, it was quite fun. Hope everyone is well!

B

The Ron Delusion August 18, 2007

Greg thought that title would be a clever way to refer to dad’s idea that he is NOT paying for our wedding!  And given how much I laughed in response to him saying it, I thought it was pretty darned funny too!

In other Becky news:

• Yes, I will be coming out for G-G’s birthday party.  I haven’t purchased the tickets yet, but the plan is to fly into K.C. on Thursday and then drive to Illinois on Friday.  I think we’ll then drive back after the party on Sunday and I’ll leave Monday, or maybe Tuesday morning.
• I start TA’ing for intro-biology next week.  I think it’ll be kind of fun, but a lot of time because the class is on main-campus (not where I work) so getting there is a bit of a hassle.  Also, one of my committee members teaches a freshman-level cancer class and she has offered for me to participate with her and even do 1 or more of the lectures by myself.  So that will be a great experience.  Unlike poor Rachel, I’m not having to TA for the funds, my lab has money now – but we haven’t had money for the last year,  so I can sympathize!
• I saw my Rheumatologist again this week and I told him that I think the medicine is starting to work but I’ve only seen about a 30% effect, so he upped my dosage to the highest dosage that he feels comfortable doing.  I hope it does the trick.  If my index finger is still swollen at my next visit he’s going to inject it with cortisone, doesn’t that sound like fun?
• Sophie it doing better after all of her painful (and painfully expensive) problems last month.  She had a checkup this week and all looks good.
• The trip to Greece this October is definitely green-lighted, that is, if I get my passport in time.  Lets all cross our fingers!
• I present my research at our department’s colloquium this coming Thursday.  I am actually the first student to present this semester, which makes me feel gray-haired and old because its done in order of seniority.  Its hard to believe this will be my 5th colloquium – and my LAST!!!  And as usual I am harried doing last minute experiments (which never work) to get my presentation ready.

OK, that’s all I can think of.  I feel like I’ve just been so busy lately and its only going to get worse with classes starting this week!  I’ll try to keep up with it all.

Job August 17, 2007

Starting Tuesday, I will be working in a school district once again. No teaching this time. I will be an aide for the special education department at Edwardsville High School. My hours will be 0730-1430. Getting off midafternoon will be a good thing. Starting so early means that I will have to find a different time to swim.