Monday, July 11, 2016
By:
This week at work was rather short. As I was only working through Wednesday before heading back home to California for a very special wedding, I did not have any hearing materials to prep.
Nevertheless, the week did start off with quite a bang! The Fourth of July was Sunday, and come Monday morning Tabitha and I had the incredible opportunity of having breakfast with Representative Bill Foster of Illinois, the only physicist in Congress, and Dr. John Mather, Nobel Laureate and sponsor of the SPS policy internships.
It was fascinating being able to sit down with physicists who hold influence in politics, as well as, in science. One part of the conversation I rather enjoyed was when Representative Foster mentioned how he can lose track of time reading science publications for far too long. This resonated with me as I have spent many nights attempting to read into a quick interest only to find myself four publications deep and two hours longer than I had allotted to the reading. I guess the reason most of us do science is we all have a thirst for knowledge and wetting our lips with a small article never is enough to really satisfy us.
Friday was a day longer than I would like to experience again anytime soon. I had to be up at3 am ET to get to my early morning flight to California but in the end I was able to get into Sacramento around 11 am PT. I got to spend the day with my girlfriend, Aman and her family; which was such a nice time. It also meant I was able to make it in time for my good friend's, Aaron's birthday!
Saturday was wedding day. When one plans a wedding in July in Sacramento it comes with the understanding that it will be painfully hot and there is no way around that. Seeing as the area had been hovering around 100 for a couple weeks previous, it was not looking good for the wedding but fate smiled on Malwinder (Aman's mom) and Aaron, the bride and groom, because I don't think anybody could have hoped for better weather. It barely reached 80 and there was a wonderful breeze all day. It was perfect. The wedding which consisted of two parts, the ceremony in the morning, and the reception at night, was absolutely amazing. It takes a team to set up a wedding and having the opportunity to get knee deep in preparation and helping was an honor for me and it also gave me so much respect for everybody involved in planning and executing an event like a wedding. The wedding was so much fun and so nice to have my family share the experience with Aman's family. I will look back on this weekend for many years to come and be filled with joy. For anyone wondering, not all commercial refrigerators make getting a sheet cake in them a piece of cake, some don't fit at all!
Demitri Call