Perhaps the best hike ever.

Pictures.
Last weekend was amazing. It began late on Thursday driving to New Hampshire's White Mountains to hike the Presidential Range. We arrived around 7, made camp went to dinner, then drove 40 minutes south to drop off a car and pick up some of our other hikers. We slept the night in a campground that only lets 4 people camp per site, others can join you for a fee of $10 per person per night.... New Hampshire apparently needs the income, without a state tax how can you blame them I guess? Aside from that little hiccup everything went perfectly. We woke to a beautiful sunrise around 5:30 am, headed to the trail head and hiked up to the base of Mt. Madison, by Mt. Quincy Adams, over Mt. Adams, past Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Clay, up Mt. Washington (largest in the region), down and over Mt. Monroe, Franklin, Eisenhower, and Pierce. All told 19.1 - 19.8 miles! And it only took us 13 hours 5 minutes! Not bad for a bunch of old desk workers! Eat that commadore 64. We went back to camp for some chili, smore's, and sleep. The drive back on Saturday was fun and we found a great spot for root beer. The pictures are also up so please enjoy them here. The weather was amazing, Washington was shrouded in mist that slowly ebbed and flowed from the peak. The sun was out most of the day, and the temperature was in the upper 50's and lower 60's which made the trip perfect. The second half of the trip was a lot easier than the first half, but everyone hiked like champs and I think our pace was really fast. I even enjoyed a swim at Lake of the Clouds. The AMC has a bunch of huts up their which make it unnecessary to bring a tent. If you are interested I think that is the way to go but you have to make reservations.

Work is going great. I am answering the last of the comments I got back last week on my first peer reviewed paper, and I hope I can send it back to the editors the first of next week. I talked to a few people at different Universities last week and am going to apply for a few faculty positions in the next week or two. I also found a couple more post-doc grants that look like they might fit into some of the ideas that I have had either on my own or with other people. Of course, if they involve others I have to contact them, which I have begun. Other than that, the thesis is on the top of my mind constantly. I plan on working a bit later today, but the weekends have become sort of sacred. I try to spend them with family and some time on the resume / website if I get time. Oh I almost forgot, I was invited to speak at Mathworks in October. That is the company that makes matlab, a program that I use constantly! I am excited to talk to them about how useful their product is and give them some feedback on some things I would like to see added (i.e. drop the ugly java interface, and improve the plotting functionality!). Honestly the product is awesome, my comments are mostly asthetic and lets face it superficial, way to go matlab you rock. Now if I can just manage to keep my productivity at a level where I finish this darn thing before 2008 is over so I don't have to change the date on my ring!

I guess I should underline the importance of getting this first paper published. It isn't my first, but it is my first peer reviewed, longer than one page, and is setting the stage for the next couple to go out the door. What it means is that I could potentially get an academic job now. I am by no means the most qualified or most prolific of my peers, but having one major contribution out thier for people to see makes it a lot easier for me to get an interview and etc... Of course, I will be competing against a few hundred other nerds and that means I have to keep my fingers crossed, prepare well, and hope I get a few interviews. Devine providence will play a role I am sure.