Our First Home

In what must be record time, we managed to select a house we both liked and have our offer for it accepted. We saw 15 houses in total, over 2 days and made our selection the same weekend.  We were fortunate enough to find a somewhat eager seller who we feel gave us a great price on our first home.  I think I may have come to terms more quickly with having a relatively large debt hanging over us than Leah may have.  We made the decision and I was ready to sign away; but (somewhat adorably) my wife phoned home for parental reassurance ;) I'm not certain if either I couldn't (and still haven't) processed the enormity of our decision or if I just take the debt business less serious. But in the end we both felt we made a great choice and hope everything goes smooth from here on in.

If everything goes according to plan we will be moving into our first house June 3.  We have done the house shopping, signed an agreement, got the bank's approval, and contacted a lawyer. We only lack the inspection Tuesday and the arrival of the closing date.  

The house is in the very back of a quite subdivision with a kitchen setup (among other things) that sold Leah and a backyard that sold me (pictured below).  I can't wait to be as loud as I want at whatever hour I want.  We have been married almost 6 years now and have not once lived in a location where we didn't share at least 1 wall.  Halo will be blasted, in addition to Psych and Battlestar Galactica being  watched at inappropriately loud volumes.  I can't wait to climb up on top of my roof one day to inspect things as if I somehow have a clue about what I am doing.

Here is a picture of the front.

Here is a picture of what has me excited.

France

Not surprisingly, Leah and I went to France several times since we were living so close.  What is surprising is how agreeable we found the country.  (Disclaimer: I cannot speak for Paris.  I have heard a lot of negative things from people I trust on this issue who have told me the rest of France isn't like Paris.)  What  I can speak for is Evian-les-Bain.  We have been there multiple times.  It is only about a 30 minute ferry ride across lake Geneva from Lausanne.  It is a bit of a tourist town with many seasonal shops but we still enjoy it.  Though this may come as blasphemy to many of my friends especially those from the midwest, Evian reminds me of the US.

One of the restaurants we like has random goofy stuff on the wall including a license plate from each of the 50 US states.  The food in general has terrific flavor, or at least flavors I am used to from the US...and something we could learn from is having an ice cream stop on almost every corner.  And to add to our enjoyment, apparently the French have found a way to keep the cost of living low.  A reasonable plate is about 15 euros which is nice compared to the 30 francs I expect to pay in Switzerland. (20 dollars vs 33 dollars)  While I haven't forgot the delicious items for sale at Texas Roadhouse or Outback for 20$ and below, Evian is provided us with delightful food affordably to hold us over.

Really the point of all of this is to say, contrary to the stereotype I had painted for me long ago in the US,  France seems to be a reasonable place.

Its across the lake in the background:

St. Patrick's Day 2013

Leah and I decided to take a weekend trip to Savannah, Georgia for St. Patrick's Day after reading on CNN that they were rated to have the 4th best celebration in the U.S.  They did not disappoint.

The majority of the people commuting in are funneled to a large parking area across the Savannah river and ferried across to River Street for the celebration.  The number of wild men and women descending on Savannah for this two day celebration is incalculable. We went early and stayed through about 2-3 p.m. after receiving our proper sunburns, seeing part of an incredibly long parade (5 hours !), and enjoying some good food and beverages.  Then it took us about 2 hours or more to get back across as the night shift moved in.  Mostly likely the highlight of the trip was witnessing a not so big girl who had clearly been at the sauce for quite a while punish a huge (2 pounds, literally) turkey leg while sitting on a curb, gripping the bone barbaric style and ripping the flesh apart with her teeth with chunks falling to her legs which didn't get swept away on any timescale I could witness as I waited next to her in line.  If only we had a picture. This is not something which will be forgotten.  The trip was several weeks ago and it gets discussed daily in our home.

After making it back to our car we took a brief tour of Savannah seeing their famous spanish moss covered oak tree lined road at Wormsloe and Bonaventure cemetery. We enjoyed the city which had a lot of character and excellent place to eat.  We hope to make it back at a time when the crowds are not so large and enjoy a normal experience there.

Position Accepted

It has been a while since my last post on here. Since the last entry, I have switched continents (and by default countries as well).  Maybe I'll fill in some of our experiences from this 8 month gap, but for this entry I'm going to focus on our big piece of news.

We have accepted an assistant professor position at the University of Mississippi starting this July.  Thankfully, the interviewing for positions went well for us and we had a few options of places to go.  After ample deliberation about where we wanted to be, we are excited to be moving to Oxford, Mississippi soon. We are both very excited about this opportunity and planting our feet for a while.

University of Mississippi Logo

We have been looking at houses recently, which I find both exciting and somewhat intimidating. (That is a lot of debt the banks are willing to hand over!) We will being going to Mississippi this weekend to look at some of the houses on our list of around 25 or so. All of these are potentially places to settle down at and begin raising a family.  Finally, living the dream :)  I am ready for the white picket fence and my 2.4 kids...or whatever it is now.

In the mean time, Leah has helped me get a website together for my group.  You can check it out at www.delcampgroup.com.  I am ready to get this group going !  I have been very fortunate to already have two members agree to join me and begin research in July. The process of gaining group members moves a lot slower for many people; so I am counting my blessings toward getting a jump start with regard to the career.  Everyone from the chemistry department has been incredibly supportive and kind to us during this process.

Leah will be opening a full time photography studio once we move.  She has been gearing up her website www.behindalens.com and watching countless courses on starting personal business in photography.  I'm excited she finally gets the opportunity to move forward with her career goals which she has near had to completely suspend while we were in Switzerland and then temporarily here in Atlanta.

In short we're moving to the south, buying rocking chairs for the front porch and I am going to punish the sweet tea like it is nobody's business.

The square at Oxford, Mississippi

The Ole Miss Campus

All Systems are Go

A few days ago, I a had an article published in Angewandte Chemie (DOI: 10.1002/anie.201205007) which I am exceptionally proud of.  ACIE is a great journal, and it comes at a time when I am just beginning to submit applications which is rather convenient. It will no doubt aid in the job hiring process. Aside form that, this article is a completely original idea carried from a simple paper drawing into a useful, much better understood molecule series.  I was able to learn a ton from this experience with regard to how to carry a project from dirt to prosperity. I learned several new techniques, developed a personal strategy for how to do this, and in my own opinion demonstrated that chemistry does not need to be reduced to a purely applied science in the field of solar energy.   I was skeptical of this last point not long ago since the majority of articles in the solar cell field focus on physics with the chemistry as a means to get there.  I had even gone so far as write several proposals outside of the solar energy field since when you yield to becoming an applied science your prosperity is much closer tied to commercialization and the success of materials scientist.  Keeping the chemistry aspect to a much more fundamental physical organic chemistry aspect is where I want to be, since I suspect it should allow for a much more sustainable research group. Of course it is beneficial to have a variety of applications upon finishing a project, but I think it is troublesome to be dictated by these applications since your success and failure is directly tied to things like China using tax dollars to sell solar cells at a substantial loss for the last 3-5 years to attempt to drive all other competitors out of the market to set up a monopoly.   Which appears to be a working strategy considering companies crazy enough to try to compete against the Chinese tax on 1 billion people end up in big trouble *cough* Solyndra *cough*. And they are not the first, and will not be the last.

Overall, I am ready to get on with my own group doing some good research which is fundamentally interesting.  I've been in the academic circuit now for near 12 years and it is finally time to see if my efforts this far will be rewarded with the professorship position I have been focused on. I'm optimistic given that there are more than 20 position listing so far this year for what I do.  So I guess providing I am in the top 20 applicants, Leah and I should have somewhere to go. Just for fun I made a map with all the listing locations marked that I am applying to.

Closing Down My POS Time

I am literally elated to be able to mark down than my time in Switzerland is near complete.  Our debts are paid, Leah has already been securely relocated to the US with our two cats, and the plane ticket has been booked.  I feel as though I have walked through tremendous, heavy darkness with dangers at every step, but now a tiny glimmer of sunrise is visible.  I have been closing down work, writing applications for professorships in the US, and primarily finishing out our lease on this apartment that is affectionately referred to as my 'house arrest chamber'.  I am confident I have felt nearly every emotion possible with it being three months since I have been able to physically see my wife.  Recently, my sister began referring to my stay here as POS, which is much like being a POW only with 'war' replaced by 'switzerland'.  I have been keeping a short mental list of interesting things said to me since I have been forced to temporarily separate from Leah. All of them made me laugh maniacally.

1) "You are looking more like a crazy homeless man everyday." - Simon
2) "Are you going to make it?" - Numerous People
3) "It is like you are on house arrest." - Leah
4) "You can't leave. It is not allowed." - My apartment lawyer (you read that right, lawyer) referring to me after I payed off my lease completely, wanting to turn the keys in early, after forfeiting the rent.
5) "You could stay here longer and maybe even get a permanent position at the EPFL." - One of my bosses.
6) "Why is it you are here again?" - Me to myself

Anyway, I am leaving the place of cat hunting and horse meat eating soon. Note the stipulation: The cat must be more than 200 yards from their home.  We kept a close watch on ours.

Fortunate Career Stuff

Recently, I was notified that my application for National Science Fondation funding had been approved based on a project I had proposed to work on in Switzerland.  For those outside science, these awards are tremendously useful for my resumé (CV) as a post-doc seeking an academic position this fall.  They are an indicator that I will be able to successfully apply for funding in the future, which is a necessity to support an active research group.  Given the importance of maintaining a well funded lab, these types of additions to my CV are noted and should help boost me up some during the interview season this fall.

The funding is clearly limited as it is supplied by tax payer dollars...which we all know are in high demand for many programs in the the US.  For me personally, I am just thankful to have such a great confidence boost just before I take the final step into becoming a professor.  I feel this really was the missing link for me, since throughout my career, limited opportunities to secure research funding have been presented.  I am very thankful to have been selected based on an application/proposal I completely wrote from start to finish, which had no outside input or corrections.  

Again with the confidence boosting. ;)  I am not trying to blow my own horn.  I am just relaying my excitement and sense of accomplishment :)

Thanksfor the award !

There's no place like home...

About a week ago Leah and I left our Swiss apartment with our two cats and 4 large suitcases and took off to the US.  After a thankfully uneventful flight across the Atlantic to Atlanta and an unnecessarily frightening flight to Indianapolis, and we were met with family we had not seen in too long!

Since our great Exodus, we have been able to plunge back into our culture and it is Glorious !  We have had no disappointments and endless appreciation.  We are both highly patriotic now.  I have a flag shirt to prove it.  We have seen many relatives and friends and it has been wonderful.  I am currently focused on not letting my work and entertainment encroach on my 'people time'  which had been at an all time low before leaving for switzerland. We have dominated the american cuisine...and apart from my exhibition style eating of 25 deep fried mozzarella sticks with liters of mountain dew...no strong adverse effects to the rich food here has been noted.  In fact, Leah and I are determined to eat responsible amounts and we joined a gym immediately.  So far so good...cheese sticks barred.

Other noteworthy things we have done include...
1) kissing the ground.
2) went to walmart.
3) went to the BMV and talked to the worker for 10 minutes about her family.
4) ate countless cheeseburgers
5) chased our nephews for countless steps (sometimes with silly string in hand).
6) went to church

Also, English is the most beautiful language.  We have been talking to strangers like it is our job.  I am still timid at business counters...but as soon as the English starts more information than could ever be needed starts to pour out.  We talked to all kinds of people in the airport at Atlanta during our layover. Talking is a fun new hobby for me.

It has been a great return and perhaps some videos and pictures are going to be posted soon.

Ireland

Last October Leah and I went to Ireland for a work trip and stayed a few extra days to enjoy the country together.  We were in Dublin for 4 days and went to the Cliffs of Moher for a day.  Overall, Ireland was great and has made the very short list of countries I would be willing to live in that I have visited...coming in just after Canada for the third and final spot.

We visited the oldest pub in Dublin "The Brazen Head", toured the Guinness storehouse, saw Brooke Fraser in concert with Cary Brothers and basically walked around enjoying hearing words that formed understandable sentences in a language we could speak.  The people seemed incredibly friendly, especially to be from a larger city.  We had a car for a few days, which was a nice change from how we were and still are living in Switzerland.  For those that don't know, they drive on the left which added an extra level of excitement to driving in a foreign country and for the first time in over a year.  However, the stress was certainly worth it.  I felt as though we had endless power to go where we wanted when we wanted.

I also learned a very important lesson about Leah.  She is willing to risk death to see the sites.  This is not a joke.  In fact, I am going to weigh this little tidbit into future vacation plans accordingly.  We were on our way to see the Cliffs of Moher on our second to last day before returning to Switzerland and some new highway had been constructed our GPS was unaware of.  So instead of following the printed directions, we went with our little guiding black box's (lovingly named Spell Check) ideas for the previous route.  And it has become very clear why the new highway was built...the old one was down right frightening.  I would call it a single lane road, however; the oncoming traffic does not even hint at letting off the gas.  Sometimes I think they just close there eyes and speed up.  So while playing repeated rounds of chicken for 3-4 hours on a road which I would describe at best as being 'janky' and going around hairpin turns at tire screeching break-neck speeds, my eager-to-see-the-cliffs wife (or her maker) was hanging out the window snapping pictures of the country side in between popping her head back into the car to encourage me to speed up, and nervously muttering to herself how we were doing to miss a great once in a lifetime sunset over the cliffs.  Interestingly enough, we were never speeding.  The speedlimit was posted as 100 kph on this road...and I would have needed an indy car to reach that speed with as many corners as there were.  We did make it for the final moments of the sunset:

Maybe it was worth it...

OK, so it was.

And here is a shot of the country side Leah grabbed while traveling at the speed of sound.

Oh yeah, we stayed in this castle too :p

All pictures are brought to you directly from Behind a Lens.

Good News Found Welcoming Arms

For the last 2 months Leah and I have remained overly stressed over our cat, Monty.  He had developed an upper respiratory Staphylococcus Felis bacterial infection that spread to his inner ears, bursting both of his eardrums and eventually swelling his ears completely shut.  He showed almost on external signs of discomfort until the ears were closed, then he began to walk with his head to the side and started sleeping a lot.  Prior to this, only the occasional sneeze (which from now on will result in rushed medical visits).  For those of you who know about upper respiratory infections with cats, it is highly relevant information to point out he is a pure bred Persian.  These infections are notoriously detrimental to specifically Persians.  In many breeds, this type of infection is related to some type of removable blockage or some underlying condition.  For Persians, the 'blockage' is often attributed to their compact facial structures...and is hardly removable.  The veterinarians have reminded us on many occasions that Persians with his illness often never recover and are forced to deal with it for the rest of their lives.  This news did not resonate well with either of us since he is only 2, and just before he came we lost a great Persian to an untimely development of PKD.

Since we first realized his sickness mid December, he has undergone sedation 5 times to have a scope inserted into his ear to take pictures and flush out the infection.  Before this could even take place several anti-inflammatories had to be administered to just open his ear canal to insert the scope, and even with these drugs, eventually the scope had to be forcefully inserted into his ear resulting in blood coming out of his ears for several days.  At this point they basically pressure washed his ears with a cleaning fluid in the scope.  After 4 more treatments of this, more than 50 days on a fluoroquinolone antibiotic named 'Marbocyl' with an anti-inflammatory/antibiotic ear drop 'Aurizon', and countless prayers we were told the most recent culture came back negative for his bacterial infection.

Concerning Monty, greater news could not have been given to us.  He is still on his antibiotics for 20 more days, because the veternarians are basically afraid of this bateria in combination with his breed...and sounded rather shocked at the negative culture.  They actually seemed to smile as large as I was.  Just in the last couple of weeks he has begun to behave much more normal (as in waking me up for a turkey snack this morning) which is in stark contrast to the days he would sit perfectly still unmoving, while our other cat Marley maintained a seemingly unnecessarily large distance from him that only highlighted our concerns.  

We are tremendously thankful to have received some encouraging news after months of being told to prepare for the worst.

And now some pictures to go with the names:

To be so young he has an excellent mustache.

Monty and Marley being attentive.

Monty snuggled up to his favorite person.

  

New Acceptors for D-pi-A Dyes

Within the last couple of weeks my first fully written, corresponding author paper has been accepted and published in the RSC journal Chemical Communications and can be found here for those of you with a subscription to RSC journals. It has been assigned the DOI: 10.1039/C2CC17142B, with the title Modulating dye E(S+/S*) with efficient heterocyclic nitrogen containing acceptors for DSCs. I was going to wait for a proper reference with page numbers, but excitement has overcome my patience.  

Personally, I largely view the complete production of this paper as a significant step toward taking complete charge of my research which is something I wish to completely do shortly providing I prove to be a desirable academic candidate this fall for faculty positions at universities with graduate research programs.  My three largest concerns (mostly due to lack of experience) have been fully writing manuscripts, getting research funding, and getting hired.  Although I have plenty of room for improvement with my scientific writing, receiving the comment from a reviewer that this manuscript was "well written" is a nice addition to my confidence level.  

As for the science in the article, it isn't revolutionary, but it is both useful and should be empowering for future molecule design and optimization for dye-sensitized solar cell applications as well as for other applications that require the fine tuning of ground-state oxidation potentials and excited-state oxidation potentials.  

Finally, for people that just want to see some pretty picture/models of some of the molecules described in this work there, I fully respect your wishes...and I like seeing them too.

Below is dye JD7 which is really the star of this work.

Below are the other acceptors which were made by replacing the six member ring pictured at the far right of JD7 at each of the purple atoms.

And with that it is back to work/fun for me :)

"You're supposed to stop smoking crack."

Recently, Leah and I have spent our nights watching an episode or two of Cops.  It is mind numbingly entertaining satisfaction.   I legit had no idea there were so many drugs in the US being transported in plain sight.  I think a nice experiment would be to close down all entertainment made in the US at the boarder except for Cops.  If this show were my only knowledge of America, I would believe the country thrives in a perpetual state of lawlessness.  I have always felt that is my natural habitat...pure chaos.  So in an effort to prematurely balance out my disappointment before coming back, I am going to have to start watching House Hunters or Man vs Food before we move so that I don't feel like a I need to have a minimum .45 caliber extended magazine pistol on me at all times.  But before this we have roughly 18 of 23 seasons more to watch.

"Bad boys, bad boys...."

Year Down

We are on our last leg of our Swiss...*cliche coming*... adventure.  I like to use the cliche words here although I have many more at my disposal.  A date has been set as July 26, 2012.  This day will mark the end of an era for Leah and I.  It was a journey well worth taking and lessons were learned that I don't believe could be taught any other way.  There are certain things in life that I cannot begin to understand without the firsthand experience. I FEEL The Serious fading...

Top 10 List of Things I Will Miss From Switzerland (T1LTIWMFS)

1) Being able to look at someone talking to me and genuinely have nothing going on between my ears, much less a response.

2) Never having to worry about being in an automobile accident.

3) Sturdy walls.

4) A two tone color country. (do red and blue even go together?)

5) Army men with assembled rifles in fatigues on my trains, often. 

6) Un Super Carte! OUI!

7) Techno shows at 7 am. Red Bull!

8) No fears of being deported --- It added excitement those 2 months Leah and I were illegal!

9) My odds of apprehending Turkish gentlemen who thought some of us didn't need our computers anymore goes down drastically.  It's basic geography.

10) Parlez-vous Anglias?  My favorite french phrase.  Kinda like roflcopter in english.

11) Making T1LTIWMFS

A New Year Brings A New Quest

I am not one to make resolutions.  If I wanted to change something I wouldn't wait for the first of the year.  However, possibly the greatest task laid before me happens to coincide with midnight chimes to signal the new year.  This years chimes in Lausanne were not the chimes of merriment but instead the chimes to usher in a new sinister regime, one I cannot sit back and accept.  It is for this reason I have resolved to quit chemistry and take up my sword for the forces of good.  Last night, it was clearly evident that good had suffered a major defeat near the shores of Lake Geneva. A night of celebration was cut all too short as my wife and stared in horror at the dastardly attack which left the church eerily lit bright red for all to see.  In an impressive display of power, the forces of evil overtook the central catholic cathedral-turned-protestant church in our home city at the stroke of midnight.  Our guards were down to ring in a new year, yet evil did not wait, nor grant us a brief reprieve for celebration. It has foolishly struck amidst one of our most joyous moments. The message was clear: demoralization.  Unknowingly, the opposite effect has been achieved. Immediately, I have taken a vow to reclaim our strong hold and extinguish the Hellish flames from our town.  Dragons beware, my sword is raised.

(Photographic proof courtesy of Behind A Lens.)

I will return to chemistry once my quest is fulfilled.  

Unnecessary Obsessions

I think we all have some strong obsessions.  For instance Marley's is to find every small imperfection on our carpet (a lint role, her hair, pieces of paper) and consume them.  She is actually searching now; however, my watchful wife has vacuumed and Marley will settle into relaxed disappointment.  Her desire for pristine floors has not lead to a specific demise we are aware of yet.

My obsession is video games.  It has been since the first Nintendo...or even Atari.  To my parents dismay, I preferred staying in with games instead of going outside.  Newer generation games with more in depth stories and graphics have prompted even greater desire to play.  That is until we had lived in Switzerland for more than a year.  We do get out, just not as often as in the US.  It is a lot more family oriented, relaxed time here.  Given my family I can interact with consists of Leah (an avid Pinner and Flicker user), Marley (with her carpet eating) and Monty (a turkey lunch meat beggar and restless, curious wanderer) I have had time to capitalized on my obsessions.  I have taken the opportunity to prove my dominance at Halo. (Supportive credentials: www.halochallenges.com [my gamertag is Simkin 42], scroll down to the top 10 list on the right).  I have played a lot of hours of Halo in general since its introduction 10 years ago this year.  I think the counter is up to 150 continuous days of playing just for the three games that track time!  The other three got just as much play time if not more, but they don't have counters...so I estimate about 300 days of Halo playing.  As a reference, if you work 8 hours a day for 4 weeks every month with weekends off, you will have worked about 2000 hours per year.  I am at more than 7200 hours of Halo, alone.

I think I had yet to get bored of it, because I was always with friends who also played a lot of video games which led to discussions of strategy, new goals and in general socializing with friends.  Since we have gotten to Switzerland, that has decreased significantly.  I have spent the christmas break playing non-stop.  For those that don't know, the makers of Halo actually put a limit on how much you can play per day which will count toward your overall stats.  You have to play a lot.  I have hit the so called 'credit cap' everyday of break and rolled my clock forward to some Australian time zone to be a day ahead of this cap so I could keep playing.  And it is official: I have reached boredom with Halo. I am about 2 months from the highest available rank in the most recent Halo and I don't know if I will get there.  If I do, I vow retirement.  Although early retirement may be a better choice because it is turning into a frustrating chore.

So this is how I defeated my obsession.  Constant, addictive playing without socialization through a peer support group has led to the realization of boredom. Had we stayed in the US this day may never have come because I know a lot of people who have played more than me there.  Thank you for the detox Switzerland?

Immanent Survival

We can see the light. We have been prisoners of our own design for over a year now. We chose a path of adventure and excitement to satisfy our curiosities of the unknown.  Now that unknown has moved into the realm of 'all to familiar'.  We are posed ready for the next phase to begin.  One in which our burning desire for previous common experiences can begin again.  The countdown to the great exodus of the Delcamp family from Switzerland has commenced.

My wife's steps have become light, almost as if in a trance, dancing impossibly elevated by thin air on our way to do frustratingly difficult tasks such as grocery shopping. The adventure has been worth its weight in gold...which incidentally is the price of the bills you should expect upon entering and residing here. My wife and I have a sworn oath of contentment upon returning to the US, even during tasks labeled as mundane.  There is significant chance my double lefted, lead weighted feet setup may appear to be walking on thin air as well the first day I load groceries into our car and drive home instead of pulling a cart full of goods up the steep Alp incline.  

Right now our sights are set on ATL and I can't wait for our first rap show.  Who will it be Ludacris, T.I. or Soulja Boy?