Looks liek I have soem carry over pics from yesterday due to timezones..  here are some more pics from the beach last night 

today we had a wonderfully slow day.. we had diane,. me., max, gabe. becky, bridget , john a, nova and violet.. 

we did soem more ezxplorign of the area.. which meant looking for tsunami escape routes !

late afternoon we drove into Astoria to look roiund,.  its where the movie goonis and johnny 5 were filmed. its a cute and quirky place

 

we ended the day with a wonderful fish and chips dinner.. it was an early  birthday dinner for Max.. my phoen ran out of juice.. i’ll get soem pics from dianes phone

nice day !

nite all, nite sam
-me

Yesterday was long, fun and exhausting.. our intent for the rest of the week was to just hang out. .    so around noon we packed into 2 cars and hjeaded to the coast. I’d rented an airbnb just sounth of Astoria.. and it was perfect… it was huge  .. had a hot tub and a short private walk to the beach.. just what we needed to unwind

ahhhhhhhhh

nite all, nite sam
_me

Today was a  big. day for Gabe.. He turned 30 and successfully defended his PhD all on the same day. !.. and I have more than 300 pictures to show for it. 

Even though gabes official birth time was aroun 9 pm .. we couldn’t wait that long to celibrate him. The day opened with a bubble shower

Max gave Gabe a knitted pokeball that his mentee Olive had made.. inside was a medal for gabe 🙂

I dopped off gabe at the Knight center around 9. His dedfence starts at noon

We showed up at about 11:00 to get a good seat. In the parkign lot we ran into our good friends Bridget and John who were in town for the festivities

we met up with Karen.. the lab manager who showed us around. it was obvious that she loves all the labs studnets.. and they love her. S

then it was time for us to go to the auditorium. I was nervous and excited.. much more excited than nervous though.. I knew that Gage would crush it !

and then it began !

Gabes dvisor Prof Rosie Sears did a very nice intro of Gabe and his work 

then it was Gabes tern to talk.. !

it was a fantastic talk !!!!!

As gabe came to the end of his wonderful talk he began his thanks to those who have helped him gewt to this point. He thanked Rosie 
and her team

his committee 

his labmates

then he started with family…   He thanked us..  and his grandparents..  

then he thanked his brothers  And thats when tears started to fdlow.. his tears, our tears.. and everyone in the audience.. I heard even those who were online.. 

he made a great thanks to Max.. and made the connection that his PhD topic molecule Myc was always present with its partner MAX.. !

then he thanked diane and me.. I was crying soem serious happy tears by then !

He described the ‘Momuscript’ he wrote for Diane during Covid.. completel with tabels and charts !

and then he thanked me..  I was so happy that our family love of sceince had worked its magic on our boys !

and he thanked Nova too !

And like that.. he was done.> THere were some great questiosn from the audience.. 

thats when he told everyone it was his 30th birthday !

gabe gave great answers !

THen gabe went off for a 2 hour oral exam with his committee.. 

We headed home to let the dogs out and get a bite to eat 

we got back at 2-ish .. we wanted to get our first look at Dr. Gabe.  
Upstairs Karen and soem helpers were setting up a really nice reception for gabe an his committee

and then…..

we got our first view of DOCTOR Gabe !

toasts were made, thanks were given, champaign corks popped…
then max made a special presentation  Max has  been working physical model of the MYC/MAX complex what is the subject of gates pieces. He  3-D printed get out of plastic and then the electroplated it. I was super happy that a few weeks ago I got to go help him and we worked out the electroplating part together. It was an amazing structure and it was exactly the right audience that couldn’t believe that he had made it. It was quite astounding.

It has been a great gathering. And it was time to go. We had to go up and pick up some stuff and Gabe’s lab.

His lab mates had left him soem fun stuff at his desk !

we headed out into the heat !

We dropped soem stuff at the house. went and picked up the cake then headed to Baerlicks Secret Beer club for birthday/phd party number 2 !

it was an amazing gathering.. I think about 60 people came to congratulate gabe. We had beer and pizza.. slide shows and lots of great stories

then we went home.. asd I shared the video I’d made with 104 people wishing  gabe a happy birthday and congrats on the phd.. THis version still has some bugs.. I’ll re publish it when I get soem time

 what an AMAZING day.. 

Congrats and Happy Birthday to Dr. Gabe

Love to my family… so great to have us all together..  !

nite all. nite sam
-me

  

Today was another day of prepping around the house.

 My big accomplishement was descalling the coffee maker.. the most important gear in the whole house. It involed using chemicals that suggessted using full hazmat gear.. not sure what was in there.. but it did make the coffee taste better afterwards !

This afternoon Max and Violet arrived. My job was to video when nova and violet met .. 

heres what happened 🙂 

So nice having max here !.    Becky’s coming in Monday.. So nice to have everyone together..

Gabe is head’s down on prep for monday.. so he’s still at work.. Max, violet, nova , diane and I had dinner  about a block from the street..  I love that portland is so dog freindly !

Tomorrow’s the big day !!!!
i’m nervous and excited..   !!!!  .. (more excited than nervous).. I know that Gabe will do great !

nite all. nite sam
_me