Wintry Mix and my morning commute

While nothing will compare to the awesome blizzard we had just after Christmas on Long Island, Bethesda experienced it's own special winter weather that crippled the commuters. Funny, the DC area freaks out when we might get two inches of snow (it could always end up being 3 feet like last year! Quick, buy provisions!) no one seemed to notice the deadly ice coating every single surface outside after a night of "wintry mix" ...

Ice coated every branch, every berry, and I decided to be artistic with my droid:

In the process of ice sticking to every single individual leaf,

sometimes the poor leaf eventually slipped off from it's icy prison, leaving a translucent ice shadow:

I passed a guy holding an ice-leaf as big as his fore arm while I walked up to the NIH, but he had an enjoyable smashing episode before I could try to get a picture. Anyways, good work Bethesda, some spectacularly inclement weather.

Submitted!

Well, I submitted electronically to a printer in Oxford and then Dave walked two copies and additional paperwork over to the correct university office, just before Christmas.  But when I visited Ox at New Year's I got to see the final bound amazingness! 208 pages--it is wicked heavy.  Highly satisfying :)  Next up.... defense (called a viva, for viva voce or lively discussion), corrections, real hardcover binding, submission to library, waiting for paperwork, applying for visa, officially getting a job somewhere, still doing science at the NIH, etc. so no big break for me.  (yet.)    But it feels so great to be done with the biggest step!!