Monday, April 30, 2007

Bye, bye, Berkeley... Hello, Chicago.

After 7 years in Berkeley and 11 years in California (4 at Stanford), I am moving to Chicago!

Following a year and a half of searching for a postdocs, I finally decided to take a job with Prof. Rustem Ismagilov at the University of Chicago. I visited in early March, decided in late March, went back to the Windy City to find an apartment in Early April, and am now picking up and moving to Chicago.

Rather than take the easy route and fly, I decided to road-trip it to Chi-Town in my super-faded red Toyota with my housemate Brian “Hot Rod” Rodde.

Before I left, I spent a week of furious packing and throwing away 11 years worth of stuff ranging including:

- my freshman chemistry notes
- cassette tape recordings featuring my high school friends speaking in Chinese
- my advertisements as a writing tutor, which featured endorsements by Britney Spears, Gerhard Casper, and George Clooney.

It was also a week of sad goodbyes. I have spent more time in Berkeley than any place other than my hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and I have lived in the same house for 6.5 years. It is weird to pick up and move so suddenly to a place so different from California. I guess we’ll see how the transition goes.

I had a going away barbecue with my labmates in Alivisatos Nation, the Mathies microfab, my soccer team, some Stanford friends, my landlords, and my housemates.


On Friday, April 27, Brian and I set off for Chicago on I-80. We made it over the Sierras through Lake Tahoe, survived the desolate wasteland that is Nevada, and are bunking down in Wendover, Utah on the border with Nevada.. After that, we powered through Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, and then Illinois. I am now safe and sound in Chicago, able to post the pictures from my road trip below. Enjoy.



Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)