You know I could publish something and be legally barred from sharing it

The world of academic publishing is weird, and while I could try to explain it, I don't think I would do a good job. But to me, it often seems like a scam.

Basically, a bunch of companies who run academic journals receive articles from scientists like myself based on work we have performed, paid for and written up. Then the journals take the research article and send it out to other scientists, who read and review it for now cost, and then send it the journal. Then the journal publishes the work, copyrights the article and attached figures and charges money for people to access it.

There has actually been a large push for open-source publication - which I think is a fabulous idea - and many journals have begun to make their articles available on line for free. As I said, this is great.

But apparently there are companies who are actively fighting against this ... which I feel is kind of evil ... take a look at this article and see what you think.

I went to DC and Dan & Karla got hitched

So 2 weeks ago, I put Aviva and Soren on a plane to California, and then during the week I headed down to DC for the 12th annual International Symposium on Neurovirology. The impetus for this trip was Dan & Karla's wedding in Sacramento - we had all been waiting for this wedding for a while, and we weren't going to miss it. So we figured, get Soren another week with Bubbie and Zayde, get Aviva some help and avoid a 2 day trip to California with the baby.


After dropping Aviva off at the airport on Saturday afternoon - TSA was very nice to give me a gate pass so I could take Aviva and Soren up to the gate - I drove into to Brooklyn and went out for Koffmans birthday at a beer garden. I cannot drink beer like I used to. A single one liter stein gave me an almost instant hangover and a wicked headache.

Anyway, on Monday I headed down to DC with Cheo and Paul, one of his graduate students, and spent the night just across the river in the Crystal City area of Arlington. After a run near the monuments and dinner at McCormick & Schmidts, we got a good nights sleep and got up early to go for a ride around the monuments.

Nice ride, and DC really has a great bike share program and a beautiful set of bike paths. And the people there really seem to take advantage, there were lots and lots of people commuting to work by bike. The conference itself was great, got to meet a lot of new people, hear about some good science and had a pretty good poster session.

I also got to spend the evening with my friends Scott and Michele and their beautiful kids ... and I got to meet their newborn son Ridge for the first time.

 

And finally, I left the conference a bit early and flew out to California to meet up with Aviva and Soren for the wedding. Not seeing them for a week was really, really rough ... a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be, so I was really happy to see them. We stayed at the Sheraton Grand in Sacramento, and due to Sorens early rising coupled with daylight savings time resulted in Soren and I taking long walking tours around town each morning. 

And Saturday night was the main event, a fantastic wedding. Great food from Magpie (the pork shoulder and pork sandwiches were delicious), excellent wine and of course there were the fabulous Golden Lion dancers. Overall, a great night and a great, if not incredibly fast weekend.

8 whole months!!!

 

I was eight months old last week, and it was an awesome month. I got to go hiking so much, twice in the Catskills - once with mommies girlfriends and once with Jen, Volkan and Nathan - and once closer near Ossinning, by the Tea Town Lakes. I saw lots of my friends, and lots of mommy and daddy's friends also, particularly Uncle Dave and Auntie Em. I got to eat so many new things, lots of proteins like salmon, little hamburgers, little chicken tenders and lots of eggies. I finished my summer swimming lessons at the beginning of the month (it seems so long ago now) ... So here are some pictures of all the things that I did this month !!!!

Well, it was a good month, so I was super happy most of the time. 

 

 

even when I am practicing for my career in food preparation. 

 

... or when I was cruising on the front of Nathans stroller. 

Of course I spent lots of time with Mommy and Daddy ...

... both at home and when we were in the Catskills.

 I spent a lot of time with my best friend Nathan, at daycare with Margarita ...

 at Joe and Marians housewarming ...

...  and in the Catskills.

I also spent time with all my aunts, Aunt's Abby, Amy and Ilana came hiking with us ...

... it was a gorgeous day.

And I spent a lot of time with Aunt Jen and Uncle Volkan, and of course Nathan, when we stayed near Woodstock ...

... and most exciting of all, I got to meet Uncle Dave and Auntie Em!!!

My mother speaks

So many of you know that I do the work that I do, or at least I got into HIV research, because my mother had HIV and in fact died due to complications resulting from AIDS in 1999. Its why I walk in the AIDS walk here every year, and why most of my charity goes to science and specifically HIV research. I am not sure if I have ever written about this, if not, I probably should sometime, although today is not the day for that.

However, I did want to share something with you - a video of my mother speaking about the role of medical marijuana in helping her deal with the health effects of both HIV and anti-retroviral drugs (in the 1990's many of the anti-retrovirals were much harsher than they are today). For me it is incredible moving and strange to watch my mother speak, both because I am seeing it from such a different perspective (not her son so much as an HIV and drug researcher) and because it has been 14 years since she died and it is somewhat difficult to accept how much of her I have forgotten.

Anyway, here is the video (which was lovingly and carefully restored through the efforts of a close family friend, Jane Marcus, as well as many other people) - it is currently being disseminated to different groups as support for legalizing medical marijuana.

Continuing with the not good theme

Another story from the Huffington Posts' Sam Stein about the impact of Sequestration on scientists across America - it details a number of different perspectives and if anything, is more depressing than the first story.

This is not good

If you are interested in the current state of academic research in the US (or in my life and future as a scientist) post-sequestration, this article, entitled "Sequestration Ushers In a Dark Age for Science in America", is well worth reading.

And if you are so inclined to write a congressman or senator or someone about it, all the better, because things with science funding are bad and look to be getting worse, and frankly we could use the help.

Sorens First Hike

Last weekened, Aviva and I took Soren up to the Catskills to spend the weekend with Abby, Ilana, Amy and Abby's dog Monkey at a house on Esopus Creek near Phoniecia. Beautiful little house, great company and an overall fabulous weekened .... but the highlight of the trip was definitely our hike on Saturday afternoon to the Giant's Ledge in the Slide Mountain Wilderness.

The hike was relatively short, at most 3.5 miles round trip (including our accidental detour on the way back), but it was pretty steep and quite rocky, so getting up there still took a while. Plus we forgot Sorens Becco carrier, so we ended up carrying him on our shoulders and in our arms the whole time ... he is not as light as he used to be :)

But carrying him was actually a ton of fun. And other than a little vomit in the hair, it was really no problem and he had an absolute blast. He as so fascinated by the trees and plants and all the other things to see. I think the thing that most captivated Soren throughout the hike, and perhaps the weekend, was Monkey ... Soren just loved watching that dog run back and forth as we hiked. Monkey seemed to love it also, he spent the whole time running from the front to the back of us, lapping up the outside.

The hike itself was really pretty, we passed over a small stream and then headed up the mountain from about 2200 feet to around 3000 feet at the 1st Giants Ledge where we stopped for lunch and some great views. Apparently there are 4 ledges, but we were very happy to take over the first one when we got there.

While we were there we saw a family of garter snakes, which Soren probably would have loved, but he missed them entirely. Then we headed back down, which went quite a bit faster ... or would have if we had not missed the turn and spent a while hiking down the wrong, unmarked trail. But we figured things out and got turned around pretty quick. Soren was completely wiped out by the time we got to the bottom of the trail, and actually fell asleep in my arms for the last 20 minutes of the hike. It was adorable.

The views from the top were a pretty great reward for the ascent.

It was pretty cool to see the garter snakes, but unfortunately Soren was not interested.

He was pretty happy with the view though, and we were certainly happy to have him up there.

And the hike back down was just as fun as the way up!

Yup, the sign is pretty obvious, but we all missed the turn on the way back down.

Taking care of Soren throughout the hike was definitely a multi-person job, and we are so glad we were with such caring, wonderful friends to help us out with it.

And, being that we were in the Catskills, the trip ended with a breakfast at Sweet Sues (of course), for the best pancakes in NY. Sorens butternut squash, zucchini and salmon mush may not have been quite as delicious as Abbys corn cakes, but Soren still had a pretty good time at breakfast :)

Birth Class BBQ

So last weekend, Aviva and Soren and I met up with most of the people who attended our birthing class and had a BBQ at Adrienne's parents house in Somers. It was a ton of fun, particularly because it was a beautiful day and because they have a heated pool that the babies loved.

In our class, Jonah and Leila and Lyla we all born in November, and then Soren, Ella and Ian & Owen were born between December 27th and December 29th. I have to say, it is completely amazing to know this many wonderful people with kids the same age. Several of the mothers from this group get together on a regular basis during the week, and periodically (and hopefully more often) we all get together and hang out. It is completely awesome, and I can only say that I hope that it continues for years and years ...

But maybe Soren can describe it better ...

Thanks Daddy!! We had a great time at the BBQ with all of my friends!!!!

Everyone loved the pool, it was so warm and fun for all of us. Leila had the best time with her mom Beyza, 

and Jonah and his mom Dava also thought it was great. Jonah is too cool to really show how much fun he was having, but I know he had a blast.

 And I loved being in the pool with Daddy!!! Especially in Ian & Owens nifty pool float!!!

It was so great to see Ella,

and Ian, who is looking quite fashionable here ...

... and really everyone. The time when we all hung out on the blanket together was the best!!!!

I got to play with Jonahs keys,

... and everyone wanted Lylas thinga-ma-doo.

Everyones parents were so nice :)

 And we all loved the beer ... although we did not get any ... THIS TIME!!!