Grown Ups

I still feel mostly like a college student at heart but sometimes something happens in my life that makes me feel all grown up. This month, two such things happened.

#1) I made the last payment on my car, Squeaky. Squeaky is now mine to do with what I will. Maybe I'll paint him orange and put in a set of hydraulics. #2) Tom and I got our first (and hopefully only) real adult "bedroom set". We got it from a local furniture company (Zocalo), which is owned by our friend Cara's cousin. They have a twice-yearly warehouse sale with crazy good prices where people stand in line all night to get first shot at the goods. We didn't stand in line all night, but still spent the better part of two days waiting in line to shop and then waiting in line to pick up our furniture. Anyway, the final results are below - Tom and I still can't quite believe we have a HUGE queen-sized bed (we must have been the last married couple in America to be sharing a full-size mattress) and actual matching furniture. Yay!

Portland, Days 2 and 3

Day 2 started with a trip towards Multnomah falls, about 30 miles east of Portland. We stopped at the "Vista House" along the way for a beautiful 360 degree view of the Columbia River.

Multnomah falls is stunning. As you can see from the photo below, it is composed of two different falls (660 feet total) with a turbulent pool in between them. We took a guided tour up to the Benson bridge you see in the picture and learned a couple of interesting facts. The Bridge and some of the buildings were commissioned by Simon Benson, an early 20th century logger and philanthropist in Portland. Benson (justly so) wanted his name on the bridge since he had donated the land and funds to have it built. But the architect who built it was so proud of his achievement that he carved his OWN name into the bridge instead. Then he slapped a thin layer of cement on top of it and put Benson's name in THAT. Of course, the thin layer chipped away and the architect was left with his own little tribute to himself which survives today. They say that this bridge is the most-photographed piece of architecture in Portland.
Incidentally (and this is mostly for Tom and Cara and Dustin who know what I am talking about), Simon Benson was also the one who donated those annoying perpetually-running drinking fountains we saw all over Portland - the Benson Bubblers. So now you know.

Below is a shot of Dustin and me partially up the trail - covered in mist from the falls.
After the hike, Dustin and Cara dropped us off downtown and headed to Newport to hang out with Dustin's parents for the rest of the day. Tom and I set out in search of some sushi or other lunch-goodness, but ran into a number of restaurants that were closed on Sunday. We eventually wandered into Chinatown, which is a greatly scaled-down and westernized version of the one in San Francisco. As we wandered we heard a bunch of fireworks and drumming start up, so we followed our ears to a little square where the local Chinese population was hosting a fundraiser for the recent earthquake. We stayed a little while, had a $5 fundraiser buffet lunch and watched some dragon dancers while listening to traditional music.
After lunch, we worked our way back to the waterfront and decided to rent a couple of bikes for the afternoon. We biked across the Hawthorne bridge (which had a wonderful wide bike sidewalk) and along the trail on the east side of the Willamette. We popped out in the suburb of Sellwood and rode through a couple little downtown areas and absorbed some local culture.
After returning our bikes, we took the MAX back to Pioneer square for some Buffalo Wild Wings and trivia. Apparently this is a chain that Tom used to frequent during high school, where you can do trivia and compete against other restaurant patrons whilst burning your mouth on some delicious hot wings. I (over)enthusiastically ordered the "hot" variety (10th or so on a scale of 13) and Tom and I wept and suffered and sweated our way through them whilst being whupped by some trivia ringers. Fortunately we were able to drown our sorrows in some more Portland Microbrews.

Our last stop on Sunday was McMenamins Kennedy School Lodge. It is hard to put McMenamins into words, but basically is is an old elementary school which has been converted into a lodge, theater, restaurant, concert venue, and speakeasy (detention). It was extremely cool.
The hallways are filled with little unexpected twists, and it seems to draw a very young, fun, and eclectic crowd. Tom and I decided to take in the evening showing of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" in their theater. The theater was the old converted gymnasium, which had been filled with fun vintage couches and easy chairs and end tables. You could order pizza and beer from the concession stand (below) and they delivered it to you during the movie. They were out of PBR, so we sampled yet another round of micro-brews. What a tasty trip!
The next day, Tom and I were on our own until Dustin and Cara showed up to take us back to the airport around 4. We decided to try and visit the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, or OMSI. To make a long story short, we did make it there eventually, although we took the longest, most convoluted walking route ever. Along the way we did manage to find a good bannister to slide down...
And a pretty fabulous almond croissant. Tom had a marionberry scone (what is it with these Portlanders and their marionberries?).
We had a good time at the OMSI, which was an interactive science museum. We spent a bunch of time trying to solve some puzzles which were spread out throughout the museum and looking at dinosaur skeletons, which apparently brought out the kid in both of us.

And that was that! Dustin and Cara picked us up from the museum and we all went to the airport. Sounds like they had a great time in Newport, eating some good food and walking along the beach and checking out tide pools with Dustin's family. We were excited to get one last view of Mt. Hood from our plane window on the way home.

Portland, Day 1

Tom, Dustin, Cara, and I just got back from a long weekend in Portland, Oregon. We had all heard wonderful things about Portland but had never been there, so we thought we would check it out for ourselves. As it turns out, we were there on the first "summery" weekend of the year (according to a number of people we met), so our first impression may not be representative, but we had a fabulous weekend. When Dustin and Cara picked us up from the airport (their flight got in a couple hours before ours), they said that they had already met a ridiculous number of friendly people. It was a theme that would follow us throughout the weekend - people going way out of their way to help us get where we needed to, or advise us on restaurants, or give us free samples of micro-brews.

On our first day (Saturday), we rolled out of bed and caught the MAX train from the hotel into downtown Portland. The public transport system in Portland was awesome - we used it all weekend to get everywhere we wanted to go. And the center of town is "fareless square", where all public transport is free! Our first order of business was to find some breakfast. We put our names down on the waiting list at Bijou (which had been recommended by Tom's friend Mei-Yen) and went looking for an activity to occupy about ten minutes. About a block away, we met a couple friendly local punk-rockers complete with 10-inch blue mohawks and lots of body piercings. They directed us into Voodoo donuts (below) for an unforgettable breakfast appetizer. We all split one that was slathered in peanut butter and then rolled in Oreo cookies.
Breakfast at Bijou was great - Tom had some french toast with local strawberries and marionberry syrup (they really like marionberries in Portland). I had a crimini mushroom hash with a bunch of Tabasco. Yum! We walked it off on the waterfront, and watched one of the city's drawbridges go up and down again. There are 8 bridges spanning the Willamette river in Portland, which seems entirely extravagent to us Bay Areaers who are used to having to drive 20 miles out of our way to get across the bay.
Next we hit up the Portland Saturday Market, which is basically a big artisan's market that operates every weekend under the Hawthorne bridge. Cara bought a velociraptor T-shirt, and I bought Banjo a big long flannel tug toy for three bucks. I should mention here that Portland is an amazingly dog friendly city. In fact, the only places we went all weekend that didn't allow dogs were the restaurants. And people seemed to be very responsible about their dogs for the most part - we didn't see any waste, and almost all were very well behaved (one exception for the street mutt who apparently doesn't like wheelchairs...). Life is good for Portland Dogs.
Next stop was Pioneer square. A local environmental group was sponsoring a wildflower sale to encourage Portlanders to have native plants that use less water in their gardens.
Pioneer square also sported this cool multi-directional sign, in case any confused travelers had taken a wrong turn somewhere on their way to Guadalajara.
Our next stop of the morning was the famous Powell's bookstore. It has books as far as the eyes can see - and we loved that used books were mixed right in with the new.
We then jumped back on the MAX to Washington Park, home of the Portland Zoo, Japanese Gardens, International Rose Test Garden, and many other delights. It reminded both of us of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Below, Tom and Dustin clowned around in "Dottie" the locomotive while we waited for a shuttle to the Japanese gardens.
We had a very friendly shuttle driver on the way to the Garden, who told us about some of the history of the park and environs. Inside the Garden, we spent a contemplative hour or so enjoying the elaborate landscaping and zen gardens.

The photo below is of Mt. Hood, an enormous volcano that always lingers in the backdrop behind Portland. According to Wikipedia, it is also the volcano in Oregon that is most likely to erupt, with a 3-7% chance of eruption within the next 30 years. But for now, it is silent, covered in snow, and beautiful. From the Japanese Garden, we walked to the world famous International Rose Test Garden, also in Washington Park. My parents had told us this was the one must-see attraction in Portland, and from the looks of things most of the other tourists there agreed with them. Every year Portland has a Rose Festival during the month of June, where rose enthusiasts world wide flock to the sights and smells of Portland. Although the festival was over by the time we got there, the roses were still beautiful and in full bloom. I spent a happy hour or so sniffing every flower I could get my nose on. After all flowers in reach had been sniffed, I declared an unassuming fire-and-ice shrublet "The Best Smelling Rose in the Garden".

The Rose Garden also had a nice little snack vendor who sold us a frozen banana, a strawberry popsicle, a strawberry-coconut shaved ice, and a bag of popcorn.
After Washington Park, we stopped by PGE Park, home of the Portland Beavers AAA baseball team. No games while we were there, but it was a very cute little ballpark right in downtown Portland. Next we spent a couple of hours at Bridgeport Brewery, one of a myriad of microbreweries that call Portland home. We shared a 9-beer sampler and enjoyed almost all of them.

We had dinner at Wildwood, a northwest-style bistro that has won several awards for its local, fresh, food. It lived up to its billing, and I, for one, had what was probably the best meal I have ever eaten. It was a bacon-wrapped Guinea Fowl, with roasted asparagus and baby beets. It was on top of a pea puree and was topped with a crushed pistachio sauce. The really fantasgreat part of it was the crust on the bird, which managed to be amazingly crispy, delicate, buttery, savory, and wonderful all at once. I took a picture of my meal halfway through, but by then the pea puree and beet mixture looked a little less than appetizing, so I'm just going to put in this one of Tom and Dustin in the restaurant instead.


As we were eating, we had a view directly into the kitchen, which was in front of the restaurant like a Sushi bar. At one point we overheard a funny conversation between the head chef (who seemed a little grumpy) and a waiter who put in an order for "well-done salmon". The chef said "Well Done?! That's not even salmon any more. Tell them to order the halibut." Heh.

Last stop of the night was a local gelato shop for a scoop of lime and apricot flavored gelato which we all shared. Busy day, eh?

NL All-Star Ballot, 2008

Here's the second installment of my annual MLB All-Star ballot posts, this time on the NL. I've added pictures here (and for the AL post, see below) for your viewing pleasure.

First Base:
Lance Berkman, and it's not even close. Which is pretty amazing, considering how good guys like Adrian Gonzalez and Pujols are doing. But Berkman's line of .354/.432/1.121 is sort of ridiculous, even considering that he plays in a little league-sized park. But it's fun to see Gonzalez really develop into a top-tier 1B in the NL lately. I bet the Rangers are wishing they had either him or Teixeira these days.

Second Base:
A couple weeks ago people were writing that this was an easy pick of Chase Utley. But now not only is it not an obvious choice, Utley and Florida's Dan Uggla have basically identical stat lines. And Uggla's home park is not as hitter-friendly as Philly.
Utley: .291/.379/.599 - 22 HR, 57 R, 63 RBIs, 173 TB, 6/0 SBs/CS
Uggla: .294/.379/.643 - 23 HR, 57 R, 57 RBIs, 175 TB, 4/1 SBs/CS
Pretty amazingly similar, considering all the love Utley is (deservedly) getting these days. I think Utley is a better fielder, but I'm not going to look that up now. And I also give a little value to track record, and Utley has the edge in that category too. So I'll vote for Chase Utley, but only after acknowledging that this season Dan Uggla has basically matched him, and should definitely be named to the team as well. And yeah, Jayson Nix? The same Jayson Nix that has a grand total of 5 hits in 45 ABs, last playing in the majors in late April? Don't vote for that guy, even if you're a die-hard Rockies fan.

Shortstop:
Some good candidates here. Furcal is getting close to Chipper Jones territory, batting .366 along with a .448 OBP, but his power is down with only 5 HRs and 19 XBHs. Reyes is having an all-around good season in NY and leads the SS class with 26 SBs, but Hanley Ramirez is better in most categories - .295/.386/.521, 16 HR, 19/5 SB/CS. And there's Tejada, who has bounced back from the Mitchell Report and steroid accusations to help power the Astros with 10 HR, and a .294/.332/.468 line to date. I think there are several good shortstops in the NL so far, and I would guess we'll see Reyes on the roster, but Hanley Ramirez should win the fan vote, even if you factor in his crappy defense. By the way, where is last year's "MVP" Jimmy Rollins?

Third Base:
So, in case you hadn't heard, Chipper Jones is giving Ted Williams a run for his money this year. He's at .393(!)/.485/.631 and he has my vote easily. Honorable Mentions go to David Wright, Aramis Ramirez, and sure, what the heck, Jorge Cantu.

Catcher:
The three to consider here are Brian McCann, Russell Martin, and the Cubs' rookie Geovany Soto. Martin has slightly better on-base numbers (.315/.412/.451, 7 HR), but McCann edges him out in the power catergories (.306/.379/.562, 14 HR). Soto is a fun rookie to root for, but I think he needs to put up numbers like this for a few seasons before he gets the benefit of the doubt to make up for his statistical deficits. Martin is a solid choice, but I think McCann has the edge this year and also calls a great game for that Atlanta pitching staff.

Outfield:
Another interesting position. There are the "nobodies" (Ryan Ludwick, Nate McClouth), the "out from the shadows" (Pat Burrell), and the "small-market stars" (Jason Bay, Ryan Braun, Matt Holliday). What there is NOT is the sentimental-favorite rapidly declining old guy (Ken Griffey Jr., currently 3rd in OF voting), the Japanese guy who plays for the Cubs (Fukudome, 2nd in voting), and the guy famous from his Yankees stint who signed a huge contract so he must be worthy (Soriano, 1st in voting). Anyways, voter ignorance rant aside, I hadn't realized how McClouth (a career .261 hitter in 4 seasons) and Ludwick (a former Indian who's bounced between AAA and the show since 2002 hitting a career .263) and are tearing it up this year:
McClouth: .292/.375/.546, 15 HR
Ludwick: .297/.370/.606, 16 HR
Burrell has been similarly terrorizing NL pitchers: .271/.411/.571, 18 HR, and leads NL OFs in win probability added (by over a full win). Bay's line is similar too, at .283/.393/.524, 15 HR. And then there's Holliday, who has been injured a little but still has put up good numbers: .329/.410/.538, 9 HR. Ryan Braun, the new star in Milwaukee, leads the pack in HRs with 20, but has a sort of dismal OBP of .324 and his defense, while mitigated in the OF, is notoriously poor. I think all of these guys should make the team, but on my ballot I think I'll punch the holes next to Burrell, Ludwick, and Holliday, and really cross my fingers for McClouth.

It'll be interesting to see how the voting plays out, and how much clout the lemming fans in Boston, NY, and Chicago have over the baseball fans who haven't yet been brainwashed by ESPN. And leave a comment if you'd like to point out how stupid I am for picking Hanley over Tejeda, leaving off McClouth, or for pulling Dioner Navarro out of the sky and giving him my vote, please do!

AL All-Star ballot, 2008

Last year I went through the AL and NL All-Star ballots and made my picks, so why not give it another go this year? We'll start with the AL, because I like and know it better. If you're not a baseball type reader, feel free to tune out until we return to posting cute pictures of Banjo.

First Base:
I'm as big of an A's fan as anybody, but I have to say I'm shocked to see Daric Barton as the first player listed on the AL ballot. Aside from his great defense, he's be somewhat of a disappointment out here in Oakland. But even more suprising is Ben Broussard's name on the ballot - he was released by the Rangers (the team for which he's on the ballot), then picked up by the Yankees, released, and now picked up by the Cubs (NL) and given a minor-league contract. And you could vote for him as an All-Star. Wha? But this is supposed to be about the players who are most deserving. A cursory glance leaves the clear candidates as Justin Morneau, Kevin Youkilis, Jason Giambi, and Carlos Guillen. All four have comparably impressive offensive stats, and all but Giambi play excellent defense. No strong feeling here, but Youkilis gets my vote here because while Giambi has the HR edge, Youk beats him in all the other significant categories, in particular posting 76 hits to Giambi's 49, not to mention the defense factor. But I could just as easily go Morneau here.

Second Base:
1B might have been a tough choice, but this one is easy: Ian Kinsler. He's having yet another great season for a great offensive Rangers team, batting around .300, OPSing .840, slugging around .400 with 10 HRs, not to mention going 17/18 in SB attempts so far. Not even close, although I should mention that Brian Roberts is having another good year, which is nice to see following the Mitchell Report and all that mess. Now I realize each team needs a representative, but yet again there are some head-scratchers on the ballot for this position as well: Asdrubal Cabrera, who batted .182 with only 1 HR before getting demoted to AAA. I mean, he's maybe like the 3rd best second baseman on the Indians, and that's being generous! Why not put Jamie Carroll on the ballot?

Shortstop:
As much as I would like to vote for Bobby Crosby (and I probably will) for just staying healthy and productive this year, the Texas middle infield really deserve to start for the AL this year. Michael Young is the clear choice here, posting all-around offensive numbers at the top end of each category and playing good defense. Unfortunately for Young, I think there's about as much chance of Young beating out Derek Jeter for the starting spot as there is that Ben Broussard will be starting at first.

This position's entry for the "Was that a typo?" contest is KC's Tony Pena Jr. This offensive powerhouse has managed to NOT get out only 28 times in his 162 at-bats so far. For those of you without calculators, that's really bad. Fortunately, the KC management seems to know not to vote for him either, as they've already replaced him with rookie Mike Aviles.

Third Base:
There's a good argument here for Joe Crede, who is having a great year after many thought he would lose the 3B job in Chicago to Josh Fields (see earlier post). But even though he has more HRs and RBIs, you'd be a fool not to recognize that ARod is the All-Star here. He's heating up, too, and now is at .326/.411/.600. None of the candidates are too egregious here, but I will poke fun at Willy Aybar for being in contention, as he's only been good enough to deserve 65 at-bats so far (full time players have ~200), and even then he's playing first base.

Catcher:
This is an interesting one, as the guys I would have guessed would be fighting for the top spot in voting aren't quite deserving. Victor Martinez is now out with an injury, and has still amazingly not hit a single home run yet. Jorge Posada has also been injured and thus not much of a factor this year. As for the contenders... Joe Mauer is not a power hitter, but he is suffering a similar drought with only 2 HR, but he's still near the top of most of the other batting categories, with a .324 avg and a .839 OPS, the best among catchers. There's also the Rays' Dioner Navarro, who missed a little time to injury earlier but is surprisingly still right up there with Mauer in terms of offense. Navarro gets a great deal of credit for handling the resurgent Rays' pitching staff, one of the major turn-around stories of the season. In another month I'm pretty sure we could clearly give this to Mauer, but right now I'll vote for the hot hand who has been powering a surprise contender in the AL East in Dioner Navarro. Too bad Posada and Varitek will end up as the top-vote getters, thanks to the NY and BOS fans. There aren't really any completely ridiculous options on the ballot at catcher, but if I see anyone voting for Gregg Zaun I will just assume they are somehow related to him.

Outfield:
Well, Josh Hamilton for one. That was easy. I'm sure you've heard about his recovery from serious drug addiction to make his way back to the majors and become one of, if not the, most feared hitter in the AL this year, so I won't repeat it here. I think you can't overlook his Ranger teammate Milton Bradley, despite the fact that he spends a lot of time DHing. GameBoy is leading the AL with a .329 avg, a 1.081 OPS, and is right up there with 15 HR. The last OF spot is a tough choice, as Grady Sizemore has played up to his usual standards and Carlos Quentin's newfound power has carried the White Sox (until his recent slump). But I think Boston's high-priced right-fielder J.D. Drew has been deserving this year. His line of .322/.429/.588 is pretty awesome. With 12 HRs has already surpassed his total from last year. And he's been a key cog in the high-powered Red Sox offensive machine, scoring 51 runs. Don't worry, Manny, Ichiro, and Vlad will all still be there. I wouldn't mind also seeing Nick Markakis, Luke Scott, Magglio Ordonez, or even David Murphy make the team, too. I would, however, be a little suspicious if I saw Jerry Owens (Josh Fields' teammate at AAA Charlotte), Jacque Jones (released by first the Tigers, then the Marlins in the span of a month, now has no job), or Chris Denorfia (about 19th on the A's OF depth chart at this point) put on an American League jersey in Yankee Stadium next month.

Designated Hitter:
Not a lot to pick from here. Jose Vidro? Is that just because MLB thinks people will recognize his name from back in 2000 when he was good? (I'll answer - yes, unless it's some kind of crack at the Mariners organization by pointing out that they're still paying him $8.5 million this year to float just barely above the Mendoza line as a DH). Anyway, I'm clearly going to vote for Jack Cust, and it might even be justifiable, given his 11 HRs and .420 OBP. But I guess I can see how, among the guys actually on the ballot as DHs, one might vote for Hideki Matsui this year. But still, Matsui gets negative points for being an OF that plays DH, while Cust is really a DH who (tries) to play OF (when the A's make him).

Stay tuned for my less-educated NL picks, and in the meantime go vote yourself!

DC & NC

Speaking of the Tar Heels, I've been delinquent in posting about my recent visits to DC (Greenbelt, actually) for work and then down to NC to visit Wendy, Jon, and my 1-yr-old nieceling Claire. I was very happy that it worked out to tack a weekend visit in Durham onto the end of what might be my last trip to Goddard for a while.

While at Goddard, we had some crazy thunderstorms one night (even including a tornado warning in the area) that forced an early end to our work, so we went out to a local brewpub-type place. I got the beer sampler (as I wasn't driving), and wow it turned out to be quite the sampler. As you can see, but with quite a bit of help from Claude and Juli, I managed to "sample" them all adequately. While sometimes this type of work on a satellite program involves lots of waiting around for tests to start or for your time to do something, it has been a neat experience getting to work with the NASA folks at this level on a spacecraft program, especially having the opportunity to do hands-on work on the instruments during the integration phases. When something looks a lot more like a satellite, i.e. with solar panels, antenna dishes, thrusters, etc., it's a lot easier to picture it up in space happily collecting data and beaming it back down to earth (*crosses fingers*). Also, it's been a pleasure working with the people out there too, especially our instrument liaisons on the NASA side, Chad and Juli, who have helped all us Lockheed folks have a good time outside of the work when we are out there. Thanks, Chad and Juli!

Juli, me, Claude, and Alex

So, following DC, I drove through South through the sweltering heat to Durham, where I spent Friday through Sunday with my sister and fam. We had a lot of fun hanging out and playing with baby Claire, who is surely going to start walking any second now. Here's Wendy and Claire at theDurham Museum of Life and Science. (see, Greenmen - further proof she's not a phantom sister!)

And Claire hitching a ride from me at the Durham Farmer's Market:


And at the risk of embarassing Jon, here we are getting some indoors exercise (since it was stupidly hot and humid outside) with Gilad:

Not a connoisseur of on-screen exercise regimens, I was remarkably impressed with how enjoyable and effective it was! Perhaps part of that was the comedic value of Gilad himself, who reminded me of some combination of Sylvester Stallone and SNL's Hans 'n Franz. Anyways, it beat going for a run outside or something, but still required a trip to the neighborhood pool afterwards.

Another highlight was getting to go to a Durham Bulls (AAA, Tampa Bay Rays) game - luckily for me they were in town against the Charlotte Knights, the AAA team for the Chicago White Sox. Their stadium in downtown Durham is really nice, and it was a treat to get to go back there again. I have some fun memories going to Bulls games growing up in the area, even back to when they were the single-A team for the Braves playing in the old park of "Bull Durham" fame. Some of the major-league prospects (or not-quites) that I got to see were:

Charlotte: Josh Fields, Danny Richar, Jerry Owens

Durham: Dan Johnson (formerly a popular Oakland A), Joel Guzman, Andy Cannazario, Reid Brignac

In a couple years a few of these guys will almost certainly be starring in the nightly SportCenter highlight reels. Fields was most impressive, hitting a couple doubles as well as 2-run go-ahead homer. Sorry Frank, but AAA stats don't count for your fantasy team. Here's a shot of the DBAP from our seats.

I'm not sure if you can really tell, but there's a temperature sign just above the berm in centerfield, and it's reading 93 here, at about 8pm. When we left at 10pm or so, it had only dropped to 86. Fortunately the DBAP had delicious, cold beer from Foothills Brewing - this is becoming an overly beer-themed post, I fear. Well, beer is not all the DBAP has to offer. There is, of course, the famous sign (now in LF) that I'm sure has tempted many players in the mold of Babe Ruth, Cecil Fielder, or John Kruk in years past:

We wondered out loud how many people have really ever won a salad by hitting the grass. Anyways, a night at the ballpark is always enjoyable for me. And it was great to see Wendy and Jon, and of course Claire.