On Tuesday i finished my grant reviews, including the last minute one that was added to my review list because of a previously unnoticed conflict of interest with its original reviewer. I'm in general happy with my comments, although after submitting the critiques and gaining the ability to see what my fellow reviewers thought of the same proposals, i may be in for some debate at the review meeting. Two of the grants i gave unfavorable reviews to got scores of "outstanding" and "excellent" from my colleagues, meaning i may be called upon to back up my negative comments. Luckily the ones i thought were good got unanimously positive reviews. Apparently i’m a tough reviewer … who knew.

I had a good week at work, with Ivana sending off her long-awaited first paper on the oxygen sensitivity of reporter genes, and me having several productive meetings and potentially initiating new projects. I still have to find myself a radiochemist, but as i now have funding for that i should be able to accelerate the process considerably.

On Wednesday i was called into one of several All-Star games for our Stanford intramural softball league by my coach Fred, because of a need for players for the game. Fred flubbed my qualifications a bit, as i don't think i qualify for the "Over 40 All-Stars" either by being over 40 or by being a particularly proficient softball player. It was fun though, with my team besting our opponents (who featured my Rays teammates Fred and Tom) by a final score of 21-14. I got in four good innings in right center, luckily not having to touch a ball out there. I also drove in a few runs, one off a good line drive single up the middle.

While at home, i occupied myself with completing the paint job in our back room. I can hear you already wondering, "Wait, didn’t you finish that like two weeks ago?" Yes, we did. Veronica had a change of heart regarding our choice of "fun yellow", so we bought a quart of "gambol gold" from Sherwin Williams after she saw it used in a color scheme similar to ours on an episode of ReDesign. She painted some test areas in the kitchen that got good reviews from both of us, so we proceeded to repaint the back room. After putting on two coats, we managed to keep finding patches that looked splotchy, but had eradicated those to our satisfaction by Thursday. The back room is once again complete, and looks very nice with Veronica's end table and a few knick knacks. She’s moving on to the kitchen this weekend.

My week got a lot busier than i expected it to on Friday. I knew the end of the work week was going to be hectic, as my day would be abbreviated by my jaunt up to SF to meet V and head to the Bloc Party/Broken Social Scene show. I also had to wrap things up for my trip back east for the grant review, for which i was flying off the next morning. At 1pm, i got a call that made things even more jumbled. I've been talking to some colleagues at Duke University about coming to give a talk for a while, and got a call to organize my visit. As it turns out, the most convenient date for everyone involved was … next week. Right after my grant review in Washington D.C. So my three day trip is now a week long, and required me to go online to find a one way flight from Durham back to the Bay Area. I ended up forgoing a flight from D.C. to Duke in favor of renting a car and making the six hour drive. That'll give me a chance to explore Washington a bit and to relax with my iPod on a long car drive.

I popped in at home after these whirlwind preparations to feed Tara, then caltrained up to meet V. The show was fantastic, but because of it i didn’t get home until 1:30am. About halfway through the show i realized my suitcase was buried behind the contents of Jenz and Jocelyn's apartment in the garage. The girls made amends by loaning me one, but as it hadn’t been used in a bit it had a pretty funky smell. I decided to wade into the garage and recover mine, which luckily only took five minutes and minimal reorganization.

So at the moment i'm on a plane, lounging in first class as i made the command decision to upgrade. Sweeeeet. I also upgraded my return flight from Durham to San Jose using my United Mileage Plus miles. What can i say, i've been spoiled. I've got two days to review grants, then one to see D.C. and drive down to North Carolina. Then a few days visiting scientists at Duke, during which i'll give an hour long seminar. Which means sometime in the next four days i have to prepare something to talk about. No sweat.

Because of my travel schedule V and i postponed celebration of our second anniversary. Two years ago this moment we were partying with friends and family at the Brazilian Room.

My excursions also mean i'm missing this weekend’s Peaches shows, as well as Editors on Monday at the Fillmore. That's the second Editors show i've missed because i was out of town. As Aaron Popscene told me at the Bloc Party show, being adult blows.

What also blows is that Chelsea lost their first preseason match, a 1-nil defeat at the hands of ... oh just shoot me now ... the freakin' MLS all-stars. Thank god i didn't watch that. I'm sure it was a parade of back-patting by the commentators/U.S. soccer spin team. It makes perfect sense to me, a team that undergoes as much turnover as Chelsea each summer definitely isn't going to be sharp in their first match together. Hopefully this is the case and not a convenient excuse to mask problems of the upcoming season.