the glamorous life of mathematicians

Our next exotic locale for Chris to study math - Finland!! Just like we went to Italy last summer for Chris to work with a professor there, now we're headed to Jyvaskyla, Finland. All the top researchers in Chris' field work at Jyvaskyla so its a great opportunity for him to meet and study with them. His ph.d faculty advisor is going to be there for 3 months (ie the whole spring quarter) but Chris will probably be there for just the last 3 weeks. Then they'll be going back in August too for a one week summer school session at Jyvaskyla. Now I get 4 weeks vacation at work and I don't really want to spend all my time off in Finland so I'll just be going for 2 weeks in the spring. Chris will head over there first and I'll meet him there a week later. I never would have imagined travelling to so many different places because of math!! Its quite the glamorous life we lead. ;)

Since I'll be there for 2 weeks and Chris will be there for 4 wks total counting the week in August, we decided it would be a good idea to learn some of the native language, Finnish. For our trip to Italy we learned some Italian but figured that most people spoke English or (as a last resort) that our knowledge of French would be able to get us by when reading signs in airports/train stations. Which was true in the big cities, but in little Lecce hardly anyone outside the university spoke English. Even though we still did ok, except for a pepperoni pizza we ordered but i'll post about that later, I think we'll be trying to learn much more of the native language this time, especially since we'll be in small cities again. I really enjoy learning new languages so I'm excited to start learning Finnish, daunting as it seems.

Christmas 2006

The 3rd annual Camfield Christmas extravaganza is coming to a close. Our first dinner back home in Dayton was Saturday 12-23 and we left Dayton on Wednesday 12-27. Total, we ate & exchanged gifts in 5 different places, not counting when me and Chris exchanged our gifts to each other. A hectic time yes, but also fun seeing everyone. I got a lot of nice clothes this year, but my favorite non-clothes items were a french coffee press from Chris (I'm becoming a coffee snob) and a set of 3 Audrey Hepburn movies, Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and Roman Holiday, from Chris's brother and his girlfriend. I highly recommend the coffee press to any coffee drinkers out there! The Audrey Hepburn movies were a nice surprise...that isn't something I ever would have thought to ask for but I'm really excited about watching them. I've seen Sabrina before (no that isn't where my parents got my name) but never any other of her movies. I had the week off from work so Wednesday we left Dayton for the Hocking Hills state park area where we rented a cabin for a few days. It was soooo nice to spend some time just the two of us. And it was a much needed break from work too. Here's a link to some pics of the cabin we stayed in, http://www.getaway-cabins.com/cabin23.htm. It was very secluded and quiet and peaceful...which is quite the opposite of Clifton.

And here are pictures of the some of the places we hiked to:






All in all, a great Christmas. But I guess all good things must come to an end - I have to go back to work tomorrow. When I'm on vacation I'm definitely not one of those people who checks their email and voicemail constantly, whose mind is still in the office even if their body isn't. My mind has been completely away of the office...I can't even remember my password to my computer at work...

new colors

it had been a long time since my last post! my previous template was too old to be used anymore. (thanks google for buying blogger and making me change everything and sign up for a google account. ) so now i get new colors!!!

i'm back!!!

wow...its been a while. i haven't posted much because not much has happened or changed in our life. chris is still in school, i'm still working, yada yada yada. we did go to italy and paris this summer. that was really cool. here are some pics from the town in italy we visited, lecce (you've almost certainly never heard of it, no one has) ...

this, on your left, is Piazza Duomo. its one of the squares that wasn't too far from our room. it was one of the first places we learned to find on our own. Duomo is the name of the church you see.

now if you look to your right, you'll see the main city square, Piazza San Oronzo. it was named after the patron saint of city, San Oronzo. you can't see it in this picture, but there's a statue of him on top of that pole-like thing on the left in the pic. after italy beat germany in the world cup semis, we and the rest of the city gathered here to celebrate. which meant a lot of flag waving and singing the national anthem. and lots of air horns.

this is one of old roman city gates that was a couple blocks from our room, Porta Napoli (naples gate). from where we took this picture, to get to our room you would walk straight threw the gate then turn left and go about 1 block.

i'll post more pics sometime, including some of paris and rome (paris was wonderful!!). our next adventure will be to finland this spring...i bet you never knew math so glamourous!!!

pictures of Millie

here she is! (cute isn't she?)

a new little camfield is coming!!!

Exciting exciting news -- we're getting a puppy!!! we picked her out yesterday at the kenton county animal shelter and will pick her up today. she's a little 2 year old chihuahua named millie. once we get her home and used to us, i'll take some pictures and post them.

and there's more exciting news - we'll probably be going to italy this summer for 2 weeks. there's a professor at a university in lecce, italy that chris and his advisor have been working with on a research paper. the italian professor was visiting at uc this winter and before he left, he invited chris to come out to italy this summer. so chris will have to do some work while we're there, but his expenses (air fare, hotel, etc) will be paid for. so all we have to buy is my plane ticket! its still expensive, but compared to how much a normal 2 week trip to italy costs, it isn't too bad! more details to come...

A Case of the Mondays

Monday is now the longest day of my week (as if it weren’t already), but now it is for good reasons. Our small group meets on Monday nights at 7. and last week I started taking a Spanish class at work which runs from 5:30-6:30 on Mondays. So I work, then do the Spanish stuff, then head straight to small group. A crazy day to be sure, but a fun crazy. Reminds me of college a little. Since I’ve graduated and found my “9-5 sit in a cube and stare at a computer” job, I’ve really missed the learning and intellectual stimulation I got in college. I don’t miss the exams or stress, but I do miss learning. So I’m really excited about learning something as useful as Spanish. All that makes Mondays really long days, but I don’t mind. I get to combine 2 of the more fun and anticipated parts of my week (Spanish class and small group) into one day. Not a bad way to start the week off.

Hasta luego!

this is so coo!!

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Sabrina!

1. Sabrina cannot be detected by infrared cameras.
2. Over 2000 people have now climbed sabrina, with roughly ten percent dying on the way down.
3. During the reign of Peter the Great, any Russian nobleman who chose to wear sabrina had to pay a special sabrina tax.
4. If you lie on your back with your legs stretched it is impossible to sink in sabrina.
5. Neil Armstrong first stepped on sabrina with his left foot!
6. Edinburgh imports three thousand kilograms of sabrina every year.
7. The liquid inside sabrina can be used as a substitute for blood plasma.
8. According to the story, Pinocchio was made of sabrina.
9. If your ear itches, this means that someone is talking about sabrina.
10. Human beings are the only animals that eat while facing sabrina.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Chihuahuas!

1. The porpoise is second to chihuahuas as the most intelligent animal on the planet!
2. Chihuahuas can not regurgitate.
3. Chihuahuas can be seen from space.
4. Most bottles and jars contain at least twenty-five percent recycled chihuahuas.
5. The Eskimos have over fifty words for chihuahuas!
6. In the Great Seal of the United States the eagle grasps 13 arrows and chihuahuas!
7. All swans in England belong to chihuahuas.
8. Humans share over 98 percent of their DNA with chihuahuas!
9. The first toy product ever advertised on television was Mr Chihuahuas Head.
10. It takes forty minutes to hard-boil chihuahuas.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem