Roboman

Eric visited the doctor on Thursday and now has a new and improved brace. It still goes above his elbow and makes him look a little bit like a robot but it is much lighter and easier to get clothes over. This one will be on until June 14 when we he gets the pins in his wrist removed. I got to see his naked arm with the stitches. They shaved a lot of arm hair and I'm guessing it will be pretty annoying when it starts growing back in. Some good news is that he can ride his bike indoors on the trainer now. Bad news is that he is probably not going to be able to do any racing or sponsored rides this summer.

I had dinner with the new Chief of the Forest Service, Gail Kimbell, last Friday. She was in town to accept a distinguished alumni award from the college and my department was sponsoring her visit. As we have no female faculty, my department head invited me and another female PhD student to go along with four male professors, Gail and her husband to Iovino’s. I had some delicious butternut squash ravioli and really enjoyed talking with Gail. She has a great sense of humor and joked about being the first to store hair barrettes in Gifford Pinchot’s desk. I was disappointed that she didn’t have a security detail with her. I was imagining walking around down-town Corvallis with her and being surrounded by men in dark sun-glasses and ear-pieces. When I am Chief I will take security everywhere with me, they just look cool.