New and Improved Goal List

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I will be moving to Boulder, Colorado this upcoming summer, and along with the change of scenery, I have designed a shiny new goal list.

1. Get tenure.
This one is pretty obvious.  The tenure system at CU-Boulder runs on a seven year clock, so this is one of the long-term goals on my list.  In the meantime, I hope to submit at least five journal papers and three grant proposals this upcoming year.  (Yeah, I really don't see much sleep in my immediate future.)

2. Become a first-time home buyer.
I was originally planning to wait to buy a home, but interest rates are ''historically low'' and there are signs that housing prices in Boulder will rise substantially in the coming year.  Besides, it would be really wonderful not to hear my next-door neighbor's every move late into the night.  With that in mind, Sarah and I might just have to move into the mountains.

3. Break 36:00 at the 2014 Bolder Boulder.
I really miss being fast or, at the very least, faster than I currently am.  So, when I officially decided to move to Boulder, I became increasingly excited at the possibility of getting back into shape and running the famous roads in Boulder and up and down mountains.  Next year, I am aiming to get down into the high 16:00's for the 5K and break 36:00 at the Bolder Boulder 10K, but in the future, I also hope to start doing some trail races/marathons.

4. Climb all of Colorado's Fourteeners.
There are 55 lofty peaks in Colorado that top 14,000 feet, and I want to conquer all of them.

5. Get serious about homebrew.
Sure, I have been having a whole lot of fun with the homebrewing experience.  I concocted a tasty sweet stout out of chestnuts and crafted a cider that will kick you in the pants.  However, I have only begun to scratch the surface.  In the coming years, I hope to up my game by taking various measures, including the following: (i) putting together an all-grain setup, (ii) kegging, (iii) purchasing a genuine cider-press, and (iv) building my own house bar.

6. Build a BBQ smoker.
I love BBQ and everybody knows it.  Unfortunately, I have tasted some of the 'cue in Colorado, and it just isn't up to snuff.  This has inspired me to build my very own BBQ smoker in the hopes that I might someday rival the likes of Aaron Franklin and John Mueller (okay, that might be a stretch).  In all seriousness, my uncle has actually managed to produce some quality BBQ on his own smoker in Denver, so I have some reassurance this isn't too misguided of a goal.

Exciting News Update

I have received a tenure-track offer from the University of Colorado Boulder to join the Aerospace Engineering Sciences faculty, and I am very excited to report that I have officially accepted said offer.  I will be moving to Boulder in July and need to quickly accomplish everything on my Austin Bucket List before then.  I am very much looking forward to working with all the faculty at CU-Boulder, and mountains of course are a huge bonus.  Exciting times ahead.

Goals Update #5: Homebrewing

Finally, I come to the end of my "Goals Update" series with a post discussing my fifth goal from a year ago:

Successfully brew a halfway-decent gluten-free beer.

So, you ask, how did things go on the homebrewing front?  Well, to put it shortly, good and bad.  My friends Chris and Zohaib and I began our homebrewing mission by producing "gluten-reduced" beer.  Namely, we used Clarity Ferm, a clearing agent, to "denature" some of the gluten proteins found in a standard barley beer.  The result was a fantastically delicious blonde ale which unfortunately made me quite sick.  It was a worth a try, but I unfortunately had to try a different approach.  I then brewed up a gluten-free pale ale recipe from Austin Homebrew Supply that called for a sorghum base and a generous supply of hops.  The result?  I didn't get sick, but the sorghum made for an off-putting, metal-like flavor.  I was quite disheartened at this stage in the game, but I then read about chestnut beers on HomeBrewTalk.com.  I quickly went to work, and after a failed initial recipe, I successfully brewed a delicious Chestnut Sweet Stout from chestnuts, oats, brown rice syrup, molasses, milk sugar, and espresso.  For the recipe, check out my post on the HomeBrewTalk.com forums.

Lately, I have dived into a different arena - crafting homebrewed cider.  My first product, inspired by Edwort's Apfelwein, is almost complete, and it is a fantastic, dry cider at about 9% abv.  I oaked it using medium-toasted oak cubes which were soaked in whiskey, which I found rounds out the cider quite nicely.  I am quite excited to taste the cider upon completion (it is already quite nice at this stage), and I look forward to brewing up more ciders in the future.
 
Goal Status: Outstanding Success

Second Chance: A Gluten-Free Chestnut Sweet Stout

High Noon: A Gluten-Free Red Quinoa Pale Ale

Fruit of the Entwives: An Oak-Conditioned Extra Dry Cider

Goals Update #4: The Great Texas BBQ Adventure

I got sidetracked this last month by a collection of neverending tasks, but I finally have the time today to continue my "Goals Update" series.  So, without further adieu, let's discuss my fourth goal from a year ago:

Check out every BBQ joint on Texas Monthly's Top 50 list.

If you recall, I set this goal after I visited Franklin BBQ for the first time about fifteen months ago.  Before Franklin changed my worldview, I honestly did not care for smoked beef brisket.  It was always so tough, dry, and lacking in flavor.  Franklin changed all of that.  My first bite into a slice of Aaron Franklin's brisket was pure smoky nirvana.  I was hooked from the get-go, and I made it my goal to find the best BBQ joints throughout the great Texas countryside.

My journey started off fast and furious, and I explored small Texas town after small Texas town with a collection of friends.  Lockhart, Elgin, Luling, Lexington, La Grange.  Eventually, I discovered that I would have to travel obnoxious distances to continue my BBQ quest (Texas is an enormous state), and my great Texas BBQ adventure naturally slowed down.  Nonetheless, whenever I have a spare weekend and a few hours to kill, I try to knock off another BBQ joint or two on my expansive list.  I have no illusions that I will actually accomplish my initial goal of visiting all the Top 50 BBQ joints, but I am already quite happy with the progress I have made.

Here is a list of some of the BBQ joints I have checked out over the last year: (1) Franklin BBQ in Austin, (2) Cooper's in Llano, (3) Smitty's Market in Lockhart, (4) Kreuz Market in Lockhart, (5) Luling City Market in Luling, (6) Snow's BBQ in Lexington, (7) JMueller in Austin (now closed), (8) Opie's BBQ in Spicewood, (9) Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, (10) Stiles Switch BBQ and Brew in Austin, (11) The Salt Lick in Driftwood, (12) Southside Market in Elgin, (13) Opie's BBQ in Spicewood, (14) Prause Meat Market in Lagrange, (15) Zimmerhanzel's Bar B Que in Smithville, (16) Lambert's Downtown Barbecue in Austin, (17) Wilhite's Barbecue in Creedmoor, (18) Gonzales Food Market in Gonzales, (19) Cousin's BBQ in Fort Worth, (20) Black's Barbecue in Lockhart, and (21) Big Boy's Barbecue in Sweetwater.  Of all these joints, Franklin BBQ, Snow's BBQ, and Louie Mueller Barbecue are my undoubted favorites.  Stiles Switch has also become a bit of a favorite for me, if only for the convenience of location.  I can easily bike to Stiles Switch for a quick bite, and, if I like, I can stop by Black Star Co-Op afterwards for a gluten-free brew or two following the 'cue.  Good times to be had by all.

In the next few months, I would like to visit a few last places before I leave town.  Yes, it's true, I will be leaving town in July - blog update to follow.  In particular, I would like to hit up Fargo's Pit BBQ in Bryan, Pecan Lodge in Dallas, Heavy's BBQ and Gatlin's BBQ in Houston, City Market in Schulenberg, and Maywald's Sisterdale Smokehouse in Sisterdale.  We will see if I actually will be able to actually visit all of these places.  And yes, before you ask, I would love the company.

Goal Status: Satisfactory Progress

Goals Update #3: "Un tocco di italiano"

The third goal I set a year ago was the following:

Learn Italian.

Well, I added Rosetta Stone Italian to my Amazon.com wish list.  That has to count for something.

Goal Status: No Progress

Goals Update #2: Marathon Training

Today, I continue my series of updates with the second goal I set a year ago:

Run sub-3:00 during the 2013 Austin Marathon.

When I set this goal a year ago, I figured it to be a bit conservative based on my previous racing experiences.  However, I just needed to get my feet out the door.  I started off on the right foot, bringing my mileage up to about 50 miles/week by the end of the summer.  I signed up for the Austin Distance Challenge, a series of races leading up to the big kahuna itself, and even purchased a copy of "Advanced Marathoning" by Pfitzinger and designed an extensive six month training plan.  Then, fate struck, and I tweaked my back during an easy eight mile run around the neighborhood.  As I hobbled back to my apartment, I thought it was just a minor tweak, but as the weeks went by and I still was not able to run, I came to grips with the reality that the 2013 Austin Marathon was not going to happen.

I finally got out the door for a run about two or three weeks ago, and during the run, I realized that my back was out of sorts even after all this time.  So, I decided to see a sports chiropractor to see what was going on.  I had my first appointment this morning, and it appears that I have a lumbar sprain/strain as well as lumbar joint dysfunction.  It will take a little time for me to get back to normal, but I honestly should have called someone months ago.  Stubbornness got the best of me, and I thought that time was the only medicine I needed.  During the last few weeks, I have also looked into various marathon options for next fall and/or spring.  I would like to visit somewhere I have not been before rather than run a marathon in my backyard.  This way, I would be able to see some new sights, and I would have substantial financial investment in the race between plane tickets, hotel reservations, and registration fees.  Hopefully such an investment will inspire me just a tad bit more.  Right now, I am leaning towards the Portland Marathon in October, but I am hesitant to make any commitments before my back heals up.   With any luck, that will be sooner rather than later.

Goal Status: Sidelined but Inspired

Goals Update #1: The Job Search

Just over a year ago, I set a list of five goals to keep the engine primed after successfully defending my Ph.D. and getting married.  I figure now is as good a time as any to look back at those goals, see where I am in terms of achieving them, and tweaking as necessary.

The first goal on the list was the following:

Successfully land a tenure-track faculty position for the 2013-2014 academic year.

When I went ahead and set this goal, I had no idea what kind of whirlwind adventure laid ahead for me.  The academic job market was in dire straits, and I had not applied for any kind of job in nearly a decade.  Nevertheless, I plugged ahead and applied for approximately twenty positions in both mathematics and mechanical/aerospace engineering departments.  I soon discovered the pain and suffering in trying to define your academic past, present, and future in two relatively short documents - the research and teaching statements.  In contrast with seemingly everyone else in science and engineering, I found the teaching statement easy to write.  I appreciate and enjoy teaching, have a fairly well-thought-out teaching philosophy, and know what I can teach and what I like to teach.  On the other hand, I found the research statement excruciatingly difficult to write.  I have conducted research in several topics and with many different people, and when I first sat down to write my research statement, I was at a loss for defining and specifying my "research persona".  That being said, I found the research statement an excellent exercise in self-reflection, and it allowed me to really pin down who I was from a research perspective, what I bring to the table, and how I can impact the field.

After reading several successful research statements, perusing through various advice columns, and talking to a collection of different faculty members, I found the most successful research statements (at least in science and engineering) address six questions: "Who?", "What?", "Why?", "How?", "Where?", and "When?".

• The "Who?" question concerns who exactly the applicant is and what they bring to the table, especially in regards to the advertised position.  The "Who?" question is a question of fit.
• The "What?" question concerns the applicant's research area.  What field/subfield does the applicant work in exactly?  Clarity and relevance are critical.
• The "Why?" question concerns why the applicant is pursuing his or her particular research topic(s).  The ideal statement should state the questions the applicant has answered in his or her current and past research and seeks to answer in future research, and the ideal statement should also emphasize the importance of the applicant's research.
• The "How?" question is the counterpart to the "Why?" question.  The "Why?" question deals with problems.  The "How?" question deals with answers.
• The "Where?" question consists of three parts.  The first part is purely physical - where was the applicant's past and present research conducted, and where will future research be conducted (lab requirements, internal/external collaborators, etc.)?  The second part of the "Where?" question is where exactly does the applicant fit in his or her field/subfield?  The third part of the question is where will the applicant look to for funding opportunities?
• The "When?" question concerns timeline.  The ideal statement should address past and present research, and it should provide a timeline for future research.  What are the most immediate research topics the applicant will pursue?  What are long-term research goals?

I also found the most successful research statements I read were logically ordered.  They began with an executive statement/summary that highlights research interests and goals.  This part of the statement is absolutely critical as many search committee members won't read past the first paragraph or two.  Then, the statements had a section on past and present research followed by a section on future research, and they finished by discussing potential funding sources and institution-specific research plans and collaborations.  I ultimately tried to emulate this structure in my research statements.

My own job search has been fairly successful, especially considering that this was my first year on the market.  I have had a couple of interviews, both in mathematics and in mechanical/aerospace engineering, and there is a decent chance I will ultimately achieve my goal of landing a tenure-track position for the upcoming academic year.  I discovered that departments associated with mathematics and mechanical/aerospace engineering operate very differently, and the job application process is also very different between the two fields.  Mathematics faculty searches look for talent across a wide range of disciplines, while engineering faculty searches tend to key in on specific focus areas.  There is even a huge jobs database for mathematics openings, while you have to search a bit harder for openings in engineering.  Consequently, applying to mathematics and engineering positions each have their own advantages and disadvantages.  As mathematics searches are often so open-ended, there are several hundred applicants for each available position, but there is also a larger pool of job openings to explore.  On the other hand, there tends to be fewer applicants for positions in engineering, but there are fewer opportunities available as engineering searches focus on specific areas.

In closing, I just wanted to emphasize the fact that the job application process allowed me to really pin-down who I am academically.  I have worked my entire academic career at the intersection of applied mathematics, computer science, and mechanical/aerospace engineering, and this initially created issues for me in the job application process.  I was not sure if I should apply both to mathematics and engineering departments or just one or the other, and I was not even sure I could classify myself as either an applied mathematician or as a mathematically-oriented engineer.  What I finally discovered is that classifications matter little in the long run - what really matters is doing good and relevant work.  The best people don't try to bog themselves down with questions of identity.  Rather, they have fruitful collaborations, conduct high-impact research, and cause a stir.  So, here's to hoping I stir things up in the coming years.

Update on May 5, 2013: I have received a tenure-track offer from the University of Colorado Boulder to join the Aerospace Engineering Sciences faculty, and I am very excited to report that I have officially accepted said offer.  I will be moving to Boulder in July and need to quickly accomplish everything on my Austin Bucket List before then =P.

Goal Status: Outstanding Success

Goals Goals Goals

After successfully defending my PhD and getting married within a 3 month span, my life was bound to become a little dull. Where was the motivation? Thus, I recently decided to set a collection of new goals for myself. Big ones, little ones. Ones that seem a bit outlandish. Just a few items to keep the engine primed.

1. Successfully land a tenure-track faculty position for the 2013-2014 academic year. 
   This of course is the big kahuna. Ideally, I would like to land a position in the northeast (or Texas or Colorado), but I am open to other options as well.
   
   
2. Run sub-3:00 during the 2013 Austin Marathon.
   This goal is a bit conservative, but I just need to get on my feet again.
   
   
3. Learn Italian.
   This may seem a bit out of place, but I always wanted a greater command of a second language. I took several semesters of Spanish during High School, but Italian always seemed more natural to me. Besides, I spend a decent amount of time in Italy, and it would be convenient if I better knew the language.
   
   
4. Check out every BBQ joint on Texas Monthly's Top 50 list.
   Seriously, I have lived in Texas nearly six years and still not accomplished this feat. This is not something I am proud of. After tasting the fare at Franklin's BBQ recently, I have slowly gone the way of a BBQ snob, and it has honestly been quite a lot of fun.
   
   
5. Successfully brew a halfway-decent gluten-free beer.
   Gluten-free beer is a disaster. It does not even come close to the "real thing". Sorghum malt is sour and a poor substitute for barley malt. I am convinced there has to be another way.  Maybe millet or quinoa? In any event, my friends Chris and Zohaib have started their own brewing endeavour,  and we have decided to bring gluten-free brewing into the mix. I am quite excited to play beer engineer with them.

Initiate Post-Doc Phase

Tomorrow, I begin the next stage of my life.  Tomorrow, I officially become a post-doc.  I am pretty excited about the new changes this stage will bring.  I have already changed my office location, and I now have a window.  You may think this is but a minor change, but words cannot explain how excited I am to have a little natural light at work.

Speaking of changes, I learned yesterday that a Texas judge ruled unconstitutional a collection of asinine beer labeling laws that were hurting small breweries.  Among the changes introduced by the ruling are the following:

* Breweries are now allowed to tell customers where to buy their beers.  Seriously?
* Breweries no longer have to (untruthfully, I might add) label beers with anything greater than 4% alcohol as ales or malt liquors.

The second change is of particular interest to me.  There are a number of decent gluten-free beers that can't be sold in Texas because they are not labeled as ales or malt liquors.   Previously, I had written how Estrella Damm Daura was one such beer.  In fact, the only gluten-free beers that I have seen sold in Texas are Green's, Redbridge, and Bard's, and frankly, all three beers are sub-par.  I expect with this latest ruling that there will be a wealth of new beers available in the state of Texas within a year, gluten-free and gluten-filled.  Needless to say, I am pretty excited about that.  Maybe New Planet will finally come to Texas as well?  I will be crossing my fingers.

All written up and ready to roll!

Well, I did it. I finally finished writing my dissertation, and I distributed hard copies to my committee today. If you would like to download a copy, visit the following hyperlink:

http://users.ices.utexas.edu/~evans/Dissertation/Dissertation.pdf

As the date of my defense approaches, I have been feeling all sorts of waves of emotion. I have been in school for 24 continuous years. It is pretty much all I know. That being said, most of the emotions I have been feeling are of joy. I am very excited with where my life is heading. I am happy with the direction my PhD research took, and I am excited to advance it in my future postdoctoral work. I feel privileged, and I am ever so glad not to feel burnt out at this late stage in the game.

Naturally, with the dissertation out, I am now able to catch up on fun things I have desperately been missing. Long talks with Sarah, running, cooking, wine, Arrested Development (it's coming back!). And I am pretty sure those are the things life is all about.

A Triumphant Return to the Blogosphere

I know I have been quiet for the last month, so I decided to give you an update on my life via photo blog.  A pat on the back for anyone who can identity all of the objects/places/etc. appearing in the pictures.

Family Tree!

My mother's parents have always had a thing for family trees, and they have traced my roots all the way back to Fergus, first king of the Scots, born in 330 BC. My cousin Chandler just developed a Javascript library in order to visualize our family tree, and I must say, exploring through the tree is a lot of fun. Click the “Draw Family Tree” button below to see my personal tree. It will take a few seconds to draw everything out and then you can click & drag around. Drag up and you will be able to eventually see Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, and Henry II. Pretty cool stuff, though I suspect many of us are descended from royalty.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day y'all!  This year, Sarah and I got to do the long distance Valentine's Day thing for the first time.  Fortunately, with the help of Schmidt's Flowers and Accessories, I was able to pull off the whole flowers bit without a hitch... well, except for the fact that I had to ask Sarah for her physical street address out in Virginia =P.

To celebrate the holiday, Sarah and I had a virtual dinner and a movie night.  Back in Austin, I got the chance to try an absolutely wonderful Italian gluten-free pasta (il Macchiaiolo 100% Rice Riccioli) that Sarah gave me for Christmas.

To be honest, I was a bit nervous about cooking the pasta.  It is super easy to overcook gluten-free pasta, and the Riccioli seemed especially intimidating.  However, with a bit of care, the Riccioli turned out perfect (just keep a watchful eye on it!).  To spice things up a bit, I briefly fan-fried some spinach, garlic, and nutmeg with a heaping of butter, and mixed it all together with the pasta and some mozzarella.  The result was incredible (though I think I may throw in some bacon next time =P).

Sarah and I spent a fair portion of the evening trying to figure out what movie to watch.  In the end, we decided on Being John Malcovich as I surprisingly had not seen it before.  Verdict?  Fun and thought-provoking movie, but (spoiler alert!) I don't think I would have ever crawled my way through that rather filthy tube.  But maybe that's just me.  Anyways, I found it a fun twist on your stereotypical philosophy of mind flick, complete with life-sized puppets and a love rectangle.  And besides, who doesn't enjoy Cameron Diaz wielding a frazzled head of hair and admitting that she's a transsexual?

In closing, Happy Valentine's Day to all, and to all a good night.

Oh Sweet Wedding

Life has been both very exciting and exhausting the last three months.  As you all know, I have been frantically typing and coding away at my dissertation research, and I have also, with my fiancee and her parents, been planning a wedding.  Well, I can officially now say:

Sarah and I will be getting married February 25, 2012.

We have a chapel booked and a reception hall booked.  We even have a caterer booked.  And I have to say - once we managed to book everywhere we wanted, we breathed out a huge sigh of relief.  We are learning the hard way - weddings are stressful, even during the very initial planning stages.  We are trying to do things on somewhat of a budget, so if anyone out there has any advice, we would love to hear about it.  Anyways, we even have a wedding website if you would like to hear more details about the wedding.  Although I am sure, like all things, details will change as February 25, 2012 draws nearer.

And I am finally done.

For all of those who did not know, I have been heavily cranking on my dissertation proposal for the last three months and have not had much time for anything else.  I finally had my proposal defense and oral qualifying exam yesterday, and the verdict is... I passed.  I could not be happier right now.  I am actually very excited about my proposal work.  I think it has the potential to make quite an impact in the computational fluids community.  And at any rate, I am just amazed I was able to string together about 12 100+ hour work weeks.  For those of you who are interested, my proposal can be downloaded here:

http://users.ices.utexas.edu/~evans/Proposal/proposal.pdf

And my proposal presentation can be downloaded here:

http://users.ices.utexas.edu/~evans/Proposal/Presentation.pdf

Careful though.  They are both quite long (at my research institute, we tend to present our proposals after 80-85% of the research has already been done).

In other news, I have discovered the joys of Torchlight recently after purchasing it for my Mac for four dollars.  I have to say its one of my best four dollar purchases I have ever made.  For those of you who don't know, Torchlight is a standard hack and slash game which was created by many of the developers of Diablo 2.  Think of it as a spiritual sequel to Diablo 2.  The result?  A great stress relief tool.  The only flaw is that the game has a paper thin plot.  But then again, sometimes you just want to hit the orc over the head without thinking about things like plot.

I have also decided to start casually reading again.  I am starting with Neal Stephenson's Anathem (I adored Snow Crash and have been trying to read Neal's other novels since), and I am going to finally read William Gibson's famous cyberpunk Sprawl Trilogy after that (Neuromancer, Count Lisa, Count Overdrive).  I also want to check out The Well at the World's End, a late 19th century fantasy novel which has been cited as a big inspiration for Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.  The book actually now lies in the public domain apparently.  As I have not taken the time to do some casual reading in a few years, I would love any ideas.  I tend to read anything that is thrown in front of me, but I often drift towards fantasy and sci-fi.

Anyways, I gotta run, but I just wanted to say I am glad to be back in the blogosphere.

Someone has a new car.

Of all things

So after I picked up an old visiting friend from the airport last night, we decided to head over to Guero's for some quick eats.  Well, it turns out we were given the table behind Weird Al who is performing in Austin tonight.  Who would have thought.  Unfortunately, neither my friend nor I had a camera, so we had to just settle for a mental image of Weird Al chomping down on tacos.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween y'all! I hope this festive weekend has treated you well. This weekend has been quite an adventure for me. On Friday night, I went with my roommate to a law school party hosted at a local Austin bar. It was, to put it simply, fairly hilarious and a bit of a different crowd than I am used to as a PhD student. I believe the terminology I settled on was "all-out but well-composed"? Either way, there were some pretty hilarious costumes there. One guy was dressed as a tree, with 15 foot branches hanging off of him. He nearly took out the lights at the bar several times. For those who are curious, I went as the Tenth Doctor (yes, I am a giant nerd and I may have a slight man-crush on David Tennant) and my roommate went as Audrey Hepburn.

Last night, I held a small Halloween party at my apartment. I decided to have a bit more fun with my costume for this party, and I went to Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds to find the finishing touches. The result?

That's right. I was Dr. John Watson from the Sherlock Holmes mythology. Of course, this begs the question: where the heck was Sherlock Holmes? Well, so the story goes, Dr. Watson had just recently become engaged to a certain Mary Morstan and Sherlock was not particularly happy about it. Hence, Sherlock elected not to attend the evening party. The truth of the matter? I was originally going to go as Mr. Holmes but decided I desperately needed to wear a fake mustache.

The party turned out to be quite a lot of fun. It was a bit of a young professionals/graduate students mixer, with the usual consequences. There was plenty of food and drink, and I got to make quesedillas. Overly filled gluten-free quesedillas. Yes, they were delicious. Yes, I just might make some more tonight. So, without further delay, here is the simple (and rather non-specific) recipe.

John's Simple Quesedillas

Ingredients:

4 cups shredded Monterey Jack/Cheddar/Asadero cheese mix
12-ounces diced green chiles
1/2 cup medium chunky salsa (I use Pace)
1/4 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon chopped Cilantro leaves
Vegetable oil
16-20 corn tortillas
Salsa, guacamole, and sour cream for garnish

Steps:

1. In a large bowl, mix the cheese mix, chiles, salsa, oregano, cumin, and Cilantro leaves. Make sure to mix well.
2. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add a tortilla and spread some of the mixture even over the tortilla. Add as much of the mixture or as little as you want. I am not going to even pretend there is a correct amount. Top with a second tortilla, and cook until the cheese is melted. Flip the tortilla and cook the other side. Repeat to cook the remaining quesedillas (you will probably end up with 8-10 quesedillas, depending on how much mixture you use on each). If desired, cut each quesedilla into four, and garnish with salsa, guacamole, and sour cream.

The date is set.

January 18th. 10 AM. Judgment day.

The judges?

Professors Thomas J.R. Hughes (my advisor), Ivo Babuŝka, Leszek Demkowicz, Robert Moser, Omar Ghattas, and Yuri Bazilevs.

And whose fate, do you ask, are they judging?

Mine.

That's right. I have a date and time set for my PhD proposal. Cross your fingers and say a little prayer for me. If you are interested in what I will be proposing, a draft of my abstract is available here.

In other research news, I have just submitted to a journal a paper that I have been working with my advisor and Professors Franco Brezzi and Donatella Marini from Pavia, Italy.

Be forewarned - I am about to get technical.

The paper proposes a new theory for the modeling of plates and a simple yet effective plate finite element employing one-point quadrature. We obtained convergence results without adhering to any ad hoc stabilization tricks, and we believe these are the first such results for a one-point quadrature plate element. Needless to say, we are all quite excited about it.

And yet I am excited about this paper for an entirely different reason. Why, do you ask? Because I am now co-authors with both Babuŝka and Brezzi of the famous Babuŝka-Brezzi condition, a key result in numerical analysis of partial differential equations. I feel like I am now allowed to honarably retire (at least from the field of finite element analysis).

Yes, I am a giant nerd.

Back in Austin

After a long day of flights and layovers, I have finally made it back to Austin. I already miss Williamsburg and Sarah quite a bit, but I do appreciate being back. I do, after all, have a dissertation to finish.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, Sarah and I spent the day yesterday in Richmond. While Sarah was hitting up the archives at the Library of Virginia for her Master's research, I got to see a bit of downtown. In particular, I was able to explore Shockoe Slip for a coffee shop (and I eventually stumbled on Shockoe Espresso). I found the area to be quite nice (and a bit overrun by tattooed hipsters). I even found a Segway store right in the heart of Shockoe Slip. Fun times.

Anyways, when Sarah was done at the archives, we decided to hit up a local eatery for some good eats. Inspired by a local magazine article, we settled on checking out Garnett's Cafe in the Fan District. Kendra Feather, the owner of Garnett's, follows a gluten-free diet and offers a large number of gluten-free options at the eatery. For the sandwiches, Garnett's offers Sami's Bakery gluten-free bread from Tampa Bay. I ordered the BLT with the gluten-free bread, and it was absolutely delicious. The flax and millet bread the sandwich was served on was fantastic and perfectly toasted. The mayonnaise was delicious, the bacon crisp, and the tomatoes optimally juicy. The sandwich even came with home-cooked French potato salad and pickles. Overall, I was very happy with our lunch choice. Bonus points: Elliott Smith played on the sound system during our meal. Perfection achieved.

When I got back to my apartment in Austin, I noticed that my pantry wasn't quite empty. I still had about one cup left of Arborio rice. Of course, that meant risotto again. This time around, I went for a much simpler recipe, being exhausted from the long trip home. I call this one Onion and Basil Risotto. If you wish, you can get creative with this recipe by adding cheese, extra spices, etc. However, the base dish is still delicious and fairly healthy as well. I recommend serving it as a first course, a la Italian style.

Onion and Basil Risotto


Ingredients:

1 cup of arborio rice
4 1/2 cups of chicken broth
10 fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of chopped red onions
Black pepper to taste

Steps:

1. Combine the broth and basil leaves in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower the heat to low and cook the basil broth for 10 minutes. Remove the basil leaves and continue to simmer the broth.
2. Heat a saucepan over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add the olive oil and onions and stir-fry for 2 minutes until the onions are golden. Add the rice and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until the rice is starting to toast.
3. Add a ladleful of the broth to the rice and stir. Continue stirring gently until the water of the broth has evaporated, which should take 1-2 minutes. Repeat adding a ladleful of broth, allowing the broth to be absorbed before adding the next ladleful. Make sure to continuously stir the risotto. When the last of the broth has been added (this should be around 17-18 minutes or so from the time the cooking started), the risotto should have an al dente texture. Season the risotto to taste with the black pepper and serve immediately.

The recipe makes 4-6 servings.