Anuj Purwar

Are orange tabbies friendly?

Last week I was in Denver as Anita had a conference on Thu-Fri. Fortunately David Lee, the Team Leader for the PHENIX group at Los Alamos agreed to allow me to telecommute for two week days I was in Denver. We stayed at the home of Catherine McIlheny, a friend of Anita's. She has an orange tabby, called Morris. Somehow I have found from anecdotal experience that orange cats are very friendly. Morris was no exception and would promptly plonk himself on my lap.

Does any of you have data regarding the friendliness of orange cats?

For the weekend, we decided to go hiking in the Collegiate Peaks Area going to Browns Pass, a high pass about 12,000 ft (approx. 3,567 m). All along the way we saw lots of wildflowers...

and some spectacular views of fourteeners. Which in climbing jargon denotes peaks above 14000 ft (approx. 4,267 m).

Mushrooms and waterfalls

Last weekend I went on a hike along the Rio En Medio trail north of Santa Fe. This is a relatively easy 7 mile hike along a creek. It was a cool day so it was a fun hike. On route we saw several waterfalls.

Due to recent rains, there were lots of wildflowers with attendant fauna. Here is a picture of the hummingbird moth.

But the best part was the mushrooms. The hike leader Art Judd knows about mushroom picking and can distinguish between the poisonous ones (like the pretty one below) and the edible ones. We picked up lots of oyster mushrooms and some boletus, which are delicious sauteed in butter.

Megadeth

Last Saturday I went to a "Live 8" concert by Megadeth (and others like Fear Factory). This was a part of the ONE Campaign "to make poverty history". The concert was held in Journal Pavilion in Albuquerque, set amidst the backdrop of the Sandia mountains. I went with my hiking friend Hilary Lorenz as Anita (my wife) isn't into heavy metal music. Hilary is an artist and a professor in Long Island University. She is visiting the Santa Fe Art Institute for summer. Here is a picture of the two of us at the Journal Pavilion.

Megadeth gave a great concert, playing many of the old favorites as well as some of their newer songs. In the second picture you can see -- in the big screen -- Dave Mustaine, the lead singer.

There was the usual price gouging merchandising going on. However, when I saw the following Megadeth T-shirt, I just couldn't resist. I wore it to work at Los Alamos today and got several favourable comments!