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My mom and dad, A.K.A. Gram and Gramps, came to spend a week and a half with Marina and a week in Tuscany. Marina thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them -- playing with the things in Gram's purse, going to the zoo, playing at the beach, etc. etc. I think the photos (sorry there's so many) are pretty self-explanatory and sum up the visit quite nicely.
Barça decisively wins La Liga (the Spanish leauge), the Copa del Rey (the Spanish Cup) and the Champions League (the select European club competition) all in one season, making them "tri-campions." With the best players on the planet (Messi, Iniesta, Xavi and co) and some refereeing luck in the semi-final they coudn't go wrong.
We enjoyed a brief visit from Dan, whom we haven't seen in several years at least. He was here for a conference and on his last day he came by for a beer and dinner. It happened to be the night of the Champions League final (Barça v. Man U.) so I quietly had the game on in the background while we ate dinner (a definite "no-no" in our house, but these were exceptional circumstances).
Climbing Montjuïc with a jogging stroller and 11kg toddler was no easy task. Gina and I traded off the driving duty. They always have these races when Marina is napping -- it'll be nice when the day comes that she stays awake and enjoys the ride.
Flavia and Daniel held a party for Uli's second birthday in Parc Güell. After spending some time at the playground in the lower section of the park, while Flavia and Dani went searching for a picnic table, we made our way up to the picnic area. In true Spanish style, we ignored the chain-link fence closing off the path to the picnic grounds, and entered. The party was complete with balloon sculptures and cake and snacks. Unfortunately, we had to leave early since it was already past Marina's bed-time.
Rowan and Nuria now live in New York City, so getting to see them when they visit Barcelona is a special treat. We went to the Cerveseria Catalana for a beer and tapas. We got to meet their friend Maria (whom they met long ago when Nuria was living in NY the first time) and her daughter Lily who joined us at the Catalana. R and N seem to be really enjoying NY and we're happy for them, but we miss them and wish they were closer...
In a blast from the past, Leila Durr, an old friend of mine from college (we met at Pro Fro week at Stanford in 1992), stopped by Barcelona on her way to Firenze, where she taught a six-week course to some American exchange students studying there. (pls. correct me if I'm wrong, Leila.) We enjoyed getting to catch up with her over a drink at Habaluc.
Ping pong, foosball, billiards, dancing and enlightening discourse on all things computational and genomic.
When I got back from the ACGT retreat, Marina and Flavia greeted me on the street outside the apartment. Marina was wearing her sunglasses and looking cool. Gina then came home and we met up with Emilia, Eduard and Martina at the nearby pet store so the kids could look at all the dogs. I never new pet stores could be so much fun!
OK, this is really just for true fans of Marina, 'cus to anyone else this might be a totally boring video. It's significant, though, because as soon as she gets this down, it's one less thing we have to do for her and one more thing she can do on her own.
I took this video with our new camera just after Marina finished her breakfast. There's just something about her this morning that strikes my funny bone. Make sure to play it in HD and in full-screen mode!
We just couldn't pass up the opportunity to treat Marina to a dose of Spanish culture this weekend. After spending mid-day at the beach near my work, we decided to take her to the Feria de Abril de Barcelona (the counterpart of the famous feria in Sevilla). Upon arriving, Gina and Marina transformed themselves from beach-goers into fair-goers, changing into more appropriate fair attire. Marina tried on a Sevillana dress in a shop next to one of the casetas and seeing her in it I knew that it would not be fair to take her out of it, so I insisted on buying it for her to dance around in the rest of the afternoon. Totally worth it!
We made our first trip to Sitges this year. Marina wore her new watermelon-themed coverup and bathing suit. The water is still a bit cold so we kept to the sand, which Marina has learned does not taste so good.
That's how much data is produced by the Sanger Institute running 37 Illumina Genome Analyzer II machines non-stop 24/7. Pedro and I went to the European Bioinformatics Institute (next door to the genome sequencing center, located in Hinxton, UK not too far from Cambridge) to learn a bit more about how to manage and analyze such copious amounts of genome sequence which are the direct result of lower cost next generation high-throughput sequencing technology. I also got to catch up with Arnaud (now at the EBI in the Ensembl Genomes group) and his wife Livy and son Tibor.