Cast
Sarah
Sarah is the main author of this blog. Her birthday is Aug. 31st. She is currently a graduate student in biology, finishing her M.S. in Spring 2003.
She tends to do lots of cool research projects and exotic-sounding things like aerial surveys. She loves to take pictures, especially of the animals she's studying, and you can expect to see some of them on this site!
When not doing that science stuff, Sarah is also quite crafty! She likes to rubber stamp and scrapbook, although she tends to be extremely perfectionistic and things don't happen quickly. She's also dabbling in fun things like beading, and has recently become addicted to knitting. You can check out her crafting (mis)adventures on the craft blog, One Crafty Snargle.
Sarah likes movies, music, and television. Her favorite TV shows are: "The Simpsons" (watch it in syndication every single day), "The West Wing," NBC's Thursday night, "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race." Dan watches most/all of these with her.
She also loves, beyond most other things, to travel, and likes to spend a significant time in a place to really get to know the area and the culture. This can be quickly traced back to her parents, who moved her to France for two years in high school and toured her all over Europe. Past adventures have taken her to Alaska, Baja Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Mongolia. On the (dream) horizon: Malawi (Africa) and South or Central America. And a return to Europe.
Dan
Dan is Software Developer for a local non-profit. He makes lots of great software for scientists.
Dan's true passions are outdoor sports. He has been a snowboarder for over 12 years now, and even taught Sarah. He also loves hiking (he climbed Mount Whitney this summer), mountain biking (24 Hours of Adrenalin), and since moving to California has become a surfer. Dan and Sarah met in college, dated for 3 years and were married Aug. 15, 1998.
Linus & Cleo
Linus and Cleo are our cats, babies, furchildren, etc. That's Linus in the back - he's 4 1/2 years and a grey tabby. We got him just a few weeks after we moved to California (our evening walks to the beach took us directly past the animal shelter, and it was really only a matter of time until they happened to be open... In a strange coincidence, we think that the people who turned him in moved out of the apartment that we moved into the next week, so that Linus never really knew any difference, other than the fact that we didn't kick him. Linus was not named after the Peanuts character, but instead after Linus Torvalds, inventor of the Linux operating system (have I mentioned that Dan is a bit of a computer geek?)
Cleo is in the front. She's a "torby" - a tortoiseshell tabby mix, which accounts for her wonderful coloring. She's younger, about two. We got her in January 2002, and she was already 18 months old. We adopted her from a different animal shelter. She's quite the love bunny, but it's really on her own time. When she wants affection, she's not shy about asking for it, which can be bad if you're trying to do something like read the paper or type on the computer (she'll roll around on the keyboard). She's very sweet, but not very bright.
As you can see from this picture (and others that we'll no doubt post), the kids get along great. They love to sleep together and groom each other - remarkable for two adult cats that aren't related. We're lucky!
Others
Other people you'll run into in our blog:
- Mom & Dad (Alice & Jay) - Sarah's parents, live in Indiana
- Peter & Judy - Dan's parents, also in Indiana
- Jenna & Reid - Sarah's sister and brother-in-law, live in Indiana
- Sam - Dan's brother, in Chicago (trend-breaker!)
- Kelly & Chad - Sarah's best friend from high school and her husband; live in Indiana; Kelly is expecting her first child in May 2003.
- Mike & Kathy, Dave & Sara - college friends of Dan & Sarah, live in DC area
- Nate & Kris - college friends of Dan & Sarah, live in California
- Joe - college friend, currently touring Asia, will return to live in California
- Hannah & Josh - Sarah's lab friends, in California
- others to be added as necessary...
Katie
Katie is our angel kitty. She was Sarah's cat, acquired from a vet's office when Sarah was in college. She didn't know life without Dan, though. Katie was diagnosed with feline mammary tumors when she was only 5 years old, which is very young for a spayed cat. She underwent two surgeries and a round of chemotherapy, but passed away January 4th, 2002, about a year after she was first diagnosed. She was a very smart cat, and very loving to her people - almost constantly on Sarah's lap. We miss her every day.