Ok, lots of news that might as well be combined into a single entry.

First, Beth and I are leaving California. That isn't a surprise, of course, but we've decided to move up the move out date. Late July, early August, to be exact. This town isn't getting any better, and my research most likely won't lead to a paper within our pre-set timeframe. The sooner we get to Ohio, the sooner beth can establish residency, and the sooner she can get into vet school. I've already begun talking to several Ohio State PI's, and they've been pleased with my skillset. Hooray.

Second, the Supreme court ruled today that the 2nd amendment refers to a personal right. This is a victory for us strict constitutionalists - again, Hooray! Although the decision was 5-4, it wasn't worded exceptionally strict. The semantic hoops the dissenting justices like Souder had to jump through to argue that the second was not a personal right were just shameful. Here's a PDF of the full decision: [www.scotusblog.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/07-290.pdf]. Scalia's affirmation of the 2nd is worth a read at the very least.

Thirdly, Beth, Li, and I all got to hang out with Carl, who was in the bay area for a conference. Afterwards, all four of us went on a road trip, driving through Yosemite, Death Valley, and Sequoia national parks in addition to several other stops. We covered a total of about 1200 miles in three days, and had a complete blast. Carl landed an awesome research job in Houston, and we were all happy to be together for the first time in over six months. Pictures from our adventure are inbound.

Fourthly, and finally, I tossed out the old gallery code for the "Pictures" section of SteelSnowflake, and wrote a better gallery system myself in anticipation of our photographs from the road trip. I've also uploaded a bunch of images that I had sitting around, so be sure to explore my pictures folder ([here]), as well as the Miscellaneous folder ([here]).