Air Disasters

This week was Allen's first work trip for PNNL. It was kind of a disaster. He was scheduled to fly to Richland, WA on Monday, with a short layover in Minneapolis, in order to make a manager’s retreat on Tuesday. But his 40-minute layover turned into 1.5 hours, then 2.5 hours due to a flat tire on the plane, then into the next morning due to a missing flight crew. Allen grabbed a hotel room in Minneapolis and headed back to the airport the next morning at 5:30 am CST in the hope that he could make the second half of the retreat.

But then that flight was delayed another 2.5 hours due to the still missing crew. Then 4 hours due to weather. Then they finally boarded but made Allen check his carryon bag since it was such a small plane. Things finally seemed like all would be ok, until they tried to land in foggy Richland, got within twenty feet of the runway, pulled up and circled around to try again, almost landed again but pulled up and diverted to Portland, OR. Because the fog was getting worse in Richland, they cancelled the flight until the following day, which meant Allen, having already missed the retreat, would now miss a full day of meetings unless he took action. So, he rented a car and drive the four hours to Richland, though that meant that he wouldn’t have his luggage. "No problem," said Delta, "we’ll drop it off when we land the following day." Tuesday night, after a long day and a long drive Allen arrived in Richland, WA in order to make his Wednesday and Thursday meetings… but without any of his clothes or toiletries. 

The bag didn’t arrive the next day either, having stayed for some reason in Portland. I suggested Allen at least find a Target and pick up some fresh underwear, undershirts and socks, particularly since the following day they were taking his “portrait” for PNNL, but Allen was resolute and so headed off Thursday morning in the same outfit he’d been wearing since 4:30 am CST on Tuesday for a photoshoot to be immortalized on the PNNL wall. 

Having now finished all of his meetings, Allen returned to his hotel room Thursday night to discover that his bag was still not there. It was, however, at the Richland airport (unclear why Delta didn't deliver it). Allen planned to just pick it up the next morning on his way back out of principle, but I convinced him that it would be better to drive the 20 minutes to the airport in order to have some fresh clothes to fly home in. So he skipped dinner (opting instead for bagels and yogurt from the hotel’s breakfast bar) and finally got his bag with all his toiletries and fresh clothes. There was a brief moment of celebration as he planned to head to bed in order to be relaxed for his flight home Friday morning.

Only then he got the call that his flight had been cancelled and he was being rebooked on a later flight that would get him home Saturday morning. He was pretty frustrated, but eventually the PNNL people found him an alternative flight so he slept in and then drove 2.5 hours to Spokane, WA where he and his bag (which he was not required to check on the flight home) then flew to Minneapolis before finally landing in DC after which he arrived home around midnight Friday night, where he immediately crashed.

At least he doesn't have to go back until next quarter...

Swept Away

When Allen suggested that we go see a new musical by the Avett Brothers about 19th century whalers adrift at sea that resort to cannibalism, we all thought he was being a little nutty. But then we actually saw Swept Away on its closing night at DC's Arena Stage and realized Allen was percipient. It's the best cannibal musical I've ever seen (having never seen Sweeney Todd) and the only thing missing was a kracken.

Farewell EPA

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but after 20 amazing years today is my last day at EPA. From my early days toiling away in the Fortran code of a now defunct CGE model, to the wild ride of analyzing Waxman-Markey and other cap-and-trade bills for Congress, to the highs of supporting the negotiations in the lead up to Paris — the torture of dealing with the Biomass Accounting Framework and the SAB, and the intellectual stimulation of working with the Energy Modeling Forum — the fascination of working on the Long Term Strategy, the excitement of analyzing the IRA, and so much more — I can’t imagine a better way to have spent the past 20 years of my career. There really is no better place to do intellectually stimulating work on climate change and have a seat at the table to help make a difference in the world. And of course, the most amazing part of working here has been the people, it's a joy to work with so many friendly people dedicated to public service and furthering our mission to protect human health and the environment. For my next chapter, I will still be working in the same areas, taking a new position as Director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute at DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Despite the name, I won’t be far — just up the road a bit in College Park, where I’ll also have an affiliation with the University of Maryland School of Public Policy’s Center for Global Sustainability. Looking forward to a new adventure!

Duck Walk

For Christmas this year, Duck received a cat harness in their stocking that Noa has been itching to get them for a while now. If you're wondering how walking Duck goes, let's just say Noa and Anais at least didn't have to call the fire department!

Years End

 2023 was collectively not our family's favorite year. Still we were able to end it on a nice note.

On New Year's Eve eve, we headed to Mom Mom & Grandpa Don's to see Jen, Ivan, Oliver and meet Sonia (Ahzer had already headed back to Utah). While most of us just chilled (especially Sonia), Noa, Ivan and Oliver spent the evening, running, hiding, making all manner of noise, and watching Captain Underpants, until we finally had to bid them a good night in order for them to make their flight home the next morning and so Noa could recover from hanging with the under ten crowd.

On New Year's Eve, we returned to Mom Mom & Grandpa Don's to finally open Christmas presents with them and Nancy & Danny and have a lovely dinner (followed by an epic marbles tournament) while still making it home in time so that the four of us could greet 2024 while watching Doctor Who together.

Here's hoping for better things and happier times.

(For the rest of our New Yearish pictures, click here.)