The conference we had to miss

Well, our friends at Dave's Bay Area support group, AASCEND:

AASCEND

http://aascend.net/  have informed us that their conference, Entitled "Success on the Spectrum" went great!  As with so many other of their terrific events, we had to miss it due to our busy physics schedule, but we're happy they had a productive, fun time together.

Best wishes to all our friends at AASCEND, and we look forward to getting together with them over the winter break.

UCD Support/Social Group

So, the latest news is that David has finally had time to attend the meetings of the Autism Support and Social Group at UC Davis. Yay! It meets at a bad time for us, so we haven't had time to go, but we finally get time this term and Dave attended while I hung out in the hallway. He really enjoyed himself, and we're happy to announce we'll head back again.

The facilitator for this group is sensitive, caring Susan Bacalman of the UC Davis MIND Institute:

http://beincharge.ucdavis.edu/staff.html       

Who I'm Reading Right Now...

With all my creativity going into Dave-related projects, I've lost my own writing "steam". So, until things slow down again (spring 2012), I'm only reading while I wait for David outside his classrooms and lab.

I have my wonderful Dutch-moved-to-Canada friend, Grace, to thank for telling me about formerly secular romance writer-turned-Feminist Christian writer, Francine Rivers. Ms Rivers is no poet-- her strengths lie in weaving a twisty-turny plot, which is just what I need to take the occasional break from my "to do" list.

I just finished Redeeming Love, set "The Old West", but addressing the very modern issue of "human trafficking".

A reminder that my own life's little problems are little indeed.

Flying, and upcoming fellowship applications

Well, Dave and I had a great experience flying to and from Denver. http://flydenver.com/exploredia  Dave sure has come a long way (figuratively, and literally) and can now consider himself "a frequent flyer". Next big flight is Dallas-Forth Worth Airport, where we will visit nearby Lake Grapevine:

https://www.grapevinetexasusa.com/ThingsToDo/LakeGrapevine/tabid/260/Default.aspx

Congratulations, David!

Also, he passed the preliminary examination. Yay!

So now Dave's taking a regular class, attending seminars and colloquia, doing research, and applying for fellowships.

Busy!