Jenn

Our camping spot for the night in Greenwater Valley, just east of Badwater Basin in the Black Mountains in Death Valley Nat'nl Park. I am watching the sunset and washing dishes or something.

Romy

Exploring Monte Blanco, a huge mountain made almost completely of borax in Death Valley!

Jenn & Romy

Today we had a field trip to the Oakland Airport where the National Weather Service releases weather balloons twice a day (once in the early morning, and once in the afternoon). The weather balloon is filling up with helium behind us and its really loud!

Jenn

Packing for our trip to Death Valley tomorrow, for a nice long 4-day weekend to celebrate the end of a productive semester! I can't wait!!!! We're packing our Selk Bags!

Romy

Working on my presentation for CE105 that I have to give tomorrow morning with my assigned group members.

Romy

Going shopping at Target. They had some okay cereal deals.

Jenn

Waiting for class in Davis Hall. Its all empty.

Romy

I finally picked up my diploma for my Master's degree, and I was in the last class to graduate at Berkeley that still had Arnold's signature on it!

Jenn & Romy

We took a walk this afternoon in Redwood Regional Park in Oakland. It was rainy this morning, but all the clouds lifted and it turned out to be a really nice day.

Jenn

Today I helped Romy work on the bus.

Romy

Working on fixing an oil leak on the bus. We worked pretty late into the night. We're getting the bus ready for a trip to Death Valley next weekend.

Jenn

We stopped at a big fruit stand between Monterey and Santa Cruz on Hwy 1 on our way back home from visiting the Monterey Aquarium today. I got some strawberries, oranges, and grapefruit.

Romy

Today we went to go see the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We took a coffee break and saw dolphins, seals, and otters swimming in the bay behind me.

Jenn & Romy

Crashing a chemistry happy hour at Berkeley for a quick beer before we get on the bus home.

Romy

Today we almost stepped on a brown banana slug! It looks like a piece of poo!

Jenn

Time to go home!

Jenn & Romy

Celebrating Andrew passing his qualifying exam today!

Romy

So much frozen pizza! It made its own shelf.

Jenn

Relaxing, watching Dexter! Ahhhh! I am sooo obsessed with it :-)

Jenn

At Cal Day today, my group did a demo about fog at the SFO airport. We used dry ice to make fog.

Romy

Today was Cal Day, an open-house thing at Berkeley. The class Jenn and I are in had to do demos at the Lawrence Hall of Science. We did a sailboat demo. A really fat person came to see our demo!

Romy

Talking to Mark who's in Switzerland, planning our trip to Norway this summer!

Jenn

Washing dishes after dinner.

Jenn

We took a walk just before sunset today in Chabot Regional Park.

Romy

Today we found a new trail we've never walked on before off of Redwood Rd.

Romy

Making funny faces at Jenn on the bus.

Jenn

I can officially cross this day off of the calendar! Yay!!!!!! I am now a PhD candidate and I get a raise too!

Jenn, Romy, Nicole, & Marcel

I PASSED MY QUALIFYING EXAM! I hosted a party at Raleighs (a bar in Berkeley) with the other graduate students in my department and then we had an after party at home.

Jenn

It's the night before my exam and I am freaking out!!!!

Romy

I am pulling out some rocks to test Jenn and see if she can identify them.

Jenn

Today Romy helped me practice how to identify the minerals in different rocks and how to classify and name them. One of the professors on my qualifying exam committee might bring me a rock!

Romy

Working at my desk at school.

Jenn & Romy

Today we took a walk through the redwoods by Roberts Regional Park in Oakland. I needed a study break!

Romy

Finished the rough shape of the baja hood! I've got to grind the welds down, but it's basically done!! Now to make the nose section that the hood will latch to...

Jenn

Jenn looking super happy about her Qual date!

Romy

Still working on the baja hood.

Jenn

Studying for the Qualifying Exam.

Jenn & Romy

Jenn's impressed with my cleaning job.

Romy

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Working on making a metal hood for the baja.

Jenn, Nicole, & Romy

Every first Friday of the month, Drake's Brewing in San Leandro opens their brew house and lets people drink their beer in the parking lot. There is BBQ and music, too!