Mitt liv som Tobin

Feeling the time was ripe, on Friday I reported for duty at Caltech, only to find that there is much "rigamarole" that must be completed before I can start "officially." There are all sorts of appointments to be had: a laser safety training, an eyes examination (in case the laser safety doesn't work out?), even a talk about my research (terrifying), in addition to the usual HR stuff.

Appointments made, I went to the "40 Meter Lab," which is where I'll be working, to meet the people I'll be working with. My advisor here, Rana, is a brand new professor here, formerly one of LIGO's star grad students. As an undergraduate he worked on LIGO optics at the University of Florida; then he worked on LIGO as a graduate student at MIT (spending a year at LIGO Livingston in Louisiana in the process), and then, as far as I can tell, he was immediately snapped up in a professorial position by Caltech. He won a LIGO prize for his thesis. He's enthusiastic about LIGO, to say the least, and he's also extremely friendly. So that all bodes very well.

Apparently the lab folks like to work a pretty late schedule, like noon to ten pm or something. This might be due in part to the lower ambient seismic noise after working hours. Or maybe just usual science-late-hours. I was a bit surprised because I think at the observatories they work a stricter (earlier) schedule. On the upside, maybe I can attend the geophysics or geobiology course (9 and 10 am) "under the radar;" on the downside, it would be nice to be home in the evenings.

Bree and I also met up with Toyoko (toyoko_o), a friend from my early years at Berkeley. She graduated from there (PhD in physics) and is now a post-doc here at Caltech! Moreover, she grew up in nearby Monterey Park, so she knows the area. Adventures!