Josh, Anne-Marie, and Aylia Colwell’s Gazette

Josh’s year
It seems preposterous that it is already 2010. Not so long ago that date was reserved in my mind for science fiction adventures. While I don’t yet have my personal jetpack, there have been some science-fiction-y developments in the past year. While the details of NASA’s next manned space endeavor are not yet clear, there is a fledgling commercial space flight industry that includes companies planning to sell tickets to the general public for suborbital flights into space. Last year I participated in a workshop to discuss the kinds of scientific experiments that could be performed by scientists on these commercial rockets, and in the summer I joined an advisory group to the Commercial Spaceflight Federation to advise them on making their vehicles amenable for research. I also had a proposal selected to fly an experiment on a test flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle.

At UCF, I taught my first graduate course in the Spring on the origin and evolution of planetary systems. Teacher and students seem to have made it through intact. Speaking of Spring, Saturn’s northern hemisphere started its 7-year-plus Spring season in August, a key event in the Cassini mission (which I’ve been working on since 1991) orbiting the ringed planet. The nearly year-long process of evaluation for tenure and promotion to Associate Professor concluded successfully in May. Anne-Marie got me a nice HDTV to mark the event so that I now am happy to watch absolutely anything on TV just because the picture is so good.

Over the summer I had two European trips in June, the second to London. Anne-Marie came with me on that one, and we did some advance scouting of where Aylia would live and go to school. Then we spent a delightful and relaxing long weekend in Mevagissey, a small fishing town in Cornwall. The Fall semester started with what may have been a bout with H1N1; while I was knocked out of commission on Labor Day weekend, after a couple of days I was feeling well enough to get back to work. Work trips took me to Seattle twice, Chicago for an NSF-sponsored panel on science in movies at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Berlin, London, Boulder, Los Angeles three times, Las Cruces, Puerto Rico, Purdue University, Bethesda, and San Francisco. I’m very much looking forward to a return trip to the Caribbean, but next time with Anne-Marie and not for work. We squeezed in a weekend trip to New York City where we reconnected with some good friends from years ago and got to pay a visit to KC working on the set of It’s Complicated. Anne-Marie got to share some of Oprah’s warmth during a chance encounter at an art gallery there. Ask her for details.

Around the house, I fought a quixotic battle against an endless swarm of small black ants whose nefarious goals remain unknown, but involved invading the house through small cracks and holes in the walls and around the windows on the back of the house only to remain within those walls. Their army’s column proceeded in two directions, into the house, and then back to some unidentifiable spot in our, or a neighbor’s yard. Since they were clearly not interested in any of our food (we never saw a single ant in the kitchen), I believe that they were busy constructing an ant robot for world domination from raw materials in our walls and attic. I painted the walls nearly daily with over-the-counter pesticide that promised to stop ants for 6 months. Those claims turned out to be exaggerated by a factor of about 100. Ultimately I gave up the fight and called in the pros.

My other house misadventure involved an overflowing washing machine that ruined our wood floors. Just in time for the holidays. We are all happy with our new bamboo and tile floors, except perhaps Dusty who has less surface area with traction because we also replaced our carpeted living room and dining room with bamboo.

I now primarily use facebook to post updates on major (and minor) events, while I use my blog primarily for movie reviews and science snippets. While I signed up on Twitter, I see no compelling reason for the existence of that particular social networking mechanism. Then again, that was my initial reaction to facebook. If we don’t see you in the new year, I hope we keep in touch on the “series of tubes.”

Aylia’s year
With the opening of the year 2009 bringing with it a new president, I should have known that it would carry good omens for the rest of us. A lot has happened this year to propel me forward into my life and career as an actress. I spent my first summer away from home, trying to make money and find a way to survive in Los Angeles - and even made some headway into the show business. I found a prospective agent, as well as made it into the Screen Actors Guild with some invaluable help from my uncle, and can be spotted in the background of two shots in It’s Complicated. It may not sound like a very glamorous silver screen debut, but it was very exciting for me. I also lived three and a half months in London town, which was an experience that has changed me for the better, and taught me more than I ever thought I could learn in that span of time. [Dad’s note: see ayliacolwell.com/blog for a wonderful account of Aylia’s adventures and life in London.] I may not be one for resolutions, but I’m certainly heading into the new year with much more than I had coming into this one.

Le point de vue d’Anne-Marie
Pas grand chose à ajouter vu que les gens heureux n’ont pas d’histoire. Je me pose plus en observatrice qu’en acteur ces temps-ci et vous m’en voyez ravis. Juste une petite chose sur les fourmis: y en a une qui a trouvé son chemin vers la cuisine, mais on n’a rien dit à Josh et on s’est débrouillé toutes les deux. Elle a compris que Josh ne survivrait pas à sa visite et elle a promit de ne pas rameuter ses copines.
A vous revoir, vous entendre, vous écouter sur FaceBook.
Je souhaite au monde entier et en particulier aux amis une nouvelle décade de découvertes, de paix, de bonheur et de santé.