I finally have internet!!

Hi friends,

My apologies for not updating this blog in the last month, but sadly it has taken that long to get internet into our Bristol apartment. And I haven't wanted to use internet at the university for personal stuff too much. But I can now start posting all these fun things that have been happening to catch you up on life across the pond.

A couple quick things that you may or may not be aware of....

First, it was brought to my attention that not everyone reading this blog may be aware of why exactly I have moved to England. Ian and I moved here so that I could pursue a PhD in Chemistry at the University of Bristol with Varinder Aggarwal. The program is three years long and should be quite challenging. My initial project is applying the Aggarwal group's lithiated carbamate/ boronic ester homolgation methodology towards the total synthesis of the natural product kalkitoxin. Translation for the non-chemists: the group has developed a methodology, or way of making, new carbon-carbon bonds that I will use to make a particular molecule (named kalkitoxin). This will demonstrate how useful the method is and we will publish the results in a chemistry journal (if all goes well). For those of you who are keen to read all about it, here is a journal reference that explains the methodology: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2007, 46, 7491. Another reason for studying in England rather than in the US is that Bristol is close to both Ian's parents (Weston-super-Mare) and his sister (Glouster). Ian's brother is just a short plane ride away in the Canary Islands. So we are looking forward to spending time with the Hallett clan over the next three years.

Second, Ian was working for the now-bancrupt Lehman Brothers firm in London. His division has been bought by the Japanese bank Numora. Ian received a contract with Numora, so we have some stability short-term with that. Obviously, things aren't settled in the financial industry, so we are trusting God for provision with this whole situation. Ian keeps sending me emails about job openings for snowboard instructors ... alas England is not known for its mountain ranges! (There is an indoor ski slope in Milton Keynes - we may just have to check it out for a laugh. I'll definitely post something if we do!)

More posts and pics soon!
Cheers! :)