Exciting East Lansing 2025

You can look back in the blog history and see that I have visited "exciting" East Lansing many times. I collaborate with Keith Promislow in the Math Department of Michigan State University.  This year we continued to work on models that describe how interfaces in materials and biological systems move in time to equilibrium states that minimize a prescribed energy. Keith is the driver of the project, interested in the applications but mostly now in the analytic theory of the models. I develop computer simulations of the model, to investigate new phenomena or to confirm the analytic results. I have worked with Keith for many years (since 1998) and really enjoy the collaboration. 

The MSU campus is quite beautiful:

I have an enjoyable routine for my visits. Besides the research work, I host a weekly gin and tonic night at my long stay hotel with Keith and his wife Ronay and any other visitors that are around.

I had a rental car this trip and did some shopping at COSTCO. I had to try their house brand gin, that comes in a 1.75 litre bottle. My son tells me that tonic is hip. The Engine gin was something Keith brought back from Italy for me to try. What a good buddy! 

To keep myself out of trouble I always bring a hobby with me. This time it was embroidery. I decorated hats to celebrate G&T nights. 

The only new thing that was exciting was that a local Trader Joe's had opened up. I have to say that Trader Joe's is not as exciting as I remember it. I first went to one in LA years ago and it had all kinds of eclectic items that looked like they had fallen off the back of a truck. This modern one just had more or less regular groceries. 

I will end with a couple of extra things unrelated to this trip. My irises came up in the garden before I left. For some reason, my wife really does not like them. 

Before I left for East Lansing I had a short work trip to Penticton (at the south end of Okanagan Lake). I am our department's representative on the BC committee of all Math and Statistics departments, and our annual meeting was there. This was the view from my hotel room:

The weather has been great here since my return, here is a nice view from the steps up to my studio: