Exciting East Lansing 2026

I just came back from my (almost) annual trip to Michigan State University in East Lansing. I flew to Detroit and stayed overnight at the airport hotel, then took the bus the next day. It is much more convenient to fly into Lansing (the state capital) but I could not find connections that worked this time. 

I collaborate with Keith Promislow in the Math Department there. He is a long time friend and colleague. This year, we worked on new models for energy gradient flows of surfaces. These have applications in materials science and microbiology. We had an incremental success with previous models (curve motion in 2D) and started something more involved with axisymmetric surfaces in 3D. 

I took the opportunity to touch base with researchers in the Plant Laboratory. I am in a joint project with them that will start in December, looking at the behaviour of cuscuta, a parasitic plant. The project will (hopefully) identify the genes responsible for the ability of the parasite to detect its host. I am the data analysis guy in the project, that is funded by HFSP (Human Frontiers Science Program). Our job will be classifying the behaviour of growing cuscuta plants from time series photography. On a tour of the lab, I got to see the end stages of infection of cuscuta eating a tomato plant. They are growing this one for seeds.

I have a routine there when not working. I rent a bicycle at the campus bicycle shop, host G&T nights once a week, and go to the local Art Festival to look for new tie dye shirts. I also do some paper mache crafting in my long stay hotel room, with supplies from the local Hobby Lobby. 

I picked out some local sights for you that I thought were interesting. They have drive through banking (I don't think we have that in Canada) and banks with strange names. 

There is a parking garage on the bike route to the nearest big grocery store (Meijer) that they seem to have forgotten to add the walls to:

There are some back "yards" that make me envious:

Odds are I will go back again next year... 

Calgary Road Trip

I took a short holiday and drove to Calgary to see three groups of friends. I took two days going up, with the first day to Revelstoke via Lillooet. I have been on most highways in BC but I think that was the first time on that route for me. Beautiful scenery all the way along.

Our little car, "the Egg", did the trip well. Good road conditions most of the way, some construction delays. There is a special Hell for slow traffic that speeds up at a passing lane. 

Lunch at Lillooet. A&W is a typical stop in the Interior. The family stopped often at the one in Quesnel (just off the highway, big parking lot) on the way up to Babine Lake. 

Straightforward motel (Northwinds) in Revelstoke.

Then on to Calgary, lunch stop at KFC in Golden.

In Calgary, I had a room with an unsatisfactory "kitchenette" in the Sandman Signature Hotel downtown. Otherwise the room was good and I did some work in between socializing. 

First group was old friends from Physics undergraduate days at the University of Victoria. They fed me dinner. 

Second group was the Calgary "breakfast boys". We had dinner at the Keg.

Last group I knew the husband from UVIC Physics, but we had also gone to elementary school together. They fed me dinner. 

Notice they all got some paper mache crafts. They had big houses, have not yet told me they do not want any more. One day trip home (11 hours driving). It went fine, but I think I will take two days next time I do the trip unless Veronica is coming along to do some of the driving.