Monday, August 20, 2007

50th Birthday Bash

This October 15th, I will turn 50 years old. [As I told Erica, that means my life is 1/4 over... :) ] To celebrate, we are planning a party the likes of which have not been seen around here in a long time! All of my family, friends, and colleagues are invited, including those of you in Sacramento, Illinois, or wherever else you may be, in addition to the local Pasadena crowd!

We'll probably have a catered party here at the house on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 14. Those of you coming from out of town should plan on coming in Friday and spending a long weekend here. We'll arrange for a block of rooms at some nearby Pasadena hotel. Or those of you with kids might want to combine this with a trip to Disneyland, or Knotts Berry Farm, or somewhere else of your own choosing. And for those coming without kids: perhaps a trip to Tijuana, Vegas, or elsewhere...

This year's birthday is of course special for reasons beyond simply marking the half-century mark. It will celebrate my personal victory over this terrible disease (achieved only with the help of all of you), and the initiation of a new research program at Caltech to explore using nanoparticle-based thermal methods to attack and destroy glioblastomas. For me, it's no longer just about my personal recovery (although that is a prerequisite!): it is about using my experience, and my talents (such as they are), in collaboration with experts in this area, to once and for all DEFEAT this disease, and make total recovery the norm for everyone, not the exception, as it is now with conventional therapies. This GBM disease doesn't know what it's up against! With a crack team of first-rate clinical and research MDs, with a few science/engineering PhDs (like myself) sprinkled in for good measure, the disease doesn't have a chance! We're going to win this by a TKO!

I hope to see all of you in October! You'lll have the opportunity to meet the scientists and doctors from Caltech, Huntington Hospital, and/or other major research centers who are going to make this happen! Don't pass up this once-in-a-lifetime event!

And don't worry about whether you are invited. Everyone who cares enough to be a regular reader of this blog is by definition invited!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dave,

You are an inspiration!

Anonymous said...

Dave,

I just found out from Bob Kee about your illness. I feel as though my guts just dropped out of me.

Thank you for keeping the blog. I will try to visit you when I can, probably this fall, although I don't think I can be there for your birthday party.

I've never had such a thrilling time in my career as those years when we were playing around with diamond CVD. You taught me everything I know about transport and a lot more.

I look forward to seeing you. Get better.

Your friend,
Steve Harris

Dave Goodwin said...

Steve,

Thanks for your comments! Our work together on diamond was a real high point of my career too. I am feeling very good, and truly think I'm going to beat this thing (with a little help from my friends)! We'll have many more years to collaborate on interesting projects like Li-ion batteries for example. Let's keep in touch!

Dave

jaysan said...

Hi Dave

This is Jay from Ansys/Fluent. Great writing and I feel so enlivended by your fighting spirit. I am looking forward to working with you on the ONR electrochemistry. Graham and I are starting to think about it and will for sure need your expertise pretty soon.

- Thanks
- Jay

Dave Goodwin said...

Jay,

I'll be very happy to get back to thinking about the ONR Electrochemistry project. I have a few other distractions these days, but I am finding time to work also on my normal projects. Maybe we could talk about this on Thursday or Friday. My home number is (626) 799-4748.

Dave

Anonymous said...

I like the new research direction but does this mean we are going to have to rats in the lab??

Anonymous said...

Dave,

I learned about your illness today from Stephanie Liefer. I would like very much to attend your 50th in October, and bring my little boy, baby Dale, who will be two next month. I wish you the best health possible until then and look forward to saying hello.

Dale Capewell