Hello, world! It's me, Dr. J. I figured it was finally time to jump on the bandwagon and start a blog. I'm writing from San Diego, home of UCSD Prof. Roger Tsien, who just received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on GFP (green fluorescent protein). As the title probably indicates, I'm a chemist (a bioorganic chemist, to be specific). I recently finished my Ph.D, and have just started a postdoc here in sunny southern CA.

But fear not, my friends. I won't be talking exclusively about chemistry during my first foray into the blogosphere. I'll also probably be sharing my thoughts and views about a number of different things, like family, politics, religion, etc. You know, the kinds of things I'm often too scared to talk about with people one on one for fear of rejection, argument, etc. Kind of counter-intuitive to post these things on a blog where anonymous comments are enabled...but whatever.

For starters, you should know that I have a wife and three little boys, who are the light of my life. I'm also a Mormon (i.e. a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). Though it may sound strange to some of you, I absolutely know that the Church is true---hopefully as things unfold I'll have a chance to tell you how and why. I hope to persuade you as I share some of my experiences that science and religion are not mutually exclusive, but are both ways of discovering truth, and that rational, intelligent people (you'll have to decide whether or not I fall into this category) can indeed be comfortable with both ways. To paraphrase the great chemist Henry Eyring, the conflict between science and religion is man-made, there is no such schism in the mind of God.

So, there you have it. I hope the journey will be fun for everyone!