- Employee Highlight -

Linda Nowell Wins Spot on U.S. Fencing Team

Sponsored Projects Office Administrator Linda Nowell (left in adjacent photo) was recently named to the U.S. Team of the World Veteran Fencing Championships to be held in Limoges, France in October 2008. Only four fencers in each event make the team. Linda was named to all three teams in her 60+ age category – foil, saber and epee -- after top performances in 3 national fencing events, culminating in her National Championship wins where she took 1st place in foil, 2nd in saber and 3rd in epee in San Jose, California July 8-10.  She is our own NATIONAL CHAMPION!

Linda is one of the very small number of women fencing in the over 60 age group. She is always eager to encourage older women to participate in the sport that already has large numbers of older male athletes and young athletes of both genders. She started fencing at age 18 at UC Riverside in an era when fencing was deemed inappropriate for women as being too aggressive, athletic and unfeminine. She received great training at UCR and remembers fondly the highlight of her early career when her team won the Collegiate Western Championships held at UC Berkeley in the late 1960’s. She was also 3rd alternate for the U.S. team to the first World University Games in the 1970s … a slot that unfortunately did not earn her a trip to the Games. A trip to the World Championships had to wait until her 50s when she returned to fencing, made the veteran team and placed 8th in foil at the 2001 event and 6th in epee at the 2002 event. 

Since then she has continued to fence off and on. “I guess you could say that I have fenced for approximately 20 out of the last 42 years,” she says.  She returned to the sport again in January 2007 because she was looking forward to moving into a new age group … the 60s, and wanted to try to make the team. She credits her coaches, George Platt and Steve Baker at GPS SwordPlay Fencing Academy in Concord as well as her cross-training in Pilates, cycling and swimming with preparing her for peak performance. 

Enjoying a lazy weekend off after the nationals, she is now training for the Worlds! 

Congratulations, Linda!

- Summer Picnic Enjoyed by All! -

The picnic gods smiled upon us on July 16th and we had incredible weather for a second year to celebrate summer with the OCFO picnic. As seen in the pictures, a good time was had by all and the food, supplied by Master Chef, Tim Martin, was scrumptious as usual. Due to the strike by one of our unions, buses were not available to get folks to Tilden Park, so team spirit prevailed and our community came together to arrange car-pooling so that we had a great turn-out and everyone got to enjoy themselves. Congratulate yourselves OCFO!  What a great team we are. VIEW PHOTOS >>

- 937 Move Update -

937 Move Still On Schedule

Contrary to anything you may have heard, our move is still on schedule. Payroll will move in October, other departments will move up in November and December. The only possible delay may be Procurement. They are scheduled to move in January, but may be delayed until February due to construction that needs to happen before they can occupy the 71 trailers.

The Lab is conducting an extensive study on parking that will include a lab-wide commute survey. It will take into consideration all the construction happening at once and how that will impact the number of parking spaces available and what creative options we may have to mitigate the problem. Some possible solutions may, or may not include, making more roads "one way" so that parking is possible on the other side of the road; discount tickets for BART and AC Transit; and van pools. After the study is complete there may be other creative solutions that haven't even been thought of yet. The entire Lab community will be asked for their suggestions as well.

At our town hall meeting discussing the move, Facilities Director, Jennifer Ridgeway, mentioned her idea of a "taxi cab" service where one would call for a ride from building to building.  This idea has been shelved for now. She is looking at increasing the number of buses on and off site and shorter bus routes to reduce the time it takes to get from A to B.

Dr. Chu will hold a brown bag meeting for all Lab employees shortly to get input on proposed changes to the bus routes. You will see more on this in TABL.

As we continue to prepare our 937 colleagues for the move, please continue to be diligent in cleaning out old files and sending old equipment that you don’t need to be excessed or discarded. Remember, anything with a DOE property tag MUST have all the proper paperwork completed before you can send it “down the road”. Check with your property rep to make sure you handle any excess equipment or furniture correctly.

View the "Move Safely Part II" Movie Trailer!