More about Laura Haas

When not at work ...

I am married (26 years and counting!) to Peter J Haas. Peter works at IBM Almaden in Computer Science as well -- but no, he doesn't report to me, we've found a clever way around that. I am the proud mother of two sons, Joshua and Daniel. Joshua is a rising senior at Harvard, where he is majoring in Philosophy (Mind, Brain and Behavior) and editor of Tuesday Magazine. The Harvard Crimson, snooty tome that it is, still had a reasonably positive review of Tuesday last fall. And here's a recent article by Josh on science and politics, inspired by ex-President Lawrence Summers' remarks about women and science. Daniel just graduated from Bellarmine College Prep, and will be attending Harvard in the fall (ok, we're a bit boring in our choice of schools, but really, Harvard's got something for everyone). He is an avid pianist, and enjoyed playing in the school musicals (Chorus Line and Grease) the last two years. He also plays ultimate frisbee and chess. This summer, Josh is interning as a consultant with New Sector Alliance, working at the Judge Baker Children's Center. Daniel is enjoying a summer off. For the last few summers, he's been traveling with The Road Less Traveled to places such as Peru and Alaska. We're big fans of RLT -- great outdoor programs for teenagers; community service (on the Peru trip they helped plant potatoes, roof houses and shear llamas), and language immersion programs are also available.

Here are some pictures:

Daniel, Peter and Josh (left to right) in Jughandle State Park, August 2004. Daniel's grown since then...

Here he is in Alaska last summer:

My hobbies include cooking (especially baking, especially anything chocolate), hiking and theater, and a good vacation usually features two of the three. We belong to a cooking club, which has met every 6 weeks or so for a themed gourmet potluck for the last 21 years (longer, actually, but we joined 21 years ago). When we joined, Josh was 3 weeks old, and the 2nd kid. There are now 8 kids, ranging from 14 to 23. We celebrate holidays and take vacations together, including an annual pilgrimage to Ashland, OR for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Here's the 2004 group photo showing all 5 couples and all 8 kids (it's pretty rare to get us all there these days):

Last year included two fabulous vacations. In July, Peter and I spent two weeks hiking and camping in the Canadian Rockies with Timberwolf Tours. We hiked in Banff and Jasper, rafted on the Kicking Horse River, heli-camped in Wilmore Wilderness, and canoed for two days on the Athabasca River right into downtown Edmonton.

Here're a few of the sites:

Healy Ridge in Banff,

and Three Sisters in Banff

A coyote in Jasper Park (how often do you get them to pose?)

Laura, hiking in Wilmore Wilderness.

Then in December, we went to Sarlat, France for a cooking class arranged by France's Impressions, at the Hotel Madeleine. The owner and chef, Phillippe Melot, was our instructor. We learned a lot of basics (and a few extraordinary recipes and techniques). In the mornings we cooked, in the afternoons we went site-seeing in the caves (Lascaux) and castles of the region.

More pictures:

The men cooking: left to right are Peter, cousin Joe, Daniel, Josh, and my father, Prof. Jerome L Myers.

I'm cooking foie gras, a specialty of Dordogne.

Some sites:

Sarlat at night

Rocamadour, a famous pilgrimage site.