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San Diego: gonna take you right into the danger zone


End of a big week in San Diego

I'm back in Kansas after a busy week at the Golf Industry Show in San Diego. I flew out on Sunday. On Monday, I co-taught a course on diseases of warm-season turf with Frank and our colleague Phil Harmon. The participants seemed to appreciate the different points of view: warm-arid (Frank), warm-humid (Phil), and northern transition zone (me). We had people from all over the world: Turkey, Singapore, Barbados, Brazil, Oman, and a few other places that I am forgetting. It was fun to have the international perspective.

On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of assisting with the microscope class where superintendents get to dive right in and look at turf pathogens up close. The organizers, Henry Wetzel and Alan Windham, did a great job with the logistics. And, kudos to Frank Wong's lab for providing cultures and inoculated plants, and to Larry Stowell for finding some fresh samples from sites around San Diego. I was pretty excited to see large patch on seashore paspalum:







I see large patch on zoysiagrass all the time, so it was exciting to see it on a different host plant.


Here, you can see the participants engrossed in the microscopes:



There were 3 Kansas guys in the audience and it was fun for me to get to know them a little better throughout the day.

Of course, being in San Diego, I did have to enjoy the coast just a little bit:






And, cue the Top Gun music (and in case you are wondering where my title came from for today's post), here I am playing fighter pilot on the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier. What should my fighter-pilot name be? Let me know your ideas ... Nitro? Flash? Blaze? Thrasher?



4 Responses to “San Diego: gonna take you right into the danger zone”

Unknown said...

Megan, Great Post. Did you make it to the Top Gun bar and have Frank sing to you?

Also, great seeing you and working together at the microscope workshop!

John

Megan said...

hah! no. I didn't know there was a "Top Gun Bar". You know, I don't think I've ever seen that movie completely from end to end. I've just seen bits at a time on TV, probably covering the whole thing, but never all in one shot. I should get it on Netflix. Next time, we can have a turf pathology "volleyball scene" :) err, maybe not.

Anonymous said...

As a student in the "Microscopic Identification of Turfgrass Diseases" seminar in San Diego, kudos to you all! Dr's Windham, Wetzel, Kennelly, Kaminski, and the others I am unfortunately drawing a blank on did a fantastic job. It was a great seminar and learning experience, and a surprising amount of fun. I will certainly recommend the class to anyone who will listen.
Steve Wilson, GCS
Meadowbrook Country Club
Prairie Village, KS

Anonymous said...

I would like to thank Megan, Frank and Phil for their support and interest in different disease issues we face all around the world. Although couldn't catch up with John I would like to thank him with his email support.
By the way Cool pictures Megan.))
Atilla Demirsoy GCS
Lykia Links GC Antalya Turkey

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