The guy trip to CERN. All about big bangs.

In late April, seven reasonably nerdy and inherently immature men set out on a weekend road trip to Switzerland. The purpose, ostensibly, was to see the particle accellerator at CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research. The real reason was to drink like fish and come up with innovative ways to use phrases like "big bang" and "black hole."

It was as close to a stag party you can get without an actual marriage. We all saw it as our responsibility to drink irresponsibly and our duty (doodie?) to use inappropriate humor at the most inappropriate times. The baser, the better.

As part of that pledge that we as guys all take the first time we belch the first few letters of the alphabet, we saw it as our birthright to insult each other in the most immature and indecent ways, share shocking details of each others' private lives, and use humiliating names for each other.

To comply with this credo, I took it upon myself to create magnets that I declared must be posted on our vehicle (the sausage mobile ... or "sausmo" for short) at all times. These magnets depicted each member of our crew in an embarrassing pose with a shamefully degrading fake quote about having sub-particle-sized bits between his legs or some such nerdy yet humiliating line.

Here are a few of the ones I can show publicly.

Before the trip, we thought that the one thing that would keep our heads above the shallow waters of complete juvenility was the fact that we were interested in particle physics. But, in reality, that just added to the list of things to poke fun at.

In addition to drinking, we did actually find a place in France where the naked ladies dance. (There was no hole in the wall, just a 20 euro cover charge.)

Here are few shots from the excursion. Enjoy.

Me at CERN. It's not as exciting as it looks. And it looks rather drab.

A few of us snowshoeing.

On the way back, we discovered another way to use the phrase "big bang," and that was to describe the unfortunate explosions that occured in transmission gearbox when it literally shattered with a loud boom going back down the Alps.

Here's the spot where it exploded, which was actually quite picturesque, were it not completely socked in with clouds, as it was when we were stranded.And here's us getting ready to board the train in that small valley town in southern Switzerland.