My life has been very hectic lately, beginning with the trip to Indy the first weekend in April. I still haven't recovered entirely from that trip and since I've been on the move pretty much every weekend since then it's been difficult to get things done around the house/in life in general. When I get home from the day in the lab, I just want to sit around with Keegan, enjoying our evenings together, not cleaning and doing laundry. But the situation has reached critical levels.
This weekend:
- do laundry and sort the laundry that's all over the floor of our bedroom
- go running at the WaDuke every day
- clean bathrooms/tubs/showers
- make several new recipes to make up for my recent deficit! (any good suggestions...?)
- print new pictures to add to my desk
- pay all bills that seem to be lying around/make sure everything has been covered
- spend much-needed one-on-one time with Keegan :-)
This coming month:
- successfully create microcapsules and begin analysis of said capsules (this one is going to be much easier now that I've found someone in Dr. Craig's lab who is gracious enough to help me with the set up of the prepolymer synthesis... wahoo, collaboration!)
- receive final feedback on review paper and submit for publication
- keep up with the running to maintain weight-loss goals (4 pounds since April 15 and I want to be able to wear one of my favorite dresses to Emily and Kyle's wedding)
- go out to play golf with Keegan (I've never played before, but he loves it and I love him, so I want to give it a try)
- submit an abstract to BMES
- spend more time outdoors before it gets really, really, really ridiculously hot
- make more plans to see friends :-)
- finish planning anniversary trip to Newport, RI and Maine
Friday, April 30, 2010
April pleasure reading
This month I unfortunately didn't read any new books, but I reread several books I have read before. A lot of this was due to the traveling I did; I wanted to make sure that I would have something to occupy my time that I knew I would enjoy.
I (re)read:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Something Borrowed
Something Blue
Baby Proof
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
... and I'm still reading The Once and Future King. I guess that will go into my May pleasure reading category!
I (re)read:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Something Borrowed
Something Blue
Baby Proof
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
... and I'm still reading The Once and Future King. I guess that will go into my May pleasure reading category!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Society for Biomaterials 2010
From Wednesday to Sunday I was in Seattle for the Society for Biomaterials' annual meeting. I presented a poster and was able to make some good contacts at the FDA and I was also able to learn a bit more about what all is going on with fellow biomaterials enthusiasts. Although it sounds like it would be a very focused conference (which it was, to some degree) the different fields of work represented were very diverse. I was able to see all the posters and attend some really interesting presentations. I mainly stuck to the orthopedic stuff, but I attended some dental material talks and also a few on bone regenerative materials.
The most enjoyable part of the conference was actually when I attended a panel discussion about the grand challenges in biomaterials. Monty introduced the speakers, but it was moderated by Buddy Ratner (!!! -- if you are in BME, you know who this is). There were 6 speakers, all of very high esteem and are well-known for their work; they each focused on a different challenge that they see in biomaterials. Drs. Buddy Ratner, James Anderson, Art Coury, Allan Hoffman, Cato Laurencin, and David Tirrell were part of that discussion and the questions from the audience that followed were also very stimulating. I'm so glad I was able to attend this discussion!
Also being at this conference helped me realize what a big deal Monty is. I knew he was well-known, but as soon as people found out I was in his lab, they started treating me like a celebrity! At least 6 people introduced themselves and said they wanted to come post-doc in our lab and they all wanted to know if he's really as nice/laidback as he seems. Seeing him just hanging out with all the big wigs of BME was really neat.
Seattle was also a really neat city, very vibrant with much to see. On Thursday, our first full day there, Lucinda and I were able to go to the Space Needle and we ate lunch in the revolving restaurant at the top. The views were amazing and even MORE amazing -- it didn't rain! Only once during all the days we were there did it sprinkle a little bit, but as we were in presentations, it didn't even matter. I saw sun every single day, for a majority of the day :-) Anyway, back to the Space Needle. The views were gorgeous although I still couldn't see the Pacific Ocean (darn). While walking back to the hotel we also stopped to walk through Seattle's Pike Place Market. For anyone who goes to Seattle, this was the best thing I saw there. I could people-watch and enjoy all of the stuff going on -- the musicians on street corners, vendors tossing fish around, insane amounts of flowers, pastries, coffee, crafts, handmade soaps/lotions/candles, etc. I went back to the market 2 other times without Lucinda (she had to work :-( ) just to look around some more. Also, it's located right on the waterfront, so I could enjoy looking out over the water while I was walking around. The very first Starbucks is also right on the market, but as a non-coffee drinker it was hard to get very excited about that. I did go in, just to say I'd been there, since I was in Seattle. I also wandered around some absolutely enormous stores, like 6-story Nordstroms, 3-story Old Navy, GAP, American Eagle, etc. This was also to kill time before sessions and because I like to people watch but I didn't want to wander too far from the hotel. The market was about 6 blocks from the hotel so I tried to stay in that general radius.
Essentially I made good contacts, ate really tasty food, met some cool people, and explored a neat city.
The most enjoyable part of the conference was actually when I attended a panel discussion about the grand challenges in biomaterials. Monty introduced the speakers, but it was moderated by Buddy Ratner (!!! -- if you are in BME, you know who this is). There were 6 speakers, all of very high esteem and are well-known for their work; they each focused on a different challenge that they see in biomaterials. Drs. Buddy Ratner, James Anderson, Art Coury, Allan Hoffman, Cato Laurencin, and David Tirrell were part of that discussion and the questions from the audience that followed were also very stimulating. I'm so glad I was able to attend this discussion!
Also being at this conference helped me realize what a big deal Monty is. I knew he was well-known, but as soon as people found out I was in his lab, they started treating me like a celebrity! At least 6 people introduced themselves and said they wanted to come post-doc in our lab and they all wanted to know if he's really as nice/laidback as he seems. Seeing him just hanging out with all the big wigs of BME was really neat.
Seattle was also a really neat city, very vibrant with much to see. On Thursday, our first full day there, Lucinda and I were able to go to the Space Needle and we ate lunch in the revolving restaurant at the top. The views were amazing and even MORE amazing -- it didn't rain! Only once during all the days we were there did it sprinkle a little bit, but as we were in presentations, it didn't even matter. I saw sun every single day, for a majority of the day :-) Anyway, back to the Space Needle. The views were gorgeous although I still couldn't see the Pacific Ocean (darn). While walking back to the hotel we also stopped to walk through Seattle's Pike Place Market. For anyone who goes to Seattle, this was the best thing I saw there. I could people-watch and enjoy all of the stuff going on -- the musicians on street corners, vendors tossing fish around, insane amounts of flowers, pastries, coffee, crafts, handmade soaps/lotions/candles, etc. I went back to the market 2 other times without Lucinda (she had to work :-( ) just to look around some more. Also, it's located right on the waterfront, so I could enjoy looking out over the water while I was walking around. The very first Starbucks is also right on the market, but as a non-coffee drinker it was hard to get very excited about that. I did go in, just to say I'd been there, since I was in Seattle. I also wandered around some absolutely enormous stores, like 6-story Nordstroms, 3-story Old Navy, GAP, American Eagle, etc. This was also to kill time before sessions and because I like to people watch but I didn't want to wander too far from the hotel. The market was about 6 blocks from the hotel so I tried to stay in that general radius.
Essentially I made good contacts, ate really tasty food, met some cool people, and explored a neat city.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
I'm completely in love with the song Babyfather by Sade. I had never heard any of her music before I heard this song yesterday but I think I'll go out and get the CD this song is on, Soldier of Love. It's got a nice relaxing vibe that I've really needed these past few days.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
It's a good thing I'm not a housewife...
Bad: There are dishes from over a week ago just sitting in our dishwasher, which has not been run off. Of course since we're waiting until we have a full load to run it, it's not all bad, right? Also more than half of my shoes are downstairs. And all of the clothes I took to Indy are dumped in a big pile in our living room since Keegan needed the suitcase for his conference in Charlotte this past weekend. Dirty clothes from Indy. All of our mail from this year pretty much is piled up in our kitchen. Let's hope we managed to dig all of the bills out...
Worse: I finally did a load of my laundry (seriously I think my first load this month) on Sunday and instead of taking the clothes out and putting them away I've been taking what I need from the dryer and just leaving the rest in there. If you see me in ridiculously wrinkled clothes, this is why. Sidenote: the last time I did laundry I just dumped it on the floor when it was done because I was exhausted and not in the mood to hang it up. So now dirty and clean clothes are all mixing together on the floor and I have my own creative solutions for determining if I've worn a certain article of clothing or not.
Worst: The tub in the bathroom I use became clogged at the end of JANUARY folks. Until last weekend I just took all my showers in Keegan's bathroom because we didn't have any Liquid Plumber. Finally, after a good two months when we finally remembered to buy some, I am back in my own shower. Which really needs to be cleaned now because when the drain was clogged the nasty water was all stagnate in there for a while as it veerrrrry slooooowly trickled down the pipes. Ick.
We used to eat dinner every night at the table that I set with a nice (somewhat) balanced meal, the dishes would never pile up so much, and I cleaned the bathrooms at least once a month (tubs and everything!). I would hang up my clothes after I washed them and I didn't wear things off the floor. Grad school has made me realize what's actually important in life ;-)
Worse: I finally did a load of my laundry (seriously I think my first load this month) on Sunday and instead of taking the clothes out and putting them away I've been taking what I need from the dryer and just leaving the rest in there. If you see me in ridiculously wrinkled clothes, this is why. Sidenote: the last time I did laundry I just dumped it on the floor when it was done because I was exhausted and not in the mood to hang it up. So now dirty and clean clothes are all mixing together on the floor and I have my own creative solutions for determining if I've worn a certain article of clothing or not.
Worst: The tub in the bathroom I use became clogged at the end of JANUARY folks. Until last weekend I just took all my showers in Keegan's bathroom because we didn't have any Liquid Plumber. Finally, after a good two months when we finally remembered to buy some, I am back in my own shower. Which really needs to be cleaned now because when the drain was clogged the nasty water was all stagnate in there for a while as it veerrrrry slooooowly trickled down the pipes. Ick.
We used to eat dinner every night at the table that I set with a nice (somewhat) balanced meal, the dishes would never pile up so much, and I cleaned the bathrooms at least once a month (tubs and everything!). I would hang up my clothes after I washed them and I didn't wear things off the floor. Grad school has made me realize what's actually important in life ;-)
Monday, April 12, 2010
#13: Chicken enchiladas
I also made some tasty chicken enchiladas. They weren't really all that technical since I just used a Hamburger Helper and then seasoned some chicken to add to the mix instead of beef. But it was still new for us and I've been crunched on time lately!
I know the pictures sort of look like dog food, but it's just rice and spices! And chicken!
I know the pictures sort of look like dog food, but it's just rice and spices! And chicken!
#12: Grandmom's cheesecake
For my granddaddy's birthday at the end of March he requested I make him a cheesecake, so I was able to make the recipe for my grandmom's cheesecake on my own for the first time. So I'm counting that as my new food for that week :-) It was very tasty and for a first attempt I was pretty proud. The entire thing was eaten so it must have been pretty good!
I'm falling a little behind on posting about my new recipes, but I am also still trying to get back on track from last weekend. :-) I'll just make several new recipes when I get the chance so that I catch up!
I'm falling a little behind on posting about my new recipes, but I am also still trying to get back on track from last weekend. :-) I'll just make several new recipes when I get the chance so that I catch up!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Epic-ness
So unless you've been taking refuge in some hole somewhere, you're aware that Duke won the NCAA Championship game and that I was there!! The whole trip was so worth it, the ridiculous standing marathons, sleeping in a hotel room with 10 grad students, "sleeping" on the concrete outside Lucas Oil Stadium (in a thunderstorm, under a tarp, huddling under the ticket sales overhang area), driving 10 hours a day, a variety of cramped situations, everything. ALL worth it! I'm so glad I went with a super-hardcore group because that resulted in my being able to sit front row of the student section for both the West Virginia and Butler games, best seats in the house! Also the folks I went with were really nice and funny, and it was good to spend time with some students that weren't in BME. But I got to visit plenty with the BME-ers while we were all in line :-)
Indy is a pretty cool town, not that I got to see much of it, but what I did see was neat. Maybe some day I can go back when I'm not entirely focused on basketball and the city isn't overrun with fans. Of course, this made the trip even better because we were constantly hugged, high fived, and cheered at by strangers who were also Duke fans. (Of course on the way to the liquor store while we were waiting in line one of the guys in the group said in the 10 minute walk to the store he got 3 "Duke SUCKS!!" and a water bottle thrown at him so not everyone was so welcoming)
Funny stories:
-On the way there we took an unintentional detour; we were waiting to pass into Ohio so we could switch highways so as the exit numbers start counting down to one, we're getting excited about being closer to Indy and making it there in time to see the team practice. We pass exit 1, go over the top of a hill, and see a "Welcome to Kentucky!" sign. Us: "What the hell?! I didn't think we were driving through Kentucky..." Only to realize that we missed the turn like 100 miles ago. Luckily all we did was drive north, west for awhile, then north again instead of driving really north then west. It didn't take us much additional time and I was able to cross another state off of my list of states to visit!
-During Hurricane Lucas Oil Stadium we were forced to sleep under the awnings for the ticket sales areas because we weren't allowed to put up "structures" like tents because they were against Indy city ordinance. Major storm -- crazy lightning, thunder, terrifying winds that caused gigantic metal oil drum trashcans to be thrown across the parking lot, etc. There were two overly full port-a-potties near the lines for students which were disgustingly full from the previous day's students waiting to get in to the Final Four and we could hear someone yell, "DON'T GO IN THERE, IT'S OVERFLOWING!!!", but we couldn't see them because we were bundled under our tarp fortress so we had no idea what was really going on.
-Related to that previous story: there was a gigantic trash wheelbarrow-type thing that was used to collect like 200 trashbags from around the stadium. It was empty so the undergrads near us decided to turn it on it's side and drag it by us to use it to block the wind/sideways rain. I remember sitting straight up and yelling, "What the hell is that?!" thinking that perhaps the toilets were falling over or something. Ahh, awesome.
-One of the guys in the group in front of us was giving an interview the day of the championship and when asked what he did during the storm he said that we went to take refuge under the ticket roofs while the Butler kids went home crying to their moms (or something along those lines)
I'm so looking forward to campout this fall and basketball next season! I can't believe that the season is already over, boo. I'm so glad I went on this trip this year because I think if they go back in the time I'm here it'll be a lot more difficult to get tickets because students will have this victory fresh in their minds. I think not as many people entered the lottery this year because they didn't think Duke would actually make it there. But they did! And I saw it!! From the front row! I think that if Singler and Smith both stay with the team they'll have a good chance at doing well in the tournament next year too. Especially with Seth Curry, the leading freshman scorer in the nation and the player Coach K calls the best shooter on the team, and Kyrie Irving... repeat baby! '91 & '92, '10 & '11!! Let's hope next year I go to Houston ;-)
Today I'm presenting at the Kewaunee event at Duke, so it'll be good practice for Seattle in less than two weeks! Ahh! 4 new states all in one month :-)
Indy is a pretty cool town, not that I got to see much of it, but what I did see was neat. Maybe some day I can go back when I'm not entirely focused on basketball and the city isn't overrun with fans. Of course, this made the trip even better because we were constantly hugged, high fived, and cheered at by strangers who were also Duke fans. (Of course on the way to the liquor store while we were waiting in line one of the guys in the group said in the 10 minute walk to the store he got 3 "Duke SUCKS!!" and a water bottle thrown at him so not everyone was so welcoming)
Funny stories:
-On the way there we took an unintentional detour; we were waiting to pass into Ohio so we could switch highways so as the exit numbers start counting down to one, we're getting excited about being closer to Indy and making it there in time to see the team practice. We pass exit 1, go over the top of a hill, and see a "Welcome to Kentucky!" sign. Us: "What the hell?! I didn't think we were driving through Kentucky..." Only to realize that we missed the turn like 100 miles ago. Luckily all we did was drive north, west for awhile, then north again instead of driving really north then west. It didn't take us much additional time and I was able to cross another state off of my list of states to visit!
-During Hurricane Lucas Oil Stadium we were forced to sleep under the awnings for the ticket sales areas because we weren't allowed to put up "structures" like tents because they were against Indy city ordinance. Major storm -- crazy lightning, thunder, terrifying winds that caused gigantic metal oil drum trashcans to be thrown across the parking lot, etc. There were two overly full port-a-potties near the lines for students which were disgustingly full from the previous day's students waiting to get in to the Final Four and we could hear someone yell, "DON'T GO IN THERE, IT'S OVERFLOWING!!!", but we couldn't see them because we were bundled under our tarp fortress so we had no idea what was really going on.
-Related to that previous story: there was a gigantic trash wheelbarrow-type thing that was used to collect like 200 trashbags from around the stadium. It was empty so the undergrads near us decided to turn it on it's side and drag it by us to use it to block the wind/sideways rain. I remember sitting straight up and yelling, "What the hell is that?!" thinking that perhaps the toilets were falling over or something. Ahh, awesome.
-One of the guys in the group in front of us was giving an interview the day of the championship and when asked what he did during the storm he said that we went to take refuge under the ticket roofs while the Butler kids went home crying to their moms (or something along those lines)
I'm so looking forward to campout this fall and basketball next season! I can't believe that the season is already over, boo. I'm so glad I went on this trip this year because I think if they go back in the time I'm here it'll be a lot more difficult to get tickets because students will have this victory fresh in their minds. I think not as many people entered the lottery this year because they didn't think Duke would actually make it there. But they did! And I saw it!! From the front row! I think that if Singler and Smith both stay with the team they'll have a good chance at doing well in the tournament next year too. Especially with Seth Curry, the leading freshman scorer in the nation and the player Coach K calls the best shooter on the team, and Kyrie Irving... repeat baby! '91 & '92, '10 & '11!! Let's hope next year I go to Houston ;-)
Today I'm presenting at the Kewaunee event at Duke, so it'll be good practice for Seattle in less than two weeks! Ahh! 4 new states all in one month :-)
Thursday, April 1, 2010
April Fools - - (The) Office style
Funny story from today:
Two of my friends in the lab down the hall "borrowed" another friend's coffee mug and sunglasses and encased (...baked?) them in Jello. Orange for suspending the coffee mug and lime for the sunglasses, yummm. Amusing and tasty!
Two of my friends in the lab down the hall "borrowed" another friend's coffee mug and sunglasses and encased (...baked?) them in Jello. Orange for suspending the coffee mug and lime for the sunglasses, yummm. Amusing and tasty!
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