Hey now, you're a rock star - K-INBRE 2012

Here's a recap of last weekend.  Arguably one of the best weekends ever.  I went to the K-INBRE Symposium in KC, MO.  I went up Friday and Dave and Ian came up Saturday and we stayed until Sunday.  Friday night was fun.  I had a fun dinner with the students from ESU (God, I'm going to miss them when they leave!) and got a nice, beautiful hotel room all to myself.  More importantly, I got a king-sized bed to myself.  No one kicking me, no one tossing and turning = best. sleep. ever.  And we were at a really nice hotel  - the Westin Crown Center.  Swanky!

The view from my room on the 15th floor.  So pretty!

The pool.  I would've brought my suit, had I known that this thing was heated and had a heated entrance and exit - so cool!

This symposium is an opportunity for K-INBRE peeps to get together and display their work.  The program is extremely active at ESU and our students rocked it.  One student gave an oral presentation and several gave posters.  I was, ahem, an invited speaker.  Which really means that they needed a regional scientist to give a talk and no one else said yes.  Whatevs.  I gave a talk to 100-200 people (I didn't count, but there were ~ 250 registered) and I did well.  I got a few laughs.  One prof from another school said that mine was the only talk he stayed awake the entire 25 minutes for.  Now THAT's a compliment!  I've never had people approach me at a poster session wanting to talk about my research.  Talk about a great feeling.  I might just get up the guts to give a talk another time. :)  It's an amazing ego boost.  It's also really rewarding to see our students do so well - I'm so proud to be from ESU!

Around 4, Dave and Ian arrived.  They didn't go to my talk because we were afraid that since my talk was during Ian's nap time, things would go well.  Of course, the first thing Ian noticed was the GIANT 3 story waterfall in the lobby area.  

You know he's thinking "how can I quickly get my leg over this wall and get into that water?"

After the poster session, we went to a dinner that I have dreamed about for two years.  Dinner at the Melting Pot.  I freaking LOVE fondue.  I thought it would be a hit with Ian (all that cheese), but alas, he decided to be a major grouch.  To be fair, the MP is not a quick dining experience and I think he was bored too.

I am NOT going to smile, Mama.

But, in celebration of my successful talk and more importantly, 12 years with a wonderful person, I got champagne.  Not sparkling wine, but the actual stuff from France.

I felt so fancy - it came in its own cute little bottle.

Was dinner romantic?  Well, let's just say that Ian had reached his limit by the meat course and we brought back the chocolate to our hotel room.  We took a cab there and back and on the way back, the cabbie misunderstood us and dropped us off at the wrong hotel.  Which we didn't figure out until we were INSIDE thinking, hey, these aren't our elevators.  Turns out there's Crown Plaza and Crown Center and they are NOT the same thing.  Anyway, after breakfast at Panera, we headed home.  Happy, tired, and feeling just a little bit like a rock star...

Well hello, spring semester...

So, when last I posted, Ian and I were in the middle of a visit to FL.  We're back (no real news on the return - the rest of the visit was great, he did great on the plane).  I do have to say, fly Airtran and pay the $49 to upgrade to business!  Huge seats, 2 free checked bags, and great service.  We double-scored because business wasn't full so we were able to get 2 seats and Ian had his own.  Yay!

The week has been good.  The most exciting thing that happened is that Ian broke his wrist.  It's not terrible - in fact the only time he notices it is when we have to garbage-bag his splint for a bath.  Until he figures out that he can splash even more water with it than he can with his free hand.  And then it's all good.  He gets a cast (mostly because he's a toddler, not because it's unstable) next Wednesday and I will post a pic.  My students want to sign his cast, so I'm sure that will be fun.  His x-rays are awesome, and I have to sheepishly admit that when they were showing them to me my third thought (after "it's not a complete break" and "oh good, it's not near the growth plate") was "wow, those are amazing!  Look at the clarity!  I must have a copy for A&P!"  Ok, so I'm a mommy, but I'm still a professor.  Anyway, our little daredevil should be fully functional in about 3 weeks, and it isn't bothering him in the meantime.  At least he isn't an overachiever like me - when I was 3 or 4 I broke my arm and it had to be pinned and I damaged the growth plate.  For him, no surgery, just garbage bags taped to his arm when he takes a bath.

So, I had a fabulous, much-needed break, but I came back to face the fact that I'm giving my FIRST EVER conference talk on Saturday.  In front of probably 100-200 people.  Did I mention that all the other invited speakers are from med schools and some are endowed chairs of something-or-other?  The first time I saw the speaker bios, I wanted to throw up a little.  But I've done my homework and I think my talk is sciency AND entertaining.  Something I strive for.  I hate boring talks.  My student Brittany, assures me that my talk, peppered with phrases like "that's a hot mess" and "well, crap" isn't boring.  I'll update after the talk.  It's also mine and Dave's 12th anniversary (can you believe it!) Sunday, and we have reservations at the Melting Pot on Saturday.  Needless to say, I'm more excited about the vat of cheese calling my name and the champagne than I am about my talk. 

A&P should be good this semester.  No good feel for the personalities in my class, but they laughed at my cheesy jokes Wednesday, so that gives me hope for the future.  Today is lecture number two.

Anyway, for now I'm in the SAC office (I'll be sure to compile my best bits of wisdom that I dole out this semester), counting down the hours until 12:00.  At least it gave me the opportunity to blog, since I didn't bring any real work over here with me, thinking that I'd be busy offering nuggets of life-changing wisdom.  Or something. :)  Happy Friday the 13th!

War Chants and Chops

Ian and I have been visiting my parents since Saturday.  We're having a great time, although both of us miss Dave.  Ian's gotten to see his Uncle Cha Cha and Aunt Li Li  (I told them they sounded like pandas). and it's so much fun watching Ian have a ball with my parents.  Pop-Pop's tractor - not a hit like we thought it would be (too big and noisy).  Pop-Pop's super awesome electronic piano with tons of buttons - big hit.  I asked Dad whether that meant Ian was destined to be a musician and not a farmer.  I'm sure the tractor will be cooler next visit though.

Today, Ian and I went to mine and Dave's alma mater, Florida State University.  It's a great place with tons of history for the two of us.  It's where we met, where I got my bachelor's and where he got his Ph.D.  The 'Noles were the first football team I ever loved and it was the first college I ever wanted to attend.  So to say it was pretty cool and just a little emotional to realize that I was walking our son through some of the same places that Dave and I walked many years ago was an understatement.  Of course, phrases like "there's Mommy's old dorm" or "this is where Mommy and Daddy used to study together" or "this is where the Hari Krishnas used to annoy the evangelists" didn't have much meaning.  But I hope to take Ian on a little tour of FSU every time that we come down and have him bleed garnet and gold too.  And if we can afford the out of state tuition by the time he's 18, I'd love nothing more than to attend his college graduation in Tallahassee.

The campus has changed (duh) since I graduated in 1998 (dang, I'm old!).  It's pedestrian now, and where the outer edge of campus was the recreation center, now there are buildings all around it.  I didn't recognize anything between Doak Campbell (we parked in Egypt) and the Leach Center.  There's even a new chemistry building, a med school, a new biomedical research building.  And then I saw that the buildings I spent so much time in were still there and in use.  Fisher lecture hall - site of so much organic chem angst.  Dittmar - where I spent countless hours studying and hanging out with my friends and brothers in Alpha Chi Sigma.  Dirac library - probably should've spent more time there.  But the campus is absolutely beautiful.  There's a new brick path that is just gorgeous.  They haven't made the place into a concrete jungle - I saw more benches, trees, and flowers than I remember.  Landis Green (popular site for sunbathing) has a beautiful fountain.  So pretty, so much history.

Lunch was great.  Dave's former major prof (who is also a good friend of mine) took Ian and I for some of the best Chinese food I've ever had.  Very fun, albeit too-short lunch.   I really would have loved to have caught up more, but John needed to get to work and Ian was reaching the limit to his good-boyness.  He actually fell asleep before we got out of Tallahassee.

So that chronicles our visit so far.  Apparently, I timed it just right this evening - I went to Walmart and the 6.85 pounds of edamame he ate at lunch exited.  The grandparents had fun with that one. :)