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...