Goings on

Last week K had to fly to Kentucky for work, so I drove down and met her at my sister's house in Lexington. K had never been there and it had been 3 years since my last visit. We had a really nice time, despite the fact that the weather kept us holed up in the house most of the day on Saturday. We did get a chance to drive around a look at the UK hospital facilities, just in case I want to apply there some day. They seem to have a really nice setup. It was very nice to see her and my bro-in-law Russ and nephew Josh (who is now saying he wants to be a scientist "like Uncle Joe," which is somewhat humorous because his father is also a scientist, just not a natural scientist). Josh and I spent some quality time gazing at microscope slides and playing Chronicles of Narnia on PS2 while trying to not let their big dogs eat my little dog, and we all watched the Kentucky Derby together, complete with mint juleps (above).

K and I got up and left KY very early yesterday for our long drive (around 5:30am their time, which is 4:30am in Chicago) so that we could make it back in time to use our tickets for the early afternoon Cubs game yesterday. What a great game! Well, it was mediocre until the bottom of the 9th, but it was great from there on out. Anyway, my sister gave us quite a few things that were left over from her baby (now a 7yo) to bring home with us to use, like a family heirloom bassinet and child's rocking chair, both of which need a new coat of paint and some minor structural love. In addition, they gave us some nice things that will definitely come in handy (bibs, diapering-accessories, etc.).

It has been a busy past week here in the lab as I get ready to submit my abstract for our society's annual meeting (in San Diego this year). I also have a poster to make/print before this Friday for a local conference, so I am collating and analyzing my data to determine what I know and what I know I don't know. So that's fun. It's all good work toward my next 1st author paper, which wants to go out soon, too. Busy is good.