Random Thoughts While Eric is Very Tired
Sigh. I've done a really horrible job of blogging, haven't I? It's been a long time since I've posted anything... And it's been even longer since I posted something other than a random political rant. Well, there's good news: Eric's blog is being revived! (Or maybe that's bad news. I don't know. One way or another, my blog is returning to life.)
Last night I stayed up pretty much all night working on a grant. I was supposed to have a meeting at 10am to discuss that grant, and I was planning on sleeping as soon as the meeting was over. Unfortunately, the meeting got pushed back until 2pm this afternoon. So now I'm stuck at my office, and I'm too tired to do anything productive. So I decided to blog.
At any rate, as I was fighting to keep myself awake, I started playing around with the "Where I've Been" application on facebook. It's a very cool application that allows you to list what countries and U.S. states that you've visited/lived in. As I was looking at my map, I realized that I've been to almost every U.S. state. So I decided to list every U.S. state, ranked (very roughly) by the amount of time I spent in the state/how familiar I am with the state. For each state, I'm including a short piece of information about why I visited the state.
States I've lived in:
Utah (I lived there from about age 4 to age 19.)
California (I spent six years in California: four years as a grad student, a year as a postdoc, and a year as a working stiff.)
North Carolina (I've lived here since December.)
Kentucky (I lived there as a kid when my dad was in orthodontic school, but I don't really remember it. We moved when I was 4. I went back there for a short vacation when I was in middle school.)
Washington D.C. (Well, sort of... It was only for three weeks, so I'm not sure if it counts. In any event, I've visited here several times.)
States I've visited multiple times and/or visited on long vacations:
Idaho (I grew up in Logan, which is just south of the Utah/Idaho border. My grandparents used to own some property in Idaho, and we went up there all the time when I was a kid. I also went to scout camp there a few times. And I've made short trips to a couple other places in Idaho.)
Nevada (I know we went on vacation to various places in Nevada several times when I was a kid. And I also went on my honeymoon here. :) And I've driven through it a couple times on the way to California.)
Arizona (I went to the Grand Canyon at least twice when I was younger, and I remember visiting a few other natural attractions in the state. Plus I've driven through the state several times.)
Wyoming (I've been to Yellowstone a few times, and I've driven through the state a time or two.)
Colorado (I went on vacation here once, I went to visit a friend in Denver once, and I had a job interview at the University of Colorado medical school once.)
Washington (I went on a family vacation here when I was young, I went to Seattle on a high school band trip, and I had a job interview in Seattle.)
States that I visited for a short period of time while I was doing job interviews:
Texas (I also drove through here on the way to North Carolina.)
Minnesota
Missouri
Wisconsin
Michigan
Indiana
Alabama
Pennsylvania
Maryland
New York
Connecticut
Massachusetts
States where I've taken short vacations in the past:
Oregon
Montana
Virginia (Kind of... When I went to DC during a high school trip, we made a side trip to Virginia.)
Illinois (I went here as a kid, but I can't remember why... I also visited the University of Chicago as a prospective grad student.)
States that I've driven through without really stopping to see anything:
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Arkansas
Tennessee
New Hampshire (Okay, this probably needs an explanation... I was visiting Harvard as a prospective grad student, and I had to pay for my own plain ticket. Tickets to Boston were absurdly expensive. I saved like $300 by getting a ticket to Manchester and taking a bus from Manchester to Boston. Let me tell you, that was the trip from Hades; it took almost 24 hours to get from Boston back to Logan. But it saved me $300. :) )
States where I had a layover, and never left the airport (Does this even count? :) ):
New Jersey
Georgia
Florida
States that I've never been to:
North Dakota
South Dakota
Nebraska
Kansas
Iowa
Ohio
West Virginia
Delaware
Louisiana
Mississippi
South Carolina
Rhode Island
Vermont
Maine
Alaska
Hawaii
Wow, I can't believe I just took the time to write all that out... Now if I can just find something to keep me awake for two more hours. :)
Last night I stayed up pretty much all night working on a grant. I was supposed to have a meeting at 10am to discuss that grant, and I was planning on sleeping as soon as the meeting was over. Unfortunately, the meeting got pushed back until 2pm this afternoon. So now I'm stuck at my office, and I'm too tired to do anything productive. So I decided to blog.
At any rate, as I was fighting to keep myself awake, I started playing around with the "Where I've Been" application on facebook. It's a very cool application that allows you to list what countries and U.S. states that you've visited/lived in. As I was looking at my map, I realized that I've been to almost every U.S. state. So I decided to list every U.S. state, ranked (very roughly) by the amount of time I spent in the state/how familiar I am with the state. For each state, I'm including a short piece of information about why I visited the state.
States I've lived in:
Utah (I lived there from about age 4 to age 19.)
California (I spent six years in California: four years as a grad student, a year as a postdoc, and a year as a working stiff.)
North Carolina (I've lived here since December.)
Kentucky (I lived there as a kid when my dad was in orthodontic school, but I don't really remember it. We moved when I was 4. I went back there for a short vacation when I was in middle school.)
Washington D.C. (Well, sort of... It was only for three weeks, so I'm not sure if it counts. In any event, I've visited here several times.)
States I've visited multiple times and/or visited on long vacations:
Idaho (I grew up in Logan, which is just south of the Utah/Idaho border. My grandparents used to own some property in Idaho, and we went up there all the time when I was a kid. I also went to scout camp there a few times. And I've made short trips to a couple other places in Idaho.)
Nevada (I know we went on vacation to various places in Nevada several times when I was a kid. And I also went on my honeymoon here. :) And I've driven through it a couple times on the way to California.)
Arizona (I went to the Grand Canyon at least twice when I was younger, and I remember visiting a few other natural attractions in the state. Plus I've driven through the state several times.)
Wyoming (I've been to Yellowstone a few times, and I've driven through the state a time or two.)
Colorado (I went on vacation here once, I went to visit a friend in Denver once, and I had a job interview at the University of Colorado medical school once.)
Washington (I went on a family vacation here when I was young, I went to Seattle on a high school band trip, and I had a job interview in Seattle.)
States that I visited for a short period of time while I was doing job interviews:
Texas (I also drove through here on the way to North Carolina.)
Minnesota
Missouri
Wisconsin
Michigan
Indiana
Alabama
Pennsylvania
Maryland
New York
Connecticut
Massachusetts
States where I've taken short vacations in the past:
Oregon
Montana
Virginia (Kind of... When I went to DC during a high school trip, we made a side trip to Virginia.)
Illinois (I went here as a kid, but I can't remember why... I also visited the University of Chicago as a prospective grad student.)
States that I've driven through without really stopping to see anything:
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Arkansas
Tennessee
New Hampshire (Okay, this probably needs an explanation... I was visiting Harvard as a prospective grad student, and I had to pay for my own plain ticket. Tickets to Boston were absurdly expensive. I saved like $300 by getting a ticket to Manchester and taking a bus from Manchester to Boston. Let me tell you, that was the trip from Hades; it took almost 24 hours to get from Boston back to Logan. But it saved me $300. :) )
States where I had a layover, and never left the airport (Does this even count? :) ):
New Jersey
Georgia
Florida
States that I've never been to:
North Dakota
South Dakota
Nebraska
Kansas
Iowa
Ohio
West Virginia
Delaware
Louisiana
Mississippi
South Carolina
Rhode Island
Vermont
Maine
Alaska
Hawaii
Wow, I can't believe I just took the time to write all that out... Now if I can just find something to keep me awake for two more hours. :)