Finally! Back with a vengeance!
Finally! The laptop is back and I've nearly finished loading all of the applications I had on there beforehand. I've also managed to keep 99% of my original preferences and all of my e-mail and address book info. Life is good again.
I was gone all this last week to the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America meetings, sorry if I didn't get to chat or reply to all of you.
SUNDAY: Ok, so last Sunday found me frantically trying to finish up calibrating the GC since Alec and I had figured out what was causing the baseline to go all wonky. This really didn't work so I had to cut things short and leave it running on the old calibration curve as I frantically hopped in the car to check into the room at the Howard Johnson Express. I had no idea just how terrible the hotel would be or else I wouldn't have booked it. Joemamma was right in saying it was the oldest property in SLC. Really, who the hell builds a pool outdoors in SLC!? Between that, no internet, and the weird shower head things definitely weren't looking up.
After checking in I headed over to the Salt Palace to check into the conference and meet up with Joel and his group who had been there since Friday. After hanging out for a little bit we all decided to head out to get something to eat. We found ourselves in a neat little restaurant called "Buca di Beppa" (or something close to that) which was full-on immigrant Italian. The place was amazing. All of the food is made to split with two people and the portions are HUGE even when split. Joel and I ordered some fried calamari as an appetizer and we split an order of some of the best veal parmesan I've ever eaten. The only disappointment was that the cannoli we ordered for dessert were melted and yucky. Afterwards we went back for that evening's QuizBowl where teams of players from different universities had to answer agronomy based questions to win. Joel's team was eliminated in the first round and he left to do some homework soon after. I stayed with his teammates for a little bit to see who won. After Quiz Bowl we split up and Joel came back to the HoJo to spend the night since my lab was paying for the both of us (I was a co-author on Joel's poster).
MONDAY: I woke up at the way early hour of 7:30 and after shower and changing headed down to the lobby for some breakfast. Very good bagels and doughnuts which I didn't mind having the rest of the week. After breakfast I headed over to the Salt Palace to begin my first day of conferencing. Joel was already there and well into presenting his poster as part of the undergraduate student association poster competition. After saying hello I wandered around for a little bit looking at all of the vendors, I did this a lot when bored silly on more than a few occasions. I also met up with Tim who came down for the day to try and and find himself a job. Unfortunately, this wasn't the best timing for Tim since he was too late to really register himself with the employers.
Joel and I nipped out for a wee trip to Smith & Edwards along with a side jaunt to Hill Air Force Base museum. At last, the hanger with all of the fighter jets was open and I got to see the SR-71 Blackbird! It was all too cool for words. I also got to examine some CamelBak packs and I determined that none of them really would support the photographic equipment I wished. So, I'm thinking I'll just get a couple of the 3L bladders and equipping my current backpack with them. Tim stayed overnight and was able to continue the hunt the next day.
TUESDAY: I got up way wicked early, again, to attend a writing workshop. It was very well done, I even managed to stay awake through the whole thing. They had associate editors from several journals present and they gave me several very good tips for writing manuscript articles. After stopping off at Bruce's poster I was able to attend a talk by Dani Or. Tim, Joel and I went out to lunch at this really bitchin' Mexican place which, fortunately, wasn't expensive. After that everything was pretty much a wash and Joel and I took a tour of Temple Square. I got the full Mormon pitch and only managed to get into 2 very polite arguments. It is, however, more than clear enough to me that I will not be a Mormon. After the tour and so on Joel went off to visit with a few friends of his and I wandered around the shopping mall for a bit before heading back to the room and slumber-land. The good thing was, I was able to make more progress on "Book of the Hopi" which has been a very fascinating read. Oh yes, while walking around it caught my eye that the Rolling Stones are playing at the Delta Center on Nov. 22nd. Joemamma is even flying out to see them with me. This will be extra fun. Joel couldn't believe that I went out of my way to get tickets. Hey, how couldn't I?
WEDNESDAY: Wednesday was Joel's last day so I checked out since it wasn't worth paying the extra night at the hotel. I got to attend some talks by Oscar Monje and Scott Jones. After those Joel and I took a couple of girls from Kansas State over to take a tour of the Beehive house where we got the Mormon pitch, again. No arguments this time since we had the girls with us. After that we went out to lunch at a rather crappy cafe attached to a hotel. Shortly thereafter we went back to the convention hall to take down the poster (with which Joel won first place in the competition) and then get Joel back to the hotel to get changed and on his way to the airport. I hung out for awhile and helped the folks at the Apogee booth break down. I then went to the USU evening social where I was snubbed by Bruce.
This irritated me more than a little bit. So, instead, Janis and Jenny (two cool soil profs), along with Oscar Monje (formerly from my lab) and another former PhD student named Wei invited me along with them to go drinking and have dinner out at the Bayou restaurant. This was a great idea. They had a wonderful live band and I got a heaping HUGE plate of jambalaya and some Italian beer. Yes, Italian, they had over 200 beers available. As time wore on it became really clear that the jambalaya was mostly going to be saved for Thursday's dinner. That was OK. So, we all finished up our meals and sat around talking. Pretty soon it was 10:30 and I had to ask Janis (whose shiny new Subaru Outback I rode over in) to drop me off at the HoJo so I could pick up my car and head back to Logan. I got started home at 11:00 and arrived at 12:45 or so. Cosmos was more than happy to see me home. He was quite happy to snuggle up close and get some sleep.
So, that was pretty much everything that went on. My laptop arrived this morning and since then I've been trying to get my life back into some semblance normal. This has meant installing a lot of my programs all over again and the like. What a pain in the ass. But
I was gone all this last week to the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America meetings, sorry if I didn't get to chat or reply to all of you.
SUNDAY: Ok, so last Sunday found me frantically trying to finish up calibrating the GC since Alec and I had figured out what was causing the baseline to go all wonky. This really didn't work so I had to cut things short and leave it running on the old calibration curve as I frantically hopped in the car to check into the room at the Howard Johnson Express. I had no idea just how terrible the hotel would be or else I wouldn't have booked it. Joemamma was right in saying it was the oldest property in SLC. Really, who the hell builds a pool outdoors in SLC!? Between that, no internet, and the weird shower head things definitely weren't looking up.
After checking in I headed over to the Salt Palace to check into the conference and meet up with Joel and his group who had been there since Friday. After hanging out for a little bit we all decided to head out to get something to eat. We found ourselves in a neat little restaurant called "Buca di Beppa" (or something close to that) which was full-on immigrant Italian. The place was amazing. All of the food is made to split with two people and the portions are HUGE even when split. Joel and I ordered some fried calamari as an appetizer and we split an order of some of the best veal parmesan I've ever eaten. The only disappointment was that the cannoli we ordered for dessert were melted and yucky. Afterwards we went back for that evening's QuizBowl where teams of players from different universities had to answer agronomy based questions to win. Joel's team was eliminated in the first round and he left to do some homework soon after. I stayed with his teammates for a little bit to see who won. After Quiz Bowl we split up and Joel came back to the HoJo to spend the night since my lab was paying for the both of us (I was a co-author on Joel's poster).
MONDAY: I woke up at the way early hour of 7:30 and after shower and changing headed down to the lobby for some breakfast. Very good bagels and doughnuts which I didn't mind having the rest of the week. After breakfast I headed over to the Salt Palace to begin my first day of conferencing. Joel was already there and well into presenting his poster as part of the undergraduate student association poster competition. After saying hello I wandered around for a little bit looking at all of the vendors, I did this a lot when bored silly on more than a few occasions. I also met up with Tim who came down for the day to try and and find himself a job. Unfortunately, this wasn't the best timing for Tim since he was too late to really register himself with the employers.
Joel and I nipped out for a wee trip to Smith & Edwards along with a side jaunt to Hill Air Force Base museum. At last, the hanger with all of the fighter jets was open and I got to see the SR-71 Blackbird! It was all too cool for words. I also got to examine some CamelBak packs and I determined that none of them really would support the photographic equipment I wished. So, I'm thinking I'll just get a couple of the 3L bladders and equipping my current backpack with them. Tim stayed overnight and was able to continue the hunt the next day.
TUESDAY: I got up way wicked early, again, to attend a writing workshop. It was very well done, I even managed to stay awake through the whole thing. They had associate editors from several journals present and they gave me several very good tips for writing manuscript articles. After stopping off at Bruce's poster I was able to attend a talk by Dani Or. Tim, Joel and I went out to lunch at this really bitchin' Mexican place which, fortunately, wasn't expensive. After that everything was pretty much a wash and Joel and I took a tour of Temple Square. I got the full Mormon pitch and only managed to get into 2 very polite arguments. It is, however, more than clear enough to me that I will not be a Mormon. After the tour and so on Joel went off to visit with a few friends of his and I wandered around the shopping mall for a bit before heading back to the room and slumber-land. The good thing was, I was able to make more progress on "Book of the Hopi" which has been a very fascinating read. Oh yes, while walking around it caught my eye that the Rolling Stones are playing at the Delta Center on Nov. 22nd. Joemamma is even flying out to see them with me. This will be extra fun. Joel couldn't believe that I went out of my way to get tickets. Hey, how couldn't I?
WEDNESDAY: Wednesday was Joel's last day so I checked out since it wasn't worth paying the extra night at the hotel. I got to attend some talks by Oscar Monje and Scott Jones. After those Joel and I took a couple of girls from Kansas State over to take a tour of the Beehive house where we got the Mormon pitch, again. No arguments this time since we had the girls with us. After that we went out to lunch at a rather crappy cafe attached to a hotel. Shortly thereafter we went back to the convention hall to take down the poster (with which Joel won first place in the competition) and then get Joel back to the hotel to get changed and on his way to the airport. I hung out for awhile and helped the folks at the Apogee booth break down. I then went to the USU evening social where I was snubbed by Bruce.
This irritated me more than a little bit. So, instead, Janis and Jenny (two cool soil profs), along with Oscar Monje (formerly from my lab) and another former PhD student named Wei invited me along with them to go drinking and have dinner out at the Bayou restaurant. This was a great idea. They had a wonderful live band and I got a heaping HUGE plate of jambalaya and some Italian beer. Yes, Italian, they had over 200 beers available. As time wore on it became really clear that the jambalaya was mostly going to be saved for Thursday's dinner. That was OK. So, we all finished up our meals and sat around talking. Pretty soon it was 10:30 and I had to ask Janis (whose shiny new Subaru Outback I rode over in) to drop me off at the HoJo so I could pick up my car and head back to Logan. I got started home at 11:00 and arrived at 12:45 or so. Cosmos was more than happy to see me home. He was quite happy to snuggle up close and get some sleep.
So, that was pretty much everything that went on. My laptop arrived this morning and since then I've been trying to get my life back into some semblance normal. This has meant installing a lot of my programs all over again and the like. What a pain in the ass. But