An Excellent Birthday
Time for a little update action!
So today went pretty well. It was my birthday, and it is always nice to receive good birthday wishes from so many people. Also, I was able to meet with my advisor today for awhile. We have a solid plan for the near future of my project, and it looks like I'm not in that bad of a position after all. This was pretty relieving because I have a tendency to become a harsh judge on myself after a long period of not receiving a credible external perspective. Next week the rest of my lab group is leaving for Phoenix in order to attend a conference where one of our papers is being published. So it was important for me to get set up today such that I can be doing some meaningful work while everyone is gone.
It was also nice to receive a few calls during the day wishing me well for my birthday. In particular, my roommate of three years at Olin called me from Germany. It was so wonderful to hear from him! I'm going to write him a letter tomorrow... there are a lot of things that I want to tell him, in particular about how he changed my experience at Olin from feeling like an outsider to having a group to call my own. He's a wonderful man, and he's getting married to another Olin student from my class in July... I can remember when he asked my advice on asking her out. Wonderful memories. I'm glad we could be there for each other when in need. I look forward to a mini-Olin-reunion of sorts at the marriage.
In the evening, Russell organized an outing to celebrate, and it was an excellent get-together. We went out to a place called the Flying Saucer, home to ~150 beers. I'm not much of a beer fan, but I actually found a beer that I can honestly say that I like and would drink without wincing. It is a Belgian beer (apparently they are known for smoother beers) known as Lindemans Framboise. It addresses the two problems I have with other beers: their bitter taste, and their carbonated taste. This beer had signs neither of carbonation nor bitterness. It had a sweet raspberry flavor that was extremely smooth. Jake mentioned that it was a "dessert beer," but I wouldn't at all mind making that a primary drink. So we had an excellent time, and I truly appreciate the effort that Russell put into getting everything organized for this, on merely a day's notice too.
I'm not sure if you can tell from the time of the post or the content, but I am somewhat tipsy while writing this. I can tell because when I move my head, my eyes do not instantaneously adjust; although I am in better focus than I was at the Flying Saucer. I am writing this because I am curious what I lose, if anything, when I drink a little. I don't know why I am fascinated by this, but I would like to know if anything about the flow, content, or anything else about this post seemed to be of a different caliber on a normal day. Please share your thoughts if you noticed something out of the ordinary because I definitely feel that I am in my normal mind with the exception that I making about twice as many typos as normal (in-flight typos).
So this birthday has been a merry one, and I hope that many more like this are to come. I have an eye appointment fairly early tomorrow, so I'd better hit the sack and rest up.
Peace out.
So today went pretty well. It was my birthday, and it is always nice to receive good birthday wishes from so many people. Also, I was able to meet with my advisor today for awhile. We have a solid plan for the near future of my project, and it looks like I'm not in that bad of a position after all. This was pretty relieving because I have a tendency to become a harsh judge on myself after a long period of not receiving a credible external perspective. Next week the rest of my lab group is leaving for Phoenix in order to attend a conference where one of our papers is being published. So it was important for me to get set up today such that I can be doing some meaningful work while everyone is gone.
It was also nice to receive a few calls during the day wishing me well for my birthday. In particular, my roommate of three years at Olin called me from Germany. It was so wonderful to hear from him! I'm going to write him a letter tomorrow... there are a lot of things that I want to tell him, in particular about how he changed my experience at Olin from feeling like an outsider to having a group to call my own. He's a wonderful man, and he's getting married to another Olin student from my class in July... I can remember when he asked my advice on asking her out. Wonderful memories. I'm glad we could be there for each other when in need. I look forward to a mini-Olin-reunion of sorts at the marriage.
In the evening, Russell organized an outing to celebrate, and it was an excellent get-together. We went out to a place called the Flying Saucer, home to ~150 beers. I'm not much of a beer fan, but I actually found a beer that I can honestly say that I like and would drink without wincing. It is a Belgian beer (apparently they are known for smoother beers) known as Lindemans Framboise. It addresses the two problems I have with other beers: their bitter taste, and their carbonated taste. This beer had signs neither of carbonation nor bitterness. It had a sweet raspberry flavor that was extremely smooth. Jake mentioned that it was a "dessert beer," but I wouldn't at all mind making that a primary drink. So we had an excellent time, and I truly appreciate the effort that Russell put into getting everything organized for this, on merely a day's notice too.
I'm not sure if you can tell from the time of the post or the content, but I am somewhat tipsy while writing this. I can tell because when I move my head, my eyes do not instantaneously adjust; although I am in better focus than I was at the Flying Saucer. I am writing this because I am curious what I lose, if anything, when I drink a little. I don't know why I am fascinated by this, but I would like to know if anything about the flow, content, or anything else about this post seemed to be of a different caliber on a normal day. Please share your thoughts if you noticed something out of the ordinary because I definitely feel that I am in my normal mind with the exception that I making about twice as many typos as normal (in-flight typos).
So this birthday has been a merry one, and I hope that many more like this are to come. I have an eye appointment fairly early tomorrow, so I'd better hit the sack and rest up.
Peace out.