April - the month in review
I've been uber negligent again, but this is usually
the busiest month of the year for - the ACR abstracts
were due tonight and they're done for another year!
Unfortunately I didn't create any at the last minute
as I needed, but I did help with 27 other ones (yes,
a new record!). Just means I'll be busy helping with
them again next Sept/Oct preparing them for the
meeting in SF, but maybe I'll have more time to enjoy
SF since I won't be presenting any of them.
So I'm still on the nasal sinus rinse and liquid prednisolone for my sinuses. I'm curious as to how much of an effect this will for the long-term use (my research often looks at steroid-induced osteoporosis) though it's been worth it to breath easily and be able to work without headaches.
I finished painting the last of the 2x2' ceiling tiles last night and tonight I began on round 2 with them - going with 2 coats. Woot! Also made headway on basement - done painting the walls (April 5-7), insulation in ceiling (April 22), speaker cables all wired in walls (April 20-tonight), and started on the ceiling grid panels (April 29-next week). Carpet comes in on May 12th or so, which means all should be operating in time for the weekend of the 17th! It's exciting as it gets closer, but damn it's been a lot more work than I thought it would be! (now I understand why people hire out)
Stacie & Mike visited the weekend of April 12 (yes, they win for flying out to visit me more than anyone else!) and we had a quiet 2 days of conversation, food and fun. Always memorable and appreciated. It was miserably cold then and off and on all month. Seemed like The Longest Winter that was 2008 didn't want to end in March like a lamb after all.
Last weekend was our annual RAIN meeting - I gave a 50 min talk on the RAIN database that I and Kate, my talented grad student, had been working on. It's not finally live, but is now publicly viewable here. Also spent a full day learning how to write better grants last Tuesday. Likely will work on another "new investigator" award this summer as well as a 5-year NIH K-award. One could spend so much time writing these... and probably should, though I'd rather write papers and do new research. Who needs money?
QBert got the plastic cone of silence placed on her head for the past 10 days. Had an ear infection again and had scraped her head up rotten (see camera-phone pic in Cats section - my camera broke 2 months ago so apologies for no nice new pics in a while!). She's much better, but not sure she's forgiven TB for hissing and attacking the cone-head so often (though it was sad and funny to watch her bump into things with it). I still have to give her meds every morning and night. I'm thinking of putting the cone-head on TB so she can be teased/tortured and may lose some weight.
Still much to do with and at work. Trying to sleep earlier - nice when I have more of a nice day to get things done. Wrapped up season 3 of Battlestar
Galactica and wondering about catching up with 4
(the last). Still my fav show on TV, even if I
don't watch TV. Have had active de ja vu of
late, too, with bizarre and wonderful dreams.
And speaking of bizarre, check out Southland
Tales, the movie. Definitely enjoyed it, even if
overly ambitious (just like the same director's
Donnie Darko, but very different).
Still doing the weekly game night (we had 14 this week!) and finally started weekly ultimate games, though only made 2 so far (too many Mondays were freezing!). When the basement is done, will host regular showings. About time I had something nice for the multitude of flicks at home - though the next question, how many bean-bag chairs to get?
There's a lot more I'm leaving out (my private life stays private it seems), but it was a full and exciting month. The flowers I planted last Nov are blooming and I had crocuses, tulips, daisies and now roses blooming. I love my yard!
Next up, trips to Dallas, Atlanta, parents visit, graduations, more work work - then only 1 trip per month for the rest of the year (so far). Also, I had lunch with coworkers and Warren Buffett sat next to us again. Twice in one year - such nice neighbors! He says that the recession will be long and deep... what a perfect time to go to Europe while the dollar is down. ugh. (Paris in June)
Thanks for not giving up on me - I'm baack!
So I'm still on the nasal sinus rinse and liquid prednisolone for my sinuses. I'm curious as to how much of an effect this will for the long-term use (my research often looks at steroid-induced osteoporosis) though it's been worth it to breath easily and be able to work without headaches.
I finished painting the last of the 2x2' ceiling tiles last night and tonight I began on round 2 with them - going with 2 coats. Woot! Also made headway on basement - done painting the walls (April 5-7), insulation in ceiling (April 22), speaker cables all wired in walls (April 20-tonight), and started on the ceiling grid panels (April 29-next week). Carpet comes in on May 12th or so, which means all should be operating in time for the weekend of the 17th! It's exciting as it gets closer, but damn it's been a lot more work than I thought it would be! (now I understand why people hire out)
Stacie & Mike visited the weekend of April 12 (yes, they win for flying out to visit me more than anyone else!) and we had a quiet 2 days of conversation, food and fun. Always memorable and appreciated. It was miserably cold then and off and on all month. Seemed like The Longest Winter that was 2008 didn't want to end in March like a lamb after all.
Last weekend was our annual RAIN meeting - I gave a 50 min talk on the RAIN database that I and Kate, my talented grad student, had been working on. It's not finally live, but is now publicly viewable here. Also spent a full day learning how to write better grants last Tuesday. Likely will work on another "new investigator" award this summer as well as a 5-year NIH K-award. One could spend so much time writing these... and probably should, though I'd rather write papers and do new research. Who needs money?
QBert got the plastic cone of silence placed on her head for the past 10 days. Had an ear infection again and had scraped her head up rotten (see camera-phone pic in Cats section - my camera broke 2 months ago so apologies for no nice new pics in a while!). She's much better, but not sure she's forgiven TB for hissing and attacking the cone-head so often (though it was sad and funny to watch her bump into things with it). I still have to give her meds every morning and night. I'm thinking of putting the cone-head on TB so she can be teased/tortured and may lose some weight.
Still much to do with and at work. Trying to sleep earlier - nice when I have more of a nice day to get things done.
Wrapped up season 3 of Battlestar
Galactica and wondering about catching up with 4
(the last). Still my fav show on TV, even if I
don't watch TV. Have had active de ja vu of
late, too, with bizarre and wonderful dreams.
And speaking of bizarre, check out Southland
Tales, the movie. Definitely enjoyed it, even if
overly ambitious (just like the same director's
Donnie Darko, but very different).
Still doing the weekly game night (we had 14 this week!) and finally started weekly ultimate games, though only made 2 so far (too many Mondays were freezing!). When the basement is done, will host regular showings. About time I had something nice for the multitude of flicks at home - though the next question, how many bean-bag chairs to get?
There's a lot more I'm leaving out (my private life stays private it seems), but it was a full and exciting month. The flowers I planted last Nov are blooming and I had crocuses, tulips, daisies and now roses blooming. I love my yard!
Next up, trips to Dallas, Atlanta, parents visit, graduations, more work work - then only 1 trip per month for the rest of the year (so far). Also, I had lunch with coworkers and Warren Buffett sat next to us again. Twice in one year - such nice neighbors! He says that the recession will be long and deep... what a perfect time to go to Europe while the dollar is down. ugh. (Paris in June)
Thanks for not giving up on me - I'm baack!
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