The Oddity Effect: July 2009

Sunday, July 26, 2009

So much going on ...

I know that my audience has been checking daily for updates about my exciting life .... and let me tell you, life has been busy!

But soon ... so very soon ... I will post about:

4th of July celebration in Buffalo
Vegas, baby!!!!
leaving the Little Town ...
... and moving to NJ!

So much fun in such a short amount of time!

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Many weeks ago (before my trip to Brazil), RyGuy and I traveled down to visit BF Kimmy, my BF-in-law and their daughter Ally! We were so excited to go see them (we haven't seen them since Christmas!) and celebrate Kimmy's 28th Birthday! And it's lucky we went to visit -- they will actually be moving soon because of a new job! We are excited because they will be much closer to us, but we will miss their cute VA home!

As always, below are some pictures for your enjoyment!

Uncle Ry showing Ally how to blow some bubbles!
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Ally liked the bubbles ... but maybe the stick a bit more!
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So cute!
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We spent a great day at the pool! Ally is so cute!
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I think she had a great time! We did!
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Ally trying to play video games with Daddy & Uncle Ry!
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Happy Birthday BF Kimmy!
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Seriously, ridiculously cute!
Can't believe she is ONE already!!
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Can't wait to visit you at your new place, Miss Ally!
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Thursday, July 02, 2009

Dick Dawk likes soup

The conference I went to in Brazil turned out to be really great!

Great stuff: Awesome famous keynote speaker (who likes soup a lot!); cute resort; great pool; caught up with lots of people I haven't seen in a while; lots of fun conversations with scientists; free alcohol at nearly every event; old labmate (DancingFish) gave a great talk in a little competition; Joe gave the best talk ever (on one of the papers I am first author on) and got tons of questions from super famous people; met lots of new fun grad students; got some more post doc advice; listened to lots of great science talks; was brave enough to ask questions at a few talks; only a few bug bites; had an overall great time!

Not-great stuff: Traveled at least 22 hours each way (many planes and airports and buses); my talk was on the very last day, and the stupid clicker broke and my slides went away for a while, and I looked like an idiot; pretty sure I broke my toe while walking the streets of town one drunken evening; my undergrad advisor was there and it appears that he still hates me, making all interactions totally awkward; did not know Portuguese at all!!; got yelled at twice by a semi-famous scientist's wife for being too loud at night; perhaps have swine flu (though not as bad as Joe).

I think the Great stuff list totally beats the Not-great stuff list, so I declare the Brazil trip a success!!

Here are some photos for your enjoyment!

Beautiful weather in Newark!