The Oddity Effect: 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!