AAI 2013

Hello all!

So... needless to say... it's been awhile since I posted. Whoops. Amazing how times flies, huh?

Anyway, I thought I would start with my trip to Honolulu, Hawaii. Every year, the American Association of Immunologists hosts an annual international immunology conference. This year, for the 100th anniversary, they held the conference in Hawaii. 

 Arriving at the airport after a looong flight...

The hotel was gorgeous!

 View from the hotel room

One night, I met up with some friends that I work with for dinner. One had done some research and found this AMAZING Indian food restaurant. So good!

Also, this was my first year to be asked to give an oral presentation of my project along with a scientific poster. What a huge honor! However, what a nerve-wrecking experience! I was the last one in a session containing about 10 people. I think I did okay, but I'm glad to have that out of the way!

 Afterwards, I'm pretty sure I vegged for awhile on my hotel balcony drinking a beer...

One afternoon, I took some time to do some shopping! The International Market Place was full of little shops with dresses, jewelry, and souvenirs.

Since it was the 100th anniversary, the organizers hosted a luau on the last night as the sun set.  It was a lot of fun!

 They had a band playing music. 

And a few demonstrators. This guy told us how to shuck coconuts, and was kind enough to have a picture with me!

  And of course, there was a cool fireworks show! A friend had talked to the people setting it up, and they told him the best place on the beach to see them. We had an excellent view!

Of course, one of the cool things about these conferences is all the people you meet. A few of my fellow grad students at MSU attended, as well as people from where I got my masters. And I met up with a few friends that I had met at previous conferences and classes. I also went to dinner with my boss and his old lab where he did a post-doc. It is always so interesting how different schools work and so much fun to talk about how everyone is doing there research.

But, one of the coolest things, is I ran into people I went to college with! Now, Austin College is not exactly a big school. And people go all over the world after graduation. I keep up with my close friends, but I hate to admit that I did lose touch with other. However, I met up with some of them! A was a TA for a few of my classes and also the president of a biology club right before I took that position. She graduated a few years ahead of me. R is in my year and we did research together on the same project. Actually, he was always angry at me because I took the project that he wanted. Also, on a random side-note, he took me to get my first tattoo! What a small world!

All in all, it was a great trip. I can't wait to go back! Which (and don't be jealous) will probably be in October. haha!

-amyg

Let's play catch-up

So much to catch up on! 

First things first: I survived my comps! I'm *almost* a PhD candidate! Will be a complete candidate after Christmas! Whew... That was quite the stressful ordeal. 

But on with the rest of summer and what's been going on this fall...

I had an amazing birthday!

 My friend made me a chocolate chip cookie dough cake. Yummy!

 

 Sometimes working in a lab is... interesting. We learn how to make do with what we have available, especially when it comes to beer...

And of course, second year in a row of a tradition I aim to continue, floating the Madison River on my birthday!  

 

There were also some great Farmer's Markets around town, full of fresh flowers!

 A and I at Bogart Park

 Which the cat loved...

Momma and Daddy had their annual trip to Montana, where my momma took an afternoon off fishing to go hiking with me!

Went up to Grotto Falls

 And then met up with Daddy and Peter for a few beers before dinner.

This fall has been great! We had a long beautiful fall, and the color changes on the trees were amazing. I tagged along with a friend and her girls to go pick out some pumpkins for Halloween.

 The youngest was just too cute!

 There were plenty of goats....

 .... and pigs!

 Plenty of swing sets

 And a fun hayride to get the pumpkins!

 We ended up with some great pumpkins!

 And, since I did survive my comps, my parents treated me to a trip to New York City. It was completely amazing! Long story short, while we originally planned to arrive on a Friday and leave on Monday, we changed our schedule to a Thursday to Sunday trip. Best decision, as we barely managed to leave before the hurricane hit. Lucky us!

Times Square

 Apparently, the singing cowboy is quite famous. I'd never heard of him, but managed to get some interesting pictures with him...

We took a boat tour around the island. Totally recommend if you want to see as many sites as fast as possible.

 

Statue of Liberty

 Brooklyn Bridge

 And other cool looking bridges. You can tell I really paid attention during the tour...

 Beautiful fall colors!

 Central Park!

 Strawberry Fields. Right across the street from where Lennon was killed.

 Museum of Natural History

It was Teddy Roosevelt Day at the museum so they were giving out mustaches and cowboy hats. I had to get involved... I even met a MSU professor who was there to talk about Yellowstone!

 New York Public Library

 Amazing dinner to celebrate Momma's birthday

 We even got a limo ride back. It. Was. Awesome...

All in all, it was an amazing trip!

Since I flew in and out of DFW, I finally got some real Mexican food. Yum...

 The first song that played as the plane took off from Dallas was 'Come Back to Texas'. Oh... the irony...

Now, I'm just having fun living life. 

 Halloween at work. The boss was at a conference, which meant he couldn't tell me no when I wanted to play with dry ice. 

 Girls night with homemade wine and frozen rasberries. 

 And of course, we voted! So proud to be American!

 Last, a post cannot go by where I don't talk about this kitten. He is a mess. A cute mess, but a mess. Lately he has taken an unnatural liking to my pillow. Especially if my head is on it. When I switch to a pillow on the other side of the bed, he follows. And he is quite the pillow hog. He's just lucky I love him so much.

 He also likes to hide under the covers. A week or so ago, we had quite the snow storm blow in. Like, highs in the mid-teens. So a little chilly...

And this is my robe which doesn't really have a proper hook so it hangs on the floor. The other day I found that he had made a tent out it and was just chillin'. 

Oh, London. 

And with that, this ends the latest episode of Thoughts with AmyG!