1) Big-shot scientist was great. The whole visit was wonderful. He was very friendly and loved talking science and everything else. His visits with faculty, lunches with students, presentation to the department, dinner with a few of us students at Acme, watching soccer till the wee hours of the morning at a dive bar in Carrboro, all fantastic.
2) I was SO nervous the entire time he was here. I think I held my breath until I he called to say his flight got in to San Francisco. Then I got a major migraine and had to go home and go to bed. 14 hours of sleep later, I was feeling great.
3) But... he is not the person for my postdoc. And I think we both realized this. He is a great person for PhD training, but not what I need next. Which was sort of awesome to realize, and be so confident in the path I am choosing that I felt comfortable letting this amazing opportunity be just a great time meeting a stellar scientist, as opposed to an interview.
4) I think the universe is telling me to go to Seattle. Amazing PI doing exactly what I want to do, who really wants a post-doc, who is coming to the NIEHS in Raleigh to give a talk soon. I am keeping my options open and have found people in San Francisco area and San Diego, but I keep coming back to this lab.
5) Plus, have you seen how "Jean-tastic" the Seattle soccer team's jerseys are? Seriously... I could not have designed them better myself. Fancy scientist and I cheered for them against LA. He did have a funny comment about living in Seattle, "It is like having a super hot girlfriend who is sick all the time." Hilarious. He moved from a small town in Saskatchewan to San Francisco for his graduate work and has never left. Now lives in Noe Valley, rides his bike to work, loves it.
6) Luckily I had a few days to recover before the big marathon on Sunday!! Trent left Friday morning so it was just Pilot and I for the weekend. We had lots of lazy trips to the dog park and farmers market, and lots of writing... which was cruel since Saturday was gorgeous! Had to rest up though.
7) Lots of fun visits from friends, including the uber-pregs Amanda. Baby any day now, she is ready!
8) Deirdre wins friend of the year for picking me up at 4:45am Sunday morning to drive me to the race. The race was fantastic. I felt trained and prepared and rested and not injured. Plus the weather was perfect, a bit cloudy but not cold. I felt great for 92% of the race and really enjoyed the small venue, running on trails, passing all the half-marathoners, and having lots of people to talk to during the race. Incredibly, I set a new personal record by 5 minutes, 3 hours and 26 minutes. This is under 8 minute miles. Fantastic. Not sure I can go much faster though... I was pushing myself pretty hard. But no big bonk and some fantastic runner's highs. Lovely race. Running makes me SO happy, as evidenced below at mile 18 or so...
9) I went to Whole Foods immediately after for some delicious sandwiches, tons of local chocolate milk and other snacks. Awesome. Not so awesome, having to take an ice bath without Trent around to encourage me. I am glad I did it though.
10) Trent got home Sunday afternoon and then was off to a meeting for school. Busy fella. He had a Skype interview with the company in Oakland he might do his summer internship with. He is very exciting about that prospect, but also has a great position lined up in Raleigh. We'll keep everyone posted!! The team did great at their race, beating Ohio State all across the board.
11) This week has gone well, felt pretty hobbly for the first few days but recovered quickly. I am pretty sure every time I do this, I think afterward, "what in the world was I thinking, I am never going to be able to walk again, this is awful" but then several days later completely forget the pain and start thinking about next races. Similar to how women forget the pain of childbirth?
12) I did pick up an annoying head cold though. Thought it was allergies and missed the "sleep it off" window. But feeling better thanks to Sudafed! And tons and tons of sleep. Should be 100% tomorrow.
13) Draft submitted to the boss!! Still waiting to hear back about the results section (see if there are any more experiments I MUST do... fingers crossed no) but got back other sections so back in editing mode. Must make everything about 50% shorter than it is... yikes!
14) Weather got chilly again... no fun. But I am loving my outfit today. My favorite Joe's Jeans we randomly found at Sam's Club that make me feel like my legs are a mile long, my new Clark sandals with just enough wedge to let me wear these jeans without then dragging on the ground, a comfy American Appearal v-neck shirt and a cute Madewell cardigan. Plus awesome earrings Emily got me from her honeymoon trip!
15) I got a new swim suit in preparation for Hawaii at TJ Maxx. It is sorta silly, but pretty awesome. I can't wait.
16) I head to San Francisco next Thursday for the Luna CHIX summit. Exciting!! Can't wait to see Rob and Emily.
17) April comes to visit the next Monday (April 11th!). We are going to finish up the guestroom and work on the yard lots this weekend in preparation. I am already dreaming of her visit.
18) I am going to a Gordon Conference this summer at the end of June in Maine! And I got the greenlight to put my name in to give a talk. I've always wanted to go to Maine, and now I will be there for a week. Hopefully the paper will be in press so this will be icing on the cake for this story.
19) Busy busy summer already! San Francisco, April's visit, Hawaii, Maine... love it!
20) Trent got a fancy new camera (D700?) for work/life/re-nest purposes. We've taken about a million pictures of Pilot. Baby Frazong needs to get here so we have a new photography subject!!
That's about it, I suppose. Just trekking along with our busy schedules. I am constantly aware of my amazing symbiotic relationship with my husband. We coordinate our schedules like none other, but are still there for each other at the end of the day. I am so fortunate. Gardenias have started blooming and my tulips are about to start. UNC is in the Sweet 16 (hopefully the Elite 8 after tonight) and Duke already lost (hooray!). Lots of work ahead, but I am ready!
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