Yubsie's Yammerings

Back from a week of conferenceness. It was a good time, though definitely mentally exhausting.

At the opening mixer, we had the interesting moment of realizing that thanks to last year's conference in Austria, we actually knew more of the European people than the North American people. Crispin (our German exchange student from the fall term) eventually showed up. He'd forgotten his poster in Toronto and had to go back. Beats the time Paul left his in Denmark!

On Monday my labmate was really sick and I wound up having to present her poster. That was pretty nerve wracking as it's quite far from my own chemistry. But I don't think I made an idiot of myself in front of Professor Kira! He's a huge name in silicon chemistry and he came by to ask me questions right near the end.

After doing that, giving my own talk the next day wasn't half as bad. I'd been pretty nervous since it's an international conference and it's mostly professors giving actual talks. Still, talking about my own work was way easier! My microphone kept cutting out, but years of theatre are good for many things. A lot of people really liked the talk and I had some good discussions. Joe Lambert (big guy in silicon NMR) was really interested in what I was doing. He was also disappointed I didn't wear my fedora to give the talk, but I am so not yet advanced enough in my career to be quirky. :p

Wednesday was a half day of talks and an excursion to Niagara Falls. I got lucky and wound up on the bus that went to the winery first. And had the always awkward moment at a wine tasting of "Actually... I can't have alcohol". The cheese was nice though, and the ice wine smelled good. Apparently the other groups didn't get to try that one, which is a shame since that is the wine the area is known for. Then we went to Niagara Falls and I wound up showing the Europeans around despite only having been there once. Luckily our bus driver was great and pointed out all the key locations before dropping us off. Going on the Maid of the Mist was awesome, I really need to go back with Ryan. :p

On Thursday I got to meet my academic grandfather, Adrian Brook. This year is the thirtieth anniversary of both the Si=Si bond and the Si=C bond. Brook made the latter, so he made it to that day of the conference. (Bob West made the other, but he always comes to these things). The banquet was that night, which was lots of fun.

On Friday it was time to switch from ISOS to IDW so we mostly looked around Niagara Falls. The opening reception was at a rooftop patio overlooking the falls that is the best place to watch the fireworks. Awesome.

THe food. THe FOOD at IDW. Usually breakfast and lunch aren't included with this one, but since it was in a hotel they had to spend a certain amount on food/drink. The nibbles was scrumptious and for lunch on Saturday they had this amazing cheese tortellini in a white wine sauce. And ample drink tickets for all. :p

This was the conference where I was giving my poster. ANd I won a prize for it, yay!

Look at me finally posting the rest of my pictures from Austria! You know, that place I went in July? :p Next up: Polaris and Fan Expo! :p

( Pictures of Graz )

So, the talk went pretty decently, I think. I got a few good questions, including one I had to ask the guy to take me through slowly afterwards (on the computational stuff).

But man, the guy before me thought he had a 40 minute talk when he actually had a 20 minute talk. I was kinda freaking out at that point because Kim's talk was pretty soon after mine in a different room and I was worried she wasn't going to be able to stay for my whole talk. She did manage it though. My talk was standing room only! Which... probably had more to do with the room being too small than anything else.

After the conference that day a bunch of us went to Vicki's to play the BSG game. Chris brought the Pegasus expansion and OMG it was EPIC. The humans won... but just barely. So many resources were at one or two. If the final crisis card had activated the Raiders, the civilian ships would have gone SQUISH. It... basically felt like the New Caprica rescue. :p

Also, we had apparently been playing Cylon attack cards wrong all this time. Which might explain why the humans always lost. :p

Other fun things at the conference: I ran into a friend from high school. I hadn't even realized she was in chemistry, so that was awesome.

Oh, and Steve (my supervisor from undergrad) was actually there this year. It took me days to actually track him down, but I did eventually get to talk to him.

After the conference (well, actually, I blew off the last afternoon) I met up with my mom and we went to see Mamma Mia. It was definitely more fun seeing it with her than seeing the movie with Ryan, since Ryan doesn't like ABBA. Also, the stage show is better because the male leads can actually sing and dance. :p It was lots of fun.

After the show Mom took me for supper and then gave me cab fare because it was pouring rain. Except it took me forever to actually get a cab. But I did eventually make it to the train station!

So yeah, we were an hour late even getting on the train. I was going to email Ryan from the train, except not only was the wifi not working... the power outlets weren't working. I'd never seen that happen before. Though I ran into one of the guys from the department at the station, so at least I was sitting with him and had someone to talk to (otherwise I did have a book...)

We also got stuck for like half an hour in Brantford when the brakes got stuck on one of the cars. Oddly, even though I've been on trains with much worse delays, this was probably one of the more annoying ones. I think it's because it was supposed to be such a quick and easy trip without even having to change trains, so when it took twice as long as it should have it was really annoying.

Poor Ryan though. He was at the station to pick me up at 9:30 when my train was supposed to get in and he had to wait until 11:30. And he had to work at six this morning. It was most unfortunate.

But, I'm back!

I am home! Ten hours of driving is REALLY LONG! Also, the people at Dunkin' Donuts put WAY too much sugar in their coffee. I was worried there wouldn't be ENOUGH sugar because I just said milk and sugar and I usually get a double double with milk. But no, it was RIDICULOUSLY sweet. Insane.

We went shopping last night after the conference. So now I can say I've been in Macy's. I am far too poor for Macy's, but I have been in one. I went to Borders for the siren call of AMERICAN COVER PRICES. I was good though and only picked up the first Song of Ice and Fire book (yes, I'm finally caving). Partly because the British postdoc we adopted at the conference got the only copies of a couple other things I was looking at. :p

Oh, and I got Rune Factory 2 because it looks fun. Though I am confused why there are two Gamestops in one mall. :p

Also, did you know Long Branch, NJ has a sizable Brazilian community? We found this out while talking to the staff at the Brazilian place that we went to for supper. It was the awesomest buffet ever, they charged by the pound. Dinner for all three of us came to $21, including these amazingly awesome fresh juices. And the food was soooooooooo good, there was amazing squash. The less adventurous members of our group went to a fancier place. Their tip was more than our meal. :p

Conference is going well. Poster went fine. Probably should have been in the physical poster session rather than the inorganic one. But the NMR people found me, and we had a good chat.

I didn't realize that when three different people at the NMR workshop made SURE I had my ticket for the Bruker (equipment company, make NMR machines and diffractometers) party that it was like THE party of the conference. My coworkers were horribly jealous. Boss sweet talked Bruker rep for half an hour to get a ticket with a plus five on it. Was a fun party. Saw lots of Mount A people. Coworkers growing weary of misplacing me all the time.

Writing horrible point form. Going to bed soon. Mostly because sharing room. Roommates would appreciate darkness. Home Wednesday. Online for reals then.

Germanium is the fatter less attractive cousin of silicon.