Semester is over...

Well, finals are done and I'm now relaxed. I have 1 more week in the lab before I get to go home for the holidays. I can't wait to see my family and spend time with them. I get 2 full weeks at home so that should be great, but I am not looking forward to the 16 hour drive. Hopefully Adam (one of the guys in my lab) and I can make time fly and get home safely. Wish us luck!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I hope that all of you have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving break is here...

Yeah for a break from classes. Mom and Dad are flying down tomorrow to come join me for Turkey day. I'm so excited that I can't hardly wait. I picked up a nice turkey and all the fixings so that I can cook dinner on Thursday. I'm making an apple pie and a pumpkin pie for desert tomorrow just so that the oven will be free for the turkey and green been casserole.

Hope everyone travels safely. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving all!!

Midterms and papers...

Well, it has been a crazy two weeks. I had a huge midterm last Thursday that took all week to study for and on top of that I have a 15 page paper due on Friday that was initially due tomorrow. I've wanted to go play in the lab to relax a little, but it just hasn't been possible. I will hopefully get all my corrections done on my paper in the morning and then insert pictures so that it is ready for Friday. Then I plan to go relax in the lab and get some research done. Thursday is presentation day... and then its all about finals.

My next big project is reading through a ton of abstracts for work so that I can make some progress with that. I'm hoping that over the weekend I can weed out about 1000 papers and get through about 1/4 of the work I should have been doing over the past few weeks. Christmas break will be filled with work as it needs to be completed by January 1st.

Loving grad school and all of its challenges. What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger.

I miss all of you greatly!!! Wishing I had snow :(

Election Day!

Well, I was so excited to be able to vote this year and then it all went down hill. Wisconsin had quite the hard time in the primary election in Feb. and I voted then to make a point. I was super excited to apply for my absentee ballot being that I am now in South Carolina and still have not PAID to switch over my ID (they make me pay tax on my car again, booooo!). So I've been waiting and waiting for my absentee ballot to arrive and when it finally came it said the "great" state of Wisconsin has lost your voter registration and because we took so long to look it up you now have no time to register elsewhere.

So now.... I had to sit and watch without my voice.... so sad.

Congratulations President-elect Obama, I'm looking forward to change!

Fall Break

Finally a weekend away from school, unfortunately I have to be back by 2:30pm on Tuesday for back to back meetings. As a present to myself I decided that a weekend at my friend Christy's would be the best for the grad school blues. I'll make the most of it and Christy and I will have a blast I'm sure.

I drove the 7 hours down to St. Augustine and arrived just in time to help pass out candy for Halloween. There were some great costumes and some that were just plain lazy. But overall, a good night for trick-or-treating. Then we kicked back and relaxed for the evening.

Today is football Saturday: Go Mississippi St, Alabama, and Clemson!!! If Clemson finally wins a game then we might get a later game time for homecoming. Come on guys... I want lunch for tailgating instead of breakfast. Not that mimosas are bad or anything. Tomorrow and Monday will be St. Augustine tour days. I'll post pictures this week once I get back in town.

Apple Picking

Saturday we went apple picking at Niven's Apple Farm. Who would have thought that I missed climbing trees and being a kid.... We had such a great time and the weather was almost perfect. Could have been a little cooler, but it was fun all the same. We had quite the group that went... Adam, Ramon, Paul, Betsy, Brittany, Melissa, Dev, Jeremy, Jennifer, Scott, Allison, and me. Here are some photos from picking apples. The trees were pretty picked over but we still managed to pick 1.5 bushels of apples.

After picking apples it was off to downtown Greenville to grab a bite to eat. After dinner at Barley's we wandered around town doing a little shopping. We then headed to Spill the Beans. Just outside in Falls Park was this great waterfall. I ended up just standing on the bridge for a bit listening to the water. It was so calming and ended the day perfectly. A wonderful relaxing day. Just what I needed. Love the fall and awaiting the colors....

Productivity vs. fun

....and productivity won the day. No kayaking fun, but I will get the kayak in the water before the week is out. At least I can look forward to apple picking on Saturday.

The beginning....

After reading everyone elses blogs I finally decided to join the band wagon. Since I now live in the middle of nowhere and with barely any contact with all of you....here it goes!

I am living in Clemson, SC working on my PhD at Clemson University in the Bioengineering department. I love the area and the school and really do not regret my decision to travel half way down the country just for school away from everything and everyone I know. I miss home and the great lakes, but have made some great friendships already...

I'm playing hookie from campus tomorrow to go kayaking on Lake Hartwell. Hopefully I can get some great shots of the area to post.

Miss all of you!!!