And spring semester is off....

Well, its back to school again. Christmas break was fun and super busy, but not long enough. I barely got anything done I wanted to. I saw all sorts of weather and returned to South Carolina in all its wonderfully warm winter glory of 65 degrees. I miss the snow and cold already.

This semester is going to be extremely busy for me. I have so much to get done and I am hoping to make huge strides in research. Unfortunately, the grant money did not come through and funding is on the back burner until things can get switched around. At least tuition is paid. I get to start getting actually data this semester from all my work last semester. As well as working on getting my first publication out. I have a huge presentation to give sometime this semester (hopefully after data) and on top of all that I have to start writing my literature review for my qualifier next sprint. Although my two classes should be very interesting and hopefully will give me a break from the lab.

To keep me busy after school, I have another little job. I'm working on getting a website for 3-D cell culture up and running by the end of January. I have done a ton of work reading through abstracts and papers to post. It will be a great search engine for all those interested in tissue engineering and 3-D cell cultures of any kind. I might even get to go to a conference in April to spread the word and be the face of the website. YEAH!!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a happy New Year! Please come and visit if you get the chance.

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.