Conference Buddy :)

I had no idea that Jonathan posted this week. I guess we think alike.  This being Jonathan's 4th or 5th trip in the past 6 weeks, I thought maybe I'd join in the fun this time.  Hurray for Southwest miles and Air B&B providing us with an actual apartment in DuPont Circle where I can relax and rest while Jonathan is busy networking and schmoozing.  Today I crashed my first conference too!  SFN is made up of about 30,000 scientists that have descended upon DC this week. Well, Jonathan was a part of a group that created a big symposium this year and so had the privilege of giving a "big" talk.  I wasn't about to miss it.  Some friends of ours suggested that they sneak me in and I decided to go for it.  (They actually have rent-a-cops at the entrances to the conference center and every room in the conference checking badges)  And, I'm so glad I did.  Jonathan was brilliant. He has such a gift for presenting information in a clear and concise manner that challenges those who specialise in his area and also makes the topic accessible to lay people like myself.  He is also someone who uses PowerPoint in the best way possible and with some awesome design and teaching techniques.  His slides support and compliment his talk, they don't just parrot what he's saying.  Can you tell I'm proud of him? 

I haven't been to DC since College so it's been fun to return.  It reminds me of  Boston a bit.  I like the colonial buildings and all the brick sidewalks. I had a nice run along the canal in Georgetown, had my first escargot at a little French place, and did some thrift store shopping as well. Leather ankle boots for $13!!! Now I'm off to meet Jonathan at the conference so we can meet some German researchers Jonathan knows at a pub and then dinner at a Greek place with dear friends from Philly.  Good thing I took a nap this afternoon :)

Overall, I'm so glad I came.  I mean, I know this is work for Jonathan but I also know I see a lot more of him here than I would if I were back in St Louis.  Yay for the flexibility of a nursing career.  3 nights in DC with no vacation time required!!!

Georgetown canal

Our Air B&B apartment building. 

The Metro stations look like something out of a sci-fi film. 

Washington DC

I'm in Washington DC for the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting. My talk is not done yet (eep!) but I think the end is in sight. I'm planning on working on it tonight and much of tomorrow.

Jill is flying in later tonight. This is the first time she's joined me for a conference. I'm really glad she's here but it will also be a bit of an adjustment—I already have "business" meetings schedule for almost every meal. Luckily Jill knows a lot of these folks and so can come along and hopefully not be toooooo bored. :)

Fall is always busy

October and November have been hectic for me in terms of travel and deadlines—even more than usual. Highlights included:

* An invited manuscript for Cortex due October 1;
* Oh yeah we bought a house! And moved in October 1st;
* An NIH grant due October 15th (first submission of a small grant—an R21);
* A one-night trip to Boston to meet with Art and Murray about grant things;
* A short trip to Nijmegen, The Netherlands to give a talk at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics;
* A one-night trip to Washington DC to give a talk at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America (which I just got back from).

AND, a grant deadline November 5th, which was a resubmission of an NIH grant. The initial submission was scored in the 23rd percentile (which is decent, but not fundable), so I'm optimistic that this revision might do the trick. (Except for times when I'm pessimistic that it wasn't good enough...). The grant will get reviewed in February, so for now there is nothing to do but wait. (And write more grants.)

It feels good to have knocked several of these off my to-do list, but coming up is a talk at the Society for Neuroscience meeting. SfN is the largest annual meeting in neuroscience with around 30,000 attendees. Now they won't all come to my talk, but it will probably be one of the largest audiences I've spoken to, filled with former and current mentors, friends, and colleagues. I definitely feel a lot of pressure! It will probably be fine but I need to spend much of the next week preparing.

Ok, I'm tired just looking at my own list. Back to work!

San Francisco

Back in August we had a very nice few days in San Francisco with my parents. We were visiting Jerri, who went to summer music camp with my mom back in the day (~50 years ago!). Jill and I stayed at an Airbnb place near to Golden Gate Park and got a couple of morning runs in. We all took some outings around town, including the art museum and getting to the ocean. It was a nice trip!