Summer Recap

So I'm sitting here watching Kelly study (I like to think I'm helping) and I realized it's been a while since I updated this thing. I guess there's been less of a reason to this summer, as most of my friends have stayed in the 'Burg and I see them regularly. They are up-to-date with my latest exploits.

I figure now is as good a time as any to provide a recap of the last two+ months. A lot has happened since I finished my third year of undergrad. I have finished my SURP internship/research experience. I presented my work at our Symposium last Friday, and my parents even came down to see me. That was great, as was the moral support from a certain someone sitting in the back of the room, smile beaming from her face :)

I'm finishing up my final paper from said research experience, and it's been one of the toughest but most enjoyable and educational writing experiences of my life. I currently have 18 pages, and that's a fairly cursory examination of eveything we did this summer. The publications that will result will have much more detail and will be separated, but my PI has told me this paper will be fine for what I have to turn in. On the same lines, I am looking forward to becoming a published author at long last. I am currently second author on the feline obesity study, and I have been told by my graduate mentor that I will be a co-author on her upcoming publications. So the summer was successful in that regard; I will have my name on at least two journal articles (provided they actually get accepted, etc.) I'm optimistic.

Summation: Eat pasture-finished beef for cis-9, trans-11 conjugated linoleic acid (reduces fat mass and cholesterol) and drink pomegranate juice for anthocyanins, polyphenols, and tannins (to ward off cancer).

Now after a summer of working long hours, 7 days a week, I return to the normal grind of classes and fraternity responsibilities. I'm looking forward to it, actually. Classes will provide some regularity, but time off during the day. Not that they won't be hard (read: PChem nightmares!), but at least I won't be in lab as much as I was over the summer. Long hours with few breaks in the action can get tiring. Nontheless, I am more certain than ever that I am destined to be an overworked, underpaid grad student. I've also discovered a new avenue: MILES-IGERT, right here at VT. It's my top pick for grad school right now - it allows me a cross-disciplinary approach to graduate education, straight track to a Ph.D., and I can stay at a school I know and love. What could be better.

Jen and Will came down to visit and go to Steppin' Out. It was nice to see them, and I'm happy to know that they'll be bringing their puppy to see us in a couple of weeks when they visit family in Roanoke. And they bought us dinner. That was awesome.

So as everyone slowly reconvenes in Blacksburg, we travel along the paths which we have set for ourselves. It saddens me to think that no matter what, I may well be seeing some of my best friends for the last time around this time next year. I hope I stay in touch with these friends better than I had hoped to with my high school friends. God knows I didn't accomplish the goal of always staying in touch.

It has been a great summer - got to see my all-time favorite band, downloaded both shows I have attended (finally!), got to spend some time with my family despite being four hours away from home, hung out with some great friends, and spent some quality time with Kelly :-D