Denver Trip & Everything in Between

Well.. it certainly has been a while since I personally updated this blog. I haven't talked about my trip to Denver. In fact, I haven't said much since I got back... mostly because I was tired & then sick. Now that I'm feeling better, I thought it would be a good time to catch everyone up!

No pictures though. Sorry. I didn't bring my camera to Denver & haven't picked it up for anything since (except for shooting a custom set of tags this morning). Anyway...

Denver

Saturday: My friend Lindsay & I traveled & stayed together in Denver. So Pat drove us to the Buffalo airport bright & early & we caught our flight at 10:06am. It was a small plane, but I can still count it as my first flight! We had a 45min layover in Detroit & had to RUN all the way across the airport. We made it with about 5min to spare... The flight to Denver was great - we arrived at our hotel downtown early afternoon. It was rainy, but we walked to the Convention Center anyway to get a lay of the land. It was only 8 blocks - with the 16th Street pedestrian mall at the halfway point. We checked into the conference & got an information package to peruse. We had dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe.... & I found a little green caterpillar in her salad!!!! Free dinner & dessert! Welcome to Denver! HA!

Sunday: We went swimming in the hotel pool before an early morning session that was similar in set-up to mine so that I could get an idea of what to expect. We met up with our friend Chris afterwards, checked out some posters & then went out sight-seeing. First we went to the Molly Brown House Museum (as recommended by our awesome Hard Rock waiter), which was really neat! Then we walked through the lovely park around the State Capitol Building before having lunch at the best burger place in Denver (as advertised profusely - of course we had burgers & they were pretty darn good). Lindsay went back to the conference while Chris & I wandered some more. We poked our heads into a cathedral (something was going on, it was full & decorated with balloons), saw a Renaissance Italy art exhibit at the Denver Art Museum - which was DAM good! - & browsed through the Tattered Cover Book Store. Oh what a shop! I could have stayed there all weekend! Afterwards, the three of us met up with Mark (Chris's supervisor), Param (mine) & Jay (a biopharmer - he TAed me & TAed with me) for a really nice dinner.

Monday: My poster discussion is from 8:15-10:45 - I wear the wrong shoes & give myself some major blisters. The first half - the poster viewing - went really well. I met a lot of important people & Param was there to introduce me to a few he knew. The second half is the discussion. Each person is pulled up in groups of 1, 2 or 3, based on topic presented. I go second last, with 2 other girls. We each introduce ourselves & summarize our findings in a brief sentence. One girl gets most of the questions, I get 1 from the facilitator (who had come by & talked to me, so gave me a question I could answer, which was really nice since I was nervous!). Then I'm done! Yay! I went back to the hotel to change shoes, then back to the conference to look at some posters - Lindsay & Chris had theirs up in a large hall all day. We went for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory (SO good!), then Chris & I check out an old map shop advertised in the Tattered Cover Book Store (really neat shop with some really old maps) then we go back to the Capitol Building to check out the inside (gorgeous!). I went back to the hotel to nurse my sore feet. Lindsay showed up later with Eva, someone else we work with. We have a quiet & light dinner (Quiznos takeout in the hotel lobby).

Tuesday: I have sessions all morning: a sunrise session 7-8 & a Meet the Prof 12-1 with posters in between. I also squeezed in a little souvenir shopping. Afterwards, I meet up with Lindsay & Chris at the Denver Zoo. We spend the whole afternoon there - it was awesome! Then we head to dinner organized by Mike, an admin at the Firestone. Mark & Jay are there, as well as Roma (one of my committee members), her co-worker Gail, Subhendu & his wife (we flew to Denver with them, he works with Lindsay) & Myrna, who just won a lifetime achievement award!!

Wednesday: We're ready to go. We both have sunrise sessions at 7 & then go to the Tattered Cover Book Store for a bit before packing & heading to the airport. Our plane is delayed & our layover in Cleveland is 20min... we RUN (again... but harder & faster & with fewer conveyor belts & escalators) & just just make it. We heard our names being called over the PA system & that the plane was ready to go! It took me the whole 40min flight to Buffalo to cool down... Lindsay's boyfriend was there to drive us home. It was SO nice to see Pat & sleep in my own bed!

Home

Thursday & Friday: I slept a good part of the day, reading most of the time I was awake.

Saturday - Monday: Victoria Day long weekend. Pat & I enjoyed the sun on Saturday by going to the park to walk & lounge & read. I was sick - a sore throat/neck/ears...

Tuesday: ...which finally sent me to the clinic in the afternoon. Only to be told I have a cold. I'm still a bit congested now, but feeling better overall.

Besides all that, my Etsy shops have been pretty active (yay!) & I've been busy with research/reading/writing for my thesis. I want to have that finished in the next few weeks!

I hope everyone is having a great last week of May (already!) & that everyone is staying safe from all the crazy weather that's been going on!