November 30, 2010

Time to catch up on the events of the last few weeks.  A couple of weeks ago, I attended the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientist meeting in New Orleans (yes there is an association in the country for everything) which was my second visit to New Orleans this year.  I enjoyed the conference but it was nice to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen in a long while and partake of the great New Orleans food.  As you might be able to tell from the picture, one of the vendors rented out the Superdome and we were able to have dinner on the field while participating in some football related events - I did manage to kick a field goal from the 15 yard line (so a 25 yard kick).  This was a lot tougher than I thought it might be and I didn't have 11 screaming guys trying to tackle me at the time.  It was cool being down on the field, but it is amazing how much smaller the stadium seemed from the field rather than the stands.  The other fun thing about New Orleans (although one they probably aren't sharing in their tourist brochures) was seeing someone falling down drunk at 8 in the morning - on two separate days.  And when I say falling down drunk, I mean falling down.  It must take some skill to maintain a buzz all the way through the night.

This trip was followed up with a visit to one of our favorite Midwestern towns, Madison, WI. We spent the week of Thanksgiving with the in-laws (or in Jo's case, the family) for a week of eating, reading,  sleeping (usually rapidly followed the start of reading), and then eating some more.  We put on some serious winter weight to insulate us until March.  We did manage to brave the colder temperatures for a run each morning although as you can see we bundled ourselves up - although no snow this time around.  Jo's sisters and one of her brothers along with several of the nephews during the week so we were able to catch up on all the family news.  I also managed some major gaming time on the computer to keep me happy for another couple of weeks.  Unfortunately, it all came to an end too quickly and before we knew it we were back on the plane heading for home and work again.  One upside, was the great win by the Wisconsin football team which might be sending the old Alma Mater back to the Rose Bowl - if anyone reading this is a sportswriter (or whomever does the ranking for the BCS) be sure to rank the Badger over a Spartan and a Nut (or whatever, the Ohio State mascot is supposed to be, for that matter what exactly is a Spartan?). 

Until next time.