Work yesterday was, at best, a struggle. Picture me, walking into lab at 11:00AM (I'd slept alarmless due to a delayed flight that got me in bed by 2:00AM), looking at my bench, scratching my head, and mumbling, "What the hell was I up to when I left?" Luckily, within the hour, I recalled that I work on some odd organism called Tetrahymena. The afternoon unfolded sloppily from there.
Zach rescued me last night with dinner from Cedar's, my favorite Indian restaurant in Seattle, and a couple of episodes of South Park. Being Comedy-Centralless through most of high school and college, my South Park experiences consisted of:
--the movie
--one episode: the Cartman's Traper Keeper episode spoof on Akira ("We... are... Trapper Keeper..."), and Ike's bumbled election as kindergarten president.
But now, with Zach's posession of seasons two and three of South Park, I've been busting at the gut for the past forty-eight hours. My favorite character so far: Ike. I was in tears during the episode with his bris.
And now for something completely different:
Final Trip to Illinois highlights:
--Augie!!! I took Thursday and Friday to give Zach a tour or two, and see some former profs - Hammer (still reeling from the bounty of his most recent paleo excursion to Antarctica) and Strasser in geology, and an assortment of biology/chem folks. Zach is convinced I should pursue a Ph.D. in paleontology. After conversing with my former genetics prof and my former biochem prof, however, I'm more convinced than ever that I should dig my heels in to molecular/cellular biology. Now, can I borrow someone's GRE scores?
--I was particularly touched by one former chemistry professor who, after talking to me, dropped a quarter of his infamously-delicious cheesecake off at my mother's place for me. Needless to say, his mouth-watering desserts are known throughout the campus, and I was always delighted in Gen Chem II when he'd bring bunches in for his hard-working students. But I was floored to learn he took the time and effort to bring me some of the fruits of his cooking labor. What a college!
--Blue Cat, Blue Cat, Blue Cat. And let's not forget Theo's Java Club and Java Hut.
--Met up with Tony and Lauren on Sunday - and we dove in right where we left off: MarioKart, Whitey's Ice Cream, and Family Guy. Good vegging times.
--ComedySportz!!!! I FINALLY got to see Sarah perform!!! Rock on.
--Quality time with my parents (I'm getting used to the "divorce" thing - suprise, surprise), my sister (stopped by on her way to move to Chicagoland), and my mammaw (up visiting form Arkansas).
--Thin mints! My sister brought me two boxes. Must... ration...
--Meeting Zach's charming brother, and introducing Zach to my mother and mammaw.
--India House... and then listening to Zach puke it up in an empty Augustana Bookstore bag. His apparent thought: "Oh... my food!" Doh well.
All-in-all, a good trip. But, three friends were woefully out of town at the time. As were four professors I've been eager to see. I suppose that means a brief stopover sometime this summer is in order!
Posted by James at March 23, 2004 01:44 PM