amanda & dom on schroon lake, after the pouring rain alice attempting to drive but scared of the vibrating wheel the hikers taking off before the thunderstorm arrives
made it to NY safe & sound last thursday & have been busy with dad's parties which were all a great success!! food was wonderful & the weather was nice during party times - can't say it was nice all the other days since on friday late morning when i took the boat out it POURED on us & on saturday when I took a 6, 7, and 8 year old hiking it poured & thundered on us. i think in all the excitement i didn't get as much sleep as i needed so now i've got a bit of a sore throat, but ah well such is life.
don't have much time to read all of your blogs so i apologise now & can't promise i'll be posting regularly as my schedule is being decided on a day to day basis . . .
I can't believe I forgot, well I can, but thanks to Ms CheeseWiz over at her blog BrainCheese, I realised that I'm sorry not to have filled you in on my latest & greatest adventures to the USofA, this trip will be for 3 weeks, starting off with me dad's 70th birthday party this coming Saturday & ending with my mate Jenn's wedding on July 10th, in the middle comes fun in the sun & July 4th stateside (first time since 2005!!)
Feel free to leave b'day messages for Daddio, he reads the blog & would probably love the surprise of comments for him!!
now off to lunch & then a few bits & pieces left to do at work before I head home to start packing, yes that's correct I have not yet started to pack . . . okay slight lie, I did put some papers I need to bring home in a pile on my new coffee table along with my flight info & list of books on Rwanda I want to get whilst state-side, but aside from that bugger all is packed (oops!)
39.5 hours till my plane is suppose to leave heathrow airport headed to montreal, canada - YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!
a great thing happened today my good mates john & jaiden who've been travelling around seasia for the past 7 months returned to london & i got to hang out with them for 2 hours. tomorrow they're moving into my flat & cooking me dinner, how awesome is that? i'm stoked!
Saw a ton, eat lots of local foods, learned a bit of science & took tons of photos - all in all an excellent holiday, oh I mean conference for work . . . that's why I was there right?!??!?!
Well to impress some who think I'm a name dropper . . . Ulrich Schiable, Stefan Elhers, JoAnne Flynn, Gilla Kaplan, Stefan Kaufmann, Douglas Young, David Russell, and a room full of 300 people where there at the Immunity to Tuberculosis Symposium at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology in Berlin last Thursday & Friday. For those who are more interested just in the photos & sight-seeing we did here is a video:
off to a conference in berlin tomorrow, that is if i ever finish packing!! been too busy figuring out my trip to rwanda in october . . . looks like i'll leave london on sept 30th arrive in kigali on oct 1st and leave on the 14th arriving back in london on the 15th :)
but tomorrow is berlin for Immunity to TB, aka Stefan Kaufman's birthday party turned into TB conference, but I'm not arguing should be fun, GillaKaplan will be there to speak along with lots of other big names in TB research . . . be back sunday to fill you in on all i learned
I was lucky enough to be able to enjoy a sunny day in London - YEAH!! Woke up today & it was sunny, so made a plan of wondering around London anywhere, just as long as it was outside. Rob texted around half 10 to see what I was up to & I told him anything outdoors I was game for, but NO sitting in a pub, not even an outdoor pub. He agreed & arrived around 1pm. I've highlighted the route we walked (took just over 4 hours):From my flat we walked down to Camden Markets & grabbed a bite to eat whilst wandering through the craziness of the markets. From there we proceeded down Parkway toward Regent's Park. We walked across the bottom of Primrose Hill (too many people on the hill for us to fancy walking up it), across the canal & onto the outer circle of Regent's Park. When we got to the "bottom" (south side) of the park, we got onto Marylebone Rd & headed back towards Warren Street station. When we got to Warren St station, we turned up Hampstead Rd & followed that as it turned into Camden High Street. At this point we were both rather hot & exhausted, so we popped into see Nim who was working at the pub. I had an apple mango J2O drink - yum! At 5pm Nim was off work so she & I headed back home (she lives just 70 doors away on my same street). Later I'm going over there for Sunday roast dinner & to collect the keys to their flat so I can water their plants & feed their fish whilst there in Kenya for the next two weeks.
Did I tell you the exciting news? I have a house sitter who's going to pay me to stay here whilst I'm in the states . . . how awesome is that? It's my mates Jaiden & John who are back after 6 months of touring around SE Asia. They arrive on Tuesday the 17th & I leave on Thursday the 19th, so they'll kip on the couch for 2 night then can have full run of the place for 3 weeks whilst looking for jobs & a new flat. Works out perfectly for all of us :-) Course if they need more time I said they can stay as long as they'd like after I'm back as well. and BEST of all they'll pay my rent whilst they're here, water my plants, and collect my mail, what more can you ask for?!?!?!
So after a rather un-fun, bordering on rather stressful week I decided a bit of retail therapy was in order & remember I have my dad's birthday part, Jenn's wedding in MA, and Jim's wedding in Nottingham coming up in just a few weeks I thought I might like to find something to wear SOONER rather than later, esp as dad's party will be just 24 hours after I arrive so no time for shopping before hand!
On my way shopping I decided my hair needed a bit of a trim, so I popped into my usual place in Kentish Town (Amanda will remember it well - we sat there for hours one day waiting!!) Here are some photos one close up of my hair & two of the dress I purchased today, first with jumper & second without jumper:
This dress will not do for the weddings but I think it will be good for dad's party - what do you think? course I'll have to OVERLOAD myself with bug spray, but whatever. Plus I'm thinking of camping out in my mum's backyard - I really miss camping & I'm 90% sure my tent is easily accessible in my storage unit, now just wonder where my sleeping bag is hidden, hmmm.
yeah so i need to vent about my week . . . as if having my period with horrible cramps wasn't enough this week i also found out that my mum's b'day present didn't arrive b/c my credit card was denied (probably frozen but as I can't call 800 numbers from the UK I can't find out) then I finally get the non-800 number & my phone card dies - so mum had to pay for it herself . . . felt like a schmuck. then tried to get my transcripts sent to PeaceCorps - asked mom to mail a check & fill out the form with my dates of attendance etc then she called today to tell me they can't do it without me signing it or me faxing it in, so now tomorrow i have to pay £2.50 to fax it over, but can't use my credit card since it's FLIPPIN frozen or whatever it's deal is my mum has to remail the check - the PC wanted all this info within 4 weeks (that's Friday) so obviously that's not happening & I know they're flexible, I just wanted to have it all done on time b/c without it they can't set up my appt for an interview & I WANT to do that whilst I'm home since i doubt I'll be home again this year. then in case all that wasn't enough stress, i also for no good reason (aside from maybe cramps) couldn't sleep one night & the more I tried to sleep & thought about how I had to give 120 in infections the following day in the cat 3 the less I could sleep, so I was still up at 4.45am, that's right I got 2 hours if that of sleep & then if you don't think I've had a tough day I leave work semi early to come home & get my shower fixed but NOOOOOOOOOOO the lady calls to say the van broke down & they'll be coming tomorrow - UGH!!!!!!!!! oh yeah did I mention my home phone doesn't work & my cable still hasn't been fixed & my internet is running at molasses speed? oh yeah other thing (not as important but whatever) i had the chance to go to Prague this weekend for £100 return including hotel - GREAT deal but I had to find someone to go with me to get that price & all my friends here suck and didn't want to go, so I got my hopes up & now can't go. oh I remember one more bad thing - i told you about our liquid nitrogen disaster right? well we're having "the meeting" with my boss about it on monday for sure, not looking forward to that - i did however manage to grow up 3 lines of cells (RAW, J774 and KY-1, I know they're all easy to grow but I wasn't expecting them to survive the indefinite period at room temp in DMSO) and then I think it didn't help that everyone around me at work the other day was talking about how great their husband or boyfriends are & I was feeling rather left out of the conversation & this new girl said so Sara you don't have a boyfriend, why not? as if I've chosen to be single for the rest of my life like a loser UPDATE:
the plumber finally showed up today (at 7.30pm - appt was for half 5! and was able to do a temp fix, which means he has to come back - WTF!?!?!?
mailed off my peacecorps paperwork from this end today & i suspect they should have received mum's check by now, so that's moving along at a snails pace instead of molasses :)
Okay feeling much much better now - thanks for listening - i'm sure some of you are glad my phone card is broken - LOL - I can't wait to be home in 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!
This is a quiz for people who know everything! I found out in a hurry that I didn't. These are not trick questions. They are straight questions with straight answers
Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.
What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?
Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?
What fruit has its seeds on the outside?
In many liquor stores you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?
Only three words in standard English begin with the letters 'dw' and they are all common words. Name two of them.
There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?
Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.
Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter 'S.'
THIS IS PRETTY COOL HAVE A GREAT DAY
Answers To Quiz:
1. The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends ... Boxing
2. North American landmark constantly moving backward . Niagara Falls (The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.)
3. Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons ... Asparagus and rhubarb.
4. The fruit with its seeds on the outside ... Strawberry.
5. How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle? It grew inside the bottle. (The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.)
6. Three English words beginning with 'dw' Dwarf, dwell and dwindle.
7. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar ... Period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.
8. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh Lettuce.
9. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with 'S' Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilts.
LIFE IS A JOURNEY. ROLL DOWN THE WINDOW AND ENJOY THE BREEZE
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
amanda & dom on schroon lake, after the pouring rain
alice attempting to drive but scared of the vibrating wheel
the hikers taking off before the thunderstorm arrives
Watch out for the gangsters of Lake George!
For those who are more interested just in the photos & sight-seeing we did here is a video:
From my flat we walked down to Camden Markets & grabbed a bite to eat whilst wandering through the craziness of the markets. From there we proceeded down Parkway toward Regent's Park. We walked across the bottom of Primrose Hill (too many people on the hill for us to fancy walking up it), across the canal & onto the outer circle of Regent's Park. When we got to the "bottom" (south side) of the park, we got onto Marylebone Rd & headed back towards Warren Street station. When we got to Warren St station, we turned up Hampstead Rd & followed that as it turned into Camden High Street. At this point we were both rather hot & exhausted, so we popped into see Nim who was working at the pub. I had an apple mango J2O drink - yum! At 5pm Nim was off work so she & I headed back home (she lives just 70 doors away on my same street). Later I'm going over there for Sunday roast dinner & to collect the keys to their flat so I can water their plants & feed their fish whilst there in Kenya for the next two weeks..jpg)
& two of the dress I purchased today, first with jumper & second without jumper:.JPG)
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This dress will not do for the weddings but I think it will be good for dad's party - what do you think? course I'll have to OVERLOAD myself with bug spray, but whatever. Plus I'm thinking of camping out in my mum's backyard - I really miss camping & I'm 90% sure my tent is easily accessible in my storage unit, now just wonder where my sleeping bag is hidden, hmmm.
