It's been a long time running

It's been quite a while since I have sat down and wrote anything meaningful here. There is good reason for that.

The month of May has been incredibly busy for me. In that time, Emily has graduated from Nazareth, Jeremy (my brother) has graduated from Cazenovia and I graduated from RIT (just this past Friday). That's three consecutive weekends of graduations and travels for me!

All three experiences were very special to me. It was a great feeling to see Emily and Jeremy walk across that stage to get their diplomas. I am incredibly proud of them both. My graduation was quite an experience as well. I was very thankful to have my grandparents there. In addition to the congratulations extended to me, my commencement was a great opportunity to express my thanks for the hard work from all the professors that I had the opportunity to work with and the friends and family that supported me throughout the whole process.

I also started my job with Johnson and Johnson. The job is enjoyable so far. All I have done in the first few weeks are read training documents (a rather boring process). This week however I am done with my training and will be starting to work in the lab doing more hands-on activities.

So as you can see, the past few months have been busy for me. Now that things are calming down, life should be much less stressful and enjoyable.

I will keep you posted!

As promised... New Orleans from my lens.

I promised... here is a recap of my trip to New Orleans in photo form!

Upon landing at Louis Armstrong International Airport, the A.C.S. aranged for this band of musicians playing "When the Saints go Marching In" and other popular New Orleans style jazz songs for all the arriving chemists.

Sidd and I stayed at the Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel. Located right on the corner of Canal and Bourbon Street.

Apparently hotel rooms in New Orleans come with their own beads! Beads are everywhere in the French Quarter. It's not just a Mardi Gras thing!The French Quarter is in great shape considering how badly damaged the city was from hurricane Katrina. However in the rest of the city there are numerous hotels, strip-malls and plazas under construction or awaiting construction. This is what appears to be a multi-story office building with all the windows blown out awaiting renovation. This is just outside the French quarter... and you can tell that the neighborhood quickly turns a bit more dangerous in those areas!
Here's the River Walk along the banks of the Mississippi River. It was pretty unique to see such a busy port city like New Orleans at work. Huge ships were constantly traveling up and down the river.
On Tuesday I had the opportunity to get together with my former professors from Nazareth at Cafe Beignet. It was here where I had my first experience eating beignets!I took a break to visit the National World War II Museum.

And Sidd and I enjoyed more beignets at Cafe Dumond.

We also presented posters and gave talks at the conference... it was not all eating great food, listening to good music and having fun!

Yes... even very busy graduate students follow politics.

I second that... the democrats are destroying themselves. That's the extent of my political commentary for the day.

Thank you.

Where's the pause button for this thing called "life"? WHAT? It doesn't even come with an instruction manual!

O.K. I am going to take a short bit of time to write to my readers here... if I even have any at all!!! (?) As a matter of fact, if you are reading this post a comment... just a simple one word remark. Comments always keep me motivated to write more.

I returned from New Orleans on Friday evening leaving behind 80° temperatures for the cold 40's that western New York has to offer. It flat out sucks, but I see blue skies out side my window and hear birds chirping. It makes me happy to know that Spring (and eventually the warm Summer sun) is on its way. (P.S. Thanks to Em for the airport pickup!)

I took many pictures of my adventure in New Orleans and I promise I will put a few of my favorites up. Returning from this trip I have felt rather overwhelmed and tired instead of invigorated and recharged. Typically attending an ACS conference makes me feel very motivated but things have been happening one after another lately that the stress is catching up to me.

In six days I can begin to move into my new apartment and in ten days I must provide a final version of my thesis with suggested revisions and edits for final approval of my committee. My efforts towards running and training have taken a bit of a hit since I left for New Orleans too. I need to get things in order for my new job that starts on May 1 as well.

Life seems so serious right now!

Oh well... take it one day at a time I guess!

I have survived... and made it to D-Day +4.

I SURVIVED! I am referring of course to my thesis defense. I succeeded in delivering a great talk that my committee enjoyed (though I thought it was lackluster at best). I faired well in the 2 hours of cross examination and critiquing that followed. I received a large mass of recommended thesis revisions and now have until April 21 to get it all in order. The whole ordeal was very exhausting and I am glad it is over.

I may have won that "battle", but the "war" still wages on. in the days that followed my defense I took Wednesday off (completely... leaving all paperwork at my office and going no where near it) and then I hastily prepared to present my research findings at the ACS national conference in New Orleans... which is where I am writing this!

Here's a picture of me on the River Walk in New Orleans by the Mississippi River. It's the first time I have seen it... and she's a mighty river I tell ya!

This is a picture of "The Spanish Plaza" (Sidd admiring the fountain). A few minutes before I took that picture we witnessed a guy go down on one knee and propose to his girlfriend... no joke! (She said yes and received applause from the passers by.)And of course, what would New Orleans be without a trip down Bourbon Street. Pretty damn cool how they let you walk right down the middle of the street (all car traffic is blocked off at night) from bar to bar with open alcoholic beverages! Sidd and I are fitting in very nicely.

This is going to be a fun week! Hopefully I will be able to keep you all posted as to what's going on. Wish me luck for my talk on Thursday!