sweet sweet spring break

having a job that includes a spring break is a very, very good thing. as you could probably guess from my last post, i was in need of some rest and relaxation and so far i've accomplished that. :) i began my break early with a trip to vegas for a conference. it was a GREAT time! i got to catch up with some friends i haven't seen in a while and i got to show my mom around sin city. we saw quite a bit in a few days, mastered the bus system, and ate WAY too much delicious food. highlights were: bellagio fountains, mesa grill, winning $80 at keno, mandalay bay buffet, hanging out at the top of the stratosphere, and sushi at todai. i think mom had a great time (i know i did) and we were both pretty exhausted by the time we got to the airport at 4:15 a.m. on saturday morning.

i also have to mention a rather surreal experience after my presentation. this was my first presentation as dr. kate and i have to say (without any bias of course) that mine was one of the two best papers at the session. afterwards (this is the surreal part), a handful of people wanted to talk with me afterwards. some asked for advice on how to structure their research which is related to mine and a few were students just starting graduate work that wanted to share some of their experiences and just talk with me about the research. it was a great/weird feeling. made this whole dr. thing seem real. :)

since saturday i've been hanging out in texas. mike and i spent some time with our buddy andy in san antonio on saturday afternoon. watched aggie basketball and ate lunch at freebirds. mmmm freebirds. for the rest of the time, mike and i have been hanging out at his new digs in round rock. we cooked delicious dinner on sunday night. on monday, we went to see bob schneider and matt the electrician at the saxon pub. (very good show which i'll have to blog about next.) last night we took it easy at his apartment and watched my new favorite show dexter and ate another really good meal. it was stormy last night, which was actually kind of cool since it did not involve snow. tonight we're going to the alamo drafthouse. i've never been to one so i'm looking forward to it. :)

overall, it has been a productive and relaxing break. i've been sleeping way too much (guess i'm still catching up from vegas and my sleepless stats nights), got my midterm grades done, and found out some possibly exciting news related to jobs and texas. more on that later. ;)

i think i'm going to go for a walk in the sunshine while i still can!