Ah, Christmas and such...

Well, I know I have totally been slacking on the updating of the blog, of late, but....I've been busy...sorry!

So, should I pick up where I left off or start from today and work backwards?? Decisions, decisions. Hmm...

Let's go ahead and get ESA out of the way:
Ok, so last update was at the close of Day 2 - the U of M Mixer night. Day 3 got of to a start circa 5:50am (I should have already been awake and getting ready by then...woops!) as we were all rushed out of bed to sound of the lovely...lulling...serenade of the Marriot fire alarm system. "Woooooooop! Wooooooooop! Woooooooooop!" {15-30sec pause} **Is it over?? Can we go back to bed?? Er...finish getting ready for that Women in Entomology Breakfast that starts in 10min??** "Woooooooooop! Woooooooop! This is not a test. This is not a test....Yada, yada, you know the rest." So, naturally, being a room/hotel full of scientists we all grab our precious laptops and cell phones, because everyone knows that our research is more important than our lives themselves, and start making our way out of our rooms (wearing as many layers as we can possibly grab in a timely manner) down the hallways to the emergency stairwells. {May I just make a note here? If you are on any level above, oh, say 4 or 5, you will probably not make it out of the building without at least suffering from some severe smoke inhalation - awesome.} We actually start smelling that awful smell of smoke **You've got to be kidding me! There's really a fire?!** It gets progressively worse as we get closer to the lower levels - I was on the 11th floor. We get down to the lobby and some people are going outside, others are just kickin' it in the sitting areas... **WHAT?! What is going on?!** No hotel staff to be seen...anywhere. So, we just kinda hang and figure there's no sense in freezing our toes off unless we really need to... Turns out there was a fire in the laundry room, which was in the basement. But it was put out within 3min. **Are. You. Serious??** The stairwells were all full of smoke and the elevators were still off, though so we couldn't go up to our rooms for a good 20-30min. By this time, I'm contemplating just skipping the breakfast, even though it runs 'til 8am...But, after making the trek up the still rather smokey stairs my better judgment told me to go ahead and get ready and venture out onto the icy streets of Indy {they really were icy that day - I'm not gonna lie, I really enjoyed walking around the icy city streets in the 6am hour...I think my future is looking most enjoyable.} and find the breakfast - networking, Heather, networking!

***Pause. Nightly ritual of LOST watching with the sibs commencing now. Post to be continued tomorrow.***

***My apologies for not finishing this when I said I would...I voted that spending time with my fam was more important for now.***

Oki doki, so I left off gallivanting around Indy circa 7am to find the Women in Entomology Breakfast. I made it to the breakfast and, sadly, the people I was going to meet with were not there...they had already left. Awesome. Also, there were no empty seats at any tables, so I was told to start a new table by myself. Sweet. So, I did...and no one else came after I got there. I felt super lame. (I was also the youngest person there...no other undergrads/grad students wanted to get up that early.) After people started to filter out I was able to skooch over to another table and visit with some ladies. So, after eating my {*cough, cough* $15} oatmeal, I bundled up again and made my way across town with one of the ladies to the convention center to listen to some more talks on parasitoids and all that jazz that kind of makes my world go round. I then ventured down to the exhibit hall and presented my poster to peoples passing through who were interested - it's kind of like a grown-up version of a science fair. Then it was off to the plenary session with BM to listen to Mark Moffett - AMAZING! If you want to see some absolutely breath-taking photos I highly recommend you pick up a copy of his new book Adventures Among Ants. SO cool!! I actually got to meet him for a brief moment, shook his hand and everything. You can be jealous, I'll allow it. Then it was off to lunch with BM, KZ, R, & L. Then more talks. S and I made a run over to Johnny Rocket's for a quick snack before the Linnaean Games Finals (kind of like Jeopardy for Bug Dorks). Illinois ended up winning - they were RI-diculous!

That night was the Student Mixer. Lay-to-the-iz-ame... After being suckered into "ice breaker games" BM came and rescued me. Let me lay this scene out for you:
I'm walking across the dance floor (yes, dance floor) to ask BM if he has some matches (we needed them for the, ahem...scavenger hunt...).
To this he responds by taking hold of my arm and steering me to the other side of the room where the coat check is. "Get your coat. Put it on. We are leaving - I'm taking you out of here and we are all going to the pub."
At this point I'm in near shock out of shear gratitude, haha. I follow "big brother" BM's instructions and we all (including KZ, SR, JK, and some others) make our way out onto those still somewhat icy streets and head on over to Cladgagh Irish Pub. Is it wrong to call a pub heaven?? Well, it nearly was. The guys running the place were actually Irish {cooooool} and were so friendly and helpful. Giving suggestions on which brews were best and would fit our likes and which ones we probably wouldn't enjoy, etc. It was truly great. So, if you're ever in Indy and you have a free night make your way down to Claddagh at 234 S Meridian St. You will not be disappointed.

That pretty much closed the conference for us. BM & KZ and I went to a few talks Wed morning, grabbed some lunch with R and then parted ways. I had to hold my own and tell off this cab driver - when I say tell off, I mean I told him "no" like 30 times, no joke - on my way to the airport. I don't really like taking cabs with strangers...even if they are entomologists. I feel much better on a bus. It's probably somewhat irrational of me, since a bus is nothing but strangers, but whatever, I'm stickin' to my guns on this one. But! On the bus I did have a lovely conversation with an entomologist from NY and he was telling me about some teaching program options and stuff - it was really cool!

I hoped on the plane back to Houston and after having quite the time of trying to tell KB where I was so she could pick me up, we finally found each other and made our way to the Bunte home for some pizza and the SYTYCD finale.

Next morning I made the trek to CS to get ready for....wait for it....GRADUATION!!! After hangin' with Lu and D I tackled the disaster zone that was my room....oh, it was bad, friends. Bad. But, I got it done! Had a lovely 3 HOUR coffee date with KR - love her!
The fam, after quite the eventful morning, made it down to CS around 1. CH and I went to the Ento Graduate luncheon before heading out to my BBQ lunch with so many other wonderful friends and family. We had an absolutely lovely time at the BBQ. To those of you who were able to make it, thank you so much for sharing that day with me.

And THEN, my dear friends, and THEN it was time to....~~GRADUATE~~ Oh how marvelous that night was. According to my family, who were on one of the upper levels of Reed during the ceremony, I never stopped smiling and they could see it all the way from where they were. It was an especially exciting night because so many of my wonderful Aggies friends were graduating with me. It was really cool to get to see RA and BM get hooded for their PhDs, too - really special. After taking oodles and oodles of pictures with family and friends, Seaner & Shyla and CH and I made our way into Downtown Bryan to meet up with BM and KZ at Murphy's Law for some good pubbing time in celebration. Haha, after BM and KZ left S&S and CH and I stuck around to finish our brews and ended up doing the cupid shuffle all by ourselves on the German side of Muprhy's...it - was - awesome. A couple walking the streets stopped to watch us through the window. Can you say priceless??? Haha - it totally was.

Saturday held a full day of packing and loading...my apartment was essentially empty by 6pm. Impressive, eh?? We thought so! Mom, CH and the boys hit the road around 4pm. Once Dad, Sean & Shyla, and I decided we were done for the day we went out to grab some grub, some brew, and, of course, some Harry Potter!! We enjoyed a nice evening and hit the hay. Went to church next morning, grabbed some grub, and caravaned to Arlington with my CS home in a U-haul truck. It was really weird.

Everything happened so fast that weekend. I graduated, I left my home of 4.5 years, I left my friends, and moved back to Arlington. I moved back to Arlington. Never thought that would happen, temporary as this may be. It's still strange, this time of intermission, you could say. I know that living in my parents' study is not forever, but after being on my own for so long, it's just strange to be back. I know I'm here just for a "semester" and that this has nothing to do with failings or anything of that nature, but those thoughts do creep in, on occasion. It's dumb, I know, but it's simply my honesty here.

Anyways...CHRISTMAS!! Christmas was absolutely lovely. Having my big brother and his wifey here with us was absolutely wonderful - best Christmas present ever. We had the good fortune of getting to sit around all day and play games and watch movies and just hangout. It was awesome. I was sad to see them go yesterday, but I get to see them later in the spring for a whole month, and Sean at least will be back out the beginning on June for J-man's graduation...wow, that's weird to think about it: J-man is graduating from high school. Crazy.

Now my dear ones, I must close, especially since I have now written a novel of a post...sorry! It's time to finally get my day rolling and get ready to head on down to CS for TM's New Year's Eve Extravaganza!!! Can't wait to see everyone :)

Happy New Year! 2010 should be a fabulous one.

Blessings!
~MW

P.S. - I'm pretty sure I have found the building I want to live in when I get to MN. It - is - awesome. More on that later!
P.P.S. - Sorry for any typos...I don't feel like proofing this one today...