It's been so long since I posted anything that I'm not sure where to begin.  I just reread my last entry and I can't believe that only 3 weeks ago I was getting ready to go to New York City.  Since then I've presented a poster and done an oral presentation over my summer research at NIH, moved to Illinois and started grad school.  I'll give a short summary of the highlights.

The poster presentation in Bethesda, MD at the big NIH campus on Aug. 4th was cool.  It was a really low key event and I enjoying seeing the campus.  It is so pretty, and looks like a college.  Quite the contrast to the NCI in Frederick, which is on an army base and is much more stark.

Then off to the Big Apple!  I saw Sweet Charity and Avenue Q on Broadway and had a lot of fun at both of them.  I went shopping on 5th Avenue and bought one $12 shirt at H&M, which is Anna's favorate store there.  Believe me, I think this shirt was the best deal in the area.  I walked into Sak's just for kicks and there was a purse for $795!  However, the highlight of my visit was definitely attending my cousin's wedding, which was quite the "society event".  I was seated at a table at the reception dinner with some bridesmaids and groomsmen who were all very friendly.  Guys who graduate from Yale certainly know how to ballroom dance!

One week ago today I was finishing my final presentation for the members of my lab at the NCI.  By "lab" I am referring to the entire Gene Regulation and Chromosome Biology Laboratory, which encompasses about 6 PI's (principle investigators) and all the post-docs and research assistants in their individual research groups.  I was a little nervous about presenting my work to people who know so much more about it than I do, but I think the presentation went really well.  All day after my presentation everyone kept telling me I did a really good job, which made me feel great.

After wrapping things up at the NCI I drove 10ish hours to Urbana, IL to move in to my new appartment with Ashlee.  This past weekend was a wholewind of paperwork, moving, visiting with parents, errands, packing, and unpacking.  I can't believe I've been here almost a week already!  I've had lots of fun having great friends like Ashlee and Dan to hang out with every day after spending so much time by myself in Maryland this summer.

So far things are going reasonable smoothly in grad school.  I'm going to take classes in Biophysics, Biomolecular Engineering, and Biomedical Instrumentation this semester.  Should be a great change from Chem E classes!  I'm a little nervous about finding a PhD research advisor, but I have an appointment to meet with one professor tomorrow.  Crossing my fingers that things will go well with that....

I hope that everything is going well for those of you who are starting school now.  I'll try to keep in touch and not wait too long to post another update.

Later,

Nell

Well, it's definitely been awhile since I've posted anything, so it's time for an update.  The third weekend of July I saw Dan and had a great time.  He flew into Baltimore on the 14th and we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory on the Inner Harbor.  Yum yum!  After dinner Dan gave me a promise ring!  It's a silver band with "Vous et nul autre" (French for "You and no other") engraved on it.  Unfortunately, it was the wrong size.  Oops!  So he's exchanging it right now and I have to wait until I see him in August in Illinois to get it for good.  We also went out to dinner and to brunch with Dan's parents and extended family, which was quite an experience.  I just hope I'm not expected to remember the names of any of his great-aunts or uncles!

I've spent the last two weeks working a lot in the lab, both on my poster for my poster presentation in Bethesda Aug 4th and on my project.  My experiments haven't been going well lately and I was starting to feel like my work was fairly useless.  However, I finally saw the band I was looking for on my gel today.  Yay!  Now I can finally move forward on my project.  Hopefully I can wrap it up before I leave for Illinois.

I've also been visiting some historical sites lately.  The night Dan left I was feeling a little lonely so I went to Fort McHenry in Baltimore, which is where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the national anthem.  It was a nice evening, so I enjoyed walking around the grounds.  I happened to be walking around the inner part of the fort when the ranger arrived to change the flag, so I got to help him.  So now I can say I have changed a flag at Fort McHenry. 

I also visited Gettysburg, PA this past Saturday.  This was the site of one of the bloodiest civil war battles.  Reading the signs by the battlefield was certainly sobering.  Over 50,000 people died in the 4 day battle!  It's hard for me to even fathom that, especially since it was Americans killing Americans.  I also learned that Lincoln was invited to speak at Gettysburg only as an afterthought.  He spoke after the featured speaker had gone on for 2 hours!  However, he went on to give the famed Gettysburg Address.  Only 5 copies of his speech exist, and they are all different because Lincoln threw away the original copy after giving the speech.  Just some random trivia.

Well, I think this entry is already too long.  I better wrap it up anyway since I need to pack.  I'm going to New York City this weekend!  I'm sure I'll have something interesting to say about that is my next entry.  Bye for now.

Nell

Summer always goes by quickly, but this summer seems to be flying by at record speed.  Mom flew out here this past weekend and we went to visit her brother and his family in Williamsburg, VA.  My uncle is very savy with technology and used his digital camera to take some cool pics while we visited the colonial area in Williamsburg.  Hopefully I'll figure out how to post those soon.  I was reading up on how to post pics on xanga, and apparently you need to find webspace from somewhere else to display them for you and then link that to xanga.  For those of you who are posting pics, where are you finding webspace to support them?  Thanks for your help.

Anyway, Sunday mom and I went shopping with my Aunt Fran (my dad's sister who lives in DC).  We spent FOUR hours Marshall's looking at clothes.  I was stuck in the dressing room watching our purses while my aunt brought a LOT of clothes for me to try on.  Some of the stuff she brought was not bad, but some of it was stuff I would never wear.  For example, can you guys see me in bright blue pants??  Didn't think so...

For the most part this week has been uneventful at work, except that Dr. Strathern might add the results of my research to a paper he is currently working on.  I sure hope he does!  It would be my first publication.  I'm going to try not to get my hopes up though in case it does not work out.  Besides, I'm sure I'll get plenty of publications in grad school.

Well, time for bed here on the East Coast.  Keep in touch.

Cheers!

Nell

Life continues to be great here on the East Coast.  I spent 4th of July with my dad's two sisters and their families.  They each have two sons in high school, so you can imagine that family gatherings with this group are always interesting.  My uncles put on the best fireworks I have ever seen, aside from professional displays.  It was funny to watch my aunts worry about them burning themselves while they were shooting off the fireworks, though they didn't seem too nervous since my uncles have been shooting them off for years.

We spent the holiday at my aunt's weekend home in Bucks County, PA.  Their property and the surrounding area is very scenic and peaceful.  I've been there a few times now, and every time I am there I like it even better.  The house is a renovated farmhouse, complete with a barn and ice house.  I got to stay in the ice house, which was awesome since it was nice and cool in there as most of it is underground.  I went running at least once each day I was there since the weather was outstanding (high temps in the mid 80s) and the roads were great for jogging.  I even ran past this decaying farmhouse that was probably 300 years old.  I love stuff like that!

This week has been fairly uneventful for the most part, with the exception of me signing up to present a poster about my summer research in Bethesda at the beginning of August.  I'm really looking forward to this since it will give me an excuse to check out the big NIH campus there.  Dr. Strathern and Paco (the post doc I am working with) seem pleased about this as well, which hopefully means that they will give me some input in making the poster so that I don't embarass myself in front of the whole NIH.  I think this event promises to be a great learning experience.  I will set up my poster August 3rd and present it August 4th.  On that note, I better get to writing my research abstract.

I hope everyone else is having as great summer.  Keep me posted!

Later, Nell

Wow, I can't believe July has begun.  The summer is flying by.  I'm really enjoying my job and weekends in Maryland.  This past weekend I went shopping with an OU friend in Washington DC on Saturday and went to see the musical Mama Mia with my aunt on Sunday.  I'm lucky to have such fun people and such interesting places to visit so close to where I work.  I know I will always look back on this summer with fond memories.

I'm also making a few new friends here in Frederick.  I eat lunch with another summer intern named Sarah every day at work.  She's from Ohio and just graduated from college, and this fall she will begin her master's at John Hopkins in Baltimore.  Tonight I'm going to visit her at her aunt and uncle's place in Potomac (a town outside DC) and we are going to make dinner and play Scrabble.  Should be a lot of fun.  I've also met another Scrabble fanatic named Annika in the dorms here at Hood College where I am living for the summer.  We've played several Scrabble games so far, and I can already tell that she is pushing me to become a better player. 

I am also enjoying spending time by myself.  At OU I devoted all my time to studying, APO, ASK, my boyfriend Dan, and my friends.  I became so used to all this stimulation that I forgot how much I enjoy spending time on my own.  I thought I might be lonely this summer, but I actually look forward to my time alone in the evenings to just relax and read or watch TV.  I have also started running again, and will try to keep this up in grad school.

Well, I better wrap this up since I need to get to work early today.  I've been really busy in the lab this week and have several experiments to wrap before the long weekend.  Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend.  Stay in touch.

Cheers!

Nell