Tag: saint louis

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A month of weddings…

This month is getting pretty busy, lemme tell ya… Last weekend, Brooke and I went up to Lincoln, IL for Alex Pham’s wedding. I was “drafted” to play my djembe for a song (“You and Me,” by Lifehouse), so we had to go up on Friday for the rehearsal and then, of course, stay for the wedding and reception. All in all, a good trip, and we certainly got to see lots of people, many of which I figured I’d never see again after undergrad. On the way back, we dropped by the new Abraham Lincoln Museum in Springfield, IL, which was pretty neat. It was just opened last year (I think?) and features a few different theaters and plenty of documents, including original copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and the marriage license between him and Mary Todd. Anyway, it was an interesting trip and you all should drop by if you happen to be in mid-Illinois…

Otherwise, we’ve got Mirnela’s wedding next weekend (co-worker here at the lab…) in Mountain Home, AR and Adam Waudby’s wedding on June 23rd in St. Paul, MN. For Mirnela’s, we’ll just drive down for that day and stay a night, but for Adam’s, we’re going to head up that Wednesday and camp in Wisconsin for a few days before heading into Minnesota…a sort of “vacation,” if you will… While I look forward to the trip, the 12 hr drive there (and 12 hrs back…) aren’t all that appealing…

So yeah, July will be a welcome change from all the driving we’re doing this month… Although, I think we’ve got a few more weddings popping up in August, both of which will be here in St. Louis… Too many people getting married, I tell ya…

Oh, and I turn 25 on June 20th. Send cash. 😉

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Good weekend…

This was one of the better weekends I’ve had in awhile, largely because the weather was stellar and we didn’t spend it sitting around watching TV (or studying) like usual… We drove down to Ste. Genevieve for the day on Saturday to do some wine tasting from two different wineries and look at some of the historic sites. The Cave Vineyards winery was especially neat ’cause, as the name suggests, they’ve got a cave that you can sit in and enjoy your wine and picnic lunch. Neither Brooke nor I consider ourselves to be “aficionados” or anything, but the wine was decent…certainly, the atmosphere made it worth the trip. They apparently do live music on weekends beginning in May and occasionally host “dinner and a movie” in the cave over summer as well.

Regardless, we had church Sunday morning and then spent the afternoon getting the bikes out and ready to go for another season. As we don’t particularly enjoy driving to St. Charles to hop on the Katy Trail, we tried out the St. Louis Riverfront Trail, which is thankfully within biking distance of our apartment. It’s about 11 mi long (plus a few miles to get there), and we certainly didn’t do all of it, but it was nice to get out and enjoy the day and explore a bit of the area around our place, now that the weather is cooperating.

Of course, the weekend was especially good because my final was on Friday, leaving me with absolutely no school work to accomplish over the weekend (first time in awhile!). It “only” took me 5 hours this time (instead of 6 hours, like last semester), and the exam wasn’t entirely unreasonable…but regardless, the semester is officially over for me. Not only the semester, really, but also the sum of all classwork required for the Ph.D. program. Now, I’ve gotta buckle down and write a grant that follows along the lines of my research plans, then defend it, by the end of 2007.

Ready? Set? Go!

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Meet Edie

Meet Edie!

So, we’ve been looking for a dog for a little while now…  Preferably, a somewhat older one so it would be more mellow, yet energetic enough to go out on walks, etc.  Also, a breed that wouldn’t bark too much and that would get along with a kitty cat…  We’ve checked out various on-line venues, including the pound, and various groups around the state.

Well, we found Edith Ann at the Humane Society here in St. Louis yesterday…”Edie” for short…  She’s a 5 year old 13″ Beagle that was owned by an older lady who had to give her up to enter a nursing home.  We brought her home today and all is well so far!  She’s a sweetie…haven’t heard her bark yet…although she does whine a bit…  She’s a little overweight, so we’ve gotta limit her food for awhile and be sure to take her on frequent walks, but that was the plan, anyway…

So far, Sam isn’t a fan of his new roommate…  He spent most of the day hiding under the bed, but finally came out around 8:30 to see what the deal is…  He’s checked Edie out a few times, but has yet to really “make friends”…  I’m sure it’ll work out, though…

Anyway, there are more pictures on my Google Photos page…check ’em out…and come visit if you want!

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Yay!!

Well, it looks that way, anyway. So, I had a spur-of-the-moment interview today with a company called Bridges Community Support Services. It went really well, and at the end of the conversation, the CEO/owner offered me a job as a Community Support Worker. Basically, I’ll be going into mentally and physically disabled people’s homes to make sure that they’re safe, healthy, organized, and successful. So far, the position sounds nearly perfect (except for a small pay cut)….but at this point, just about anything would be better than DYS. The guy I met with today was really nice and seems genuinely interested in putting people who want to make a difference into jobs where they can do so. There’s also a pretty good chance of advancement pretty quickly, which is also a huge improvement over where I am now. So, I’ll be starting as soon as I have a starting date and can give my notice at Hillsboro Treatment Center. Let the questions begin…

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Al…most…there…

So, I had my last regular exam of the semester today, and I think it went pretty well… That makes 6 exams I’ve completed this semester (and about a million flash cards)… Regardless, I’m done with classes until January 29th (w00t!) and I have a comprehensive final on December 14th. That test is an attempt to get us “thinking integratively” so that we don’t separate each physiological system and think of them from a “whole body” approach. In particular, it’s because we get a preliminary thesis proposal in about a year when we’re given integrative questions, to make sure we know all that there is to know about physiology. Anyway, I can’t decide if this test will be hard or not, ’cause I’ve done relatively well all semester. It’s just that we haven’t had that much practice on such things this semester. Hopefully it doesn’t hurt much.

Otherwise, Brooke and I are preparing to move to Soulard (neighborhood in the City of St. Louis) from our current apartment. For nearly the same amount we’re paying now, we’ll have two floors (plus basement storage), a washer/dryer in the apartment, a much larger deck (on the roof), a wood stove, and within walking distance of bars and restaurants in the Soulard area. The only real downside is that it’ll be on-street parking, so getting out in the winter will be a bit harder. Oh well! Anyway, our lease starts on Dec. 15th, so we’ll have until the end of December to move everything over…

Other than that, life is good… We’re hoping to publish a paper including the research I’ve been doing for the past 9 months, so I’m going to use the month of January (sans classes…) to get some work done. It won’t be too busy, but it’s still rather daunting to take care of the volume of data I’ll be accumulating, let alone what I’ve already accumulated…

Such is life…

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An AUDIO ADRENALINE Concert

(not a Mercy Me Concert)

So, last night, we had tickets to Mercy Me, Audio Adrenaline, and Phil Wickham. The concert started at 7:00, so we thought if we got there a little after it was supposed to start, we wouldn’t have to hear a bad opener or wait for a whole bunch of stage changes. However, we got there at about 7:15 and only caught the end of the last Phil Wickham song, then Audio Adrenaline was ready to go on in about 5 minutes. We went to the concert because it was Audio Adrenaline’s last tour stop in St. Louis ever, since their lead singer’s voice is shot. They were pretty good, but the set was only about 35 minutes long and it’s pretty obvious that the singer’s voice is not doing so well. After the reason we went the the concert, we decided to stay to hear Mercy Me do “I Can Only Imagine.” Of course, they sang about a bazillion other songs first and talked and preached and talked. Their show was so polished and timed and had synced videos and way too much preaching. Andy and I were both bored and ready to go, but were waiting for “I Can Only Imagine” and stuck it out, then got out of there before the masses. So, the moral of the story is Audio Adrenaline=Good, Mercy Me=not-much-better-than-average.

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Ok, Ok…

…Here’s your update…

Two weeks ago, Mallory and Leland visited on Thursday night. We went to Blueberry Hill with them, then they went to a Carninals’ game and then came back to stay at our place. Of course, by the time they got there, I was asleep and I left for work before they were even thinking about getting up. Then, that Friday, Mom met me in St. Peters after work and Rachel came back home with me. We went mini-golfing, shopping at St. Louis Mills (where we bought too many matching things), to dinner at the Olive Garden for her birthday, and then Mom and Dad came for dinner on Sunday. As you’ve surely read in Sam’s blog, we also picked out new food for the cat and a new brush.

I’ve had 3 job interviews and 1 more to go in the past couple of weeks. So far, I’ve been offered the one that pays the least but might be the most fun, so we’re still waiting to hear back from the others before a decision is made, since I want a Yaris and to quickly pay back my student loans from last year.

That’s about all, except for some reason I have had an ear ache for the past few days which caused a slight mental breakdown that Andy is not very happy about….I just don’t want to get sick when I have so much going on right now! I’ll let you know more when I know more, myself!

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Ooooo, Zooooo…

So, I had to go by the lab to run my cytotoxicity assay on the cells I killed Friday, and there’s a 3 hour incubation time…so Brooke and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and go to the zoo.

I must say, for free entertainment, it was a good time. We went last summer once, but only went to a few exhibits. This time, we went through the ape house, herpetarium, insectarium, and all the outdoor exhibits. Sadly, we didn’t see the new baby elephant, but I did get to go through the herpetarium for the first time in mostly forever (see, Mom doesn’t like snakes…so we didn’t get to go through that house very often… Thanks, Mom… :-P).

For the record, however, the penguins are, by far, the bestest exhibit at the zoo. They even have Gentoo penguins!? 😉

Regardless, we had a good day. Hadn’t been to the zoo in awhile and, honestly, we should make use of a free attraction more often. Next on our list is the Anheuser-Busch Tour, which sadly, we haven’t done yet… Maybe tomorrow…maybe some other time…

On another note, my experiment worked… w00t! to data!

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I Forgot…

But, I had my first gambling experience last weekend. My parents came down for their anniversary (26!) and so I met them at Ameristar for dinner. We ate, then Dad gave me $20 so I wouldn’t feel guilty wasting away my own money. Mom and I went to the penny slot machines where we bet 5 cents a time. We changed machines every so often since Mom has a policy of not losing more than $2 to a single machine. Mom kept losing, but I won $13 and some change on one machine, then lost about $5 of that to end up with $10 more than I started with. So, woohoo to me! Plus, it was quite entertaining to see my parents away from the way I normally see them and to spend some time with them by myself..it made me feel very grown-up!