Talking Telephone Numbers

Having endured the joy of having a 'pay as you go' mobile phone for pretty much the entire time i've been in the US so far (i got it two weeks after arrival), last weekend,, i FINALLY managed to get round to swapping it over to a contract phone. This was no mean feat in itself, i should add - as i made the mistake of choosing the Saturday after Thanksgiving to visit the mall to do this (one word: busy!). Anyway, after much waiting around, pleading, sobbing and threatening (you get the general picture), i was able to sort this all out. At first i thought it would be a case of stumbling at the first hurdle again - i had my social security number, but then the form asked for a driver's licence number. Fortunately, this turned out not to be essential. On the downside of things, my lack of credit history in the US (the new thorn in my side) meant that i had to pay a $500 deposit that will be returned to me. Provided I pay all my bills on time. Now this is a lot of money to part with, but i was tired of throwing it down the drain away with the pre-paid phone (it was such that, if anyone called me, I had to pay!).

Of course, this means the obligatory number switch as well - but thankfully my phone handset had all my numbers in its memory so didn't need lots of faffing around. The numbers over here are something that i'm slowly getting used to. Apparently, there used to be a logic to it - but that went out the window sometime ago. As with the UK, there is an 'area code' - in this case, three digits (843 for Charleston and probably the surrounding areas) followed by seven digits - the phone number itself. The strange thing is what numbers need to be dialled in order to get through. In the UK, if you're in the same area as the number you're dialling, you don't need to dial the code - but then if you do, it doesn't matter as the call still connects. Over here, you dial the code and you don't need to, then the phone goes crazy in your ear. On the flip side, if you want to dial a state number, then it's fine, but anywhere else and you have to put '1' before it (i think this is the 'long distance' number or something. Either way, it's enough to give you a headache - especially when the bloody fax machine doesn't work properly with it!

For Granted

Those of you who visit the blogpage regularly will no doubt have noticed that my postings have been somewhat sporadic of late. Whilst i did mention some time ago that this may be the case, it has been even more erratic than usual of late. Firstly, i should apologise for this - but as you can imagine, things have been pretty hectic of late. The major reason for this has been that i have been embroiled in the writing of a grant proposal - for which the deadline is January 12th 2006. This may seem like a long way in the future but then consider that i have been over in the States for about 5 months and a week and you suddenly realise that time does indeed fly. Whether you're having fun or not!!

Anyway, the point of my writing this proposal is to secure funding that, if succesful, will keep me here for at least another two years from July next year. Which is good for you all cause it gives you plenty of time to come and visit. It's not that, come July, i'll be sent back home with my tail between my legs (I am assured that if i'm working hard and getting good results, the boss will definitely want to keep me around) but it would at least guarantee me longer which will give me a greater chance to develop projects, and get publications - the currency of the scientific community. So, apologies once again for the sporadic and erratic posting. Hopefully, once the New Year is over with, and the proposal has been submitted, things will get back to normal. Well, as normal as i can be.

Fever Pitch

Of course, no public holiday would be complete these days without the obligatory sales to go with them and over here in the US is no exception to the rule. Cue the so-called "Black Friday" - the day after Thanksgiving (also a holiday as i have mentioned) and when the shops traditionally wheel out their 'huge, price-busting bargains (TM)'. Now, as you can imagine, this is the perfect opportunity for most people to spend some of their hard earned cash on Christmas present for their nearest and dearest - all those things that they have been going on about for so long have suddenly been slashed in price. Of course, in doing this, there is also the great risk that the person in question may have taken advantage of the sales themselves and bought the thing as well, but hey, isn't it like that will all Christmas presents anyway? As you can guess, this day is also a boon for the shops and is considered a good indicator as to how well the financial year is going to be for them - quite how one day is extrapolated to an entire year is beyond me, but i bet involves some interesting maths along the way.

From talking to my American colleagues here in the lab, it's clear that a lot of the folks on this side of the pond take sales shopping very seriously - more so than back home it would seem. The tales of relatives, sibling and parents rising at 5 am merely to go and queue in the cold (yes, it is getting that way now!) in the hopes of grabbing that must have bargain or, as is more the norm, being able to tell friends and other relatives that they were 'first in line at so, and so...'. Why is it that, when it comes to the Sales, there always seems to be that one upmanship going on? Anyway, I decided to spend Black Friday steering clear of the downtown area (and shopping malls out of town). When I did venture into one of the malls on Saturday (more on this later), it was purely a matter 'go in, get what i want, come out'. The crowds were pretty hefty though. Looks like Black Friday may not have been so 'black' for the stores.

A Piece of Pie

Having gone over the history of Thanksgiving yesterday, now seems like a good time to cover some of the aspects of my own first Thanksgiving (and also now that i have recovered from all that eating!). My lab here is quite international as i have probably mentioned in the past and, consequently, there are a number of us who don't celebrate Thanksgiving in our home countries and, also, have no place to celebrate it here. Enter the lab manager, Charlene, who very kindly invited us to her house (and there was, i think, a dozen of us who wnet - so this was exceedingly generous of her) for a traditional Southern Thanskgiving. In addition to the turkey (we had ham as well), there was mac and cheese, mashed potato, mashed sweet potato, homeade cranberry, cornmeal (or is it cornbread?) dressing, asparagus, green beans and onions, and apple sour (a cold salad style dish with apples - nice and zingy!). Dessert was pumpkin pie (absolutely delicious, i must say!) and apple pie, as well as some Hummingbird cake that we had bought along (like carrot cake except with bananas and other fruit). All very nice indeed.

Of course, as you can imagine, after eating this and more (there were nibbles provided too), we were all pretty stuffed - and had decided to go for a walk between the two courses. This took us along to the river and ponds near Charlene's house where some alligators live (although we didn't see them alas - i was quite excited at the prospect i have to say!). We also went round to where considerable amounts of bamboo grow - and this stuff ranged from the relatively new (thin and possibly easy to snap if you so wished) to the type of stuff that you could hack down and build a raft out of - as thick as your wrist! All in all, the day was very pleasant indeed - and i very much enjoyed my first Thanksgiving. Now where did i put that pumpkin pie?

The First Thanksgiving

As already mentioned earlier, this Thursday (the fourth of November) was Thanksgiving (my first) - an annual day of holiday for the US. Curious as to how this holiday came about I asked a few American workmates and dug a little more on the Internet to get a feel for the history of the day. The Pilgrims who originally came to the New World on the Mayflower were fleeing England to escape religious persecution. They set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620 and the first winter was devastating. By the following Autumn, 46 of the original 102 who sailed had died. However, the harvest of 1621 was bountiful and the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast, also including 91 native Americans who had helped the Pilgrims. The feast was more of a traditional English harvest festival than a true "thanksgiving" observance and lasted three days. However, after this, the next "Day of Thanksgiving" wasn't officially proclaimed until 1676 - but, interestingly, this is thought not to have included the native Americans as the celebration was partly a consequence of the recent victory of the 'heathen natives'.

The 13 colonies first celebrated together in 1777 - but it wasn't until 1789 that George Washington declared a national day of Thanksgiving that was somewhat opposed. The history of Thanksgiving doesn't end here - as there was still some feeling that the hardship of a few pilgrims didn't warrant a day of rest (presidents such as Jefferson scoffed at the idea). Thanks to the efforts of a Sarah Josepha Hale (a magazine editor) finally led to her achieving her goal (after 40 years of writing editorials, letters and goodness knows what else) when Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November. And here it has pretty much stayed (apart from a two years when FDR moved it up a week to create a longer Christmas shopping season before it returned owing to the uproar it created). And here it has remained since.

Hospital Health

Working as I do at a Medical University means that, logically, the campus is going to be close to a hospital and it is - from the look of things, it was a case of the university was built around the hospital. Anyway, the ways things are means that on occasion i have to visit the hopsital - either for the canteen, or to take DNA to be sequenced (not mine, i should add!). This has given me the chance to generally get an impression of how things are compared to back home. For one thing, the places look at lot cleaner, smarter and generally better maintained. I haven't been in too many hospitals back home (thank God!) but from memory they seem to pale in comparison to what i've seen here (of course, this is but one hospital and an statisticiain would tell you not to take that as an indicator of all!).

For those of you that don't know, the medical system here is based on insurance. Thus, the government doesn't fund it completely as with the NHS in the UK (if at all - i'm not sure how much the government give here). Basically, all citizens have to have their own medical insurance that they use should anything happen. Thus, this means that any tests or such that are done are paid for by this. One advantage of this system means that there are very few waiting lists as with back home. So, when one of the lab managers was taken ill last week (Monday), she was in the ER (casualty to the Brits) that evening, admitted there and then and put in a bed, and had keyhole surgery on the Wednesday. The only reason they couldn't have done this on the Tuesday is that there was no room in the operating theatre. However, whilst this system may seem slick and polished, it's no secret that the US and Americans envy the NHS in the UK. Guess the grass is always greener.

The Holiday Season

With Thanksgiving approaching this week (more on that later), the start of the holiday season is 'officially' marked. This got me thinking about differences between UK and US in terms of holidays. Before coming over here, my over-riding impression was that people live to work here and take very little holiday (or vacation) time. Certainly not beyond two weeks even though they are allowed just as long as us in Britain. As I understood it, Christmas and Boxing Day came and went, and it was back to work as normal. I can certainly envision the city workers doing this - although admittedly the work ethic and hours in scientific circles are somewhat unusual anyway (both in the UK and the US). I am also fortunate in that my boss is very relaxed in this area and is of the mind that, so long as the experiments get done, then time off when you want it will not be a problem.

However, it's not all work work work over here and possibly to counter the lack of holidays that people take over here is the number of other holidays that there are. In England and Wales, there are six Bank Holidays and two Common Law Holidays (Christmas Day and Good Friday). This is, as i recall, one of the lowest in Europe (Scotland and N. Ireland have a couple more). Over here, there are also a couple more. There are eleven holidays in total (including Christmas Day). Admittedly, whilst not all of these are 'compulsory' (Martin Luther King Day for example) there are other considerations such that the day after Thanksgiving (traditionally a Thursday) is also usually given off. What is, perhaps, more of note is that the spacing of these holidays is much more even. Maybe these 'mini-breaks' go some way to explaining why the Americans do not need their holiday so much.

Car Hunt

Having received my photo driving licence through the mail (sorry, post!) a couple of weeks ago, you'd have thought that i'd be out like a shot looking for a car by now. Alas, this has not been the case owing largely to the demands of cells, experiments, grant writing and any number of little things that have been getting in the way at work. Still, am not too disappointed - have managed without a car for a few months so far so a little longer won't matter. Plus, this also gives me a bit more time to consider more the type of car i want to get and, mainly, whether i want to buy or lease. Leasing seemed to me like a good idea - you get a newer car (ideal if im going to be travelling about the state a bit from time to time) and no hassle of having to sell it when i move on (in about two and a half years hopefully). On the downside, they are apparently incredibly strict about condition of the car when you return it, they often have a mileage limit that you have to pay quite heavily for if you go over. Plus, i found out recently, that as with buying you need a guarantor to sign if you are non-US (mainly if you have no credit history) as with buying a car.

I find this incredibly annoying. This is the self-titled Land of the Free yet it has to be one of the most xenophobic countries in terms of the red tape and nonsense that gets thrown your way. You would think that, if people have taken the trouble to come and work in the US - for the benefits of both the US and society as a whole, that they'd be ready to bite your hand off when you then want to spend your hard earned cash here but it seems not to be the case. So far, i've had to leave a $150 deposit for the electricity, if i want to get a mobile contract it'll be $500, for a landline $75 (if i choose to get one) and now i have to find someone willing to sign for me as a guarantor. I'm sure i wouldn't have any problem finding someone but, to me, it shouldn't be necessary. Provided you have proof of a steady source of income whilst you're in the US, i think that should be enough. I would be interested to see what the situation is like for people moving to the UK, specifically if it's any worse than over here.

A Gift to Take Away?

With the Christmas season rolling around, thoughts naturally turn to gifts - mainly what to get people and, in this case, how i'm going to get them to people (i think that Amazon is going to do well of me this year). Anyway, with all this in mind, one naturally pays attention to the Christmas adverts that have noww started appearing on TV (although there are still not as many as i'd thought - i think Thanksgiving is keeping them at bay for the moment. It's quite refreshing right now). As you'd expect, a good sprinkling of adverts over here have something to do with food (it's the same in the UK) or a restaurant of some kind. Except with a greater variety of them over here, the quantity over here is perhaps a bit more.

What surprised me even more was the fact that a number of these restaurants now offer 'gift cards'. In other words, you can go into a restaurant, purchase a card and put money on it, then give it someone as a present. Now, the first thing that struck me was who on Earth would actually do that - but then i reasoned that people must do it otherwise the company wouldn't do it. I then tried to imagine what it would be like to receive such a card - again, i find it hard to believe that there are people out there who would be happy to receive one. But then I suppose that there are people who may not be as well off as most where such a thing would be fantastic. Ultimately, i realised that, whilst not the gift most on my mind (and don't worry, no one will be getting a McDonalds gift card off of me), it's the thought that counts. And in a world where Christmas is getting ridiculously materialistic , perhaps we all ought to remember that.

Monarchy Madness

It's a sure thing over here that, once people realise you're from the UK, the next thing they say is either going to be "Are you from London?" or "So what's it like having a Queen?". When i first arrived, it was always the former question, with the latter following soon after but after a brief lull in this trend (it was replaced by people just insisting i keep talking), it's back with a vengeance and squarely focused on the Monarchy. Quite why this should be, I am not sure - it could be because Prince Charles and Camilla are paying a visit over this side of the Atlantic (or were, i'm not sure if they're still here). Whatever the reason, it seems that I can't go anywhere without someone asking my opinion on the Queen, the Royal Family, Charles getting married again and, as mentioned above, what it's like to live in a Monarchy.

As you can imagine, my answers range from the glib and sarcastic (which usually go straight over the heads of most people here) to the weary (a few days ago, it seemed like EVERYONE i spoke to wanted to know the answers to these questions) to the genuine - most people here seem to think that i will/should be outraged at the fact that Charles got married to Camilla (for the record, i say good luck to them). The American interest in Britain and everything about it is, perhaps, nothing new. Nor is the interest in the Queen and Royal Family, i suppose. It's plausible that I may be the first Brit that most of these people are meeting so, naturally, they'll want to ask things like this. This could also couple with the general malaise about the American leadership right now. Either way, it's something that I suspect I may have to be putting up with for the time being.

Karaoke King

If anyone has seen "Lost In Translation", then they know that the Japanese are pretty into Karaoke (the word itself translates as "Empty Orchestra" so I believe). Well, last night i managed to experience this first hand. Some of the MD PhD students in the department here asked a couple of us if we wanted to go to a karaoke evening at a bar downtown called The Upper Level (I think - it may be The Upper Deck) which they described as something of a dive (it's certainly not a place to dress up to) so two of the Japanese guys here Kaz and Moto (the new guy), and myself decided to head along and see what the fuss was about. Whilst the bar isn't the smartest of places, the atmosphere was good and, from my point of view, it was great - i.e. they had Guinness and Stella Artois on draught so there actually something good to drink.

Of course, inevitably, we all trooped up to sing (minus Kaz) and got into the spirit of it all. My two songs were "Common People" by Pulp and "Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club. The former went down pretty well, i have to say - I certainly attempted to make my British accent as common as possible! But the undoubted star of the night had to be Moto. We were all wondering how he would be able to sing in English, given his spoken English isn't brilliant - but that didn't seem to be a problem. Singing "The Power of Love" and "Satisfaction", he really got into it and bought the house down. Everybody absolutely loved him! (I believe he even got bought a couple of drinks for it as well). So will we be back there next week? Hmmm, what do you guys think?

Bounce, Set, Spike!!!

Spending most of my weeks, as I do, at the lab bench, the weekends are beginning to come something of the exercise part of my week. Saturday afternoon soccer (sorry, football!) games are now a regular thing and there is usually enough of us to play 6 a side and get a decent run about at the same time. Last night, the group all stayed after in the moonlight and had a BBQ - was very pleasant indeed. Well, to add to that, Sunday's now looks set to become volleyball day. This goes back to the BIochemistry Department picnic when a few of us got together to play a bit of a game and one of the number - a Dr in the BSB building (where the other half of the Biochem. department is located) by the name of Jeff Hansen told us that he was trying to get a game together to play in the annual Intramural league that they have here at MUSC.

This is split into two sections - the "serious" competition and the recreational one. As you can guess, we fell into the latter category. So today was our first match - owing to schedules, we had been unable to meet to have a practice so this was one heck of a way to have a dry run. Basically, there was 5 of us on the team (I believe a team of more than 4 is required - some of those who had expressed an interest were unable to make it this time) and we were playing against a team of 6 (who also had a 7th man as substitute). Considering it was the first time that our team had been in the same room, and we had a few minutes to warm up and practice, I think we did pretty well. Ok, so we didn't win, alas - we lost 2 games to 0 by 30-26 and 30-24 - but as you can see, the scores were close. So its encouraging. And, of course, with my height, you can bet that i'm good at blocking and spiking! If only I could stay in that position!!!

In with the New

With today being Veteran's DAy in the US (I guess the equivalent of Rememberance Sunday back home), MUSC employees are, apaprently, entitled to a day off - although typically this doesn't seem to have reached the scientists yet - both most of our lab and others on campus all seem to be in as usual. Still, no rest for the wicked i guess. Anyway, in addition to remembering the war veterans, today is somewhat of a special day for me in that the lab are officially recognising the arrival of a postdoc from Japan (yet another!) to join the lab - in typical fashion by going out for a meal. The chosen restaurant - The Red Orchid (have i mentioned this before?), generally considered by Japanese and Chinese post docs as the best American-style Chinese restaurant in Charleston. So why is this important to me, i hear you ask?

Well, it's now official - i'm no longer "The New Guy". After 137 days of being in the lab, I can now, no longer, use the excuse that i'm new to hide behind when it comes to generally looking lost, messing up other people's experiments, accidentally pouring the wrong chemical down the wrong sink ("But I had no idea! I didn't see that large label in front of me!"), and other general mishaps. The baton of being new passes on and, i think, will stay with our new guy a bit longer (his English leaves a little to be desired and the fact he is living with our two other Japanese post docs means, i suspect, that it won't be getting much practice OUT of the lab). Interestingly enough, this is also a landmark in that it's my 101st post on here. Inwardly, i'm amazed that i managed to keep people reading even past post number 20, let alone this far.

Seeing Double

Not, as you might expect, the relating of my last couple of times out in Charleston (as if I'd get THAT drunk!) but something altogether different. Many of you may have heard of the myth of the Doppelganger. Meaning "double walker" a doppelganger is a shadow-self that accompanies every human. Only the owner of a doppelganger can see it, otherwise it is invisible although dogs and cats have been known to see them. A doppelganger almost always stands behind a person, casting no reflection in a mirror. Prepared to listen and give advice to humans, they can implant ideas in their heads and it's said to be bad luck if it is seen. However, doppelgangers can be mischievous and malicious. More recently, the term has become synonymous with people who can 'double' for others. Now, this may sound far-fetched but consider the fact that a number of famous people have utilised doubles at some point - perhaps the most famous being Field Marshal Montgomery (there is, I believe, a film about the man - called "My Life As Monty"). What, you may ask, has this all to do with Charleston, America and Science?

Well, it seems that a large number of doubles are living here - at least ones to people I know. Since arriving some four and a half months ago (seems like yesterday), I have seen a considerable number of people who look uncannily like friends of mine from Manchester, Liverpool, College and Home. These have appeared in coffee shops, restaurants, book stores. Hell, even when i was at the hairdressers. Now maybe it's just me, and maybe i'm going crazy (hey, you have to be crazy to be a scientist - apparently it's compulsory!). Or from a scientific point of view, maybe there is some limits to genetic variation such that two completely unrelated people can bear striking resemblances to each other. I'm not a mathmetician (any more) so i can't really calculate the odds of that. On the other side of the coin, it could just be that i'm missing everyone and am waiting for them to start visiting. See the subtle hint there?

Swipe of the Scissors

Having hit the couple of week break that is usual in TV shows over here (they're called, i believe, production gaps in that they allow the production to stay ahead of the transmitted episodes), the TV has been filled with more repeats than usual (reminds me of home in more ways than one!) and so it's become something of a challenge to find something interesting to watch. This hasn't been too much of a problem - i'm usually busy reading papers, tidying my apartment, or out at the lab/bars/restaurants/all of the above! On the occasions when i have found myself back home on an evening or at the weekend, with nothing much else to do, i've taken to watching a good number of films. The plethora of channels over here means that there are usually at least two or three films on at any one time and, if i'm not mistaken, this increases over the weekend. However, the scheduling of these films is somewhat unusual.

Take, for example, a couple of Saturdays ago - 2'o'clock in the afternoon and on the Warner Bros. channel there was a screening of "Interview With the Vampire". This Sunday just gone, the TBS channel had "Robocop" on at 3.30PM in the afternoon. A quick flick through the TV listings shows films like "Aliens" and "The Terminator" on various days in late afternoon or early evening - films hardly noted for their family friendly content. As you can imagine, these shows have undergone some serious trimming in order to merit a rating suitable for the time slot (I can't imagine what a PG Robocop is like!). In contrast to this, late evening films that i've watched have included "Star Trek: Insurrection", "Sliding Doors", "The Matrix" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". Whilst these may not be wholly child friendly, they're at least a bit more amenable to the swipe of the scissors than the rest. It seems, however, that the onus as to who gets to watch what lies squarely on the shoulders of the parent/guardian/babysitter, which isn't very reliable, given that a lot of kids have probably got TVs in their rooms. And when events such as Colubmine happen, critics are happy to point to other 'influences'. Perhaps installing a 'watershed' time for such movies as we have in the UK would help - at least it would mean that people old enough to watch them can do so without fear that they're going to be hacked to pieces.

Cashiers, NC (Part 2)

Waking on Thursday blessedly free of hangover and, after breakfast, there was a morning's worth of talks. These were, thankfully, only ten minutes each with a couple of minutes for questions and so there was little chance of losing attention. I was even brave enough to ask the odd question as well. After lunch, there were three hours of free time and so a group of us took the opportunity to hike up Chimney Top - one of the mountains behind (about 4,700 ft - not sure if that is high enough to be a mountain or not, but it felt like a long way, believe me). The views were fantastic - you could see for miles and miles of gold, red and brown trees. Absolutely stunning. There were glimpses of wildlife on the way up too - we managed to catch site of albino squirrels. On returning, there was a poster session, a second plenary lecture and then dinner. After dinner, the real fun started - a band arrived and a stage was set up for square dancing. Except the dancers didn't turn up. Thus, we improvised (it was entertaining, believe you me). After two hours of dancing around, you'd think we'd all be ready for bed but, scientists being scientists, it was straight back to the alcohol (the table downstairs had been replenished from the night before) and, as i recall, most of us ended up getting to bed in the wee hours of the morning (about 2.30 as i recall).

Another morning's worth of talks awaited us (no hangover again - it must have been the mountain air!) and some of our group were in line to present. They all did very well, on the whole, and dealt with any questions very adroitly. The conference officially wrapped up at 12.15 and after a final lunch at the inn, most people headed home. I stayed on with a group of friends to go round the golf course (part of the Inn) - no, I didn't play (i'm not THAT co-ordinated) but was merely a spectator and took joy in driving those funky little carts around (they are fantastic fun, let me tell you). The course was stunning - the scenery breathtaking. After the golf, we headed to Greenville (on the way home) for dinner before finally setting off back to Charleston. I arrived home at about 1.20am (early Saturday) and went straight to bed. Is it any surprise after all this, that i didn't get up till 2.30PM?

Cashiers, NC (Part 1)

Having managed to sort out my cells so they would be quite happy on their own for a couple of days, Wednesday saw me getting a ride with a couple of workmates to Cashiers, North Carolina for the South-Eastern Regional Lipid Conference (SERLC for short), an annual event that is generally regarded as one of the better ones - generally cause there is plenty of alcohol flowing. The drive took about 6 hours (including a half hour stop for lunch) - a ridiculously long time considering that this took us pretty much across South Carolina and barely into North Carolina and is equivalent to driving from London to, say, Newcastle - around 3/4 of the length of England. Anyway, the drive was pretty mundane - the Americans love to have walls of trees either side of the Interstate - and it wasn't until we began to get into the hills that we could actually see anything. The resort - the High Hampton Inn - was very pleasant indeed. Nicely rustic and set in the hills themselves. The peace and quiet was palpable - and it was wonderful, on an evening, to be able to see all the stars.

On arrival, there was tea in the afternoon - not bad, but certainly not British - and then the start of the conference proper with a reception downstairs. First big mistake of the organisers is to put a table laden with alcohol in the centre of the room (we're talking big bottles of jack Daniels, Gin, Smirnoff Vodka, Bacardi and Whisky), plenty of mixers and two big barrels of beer (well, Bud and Miller Light - beer in the loosest sense of the term). Needless to say, this was soon cracked open (we all politely waited for one of the bigger names to crack open the spirits before we all followed suit) and much chatter and gossip began. The major aim, for me, was to put faces to names - some of the more well-known in my particular area and this was largely successful. I had a good chat with a couple of such people, swapped a couple of recent results and made note that we would probably be in touch with the other asking for reagents and stuff in the future. After a lecture (more of a ramble), we all headed back to the alcohol for 'social time' - i.e. getting drunk even more - and a late time to bed. Who said these things had to be about science anyway?

Out of Town

So, just a short post today - this is mainly cause i'm trying to finish a grant proposal (first draft) to give to my boss as soon as it's done. This is mainly cause the whole lab (virtually) is off out of town from Wednesday to Friday evening to Cashiers, North Carolina for a conference. I'm told that it's a good informal conference and lots of fun is had by all. I'm particularly looking forward to it as it will be the first time i've had a couple of days out of the lab since i arrived. It'll also be my first time out of Charleston, and out of the state. I'm told the scenery is stunning - it's close to the Blue Ridge mountains - and there is opportunity for hiking and golf (some of us have scheduled a game after the conference on Friday). So, until i get back, i bid you 'au revoir' and shall dutifully report on all the goings on. Well, i will if i've sobered up by then!