Peek-a-boo

I've been here, just hiding out behind a mountain of work!

The exciting news is that Friday I got to meet Kristen of Procrastinating in Pittsburgh! She was in Chicago--at U of C, actually--for a conference and we met up for dinner. She is every bit as charming and funny and witty in person as she is in her blog. I love meeting blogging friends. It still amazes me that I can meet and create friendships with people who are hundreds of miles away!

Additionally, I recently heard from a really good friend from college that I had sort of lost touch with. It was really good talking to her. I have to be better about maintaining my friendships. Really. It feels like there are so many people I just randomly stopped communicating with for no other reason than that life got in the way. But friends are a part of life and I need to take the time to keep in touch with them.

I am still working on my April Wedding Shawl for the CabinCoveAlong. I have started on the border. I'm probably about 1/5 of the way through the border. I'm getting a little nervous because the wedding is one week from today! I'm afraid I may join the ranks of the few, the proud, the people who block their shawl in the hotel room hours before they are supposed to wear it. It was not my intention to join this elite society, but I may be forced into it. Also, I need more blocking pins. Where can I get pins for $2/100 pins? Anyone know?

I wish I could show you a picture, but I seem to be missing the cable that connects my camera to my computer. I had it with me in California (went there the beginning of the month) but I haven't seen it since then. John swears it's not out there. I have a feeling though, that the next time I'm there, I'll take a 15 second glance around the place and locate it. In the meantime, I can't download pictures! I'm thinking about getting a memory card reader that plugs directing into the USB port. They aren't very expensive and it will probably be more convenient in the long run.

In other news, my sister is having a boy. She is naming him B. The same B as M's boyfriend and my boss. It could get a little confusing. Therefore, I have taken to referring to each of them with modifiers before their names. Boss-B, M's-B, and Baby-B. I am officially declaring a moratorium on that name.

I am going to try to be better about updating the blog but it turns out that the more I do on the computer at work the less I feel like spending time on the computer outside of work stuff. And I've been trying to keep all of my notes on the computer lately because I'm really tired of trying to track down pieces of paper on my desk and lab bench. So, that's a lot of computer time. On the plus side, I am getting more organized. Also, I am trying some note-taking software and it needs to be run on a computer with OX 10.3 or higher. In the meantime, the software I use to analyze DNA sequence can only be run on computers running something less that 10.3. Therefore, when I'm at work, I'm taking notes on my laptop and doing other things on my laptop. It makes me look like I'm getting a lot of work done. It also makes me look a little silly. Before you ask, yes, we could upgrade the sequencing software but it would cost $15000 to get the software for the whole lab. Yes, that is the correct amount of zeros! Needless to say, we aren't up for that yet!

Okay folks, it's time for bed.