Trip Prep

I have had quite the exciting week getting ready for my upcoming trip to Chicago then out to Utah. In fact, I am sitting at my gate at Raleigh/Durham International Airport as I type this post. My flight was delayed 2 hours!! I’ll be here a while! The main task that had to be done before I left was to get my poster done for the conference that I’ll be attending, the American Crystallography Association (ACA). For those unfamiliar with the scientific research culture, one way in which we present our research is through poster presentations. The posters consist of figures and text. During a poster presentation session one stands by their poster and presents what is on the poster to those who are interested; some people take a quick look and then move onto the next poster. I present on Monday evening. Poster presentations are not the only event that happens at scientific conferences, there are also talks, workshops, social events, etc. This will be my first scientific conference so I am very excited, plus its in Chicago!

I have also been trying to ride my rode bike more; I average two mornings a week and around 20+ miles per ride. I hope to increase both those figures as I slowly get back into shape. An interesting fact is that I weighed myself a few months ago when I was not riding (because I didn’t have my bike) and I was surprised to see that I had gained weight, I was between 145-150, fairly divergent from my consistent 140 that I got use to in Logan. I’m happy to report that due to my return to road cycling, I am back at a happy 140! I found a new route in which I go west of Durham. Although the roads are narrow, there is very little traffic so it’s not too bad.

On my ride yesterday I had a scary moment. I was going down a small hill probably doing 20+ MPH when a car behind me decided to honk for no apparent reason (probably a cyclist hater), I got startled and moved as close as I could to the non-existent shoulder, which was not entirely necessary because there was no cars to speak of around us. Unfortunately, I skimmed the gravel, overcorrected, and lost control as my front wheel was wildly swerving back and fourth. I knew I was going to go down and it was going to be bad! However, help from above helped me recover control. Who says miracles don’t occur?! Despite staying on my bike I did get a small cut on my knee, somehow my knee hit something on my bike (like my handle bars?). It was quite the experience. Aside from that, the ride was great and I’ll be doing it again as soon as I get back to NC.

My garden is looking great save one tomato plant. The garden is surprisingly fairly low-maintenance. My corn, on the good half of the garden, are a good four feet high! I hope to see ears when I return. I have pictures below. I look forward to seeing all my Utah friends and family next week!