A Fresh Start

Well it's hard to believe, but January is already halfway over!  WOO!!  Already it has been an interesting month what with snow storms and ice mixed with below-average temperatures creating delay after delay after delay!  I was not in Knoxville when we got our big snow which shut down UT (first time that has happened since the blizzard of the late 90s).  I was in sunny Florida attending an International Embryo Transfer Society conference in Orlando.  Jessy, Charlie (Schrick's PhD student), and I drove down Friday...yes...we drove.  Let's just say I will never make that drive again if I have a choice.  It took us about 10 hours with breaks for gas and lunch.  Orlando weather stayed in the mid to upper 60s the whole time we were there which was such a pleasant change from 20s and wind chills! 

The conference overall was a good experience.  We attended a pre-conference symposium that featured about 10 talks on bovine-related ET/AI practices and new technologies.  That was the best part of the entire conference since it related to what we study.  The other days were full of talks, poster presentations, and meetings.  While we were there, we ate out every single meal.  I got tired of that quick, but the food was delicious everywhere we went (yes that includes Chic-fil-A and Pizza Hut).  Jessy and I hit up the outlet malls one afternoon where I snagged three shirts from Banana Republic and a pair of trouser jeans from NY&Co (aka my favorite store).  The last night we were in Orlando, we went to a restaurant/bar to meet up with the student chapter of the IETS (rightfully and humorously named the Morulas).  It just happened to fall on the same night as the BCS National Championship game.  We had every intention of eating dinner and heading back to the hotel, but ended up staying for the entire game!  (we left the bar at 12:30 AM)  It's been a long time since I've stayed out that late, but it was fun I had a yummy strawberry daiquiri!!  

The drive back to Tennessee was interesting.  I drove the first 4 hours or so until lunch.  Charlie then took the wheel so as to navigate us safely through Atlanta.  That was a trick and though the roads were in terrible condition and people driving by us were extremely dangerous, we made it through safe and sound.  It was a shock to get out of the car in Knoxville, where it was about 20 degrees plus strong winds, when it was about 65 when we first got in the car.  All in all it was a fun trip and I had a good time.

Classes started this Wednesday.  I am taking a statistics class that is almost completely SAS-based.  SAS is a computer program that runs statistical analyses for you (takes the headache out of doing it the old fashioned way).  We are very lucky as students to have free access to it because it costs $10,000 a year to have the software for personal use.  My professor is Dr. Saxton who is actually in the animal science department and is also an NCSU graduate!  That will be a great class because I will definitely need to know how to use SAS for my research analysis!  I am also taking a writing course called "Writing for Publication".  My professor is awesome!  He is really funny, very laid back, and is incredibly smart.  We will each be working on our own writing assignments (thesis, literature review, grant proposal, etc) throughout the semester and will have a "coach" help us correct mistakes and to make suggestions.  My third class is advanced reproduction which will most likely be a journal-club style class where someone brings in a paper each week and we discuss it. 

On top of the classes I'm taking, I am also a teaching assistant for Dr. Edwards's class, Animal Reproduction and Lactation (hereby referred to as 320).  Kim is the official TA, but since I will be Edwards's main graduate student next year and will most likely be the TA for 320 next Spring, I am learning absolutely everything that goes into this class.  There is lecture twice a week and then a 2-hour lab on Fridays.  We had our first lab yesterday and it went really well.  There is a LOT of preparation involved when you have a dissection lab for 80 students all at once.  The reproductive tracts have to be thawed about 3 days in advance.  Once thawed, they are soaked in histological-grade ethanol overnight to "fix" them.  The morning of the lab (7:00 AM) the tracts are taken out of the ethanol and put into water to soak for an hour or so.  They are then put into empty buckets and transported to the lab on the Ag campus.  On top of the tracts, all of the supplies have to be rounded up, packed up, and taken to the lab.  That includes gloves, scalpels, hemostats, wooden skewers, rulers, plastic trays, plastic tablecloths, paper towels, disposable gowns, hand sanitizer, document camera, and cleaning products.  Once at the location, everything has to be set up on the individual tables.  (This all has to be cleaned up afterwards too)  We had lots of help and the lab went smooth as butter.  All the kids had a great time and learned a whole lot about female reproductive anatomy.  I thought it was really neat that the first time they were exposed to this material, they had the tracts right in front of them so they could see/feel/touch/dissect the parts as we were going through them.  I'm really excited to be a TA and to learn how everything works so I can do it again next Spring.  

As you can probably tell, this will be a busy semester!  I am going into it with the goal of learning as much as I can while having fun at the same time.  I have a feeling its going to fly by and I welcome the fast pace!  Until next time!

* P.S. tried yoga...didn't like it...scratch that one off the list! 
* P.P.S. Here are some funny pictures of Essau's new friends.

2011 Goals

So I'm not really into New Years Resolutions, but I have a few goals for this year.  I might achieve them, I might not.  We'll see!


* Run 500 miles
* Run 2 5K races
* Take Yoga classes ---> Tried it, didn't like it
* Take more pictures
* Ride more
* Get outside more
* Buy a wedding dress
* Plan a wedding :)
* Volunteer more
* Do a lot of research and learn all I can in this program
* Make s'mores over a real fire
* Go hiking
* Read Twilight series
* Finish reading Lord of the Rings series


By no means is this a finite list...I might tack on more as I go along.

A Much Needed Break

Don't you hate it when you wait so long for something and then once it's here it flies by way too fast? 


I spent the weekend of December 18th in Granite Falls to have Christmas with my grandparents.  Justin had just returned from his Cowabunga trip in the Northeast and rode with my parents to meet me there.  We had a great weekend with presents, chicken pie, and family time.  On Sunday, Justin rode with me back to Knoxville to spend a few days before Christmas break.  He got to meet Asher, who loved him (though he probably would've loved anyone after being abandoned for two entire days!).  He went to the slaughterhouse with me Monday and spent the rest of the day tagging along with me in the lab.  He watched me slice embryos, search for oocytes, and do some chores like checking incubators and washing dishes.  We met my good friend Emily for dinner Monday night at Downtown Grill & Brewery where we enjoyed delicious burgers and lots of great conversation.  We stopped by Mast General Store which is such a neat place!  We then went into the Knoxville visitor's center where they were having their weekly Monday night bluegrass jam session.  It was just a bunch of people sitting around playing bluegrass music with chords and words projected on a screen.  That was really neat!! 


Tuesday he decided to stay at the apartment and catch up on some Cowabunga financial stuff since he was the treasurer for the trip.  We went to the barn to see Essau for a while, then came home and had my famous chili for dinner!  Wednesday was the lab's Christmas lunch at a place called the Courtyard.  It was everyone in our lab, Schrick, and two of his grad students, Roper and Mayfield.  I had a few more chores to do that afternoon and then we packed up and headed to Marion.


We spent a few days in the mountains visiting friends, spending time with family, opening presents, making Christmas candies, and EATING.  I had the most incredible SunDrop pound cake (which I now have the recipe for) along with peanut butter balls, candy covered ritz cracker and peanut butter sandwiches, candy covered pretzels, fudge, puppy chow, chips and dip, sausage balls, and other snackies of the sort.  We did Christmas Eve snackies with Justin's Grandma Shirley and family and then opened presents at his mom's house.  I got a pretty white fleece along with some cute pjs that say I <3 my boyfriend all over them. 


We woke up Christmas morning and I helped Louise cook a spread of food for their traditional breakfast.  All of the kids came over and had presents at "Pappaw's house".  I got a great black vest with gray zip-in fleece, some really nice fleece gloves, and a clean cotton candle from Yankee Candle Co.  It started snowing around 9:00 AM and by 10:00 when we left, there was about an inch on the ground.  We drove to Raleigh in the snow, which ceased around the Greensboro area.  We went straight to my parents house and hung out there for a few hours until my brother and Sam came over for dinner and presents.  We had a yummy pork roast dinner with pound cake for dessert :)  After dinner came the presents.  I got a macro lens for my camera along with a pretty necklace, a t-shirt, and a few fun little other things.  Sam's big excitement was a new bike from my brother.  She reminded me of a little kid getting their first bike :)  It started snowing in Raleigh around 9:00 PM which made it the first white Christmas since 1947!!


Justin and I went to his apartment that night to get snowed in!!  The next week was very lazy and lots of fun.  We had dinner with friends, spent some time at the barn, made lots of fun food like snow cream (my first ever), sweet potato pancakes, chicken noodle soup, and popcorn on the cob.  It was incredible to sleep in every day and to spend a few days in front of the tv in my pjs.  I feel bad for Justin who had to endure probably 6 or so hours of My Fair Wedding with David Tutera.  "The Tut" (pronounced toot), as Justin calls him, was just about the only thing on and I love that show (I also don't get weTV in Knoxville)!!  We watched a few movies, including Beauty & the Beast (which I got for Christmas from my brother) and DaVinci Code. 


Spending all day every day with Justin was absolutely peaceful and was exactly what I needed.  Even when we had nothing to do, just sitting on the couch together was enough.  It is absolutely true what they say about absence making the heart grow fonder.  We are so in love and though distance may temporarily separate us, nothing will ever keep us from loving each other.  It was of course wonderful to spend time with my family and friends as well!  I really missed them and enjoyed every minute of my break.  My time in Raleigh made me miss home A LOT and going back to Knoxville Sunday after lunch was really difficult.  There were tears, no doubt, and I was not loving life Sunday evening when I got home to a quiet apartment and when I realized I wouldn't be waking up in the company of friends and family tomorrow.  But life must go on and I have a life here in Tennessee now that needs some attention too.  If nothing else, this break has given me a drive and push to get through the next semester...hopefully I'll find more pushes to get me through the following two.  Oh, so we're getting married 17 months from yesterday...All this David Tutera has gotten me really excited again about weddings!!  My mom will be coming during my Spring Break so we can go dress shopping!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!  :) :) :) 


Here are pictures from the break.  Enjoy!