As usual, I'm back from a 4 month hiatus that spanned the entire fall semester but did you really expect anything less? I'm not even going to lie and say that it's a New Years Resolution to update this blog - its more a blog of convenience, a "it's almost the end of the day and I don't feel like working anymore but need to appear busy" tool.

Another year over and with it my 6th fall semester at Duke. Things went well with classes as well as research, with the latter being the more important of the two. Campout 2008 was in a new location and it was great!!! The football team won more games this year under Coach Cut than I'd seen them win from 2004-2007 combined. The basketball team is off to a great start and is currently #2 in the nation and leading the ACC top 5 tandem that includes UNC and Wake Forest. Other news from the fall semester that I didn't have a chance to write about but needs mentioning:


That just about covers it. It's not exactly inciteful, witty, or well worthwhile but at least it's an update on life.

Ok maybe it's not kindergarten but another school year is upon us and nothing quite says awesome like the realization that you are 23.5 years old and starting you're 19th consecutive year of school. Forget "Super Senior", I'm in the 18th grade as one of my Masters student friends pointed out at a reception for the new crop of BME grad students on Monday.

So far so good through my first week of classes. I only have 2 - CE 201 Continuum Mechanics and ME 265 Scanning Force Microscopy of Biopolymers - and both will be interesting and potentially can be directly applied to my research which really is an accomplishment for grad classes. I have also come to the conclusion that I will most definitely take more CE classes than BME classes as a BME PhD student but that's what happens when you decide to be a real engineer.

The summer is officially over on Monday with the Labor Day holiday - which for some reason is NEITHER a holiday for the Duke University so I will be in class at 10:20 am NOR for me in lab since for the second year in a row, I have lab cleaning. But to celebrate the end of the summer here's the list of books I have read in no particular order, all of which I 100% recommend to anyone:

Bringing Down the House, Ben Mezrich
Band of Brothers E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne From Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest, Stephen E. Ambrose
The Steel Wave, Jeff Shaara
The Prestige, Christopher Priest
His Dark Materials, Phillip Pullman
Women's Murder Club, James Patterson
Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris
The Hot Zone, Richard Preston
Mayflower, Nathaniel Philbrick
The Other Boleyn Girl, Phillipa Gregory (currently reading)

Currently on the shelf:
The 6th Target, James Patterson (Women's Murder Club)
Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier
Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond
We're Just Like You Only Prettier: Confessions of a Tarnished Southern Belle, Celia Rivenbark

Sadly, two of those are still on the shelf from last summer.....

Time to ride home in under a mostly sunny sky for the first time all week!

I was back up in NJ/PA last weekend. I drove home after a ridiculous 3 day week in lab on Wednesday, leaving Durham at 8:00 pm and rolling into my mom's driveway at 3:00 am Thursday morning. 7 hours isn't too shabby considering it was dark with construction all over the place and scattered rain in southern VA.

Crossed the Delaware to visit my girls at All For Dance in Hamilton, NJ for classes Thursday night. Once again, I organized my trip home based on the fact that I wanted to dance with Cyn & Holly. (See my post from my last trip home....). Classes of course were made more interesting by the fact that I had gotten about 6 hours of sleep the night before and was still stiff from sitting in a car for 7 hours without extended stops. I am happy to report that I will be dancing in the All For Dance 5th Annual Recital with the alumni corps next May. It makes me happy becuase I'll get to actually perform for my two favorite people in the world again and makes my mom happy because well, I'll have to come home more often for rehearsals.

Friday was my cousin Michele's wedding in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ. It was nice to go to an event for my dad's side of the family for once - I hadn't seen everyone since Christmas. Point Pleasant Beach is #2 on my list of tourist trap beaches along the Shore behind only Wildwood. Since the ceremony was on a pier immediately off the beach at 5:00 pm, you can guess that we had some gawkers & random screaming as families left the beach. Plus if you know anything about NJ weather in mid-August you can guess what's coming. It rained on the ceremony - shortening an already abbreviated affair - but a gorgeous rainbow came out afterwards and Michele and her new husband Bill got some (hopefully) great pictures on the beach under a rainbow. How perfect is that!?!?! The reception was a ton of fun because my dad's side of the family is just hilarious - there are so many awesome pictures, videos, and stories that I really don't have the time or space to retell them all. I posted some of the less embarassing pictures on my Facebook profile if you are interested. I'm also wearing a dress which is a BIG deal.

Saturday and Sunday were spent in South Philly at Citizens Bank Park watching the Fightin' Phils take on the Pirates on Alumni/Hall of Fame weekend. Saturday night we were up on the Hall of Fame deck with mom and saw an awesome win for the home team. Sunday afternoon we were with Dad in the upper deck behind home plate - which was PERFECT considering we were under the overhang & sheltered from most of the rain. I saw Chase Utley hit the go ahead 2 run HR in the bottom of the 7th and got to spend time with Dad which really was the most important thing.

Thanks to the 2 hour rain delay at the game, I didn't get started on my drive back to Durham until after 8:00 pm on Sunday night. Thanks to bumper to bumper traffic for 2 HOURS at the Delaware toll booth and construction delays in Baltimore, I once again drove all night and got into my apartment at 5:30 am. Nothing like a 9.5 hour drive to cap off an awesome weekend.

I'll just finish by saying: CONGRATULATIONS BILL AND MICHELE!!!!