This weekend, I made my first trip to Denver to keep William company for the weekend and celebrate his birthday (one week early). Besides getting a chance to see a few historic landmarks in Denver (pictures will be posted soon), go to a movie, see the lab, and just explore the city, we also had the opportunity to register for gifts for the wedding. Yes… we are a bit early, but we figured we would get it out of the way while we had some free time to spare in case our schedules conflict over the next few months. Our first stop was Bed, Bath & Beyond and since William is not much of a shopper, I figured he would start getting grumpy after just a short time there, but I was soooooo wrong. William was in charge of scanning the items we wanted included in the registry and he loved every minute of it…all 240 minutes of it… yes… 4 hours at one store! I have to say that the staff at Bed, Bath & Beyond were extremely helpful and suggested taking breaks to get food or spread the selection over a few days if we needed to, but we kept going. William made sure we didn’t miss a single row or item to consider. Combined with my excitement to create a beautiful and well-equipped home for the two of us, we ended up with a very extensive and thorough gift registry. We also registered at Crate and Barrel and Dillard’s, which took much less time than our Bed, Bath & Beyond registry experience. I think it was just that the store is so extensive and has almost everything you would need for your home. Well, before I begin sounding like a commercial, I will stop. You can check out our registries by following the link on our wedding website, or clicking on the highlighted links above.
Category: Trips
No Florida Sunshine :-(
Well… it looks like William’s holiday plans have been pretty much turned upside down this year. As you saw in a previous post, after getting caught in Denver for a snow storm and having his flight canceled, he decided to make he long 14 hour drive to Dallas. He planned to spend Christmas here and we would both leave on the 29th to spend New Year’s weekend in Jacksonville with his parents and attend their New Year’s Eve party as we did last year. Well… those plans went out the window (or should I saw washed down he sewer) following torrential rain in Dallas that closed the airport for a period of time and led to several flight cancellations, including our flight. We soon found out after several phone calls to Continental’s 800 number and waiting in line at the ticket counter for 2 hours to see if we could get re-booked, and about 5 hours total at the airport that the only option for getting to Jacksonville was on Sunday, so we decided to not go through the headaches and hassles and just stay in Dallas for New Year’s. That is the abbreviated version. I do not feel up to talking about the unprofessionalism of the continental staff (mainly one person in particular who screamed and yelled and could care less about the stranded passengers). So it looks like we will be making other New Year’s celebration plans. On the positive side, at least we are together and don’t have to spend the holiday alone, but the Florida sunshine sure would have been nice, not to mention the chance for William to spend time with his parents. Hopefully next year things will be much smoother!
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Snow: update
I have made it safely to Dallas.
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What Are You Doing For Christmas?
I really like keeping this blog. I like the idea of friends and family being able to keep up with what is going on, on their own time, day or night. Thanks to everyone that called, text, posted or just visited the site. This was no Katrina, but it’s was nice to know that I was on your minds. It’s been a day of helping neighbors dig out their cars and long treks over short distances. The plan is to head to Dallas in the morning. The expressways are now open and if conditions look good in the morning, I will be on my way. This will also be Kyllan’s first Christmas away from her parents too. I guess we will try to start some of our own traditions. Kyllan and I will be going to my parents house in Jacksonville for New Year’s.
So, you know our plans for Christmas. What are yours?
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Snow
Denver is getting approximately 1inch of snow an hour with 20-30mph winds. I am supposed to be flying out to Jacksonville, but Denver International Airport is now closed.
Update: A state of emergency has been declared. My flight for tomorrow has been canceled.
Update: -9am 12/21- My flight is now leaving at 7pm, but I will have to spend the night in Houston and fly to Jacksonville on Friday morning. It is still snowing and the city is saying it will be another 24 hours before side streets are clear. I am not optimistic about getting out of here.
Update: -11am 12/21- It’s official. After 25 consecutive years, this will be the first Christmas I do not spend with my family. My flight has been canceled. It’s still snowing, the plows that were out have been recalled so the National Guard can move the abandoned cars that are blocking there path. The streets aren’t expected to be clear until tomorrow afternoon, when the airport re-opens. The airline says the earliest they can get me to Jacksonville is the 27th. I am still holding out hope that someone else will cancel their flight on Saturday or Sunday and I can book that… I didn’t make it to the first floor of my building, but there are a few pictures on my flickr page.
Update: -4pm 12/21- So it looks like Kyllan and I will be spending our first Christmas together. The snow has stopped and the plows are back out. Sitting at home by myself was not an option, so I will be driving to Dallas sometime this weekend. From there I will catch a flight to Jacksonville with Kyllan for my parents’ New Year’s Eve party. (She was already planning to go. ) It’s the same airline, but they would not change my ticket to Dallas. They wanted to charge me a bunch of fees if I did anything other than fly out of DIA or another small airport 194 miles away. It was cheaper for me to just cancel my ticket and buy a new one online. Yes, the online ticket was cheaper than what the rep on the phone could give me… I miss my family’s Christmas tree.
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Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend
As Kyllan told everyone in her post, my parents and I spent Thanksgiving with Kyllan and her family. (When I say her family, I mean her family. There were around 30 people at her parents house on Thanksgiving.) The weekend also included a surprise engagement party. Kyllan and I were told that we were going to a surprise birthday party for her cousin’s wife. We were probably socializing for about 15 minutes before we were told the surprise was on us. The next night Kyllan and I went to one of her cousin’s house to watch the Wake Forest vs Maryland game. It wasn’t long before more cousins showed up. We ended up playing board games late into the night. It was a fun trip and it was great to get to know Kyllan’s cousins better. Now we won’t all be a bunch of strangers at the wedding.
There are plenty of pictures on my flickr account. Kim N., Kyllan’s sister, has also posted some pictures to her flickr account.
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Denver- First Impressions
I arrived in Denver Monday after a 15 hour drive. I saw my new apartment for the first time on Tuesday, after the movers had already started moving things in. (Apparently the locks were being changed when they arrived and the guys let them in while I was in the office signing my lease). I haven’t actually been down town yet, but the parts of Denver I have seen look nice. The weather is not any where as bad as Ithaca. The highs have been in the low 60s and the lows in the high 30s this week. While I haven’t seen any yet, it is supposed to snow tomorrow. Everyone says it usually melts by the next day. It is incredibly flat here. You can see for miles from the third story of my building. If my apartment was facing west, I would be able to see the mountains way of in the distance. I have a few boxes left to unpack, but I am starting to settle in. I can’t believe how much stuff I have collected over the years. Every time I move I get rid of things, but when I get to my new location I still have way to much junk.
I live about 4 miles from the lab. I stopped by today to go to a seminar and fill out some paper work. The facility is beautiful. It is an open lab setup, which I am not sure how I feel about. (Anyone ever been in a school built during the 70s where the classrooms have no walls? Good idea, bad execution or just bad idea? Either way, it actually works well in a laboratory setting, but it makes me feel like big brother is always watching). My PI’s office has a view of the mountains. The labs in a second research building, which is being constructed and will partially block his view, will have a view of the mountains.
I am having a hard time adjusting to the altitude. I have been exhausted and out of breath since I arrived. No matter how deeply I breathe, I don’t feel like I am getting air. People tell me it will take about two weeks to get adjusted.
I plan to do a little exploring this weekend. I also plan to post a few pictures of the apartment. I would watch the Wake Forest vs. Florida State game, but it is not airing here. (It is not airing in Dallas either). Thursday will be my first official day at the new lab. I will try to take a few pictures and post more thoughts about it then.
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Williams Reunion Wrap Up
The Williams family’s 30th reunion has come and gone. My mother has 5 brothers and 3 sisters, so once you add in my cousins and their children, the family is pretty large. As Kyllan said, this year at the reunion we celebrated my grandmother’s 90th birthday. I have added an overwhelming number of pictures from the weekend to my flickr account.
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Tour
At the last minute I decided I wanted to visit Kyllan over the Labor Day weekend. It was a very exciting trip. I got to spend time with Kyllan, help her move into the new house and go to Drew’s 2nd birthday party. Before I get back to packing for my trip to Memphis, where I get to see Kyllan again during my mother’s family reunion, I wanted to make a quick post. You’ll will find a video tour of the new house below. I will post more about the trip and upload pictures to my flickr account when I get back to New Orleans. I guess I will also be making a post about the reunion and uploading pictures of that. Enjoy the tour!
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Lab Space
My parents had a good trip this weekend. This very well may be the thier last trip to New Orleans until my defense and/or graduation. Who knows when that may be?… They arrived Friday and flew out Sunday, so it was a quick trip. We managed to fit in a tour of the 9th ward and lake view. (These are the same areas on my “Post Katrina” DVD. Sadly, little has changed since I shot the footage 7 months ago.). We stopped by Jaques-Imo’s Friday night for dinner, one of Kyllan’s favorites.
Here are a few photos of the lab space in Denver, shot by the PI’s wife on thier last visit. (I have not been up yet.) There are a couple more on my flickr account. The first is our building, the second is what the lab bays look like.
