Wake Forest defeated Georgia Tech 9-6 to become the Champions of the Athletic Coast Conference. Kyllan will be making a post about her alma mater and their victory tomorrow. (Not only was Kyllan forced to pass up tickets to the ACC Championship game in Jacksonville, she was unable to watch on television as well. No worries, I kept her updated by phone and text message.)
I didn’t give a Wake Forest update last week, but they play at 1pmET on Saturday against Georgia Tech for the ACC Championship Title in Jacksonville. Wake has had a great season and should be able to come out victorius over GA Tech. I will be cheering them on. GO DEACS!
Congratulations to…
Jim Grobe (Wake Forest Head Football Coach):ACC Coach of the year
Riley Skinner ( Wake Forest Quarterback): ACC Rookie of the Year (by the way… he is from Jacksonville)
I meant to post earlier about the lab. How do I like it? I love it. I have no idea where the state of Colorado came up with the money for this place. It is beautiful. Core facilities, prep rooms, on-site freezer programs and I’ve never seen seen administration and facilities run so efficiently. I spare you the particulars. Let’s just say I once dreamed of the perfect place to do research, and it wasn’t this nice. Below are a couple of pictures of the unboxing two weeks ago. You would have to go a few pages back to find them in my flickr account. This is of one of our two bays. And yes, you can see snow capped mountains from my PI’s office. I will have to take some better pictures of the view sometime this week.
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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.
I wanted to make sure to wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving. William and I are headed to Cleveland, where my parents live. My mom loves having people over for Thanksgiving and cooking enough to feed a village of 5,000, so she invited William and his parents to Cleveland and they accepted the invitation. William met some of my family members a few years ago when he came to Cleveland for Easter, but he was only able to stay a day. I am hoping this time I can show him around Cleveland a bit. This will also give his parents an opportunity to meet my extended family and make the upcoming wedding celebration much more cozy instead of a room full of strangers. It should be a fun few days while everyone is in town. All of my aunts, uncles and cousins, and grandmother will be there, along with some extended family and friends.
Well… I am going to head over to my sister’s house. Rob, Kim, Drew and I are all waking up with the roosters to catch a 6:45am flight. I think they call it the red eye, but it should be more like “shut eye” that early in the morning.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Saturday was National Adoption Day, an annual event to raise awareness about the hundreds of thousands of children in foster care. Several cities throughout the country celebrate by setting up various courtrooms and organizing judges and attorneys to help finalize adoptions. I was invited by someone I work with to attend the court hearing to finalize the adoption of their son. I was quite honored that they invited me to share in their special day. There were hundreds of families there to finalize adoptions and provide loving and nurturing homes that these children need and deserve. The coutrooms were decorated with stuffed animals (which were given to each child and sibling) and balloons, and there was tons of snacks, sweets, fruit, and ice cream for all to enjoy. The judge in the hearing I went to was very kind and included the entire family, parents, grandparents, and siblings in the process, which was very touching. I really enjoyed taking a part of this national celebration.
p.s. Yes, I am sad Wake Forest lost, but they still have a chance to make it to the ACC Championship by winning in Maryland next week. GO DEACS!
Kyllan has been asking me to take some pictures of the apartment. She has also been talking about the seeing mountains when she gets a chance to come up. Below is a video showing a little of both.
Well to most peoples surprise, but not mine, Wake Forest shut out Florida State 30-0 and became 9-1 for the first time in school history! They also became the first team to shut out FSU in Tallahassee since Bowden has been coach. Unfortunately, I did not get to watch the game b/c the Texas v. Kansas State game was on (which I will talk about in a moment), but according to one of my good friend/classmate who called me late in the 4th quarter, the broadcasters were still not accpeting of the fact that Wake Forest has a good team this year. They were too busy trying to figure out “what happened” and “what will happen to Bobby Bowden”, which is insane. FSU has been struggling all season, nothing is going to happen to Bobby until he wants something to happen. While I am extremely excited about the win, I am even more frustrated that Wake Forest still won’t get any respect. My friend pointed out that Wake will probably still end up being the underdog in both the Va Tech and Maryland game, which sadly is probably true. Anyway… enough of my anger. Congrats Wake Forest! The players and coaches deserve the recognition.
Another team that earns recognition is Kansas State. Their freshman QB and 1st year coach led them to an upset over Texas where again the broadcasters kept predicting a Texas comeback. Kansas State played a GREAT game. It made me less angry at not being able to see the Wake game.
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.
At 8pm eastern on Saturday, William and I will have our eyes glued to ABC for three hours. It is probably a good thing that William is in Denver and I am in Dallas, otherwise things may get ugly. Florida State will be hosting Wake Forest in Tallahassee for what will be a crucial game for both teams. Wake Forest is trying to stay on top of the ACC’s Atlantic Coast Division with a win on Saturday. They are currently tied with Maryland for first, which if they can stay in the lead will allow them to play in the ACC Championship game. Wake Forest is 8-1 for the first time since 1944 and with a win on Saturday would make them 9-1 for the first time ever! Although Florida State is having a rough year and are currently not ranked, Wake Forest is the underdog for Saturday and FSU is looking to become bowl eligible. Wake has not won in Tallahassee since 1959 (17 straight games). So… the deacons will continue to attempt to make history, but it will not be easy. I just hope I am the one smiling at the end of the night 🙂
GO DEACS!!!