Collecting the Weekend

I'm fighting off a cold right now, which is a little uncomfortable. I actually think it's secretly making me into a cat: I lost my voice so I can't communicate vocally, and instead of working I keep falling asleep in warm places. Since last Wednesday I've probably had at least one three hour nap everyday. I just can't get enough of my bed.

On top of being a little sick, I'm a tiny bit hungover from two fabulous nights this weekend. Friday night we had a party to kick around with the prospective grad students (who were great! There was one lady I was particularly taken with, I want her to come here and be my friend), and I got tipsy. I guess I held it together pretty well, no one really noticed, but I think at the end of the night I was my hardline "Beards are better!" stance. I mean, they totally are, but I really don't need to evangelize to this crowd. There is no dating potential in this department, so I probably don't need to be shouting out my turn ons to my co-workers.

Saturday morning we had an informal breakfast in the building, and I dodged out afterwards to go see an interesting talk on disease and climate change. It was given as a general talk so it didn't go very deep into the science, but it had some really interesting discussion about mosquito and malaria biology and why our uncertainties in our understanding of these factors is important when we talk about the changing ranges of diseases. Interestingly enough the talk got me fired up about doing science again; taking a step back to look at the bigger picture of why we do science is always valuable, and while my frustration will be back before I know it it's nice to have a moment where I feel like I'm part of something important.

In the evening my favorite State College person arranged a small group to have dinner at the Elk Creek Cafe, which is AMAZING. It's a small restaurant/brewery with terrific beer and good food coupled with a nice ambiance, and all around it was a delightful experience. We had 8 people, and even with the busy-ness we managed to get seating quickly and all together. We had a nice dinner, and I hung back with a couple of people afterward to continue drinking and enjoy the music. There was a terrific bluegrass band playing, and despite overeating and loosing my voice we had a terrific evening. I can't wait to go back, and to take some of my west coast friends there when I can get some of them over. It's the kind of place that makes you feel good knowing it exists, and it's one of the things that is making my time here in Pennsylvania manageable and even kind of enjoyable. Can I get a holla back for good experiences?