Week 35 - Chicago

It's been a long time since I went up to the Windy City, but when my advisor told me I could go to an intestinal microbiology conference I was all in. Of course, I don't like leaving my wife behind, but it's easier when it's a short duration and much close than my recent trips to Iowa. So we rented a big van, loaded up a bunch of poster board from some nice guys downtown and I told everyone to pack light or I'd strap them to the top of the van. Plan must've worked because we had no trouble fitting 8 people in with the boards and their luggage for a 12 passenger van with the backseat removed.

All things considered, the drive there was pretty good. Boring through northern Indiana, but who isn't bored by Indiana? Conversation was nice and having an IPass makes the skyway so much faster. We made great time into the city but luck ran out when a semi ties to run us of the road for an exit. Next thing I know we're stuck in recalculation mode with 4 backseat drivers trying to tell me in mandarin where I should've gone at the last light. My copilot being equally frazzled, we struggled trough the city and managed to miss our turns and finally map the whole place by unforced and forced errors.

View from our conference at UChicago Booth.

Poster boards dropped off and hotel checked in, the search for a parking garage ensued. Suffice it I say that I was about ready to drive the van off the road into the river just to be rid of the damn thing. 8'2" is definitely not a comfortable clearance for the van in my opinion and the 10' garage "just around the corner" was never to be found. Eventually, my labmate and I parked in a prepay lot under Michigan Ave. I highly recommend this, as did the guys at the Sheraton; it was cheaper and relatively more stress-free.

The conference was great, as expected (although the weather left some to be desired), with headliner Rudolf Thauer and many others speaking on the microbial work being done globally. As I sat there listening, I realized just how relevant my research is to these people and felt as if I'd finally found a group where I could talk about my work and get serious questions. I can see why this was the conference Tim prioritized during his time at OSU and how much opportunities like it directed his career.

Award for most versatile research poster at the conference. Who needs an umbrella?

 My first-ever picture with "the bean" at Millenium Park. Our advisor didn't laugh like I hoped.

Like any other city, I checked out the bar scene, made some friends the night I went out by myself, and made some more friends the night we went out post-conference in a group. I now have some people to look up at JAM and even if my business card was only used for a cell number to call a drinking buddy, at least they'll remember me in a positive light. Too often people shy away from alcohol at meetings because they don't want to be perceived in that way, but behind the curtain, it's a fact of life for many people we interact with. Imagine how much more we could get done if everyone relaxed about their potential perceptions or falsely inflated morals and we could just sit, talk and theorize. Just one more reason why my advisor is perfect for me. He appreciates a good beer and unofficial brainstorm session now and then.

Nice patch of weather.

We drove into the late night on the way back and so I was obviously exhausted upon return. My gratitude to our lab manager for dropping off the posterboards since I was at the airport picking up our new Brazilians. Yes, you heard that right, we have Brazilians in the lab for the summer from Sao Paulo State and they are staying at our house currently. They arrived Thursday morning and I picked them up at the airport. We headed back to the lab and I forced them through a full day of work before we actually went home for the day and got them all settled in. They are the most polite Brazilians I have ever met and were so excited when they saw Betsy. One more perk to owning a dog seems to be the ability to bridge a culture/language divide and break the ice for everyone. Any culture can appreciate a cute dog.

My wife finished painting the baby room this week and our furniture is all put together!

Research turkeys - goal to improve bone strength.

Friday marked a field trip to the NE corner of the state where we led undergrads (and 2 Brazilians) on a tour of poultry production and research. We were even able to visit with an organically certified Amish co-op, which was a brand new experience for me. I know that some people in our department would prefer that we never acknowledged the existence of the organic production and the voodoo that seems to follow it around (including their soil tech who "knows the soil"). But my colleague and I have a different take on the experience. Without these experiences, college students will never know what is going on in the industry. Sure, the organic aspect is a small fragment of the total poultry image, but it is an aspect that deserves consideration nonetheless. If we ignore it, then we have failed to provide the well-balanced education that we claim to be giving to these undergraduates. We should never be afraid to show them something new, and we should always be ready to cover both the positives and negatives of different production and marketing methods. The trips sparked some good conversation and I'm glad that we did it.

Finally, just a word of advice from one former meat science student to my readers. When we were in the grocery this weekend with the Brazilians, they were looking at the different meats that we sell. They pointed out bacon and I looked at it because I rarely look at bacon in the store. I had never realized the disparities in quality of bacon that is offered. If your bacon ever looks like the one on the right, don't waste your money on it. This pale colored (somewhat due to smoking, which is all good and well) bacon with the sloppy, lumpy fat detaching from the muscle will never cook up like you hoped it would. So the take home is, if you're buying bacon, buy the good stuff. Get fat that is smooth and white, not lumpy and falling apart. Life's too short to save money on bad bacon.

Can you see the difference?