forever and a day

Wow, it's been over a month since I last updated, but I can explain! If anyone even still reads this thing... I wouldn't blame you guys for giving up on the blog, but I will be back now. In the past month, I have: had my 4 year anniversary with Brent (yay!), helped to organize a department poster conference, made my first research poster ever, gone to the first World Series game ever in Denver (yay Rockies, I still love you!), finished a 57-page (including figures) paper about my research to give to a committee of 5 people, given a 10-minute seminar talk about my research, and completed my second comprehensive exam. The comprehensive exam, aka COMPS II, involves me giving the aforementioned paper to a committee of 5 professors/researchers to read, and then a 2 hr oral exam/presentation, where I give a 30-40minute presentation about my research, then answer general audience questions, and then have a closed door q&a with the committee only. Which I passed!! Yay!!! Now I just have to research for the next 2.5yrs or so, and prepare a dissertation to defend, and then I get to graduate with a PhD. So crazy.

Anyways, here are a bunch of pictures of everything. I can't figure out how to rotate the ones that should be vertical in blogger, and I tried to rotate them before uploading them and that didn't work. Not cool, but at least they uploaded! Okay now here they are:


We gave each other the same card. I LOVE this picture.


A really-truly from-the-florist bouquet, just for me.


My research poster, in really low resolution. It was really 4ftx4ft, but that made it a super huge file.


Me at the WORLD SERIES!! Brent and I had so much fun, and everyone there was insanely excited. My arm was sore for days afterwards from swirling my ROCKTOBER towel (see later picture for example of another person) so much! The whole audience would swirl their towels to encourage the players... I don't know how anyone could not feel inspired!


The gamepost sign at Coors Field... that says Rockies AND World Series on it. Such a pretty sight!


What we hoped would happen... poor Rockies. I don't think that long break did them any favors, but the Red Sox definitely outplayed them. It's okay though... they still won 21 of 22 games before the world series started! Or was it 22 of 23? I need to look that one up.


Packed house, just before they introduced our Rockies.


A fellow towel-waver... can you imagine how it was when everyone was doing it? So cool! Plus now we have workout towels that say Rocktober, woot!


During the national anthem, sung by Carrie Underwood. The flag was so beautiful, and boy can that girl sing!


National anthem fireworks.


Goofy picture of Brent & I at the WORLD SERIES!!