Conference stuff

I mentioned this conference was great. There were two symposiums (collections of lectures that run over several days) that were of great interest to me. There is some fantastic science being done in Canada.

My talk went very well and I was pleased. The last major talk I gave was my final PhD talk and I really felt I didn't nail that one. (It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either). Therfore, it was a real relief to do a decent job this time (Practising the 20 minute talk 15 times does help).

It was very cool because I talked to a bunch of people in the days before my talk (about their work and my work and such) and when it was time to give my talk, a bunch of extra people filed in just to hear me. (Some were friends, of course, but some were just random scientists or people I'd just met).

There were some other reasons this was a great conference just for me. When I left Calgary after my PhD, I had no post-doc lined up. I was unemployed and technically homeless. (we went travelling for 6 months). When I met with people this week, it was nice to say I had a job and it was a post-doc at an eyebrow raising school. This really is the height of my career. After this, I don't think anything will be as cool.

Another interesting thing was, 3/4 of the people I met at the conference did not recognise me. These were people I went to grad school with, played softball and hung out with at the grad lounge for 4 years. People were wondering who that "blonde chick with Mr Bob was". I had lost some weight in the two years since Calgary, but I didn't think I looked like a different person. I guess I was wrong.

As an social note, the girls said it was my hair or a vague "looking really well", while the guys were a little more open. I have lost "a tonne of weight" or "really trimmed down" or "look F^&ing fantastic".

It's all downhill from here (career and looks), so I better enjoy it.

Oh wait, it's over now. Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Fine, I'm back to my dusty, windowless, cockroach infested lab.