Sunday in the Thundershine...

I know I said that I would write soon about my cyclocross ride on Tuesday night, but if you knew the week I had, you’ld understand. Wait...I’ll tell you.

I rarely talk about work stuff not because I don’t love science and have several soap boxes on the subject, but because any story about work would invariably include the people I work with and the research that I am doing. Science being the competitive field that it is, even in academia, especially in academia, I wouldn’t want to compromise my or anybody else’s work that I am associated with. But, this week I was awarded the Damon Runyan Cancer Research Fellowship to fund my work in small RNA biogenesis in plants. Maybe awarded is the wrong word for it. How about this? I was entrusted with this fellowship in exchange for the promise that I would do really important and vital research regarding how genes are regulated, a question at the heart of biology and one with a seemingly endless number of answers.

So, that was Tuesday, before my ride. You can see why I was a bit busy to visit. And then I took Taxi for her first real maiden voyage with my friend Heather (who is a much better biker than I). We took our bikes up the fire roads of Mac Forest and entered a trail unimaginatively called Horse Trail. Then the real run began. Twisties and turnies, trees and troughs, roots and stumps, this trail is something I would hesitate to take a mountain bike ride on much less my brand new road-like cyclocross bike. The ride wasn’t epic, but getting used to a new bike shouldn’t be. We have to take some time to get to know each other. But the promise is definitely there.

The end of the week was no less hectic. I ran with Bill in the Peavy Arboretum. And if you ever come visit Corvallis, visit this place first. It is a sprawling research garden criss-crossed by woodland trails that undulate in and among the trees and ponds. I was lost within 500 yds among the immense greenery that in some places blocked out the light. So cool!

Now I am in St. Louis. It has been thunder-shining all morning. Mom and Dad are off to church (late...see where I get it from). And I am drinking my French press coffee (that’s right, I brought the press pot to MO) and killing time before going over to my friend’s house for her post-wedding breakfast. I absolutely love this part of the wedding.... everybody in normal cloths, chatting and eating breakfast together (best meal of the day). If I ever get married (shudder), I might just have the wedding in the morning and serve breakfast. Now, wouldn’t that be fun?