Checking in...

I'm alive! I promise!

I finish up my multidisciplinary training area studies this Thursday, and then I'm on the home stretch towards finishing my first year of grad school by giving a research presentation at the end of June. After this week I have sooooo much to post! Check back soon!

World Trade Center after 5.1.11

As promised, here are the photos I took in the crowds at the WTC site today:

You can see one of the memorial buildings being built in the background of this shot. The fences that lined the construction site of the memorial were lined with different things people had posted since the death of Osama bin laden.

Clippings of the news of his death:

Flowers and notes dedicated to loved ones who passed on 9/11:

This one says: "They got him T.J. I miss you and I love you."

Notes of thanks to President Obama and all of those that were involved in helping with the aftermath of 9/11:

And of course there were lots of patriotic people there!

The streets were blocked off due to the enormous amount of news coverage in the area--there were giant satellites, lights, news anchors, the works!

I am like 95% sure I was on some sort of news channel tonight. I stood behind these guys and took pictures for like 10 minutes. :)

I wasn't there too long--crowds get me anxious! But it was awesome to go down and see this, as I think its a pretty big moment in American history. The feeling here was a lot different that what you see on the news going on in times square and in other places where people are just screaming and running around going crazy celebrating Osama's death. This place had a lot more reverence and emotion, and was more about the memory of people who had passed away on 9/11/01. It was very respectful. It had a really somber feeling of remembrance and of patriotism. I'm so glad that I went. :)

HI!

Ok, I'm done with my blog hiatus.

The past bit I've been in a bit of a "slump" when it comes to blog posting. All I can post about are just pictures of something we went and did that weekend--and I swear a lot of people think thats all I do--wander around the city and live this glamorous NYC life. If only, right?

So we've just been pushing through school and pumping out all of the visitors that stop by. I can honestly say that school has been going a lot better! I am final in my specialized classes (no more general biochem/micro/genetics classes!) and am finally studying advanced immunology. I have to say my grades/scores/time put into studying skyrockets when I'm studying something I'm interested in. The workload is the same, but at least its slightly more enjoyable!

I also made a pretty significant discovery in lab, and now have a foundation for my thesis, and am working my way to producing supporting data in order to publish in a journal (this may take the rest of my time in school). It feels so nice to finally have made some progress! My PI was very happy and excited to see my data (a total first) and has started having other people in the lab start on collaboration projects with me to help me get my data faster. Muahahaha... I own them! Just kidding....! It feels good to have my project now a priority project of the lab. Plus I'm the youngest and most inexperienced in the lab, so it feels awesome to produce good data, like I've finally earned my place in the lab, you know? The only downside to this is that I will have to be spending even more time in the lab (and this summer!) to get this project moving along.

Seth has finals this week and next week. His school always finishes before mine! I don't get out of school until the end of June...whats up with that?! That really bites because I wanted to take some sort of trip this summer for a break, but by the time I get out of school, he'll probably have already started some sort of internship or summer classes. Ugh.

Anyway, so a ton of people have been asking me about the events and things going on here in NYC since the news of Osama bin laden's death. The truth is, I try to stay away from the insane crowds and huge events here in NYC (New Years in Times Square, Christmas/Easter/4th of July...etc) as per the advice given by native new yorkers--99.9999% of the crowds are crazy tourists and things are completely nuts. But I actually wanted to see what was going on here in NYC for this historical event! I waited 2 days to let the crowds die down a bit, and today after school I headed down to the WTC site. It was pretty crowded, but that was most likely due to it being rush hour in the business district (bad idea!). It was interesting to see--there were a lot of notes and little memorials for people who passed on that day. It was a very emotional place. The streets were also covered with news teams shooting footage of what was going on. I haven't resized the photos yet, but I will post them up today. The site is still just construction, but things are moving on schedule for the memorial to be done by 9.11.11. I can't wait to see it!

PS. Seth's birthday is on Friday! Wooohoooo! Make sure to wish him a happy birthday! We are going to have a super fun celebration!! :)