i'm in san jose for christmas break! =) i'm looking forward to some good downtime and catch-up time with family and friends. 2008 has been a hectic year, full of ups and downs...but mostly ups. =) i am definitely feeling like things are buzzing along, and life is just good right now.
at some point i will sort through the 500+ new zealand and sydney pics and post a selection. suffice it to say that i still love LOVE new zealand, and as for sydney- i could see myself living in sydney. it was just amazing to be able to get away for two weeks, go on the best hikes ever to see the incredible unspoiled sights of new zealand, and then soak in the pure city-ness of sydney with all its delicious food and great harbor sights. what a great great trip. highly recommended.
as for being engaged...being engaged is great! also highly recommended. =D
this year i also progressed in my research, passing my senate exam (where i proposed my thesis), publishing my first paper (check it out! that image on the cover of the current issue is from my paper!), and actually starting to decide what kind of stuff i'd like to be doing after the phd...pretty exciting! =) i would not say that the end is in sight quite yet, but i am definitely learning to enjoy the process and not stress out so much over silly things (haha i keep having to re-learn this particular lesson).
the other thing i was preoccupied with for much of the year was organizing the student and young investigator events at this big conference for tissue engineering & regenerative medicine. this included writing a $30K NIH grant for travel awards, coordinating with meeting chairs and conference organizers to figure out logistics and events, submitting budgets and trying to get sponsorship and donations, putting together a student team to organize the 8 events that we had running over 3 days, recruiting day-of volunteers, dealing with fiscal people to get people their travel award checks....and on and on and on. it is a difficult undertaking, one that i could not have done without my co-chair and one that i would not choose to do again. but in the end, our events were really successful, we got great feedback, and it ended up being a really satisfying experience. my favorite event (out of all the career-oriented and professional development seminars and sessions we had)- the 5K fun run. =D hee.
coming up in 2009... who knows? hopefully more good stuff. =) wedding planning, wrapping up big project #2 and formulating an exit strategy from the lab, getting back in shape...!! good times ahead.
