I don’t think I mentioned it before, but a photo I took of Invesco Field (Mile High Stadium) was chosen to be posted on Schmap, publisher of free digital travel guides. Well… I received an e-mail yesterday informing me that Schmap guides are now going to be available on the iPhone and iPod touch. She sent me a link to show me what my picture would look like. Check it out!

************Challenge Update**************

William and I did pretty well during our first week of “getting back on track”. He actually won this week, fitting in a workout every single day! I was only able to fit in 3 days of workouts, but I guess 3 is better than 0. This week is not going so well for me. I did some weight training Sunday, but that has been it so far. William and I will be in Jacksonville this weekend to attend his mom’s family reunion, so I am not even going to pretend that I will be working or choosing healthy options this weekend. I think he may be taking a break too, but we will be back on track after the weekend!!!

William and I have been complaining a lot over the past couple months about not being able to fit certain clothes and not being the size that we were in college. He has been losing some weight, but I have watched my weight slowly increase. So…. we are both challenging ourselves to make healthier food choices and exercise on a more consistent basis over the next couple months leading up to our 1 year anniversary. My goal is to lose 15-20 lbs. This will allow me to fit in most of my clothes again. William is also hoping to lose about 20 lbs. I am only posting this on the blog to possibly help keep us accountable for this goal. We will try to post updates on how we are doing. We have both done fairly well this week. I have worked out 3 days straight so far doing my Turbo Kick class on Sunday and the Turbo Jam DVD yesterday and today. William has been biking and working out in the gym. In fact, he plans to participate in Denver’s annual Bike to Work Day tomorrow. We have not finalized the prize for the winner of the challenge, but we’ll keep you posted.

Barack Obama will begin airing his first general election ad, “Country I Love,” today. This article in the Washington Post discusses some of its more subtle, and not so subtle, messages. Another discusses his decision to opt out of general election general financing.

I have a 20 mile, 30 minute drive to work each morning, so I tend to listen to the radio.  One of the best things about my new car is XM satellite radio.  My favorite morning show is Gayle King’s (Oprah’s best friend) show on XM 156, the Oprah and Friends network.  She generally starts out talking about current events or her plane trips from NYC to LA or how she “love love loves” Barack Obama, the color yellow, talking with people, her favorite son Will, and her favorite daughter Kirby.  The second half hour consists of interviews with different people of interest (recording artists, actors, authors, entrepreneurs, chefs, etc).  I enjoy her interviews and her show in general.  I also enjoy when they play the theme music to the once popular show “Charles in Charge” when her lawyer (Charles the lawyer) comes on the air.   Her show keeps me laughing and smiling on my drive.  Rodney Pete and Holly Robinson Pete also have a show on XM 156, but it comes on at noon my time, so unless I am in the car going to a lunch meeting, I usually miss hearing it.  Occasionally I hear the “Rabbi Shmuley’s Show also”.  Yes… he really is a rabbi and his show is about parenting, but often brings up some good points or things to consider.

Anyway… that’s my plug for XM Radio.  There are a lot of good stations, but I tend to listen to just a few.  When I am not listening to the Oprah and Friends Network, I listen to “Suite 62″.  Suite 62 is also what I listen to while cleaning the house (we have DirecTV, so we can get the XM stations on the television also).  I love it!

Happy Father’s Day to our Dad’s…Bill and Larry. We love you and celebrate you on this special day.

Happy Father’s Day also to our friends who are fathers…. Neil, RP, Kyle, Craig (almost).

I’m in Dallas for the weekend. I flew here from Boston after ASM. This year’s conference was okay. It seemed to have more of a clinical focus than in previous years. I went to several seminars on both traditional and non-traditional career paths for Ph.D.s, but they all sucked and none will help with the decisions I will be making in the coming year. My poster session went very well and I think I am close to punlishing the data I presented. I didn’t get much from the other poster sessions and seminars, but I’ve been keeping up with the curent literature pretty well while preparing my manuscript.

Kyllan and I are going to try and catch a movie or two while I am in town. I think the plan is to go to a parade of homes tomorrow.

What a great night!  I am thrilled that Barack Obama has clinched the democratic nomination and will be a candidate for President of the United States.  His speech was great.  I am so excited about feeling so strongly about a candidate and am ready to put my full support behind him.  It is also a great feeling to be part of such a historic moment having the first black candidate to become a major political party nominee.  Wow!  It will be interesting to see what transpires over the next 5 months until election day.  I hope things stay positive and our nation is proud to have someone like Obama as a nominee.

It’s that time of year again. I am in Boston this week for the American Society for Microbiology general meeting. This is largest conference in my field and the only one I mark on my must attend list every year. I will be in meetings and seminars all day for he next three days and I have a poster presentation Tuesday. After the conference I am traveling to Dallas to spend the weekend with Kyllan.

Pictures from the reunion are up on my flickr page. Pictures from our visit with Neil and Noah are also up.

Kyllan and I are traveling to Atlanta this weekend for a family reunion. This reunion is of my Dad’s family. Our good friend Neil will also be in Atlanta this weekend. The trip will give me and Kyllan a chance to meet his son Noah.

Anybody seeing the new Indiana Jones movie? Let me know how it is.