I haven't updated this in a while, whoops. So why am I actually updating this? Because it is Beam Time and I am sitting in a room babysitting an experiment. Seriously a monkey could do what I just did in the last 8 hours.
I spent sometime reading my old entries, and to tell you the truth that is one of my favorite parts of having a blog. It is really interested how I have slowly but surely have started loving Bryan, TX. I will never love College Station, sorry. Ray and I have even floated the idea of staying here permanently. I mean as a nuclear scientist in the state of Texas, who doesn't want to leave the state of Texas, this really is the best place to be.
Ray and I did just get back from a road trip to PA, and we spent some time in Tennessee. I must say this state is pretty nice and the Smoky Mountains are amazing (probably my favorite national park)! Oak Ridge National Lab is located in Tennessee and there might be some interested jobs out there. The big question is can I leave Texas? And the second big question is do I really want a Q clearance (a.k.a the government all up in the business)? Currently the answer to both of those is leaning towards a no, but who knows. If you had told me that I was actually going to start loving Bryan a few years ago I would have thought you were nuts.
There is finally a light at the end of the tunnel for grad school. Looks like I should be graduating by May 2014. This past May I had the very first beam time with the RTC (my chamber/baby), and lets just say things went well (for the most part). I officially have some data and should be able to get my first author paper out by the end of this year (fingers crossed). Oh and if I haven't mentioned I am officially a published scientist, two papers are out and one paper has been submitted.
What can I say? Life is finally pretty good in Bryan, I am not itching to go to Austin every weekend. Also I finally have friends that are not associated with the University, yeppy! I guess lastly road trip to PA was awesome, I really had a great time with my in-laws. I find it really crazy that just by getting married you get a entirely new set of family members. Which like with all family members isn't always a good thing, but for the most part it is AWESOME!
