Boston Baked Birthday

It's official - I'll be in Boston, Massachusetts for my birthday. I'm of to a "User's Group" meeting for a new software package that we're trialing. It's pretty neat stuff. Not sure if I've rambled on about it before but it allows you to build network of gene interactions then overlay functional pathways and disease processes(like signaling or immune response components) or drug targets onto the network. We're hoping it will be useful for interpreting lists of interesting genes that are coming out of the expression work. I've been doing a lot of the trailing so I'm going to this meeting to see what other people are doing with it and get an idea of weather it is flexible enough for what we need. Should be good. I've never been to Boston so I'm hoping I'll get a little time to poke around. There's supposed to be a big Chinatown which I'm hoping isn't too far away from my hotel. Not sure what else is nearby, I'll have to get online and do some hunting. If anyone knows Boston and has some ideas, let me know! I get in on the afternoon of the 23rd (Sunday) and leave the morning of the 26th. There's a cocktail reception on the first night of the meeting which sounds a little scary, but I may have to go in my day gear since my hotel is a half hour walk away. Anyway, it should be fun!

In other news, it's all pretty quiet at the moment with everyone away. I'm going to a real American BBQ (cookout?) on Saturday evening to say goodbye to one of the girls here who is leaving to take up an Assistant Professorship in Anthropology. I keep thinking it'll be similar to BBQs in Australia, the someone says 'grill pit' and I'm just not sure... It's byo meat and grog so I'm thinking lamb chops...mmm I'll have to be brave though because most of the people I usually hang out with are away, but lucky I have Tom :) I'm a bit whussy (how do you spell that??) when it comes to these social things.

4th of July was great, even with the rain. I stood out on the deck watching firework displays in all directions and in the middle was the leftovers of the electrical storm. Very cool. Then, when I jumped on WoW for a quick virtual run around, they had fireworks every hour as well, so I really was surrounded by them! WoW also had mugs of ale to celebrate so Bravenstar got a little tipsy, which is hard to watch because the screen blurs and goes all swimmy and you can't walk in a straight line if you try. Trying to speak is great, the program slurs your words and inserts hiccups! I did get some kind of bonus (charisma perhaps) for kissing one of the festival celebrants though Don't worry, it was a NPC (non-playing character).

That's all from Bravenstar and I for now. Methinks the Saucer is a no go tonight since I'd probably be the only one there, but perhaps I'll cook something yummy for dinner instead. I've been meaning to make a crawfish tail pasta with a creamy sauce and lots of chili and garlic...