My (1st) 6 Minutes of Fame

As Megan described, we went to Kohler, WI this past weekend as part of the Wisconsin Surgical Society. I researched with one of the doctors over in Megan's department over the past summer and got to present the research that I'd done. Kohler is about an hour north of Milwaukee and registration was at 7AM. Since I could only stay one night, I chose to stay Friday night since I would be there all day Friday. Therefore, we drove up from Milwaukee early Friday morning, luckily there was no snow, no accidents, no traffic! My fellow student colleague was the second presentation of the morning at 7:40AM. Luckily I was not until 10:40AM. It went well. I was nervous until I got up there and then I was just fine. I felt honored to be speaking to surgeons, some of who were 30+ years into their careers. It was a good 6-minute presentation, my follow-up questions were taken up by a fell0w surgeon's recapitulation of my recommendations.

Kohler is a beautiful little town built on the Kohler brand of home furnishing fixtures. We had a nice big whirlpool tub in our 5-star room with endless amounts of hot water! We also got to visit the Kohler Design Center which is a big IKEA-style showroom with examples of all the neat and new bathroom technology that they are producing. The third floor was a collection of mock-bathrooms that were fun and interesting to look at. Maybe we'll go back many years later to help design our own bathroom. . .

I'm back at school this week waiting for classes and tests to get overwith so that I can enjoy my Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. I can't wait to see how much snow we get this year.

State Fair (yes I know it was in August and it's now November)

A plethora of people! (Most either drunk or becoming drunk). Note: there was a ton of fried food on a stick. Wisconsin may be one of the least-healthiest places to live.

Isn't he cute?

If only my bank account were that big!


Moo! Cows are the coolest. Except for frogs!

Yarn Woes

About, oh I don't know, 3 years ago I started knitting a sweater. My Grandma Morgan taught me to knit over the years and I decided that it was a good time to switch up from scarves. It's not that the sweater has taken me an extraordinarily long amount of time to knit, it's just that I'd work on it and then put it down for 10+ months. When I'd finally pick it up again, I'd have no clue what I had been doing so I'd usually rip it out and start over. So during general conference this year I did two things: I finished tying a lop-sided quilt I made for Spencer out of his old jeans and I cast on the last sleeve of the now 3-year-old sweater. Then I got really busy (so busy I can't quite remember what I was so busy with) and put it down again. Fortunately, my friend Heather turned me on to a new blog: http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/ . I love this blog! She posts and knits prolifically. I have been reading all of her old posts since she started back in 2004. So far, I'm only 4 months into the blog (she posts almost every day), but I'm loving it! Filled once again with the desire to knit, I finally finished the last sleeve, blocked the pieces, and sat blissfully down to sew them together. (Just a side note, I will be headed to Portland in two weeks to see Grandma and Grandpa Morgan, so I wanted it to be done by then to prove that yes, I still knit). The first problem I encountered was slightly unsettling. I have never sewn a sweater together before so I though maybe that was the problem, but alas it was not. The neck was too tight for my gigantic head! The next problem was that the arm hole on the body were waaaayy to big for the sleeves. Since I know I followed the sleeve pattern, I am now ripping off the top of the front and back of my beloved 3-year sweater. This should allow me correct for both problems, as I will now be modifying the neck. You can see a picture of the finished project here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0609608800/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link It's the 3rd one down.

In other news, Spencer and I spent the night in a five star hotel last weekend and then went a saw a ton of toilets, bathtubs, and sinks. Let's hear it for Kohler, Wisconsin! I'm also now in love with the Bread and Bean Eatery in Sheboygan Falls (right next door). I had the best chicken Florentine panini and chocolate cake there ever!