Back to training 🙂

This blog has been a lot of sensibility and not much sensory, so here are some sensory highlights for the week:

We welcomed a new student to the lab. Hi Demi! Hope you are reading this. I had the pleasure of helping her get settled in on her first day. I also made sure she finally got some Berkey Creamery Ice Cream. Couldn’t believe she didn’t have a cone at her site visit.

Tomorrow Alissa should be submitting her grant proposal to NIH. This has been a huge undertaking. Way to go, Alissa! (FYI- Really hard to type that name without a Y after 32 years of training.)

I found out I am going to SSP! Who else will be there? I know Joy and Bistra from Land O’Lakes are going. Let’s plan some meet ups. I think I will be participating in a student session about choosing your path. Very excited for that!

I am almost finished with my IRB training. I’ve even kind of liked it. You know you are in the right field when you like the learning about government requirements for approval of your research. 

And my week is ending early, because early tomorrow morning I am headed to Louisville to see the Off-Minneapolis debut of the Fabulous Heidi Bakke. We may just have a half gallon of that Berkey Creamery ice cream with 12 hours worth of dry ice ready to make the road trip with us.

Axes loves to discuss spooky, scary, creepy things. Things that live ‘in the light of the moon.’ You might call it an obsession. The other day his Auntie Heather sent him the scariest postcard she could find. It had an abominable snowman on it. We have spent the week talking about nice and scary snow monsters.

The other morning Axes and I headed out for a walk, and it was a particularly spooky morning in the Valley.

A perfect morning for a yeti hunt. We looked all over the grounds for the yeti. It seemed like we weren’t going to find him, but then finally at the last minute there he was in the forest. Axes informed me that he is now our ‘large pet’, and that he was going to meet us for breakfast at his favorite restaurant ‘Yeti’s’ (Actually Denny’s, Uncle Kyle will appreciate that).

You know those people who put so much joy into their job it can’t help but rub off on you? A post for another day is that I’ve been lucky enough to manage and work with some of them. *The world’s best sensory server ahem.* Well anyway, I met another member of the club today.

The ladies in the lab had mentioned Mike the Mailman. He took lunch at the same time every day. The post office was closed for that hour. There was something about him requesting cookies. He sounded a little quirky.

I made sure to walk to the post office after 1:30, so I it would be open. I started daydreaming and got lost, so I had to ask for directions. I arrived, and there was a fairly nondescript older gentleman working, and I asked are you this Mike the Mailman I’ve heard so much about.

Older Gentleman: ‘Me, oh no.’ Starts to get up.

Alyssa: ‘Oh sorry. A lot of people had just mentioned…’

Older Gentleman: *Mischievous Grin*

And there started the most delightful post office experience I have ever had at the only “Full Service Zone” post office around. I left with my packages mailed, a book of Harry Potter! stamps, and a smile. And Mike, I may just enter your “Cookie of the Month Contest.”

And a couple lucky readers have some fun hand stamped mail courtesy of my new personal postman coming your way. 🙂

The first week on the job was already very busy, which was great! I waited a very long time to start, so I’m glad I got to jump right in. Dr. Hayes (who I will probably mostly call John) has lots of ideas for what I will work on. We talked about many, and I’ve started thinking about which I will want to start with.

After completing all my paperwork on Monday, I spent most of the week pulling together the pieces of a proposal that he had been working on. It was a great opportunity to learn how to use my new Mac. I’m starting to get the hang of it and maybe even like it.

I also spent a lot of time meeting the students in the lab. They are a really amazing group.

There is another Alissa! She is busy at work right now with an NIH grant proposal and also planning her wedding, which is quickly approaching.

Then there is Catherine, who I met yesterday. Her main project is a nutrition project involving parents and children, but I will be helping her publish a paper on milkfat rejection levels.

Toral is working on the totally awesome project of a designing a microbicide that prevents HIV infection in women. She is doing both the formulation and acceptability, as she has a biomedical engineering background.

Erin is working on an astrigency project. Catherine Lee if you’re reading this, I said I could get her in touch with you. She was collecting saliva this week.

And Nadia will soon be Dr. Byrnes and appropriately studied irritation and burning.

Oh and the undergrads Liz, Ryan, Ryan, and Scott.

It’s been a fun week, but now on to more unpacking!

I’m in Pennsylvania and there is already a lot to update you on from here, but I didn’t get a chance to post a few important memories before I left.

It started with manis, pedis, dinner, drinks, and lots of getting to the heart of the matter with my friend and guru Megan. Land O’Lakes will be near and dear to my heart for many reasons and bringing this amazing woman into my life is among the top of the items on that list. She was the marketing manager on the first new product I ever launched- Butter with Olive Oil. The product development team also happened to include 3 of favorites- Ravin, Bonnie, and Katy. Not sure that any project can ever top it.

Then kismet intervened, and I ran into my friend Deena who I hadn’t seen in a very long time. She had successfully defended her Master’s Degree the previous day!!! So it was definitely cause to celebrate. Deena loves children , so she chose to celebrate at the Children’s Museum with Axes and me. It was such a delight to watch them together.

Next I reconnected with my dear friend Lexi and met her daughter. Just as charming and beautiful as her mother. We met at a really cool coffee shop called Sovereign Grounds, which has a huge playroom. It reminded me of a kid cafe that my sister and I enjoyed so much in Germany. Afterward we went for a little walk where Axes told Lexi all about spooky things that hang out in the light of the moon.

Then I had my final appointment with the lady responsible for making me ‘the girl with cool hair’- the seriously talented Rachel at Hair Police.

After my appointment, I stopped at my friend Emily’s apartment to say goodbye and celebrate her upcoming defense and new job. Congrats Emily!

More congratulations were in order the next morning when I had breakfast with my marketing friend Sara who recently returned from her Vegas elopement. She was positively glowing.

I had really squeezed a lot of wonderful memories into that last week, but now it was time for the final goodbye. Goodbye 4145 Monroe St NE. We are headed on our new adventure.

Sometimes you have time to throw the ‘Pinterest Worthy’ party and sometimes you don’t.

I really wanted to throw a goodbye party for Axes and his friends but with the impending move time is not in abundance. Enter ‘Not Pinterest Worthy’.

For his party, I rented a picnic site near a park, provided kid friendly snacks with no prep needed, and planned 2 easy activities- coloring and creating Cheerio and marshmallow kebabs. When the printer ran out of ink, I was done printing coloring pages. Glad I did, since Baby A was the only one who colored. The take home treat was a simple cookie purchased not homemade.

Everyone had so much fun. The adults visited, laughed, and watched the children running around having a blast- or no fun at all as Axes likes to call it lately. The people make the party not the fuss.

We did luck out in one respect. The weather was truly spectacular. And there did end up being one Pinterest worthy element- a surprise from Belinda.