May in review

May started out in a big way with the Memphis in May Music Festival. Andrew and I went all 3 days, saw some great bands, and ran into many friends there. Favorite performances included the North Mississippi All-Stars, Gov't Mule, The Ohio Players, and Steely Dan. The weekend was much improved when we scored bracelets to the Memphis Flyer (the local independent weekly newspaper) VIP tent, granting us access to free water, beer, barbeque, and separate portapotties (many thanks to Mike and Jason!). That, along with some Jello shooters in a cooler back in the car truck, made for an intoxicatingly enjoyable time on Friday and Saturday. We took Madison down on Sunday, but the crowd was extra thick, and she was marginally impressed with the bluesman Watermelon Slim. So she was ready to head pretty quickly after a corndog (around here called a "Pronto Pup", which has become Delta's nickname) and souvenir purse. All in all, it was quite the fun time, even though I didn't get to catch Three Six Mafia.

The next weekend, Madison, Delta, and I went to Kentucky, so she could visit Jerry and company. I spent some time hanging out with Emily on Friday. Then, on Saturday, Mom and I went running around several counties, from Munfordville to Greensburg to Campbellsville and back to Hodgenville. On Sunday, Mom and I ate Mother's Day brunch at Moma Sond's on Hodgenville's main street. We were met there by our pal, CE, another ex-Hodgenville rebel. He drank coffee, and we ate to bursting. We got our desserts to go, along with a piece of chocolate merguine pie for Great (my grandma), told CE bye, and headed to Great's. We had our dessert and did a tour of her garden. After visiting for a bit, I went to pick up Madison in Louisville. She had a marigold for me and a neat card she had made in Sunday school. We stopped back by Mom's on our way out of town to collect Delta and our stuff, then journeyed the 5 hours back to Memphis.

Somewhere in there, Madison and I attempted to go for a bike ride one afternoon. Immediately after leaving the house, as we're crossing our street, I attempted to pop a wheelie and jump the curb, thinking I was still 13. Obviously, I flipped over my handlebars and wound up lying in the street in front of my house, then jumping up and looking around to see how many neighbors saw my act of coolness. Madison just shook her head. The real bummer was that I majorly bent my handlebars, requiring professional attention, and we couldn't even go on a bike ride that day. Madison was pretty annoyed by my clumsiness by then, but what can I say?

Later in the month, I attended the annual conference of the Mid-South Chapter of the Society of Environmental Toxicologists and Chemists, also known as GeekFest '07, in exciting Nashville. I went with fellow lab person, Sam, and another grad student, Mizuki. It was super-swank for a chapter meeting, with the conference being held in the TN Titans stadium. We were on the club level which overlooked the Cumberland River and downtown Nashville.

The first day was a so-called short course on cancer and non-cancer risk assessment. They fed us bbq for lunch and then subjected our brains to many things new and some interesting dealing with hazard identification, dose response assessment, risk characterization, blah, blah, blah. It was nice to have the view to focus on now and again when I got lost in that stuff. Sam wisely suggested that we scoot out after the non-cancer portion of the program and check into our hotel.

Once checked in, I discovered neither Sam nor Mizuki had been to NashVegas before. So, we headed downtown, where I insisted on pointing out the Ryman Auditorium, and whose significance I got to explain to Mizuki cause he's from Japan. Once we hit Broadway, we were looking about for our affordable drinking options, and that's when we met Phil. Phil explained that he was a musician, down on his luck after a couple of bad nights, but was from the Haight-Ashbury scene and had played with Jerry Garcia. He suggested that he show us where the cheap beer was, in exchange for some for himself. I guess Sam and I kinda took pity on the dude, even though he was obviously full of shit, but we were betting he knew where the cheap beer was. So, we followed him across the street to the Paradise Park Trailer Resort bar, Home of the $6 Pitcher, complete with trailer park decor and a cover band, but no cover. So Phil delivered. And even though he offered to throw in his $1.75 in change for his beer, we were feeling charitable and let him keep it and hoped he would leave us alone after that, which basically he did. We met Mizuki's friend, Rebecca, there but we didn't stay out long, with the conference beginning bright and early at 8am.

The next day was full of interesting talks, including one given by Sam, which turned out to win 2nd place for student presentations! There was good coffee and cereal bars at breakfast, another good lunch, and coffee and cookies in the afternoon. That evening there was a mixer at a nearby German restaurant. The MTSU "Pickin' Professors" played some bluegrass, while the ASU Delta Professors played some blues. It was extremely fun, and appetizers and the 1st round of beer were covered by the conference sponsors. Man, I love corporate sponsorship!

Later that evening, although we tried, we were unable to resist the temptation of the karaoke bar in the hotel. It was great because none of us had ever really had that hotel karaoke bar experience, and most of the singers were really good. Even Sam gave a surprisingly decent rendition of the David Allan Coe favorite, "You Don't Have to Call Me Darlin', Darlin' ". And although his people invented karaoke, Mizuki would have no part of performing in front of strangers. Apparently, in Japan, a group of friends will have a party and rent out a private karaoke room, and they perform only in front of friends generally. It was an entertaining time while we were there.

The last day had more talking, coffee, food, and then freaking door prizes for everyone! I couldn't believe it. Did I mention this whole entire conference cost $20? So, I scored a book entitled "Estrogens and Xenobiotic Compounds in the Aquatic Environment" and a bumper sticker that says,"Back Off Man, I'm A Scientist". When I got the book, I figured who the hell cared about xenobiotic compounds or whatever - I'd never heard of this stuff - but it turns out to be some cutting-edge Dutch research. Almost all the contributing authors work in the Netherlands. So I decided that I was meant to have that book after all and should try to read it. I'm working on it, that's all I can say.

Madison got out of school the day after Memorial Day, and, as an attempt at a sanity-saving measure, we now have cable. I hate it constantly, and I'm not at all sure it's saving any sanity due to my completely unreasonable insistence (in Madison's view) of restricting viewing hours to less than 10 per day. It's nice to be able to let her watch an hour show and get an hour of work done, but I'm still pretty unhappy about it all. Andrew, on the other hand, has been quite pleased with it, and he certainly deserves anything that makes him happy these days with his hellish job. So the cable stays and I shut up, for now. We've been getting our money's worth out of our zoo membership, though, and that really does help my sanity.

Today, Madison, the dogs, and I went to the nearby Shelby Forest that I had read a lot about. It was further away than I expected, but cooler than I expected, so it worked out well. We were breaking in our new hiking boots, so we didn't go far, but everyone enjoyed the time spent in nature. After our hike, we saw some signs to the Mississippi River, so I followed them and eventually we found it. It was quite impressive to see it without any development along the banks, just a flat wide expanse of brown water, really one heck of a river.

Now we're making lists and gathering supplies for the beach. We leave on Thursday and will be back the next Friday. Can't wait!

Originally posted at www.myspace.com/wannabedutch on 06/04/07.