visitors = tangible happiness

wow, i got behind quickly, didn't i? i'll try to keep a more steady pace. i don't, unfortunately, have the electronic versions of pics with my family during last weekend's visit from my parents and my grandma. i may try to steal them off of my mom's camera at some point, but that will obviously necessitate me being home (i'm on the verge of starting a countdown for that as it is; having the holiday stuff out in stores is making me antsy).

so, having my family around was absolutely spectacular. i knew that i was looking forward to their visit, but i don't think that i was aware of just how much i would enjoy their company. i was exhausted at the end of the weekend (as, i'm sure, were they), but it was just everything i hoped it would be. i'd let them come back again :) we toured state college, penn state, bellefonte, and penn's cave. we really did take pictures - just not on my camera.

then this week robby was here for the iowa game, which was also a bunch of fun. it was also beautiful out - but super hot, hot, hot! we were the yellow and black in a sea of blue and white.

so, as you can imagine, the weeks in between were packed full of stuff to finish up before i could have days to play. somehow i managed to finish both proposals for icis posters and get them submitted by the deadline. we should hear back by the end of november with some idea of if our proposals were accepted or not. the plan for analyses for my thesis have been changed in some form or another yet again - i've lost count of how many times that makes. luckily, my committee thinks i have a good question and interesting idea, it's just tough to pin down the exact best way to go about things. the good, exciting things are always more complex aren't they?

the project sheri and i are doing on kids with early puberty has sort of ballooned into some bigger ideas, which is great. there are a few other data sets that we'll have the possibility of working with now. the good news is that those analyses should be pretty straightforward once we pin down our exact quest5ions. i've actually been working on the protocal that we'll give to the institutional review board (IRB) here at penn state. they're the body that has to approve all of the research projects that are done here to make sure they're in line with the standards and ethics set forward by the college, the field, etc. It sounds like and actually is a good idea, in theory, but always ends up being more complicated than it needs to be. sheri and i will be using an old data set - collected years ago by people in colorado - and it's really wierd to try to fill out a form explaining how we're recruiting participants when we're not recruiting any participants. it's weird stuff like that, you know? but hopefully the people i've talked to have all been the right people and told me the right things and i've done what i needed to do so that we can move forward. it's a pain to be tied up in the bureaucracy that i'm not even used to being a part of. i just ever wanted to be a scientist. i just want to do the research.

instead, i have a lot of articles that need to be read for classes this week :) ahh, the hurdles that need to be knocked down before you can really run... it's fine, though. i'm in an "i can do this" mode. so, watch me fly...

let's put another pic from the weekend up, just for good measure and just to make sure this is ended on a happy note! (this one with rachel, who some of you have met already)