Andrea gets married!

Andrea and Ben got married! Andrea is one of my coworkers from the AIDS Vaccine Lab, and she and her boyfriend of 4 years decided they were ready to get married!

They decided to keep their wedding incredibly simply, but very fun! They had a small wedding with just family on Friday afternoon, April 10. They walked over to the lake from their apartment, had a justice of the peace marry them, short simply sweet ceremony, and then went out to dinner. The next night they had a party in a barn, catered by a BBQ restaurant, good beer, and their favorite blue grass band from Madison! It was a blast! They did a wonderful job decorating, with each centerpiece sitting on a bike cog. It was really sweet, and Tim and I had a grea time. Unfortunately I did not manage to get a picture of the happy couple, or of Tim and myself, but here are the pictures I did take:

My parents came to visit!

To prepare for the wedding, my parents made the trip out to Wisconsin to spend some time with us, and to help us take care of some of the details of the wedding. We had a great time! We took my parents to Essen Haus, where I introduced my parents to the German drinking of Wisconsin, the rules of the boots, and good beer! Tim and I took them to Nifty Fifty, a restaurant decorated with 50s advertisements, TV shows, signs, and a juke box with the best oldies! Not to mention candy for 10 cents and classic burgers and shakes. Yum! I also showed them where I work, and my parents were excited to see the lab that I always talk about.

That Saturday we spent most of the day at Lake Windsor Golf Club. We did the food tasting, worked on the layout of the room, figured out the exact order of events, the timing of each thing, contact info for each vendor, etc. It took all day, required quite a number of arguments, but eventually we got everything all figured out. A whole lot of things done off of the To-Do List!

Birthdays!

Happy birthday to Tim and my mom! Tim is 25 years old now, and my mom is ever young ;o) For Tim's birthday I got him a grill that is painted like a baseball. He loves going to Brewers games, and his grill was stolen last year, so I decided this one would be perfect! Hopefully he'll get to use it quite a bit! I was unable to celebrate with my mom (that long distance thing and all), but I wished her a happy birthday from afar!

Unfortunately we got a rough start to Tim's birthday. A friend of ours had a scheduling conflict, and asked if we could watch his dog from early in the morning until he got off work in the evening. We figured it would be no problem. He dropped off Morgan very early, and the trouble started right away. Cooper knew that Morgan was in our living room (stupid dog hypersensitive smell), and was going nuts whining and crying. In turn Morgan heard him, and being a beagle, started barking (at 5am... we live in an apartment complex). Since it was Tim's birthday, I decided I would try to handle it and let him sleep. I tried to let the dogs play together for a bit to tire them out. That just made them more awake. So I tried separating them again. Then they cried and howled. I tried putting them in the kitchen together, but they freaked out when I was out of sight. I tried putting them in the same crate together, but it was too small and they freaked out when I left. HOLY CRAP! So I tried taking them outside, but all they wanted to do was play. So I took them back inside, at which time Morgan peed on the carpet and Cooper pooped on the carpet.

Then I had to wake Tim up, becuase I couldn't handle the dogs and cleaning the carpet simultaneously. So began Tim's birthday! We couldn't let either dog out of our site because Morgan kept having accidents, so we had to take turns watching them and showering and getting ready for work. Eventually we had to crate them both, Cooper in our room and Morgan in the living room. We even had to tell our complex that we had 2 dogs for the day so they wouldn't be concerned about the noise coming out of our apartment while we were away. We both had to come home at lunch to take care of the dogs too! It was quite a mess! Definitely a failed experiment. Our friend felt really bad, since neither of us had anticipated this being such a mess, but we realized that the dogs just get too excited around each other, and 5am was a bad time to start! Ah, so it goes!

Later that night Tim and I got food at Granite City, a restaurant not far from our apartment. It was really good! Unfortunately we both had to work the next day, so we couldn't go out for a drink or stay out late anywhere (because we're old now). Maybe next year!

Tim is the Employee of the Month!

Congratulations Tim! He was named the Employee of the Month at Dick's Sporting Goods (or as the Big Dick of the Month as our friend affectionately called him). He's been discussing getting promoted to a Front End Coordinator (FEC) from a cashier, but that will require dedicating more hours and working nights and weekends (which he had previously kept open for working at the Wisconsin State Journal and covering sports). He may accept the promotion once the sports end for high schools in the spring. But for now, congrats to Tim!

Graduate school interviews

Many people had been asking about graduate school through the winter, and I was deliberately avoiding the issue and here's why: it wasn't going the way I had anticipated. I applied to 6 schools, and you always expect some rejections, but not all of them to be rejections.

Tim and I were excited to use this as a chance to leave Wisconsin and explore some other part of the country. I applied to 2 schools on the west coast, 2 in the midwest, and 2 on the east coast. We were excited to go anywhere but Madison. Nothing is wrong with Madison, but I've been living here for 6 years, Tim has been in Wisconsin his ENTIRE life, and we were ready to try something different.

But luck would not have it that way. I did not get into any of the other 5 schools I applied to, but I did get an interview at Wisconsin. The interview went really well, and all of my recommendations were coming from the pathology department, and shortly after my interview I was offered a spot in the University of Wisconsin Cellular and Molecular Pathology department.

I was excited, but not as excited as I would have been to go somewhere else. I wanted to explore a new city, meet all new professors and staff and faculty, get lost finding classes, find a new apartment, go on an adventure and try something different. Tim and I were ready to go, but I think I reached high and fell short. It me me some time to get really excited, because nothing in my life changed leading up to graduate school. I would keep working, I didn't have to move, I could make plans for month into the future, etc.

But I am excited. I'm starting graduate school, making new friends, taking new classes, and starting my rotations! But more on that later, I'm trying to stick to a chronological update!

Cooper got his first hair cut!

Tim and I attempted to get Cooper's hair cut in November, and it was a royal disaster. The sound of the clippers terrified him, and he yelped every time they got near him. So basically we paid them to reshape his hair, fluff it up, a stick a bow on him.... great!

So we had to "practice" with him. Luckily Tim, being a guy, owns an electric razor. So we would put him in his crate, set the razor next to his crate and turn it on, and then feed him treats while it was on. Eventually he started getting closer to the razor, nudging it with his nose (cap was on, don't worry), and stopped caring. So we were finally ready for hair Cut Part 2! This went much better. We decided to completely shave him down, since his hair grows back so fast and it's so much easier to deal with short hair than long hair! So he looked a bit like a rat:

We also realized our dog was part dalmation! He has so many tiny little black spots that he did not have as a puppy!

One Tough Pirate

When people ask where we go to work, its easiest to just name the company and say a few words about our particular contribution there. It's easy to lose track of the impact our jobs can have on others, especially when we do the same thing day in and day out. I work in an AIDS vaccine research lab, and while the big picture is to help eradicate a deadly disease in humans, our daily tasks do not include 'saving the world'. The research that takes place at our lab is basic in a sense, since we are simply trying to better understand HIV and it's simian (monkey) equivalent, SIV. The hope is that if we understand how the virus works, we can use this knowledge to create an effective vaccine. So while it's a good conversation starter to say where I work, I often lose track of the big picture and why it is important for all of us to continue doing what we do.

But when we have face time with individuals infected with the virus who are fighting the disease and the side-effects of potent medications, it serves as a strong reminder that our research is incredibly important. I do not personally know anyone with HIV, and so I often feel very disconnected from the work I do. Last week, our lab met with a local Madison AIDS activist, Bob Bowers, who has been HIV-positive for over 25 years. We were excited to meet with him and hear his story, and likewise Bob was excited to see our facility and better understand the kind of research we do; especially where we stand with developing a vaccine. Bob told us his story, how he became infected with the virus at age 21, and how he went from a life of drugs and partying to travelling around the country educating people on HIV and AIDS. Bob is a very unique man; covered in tattoos and holding nothing back, he tells his story in such a way that elementary school children and adults alike are captivated by his discussions. His message is not "Don't Do Drugs" or "Don't Have Sex", it's live your life and have fun but be careful. Bob also works hard to fight the stereotypes associates with HIV, including sexuality, lifestyle choices, and taboos about sex. His nickname is One Tough Pirate, and his website is www.onetoughpirate.com. If you get a chance, check it out.

I really enjoyed meeting with Bob, and it was a great chance for him to better understand the research that we do on the virus that has changed his life. It was a great experience, and I wouldn't miss another chance to hear him speak.