My Business Class

Last Wednesday marked a momentous occasion for me: my first business trip! Strictly "work-related," I was flown out to sunny San Antonio to sit through a conference for drug company sponsoring research on a new medication to treat insomnia. I was surrounded by the créme-de-la-créme of sleep scientists, many of whom were essentially the founders of the field. Now I know what you're thinking--the drug companies are evil, he's turned to their side....In fact, I was a bit worried that I was commiting treason upon myself because of the negative image I've long held of the drug industry, but having sat through the proceedings, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the researchers take painstaking measures to ensure quality control and have as their foremost concern to ease people's pain. It is a shame that virtually every drug manufacturer inflates their budget by about 100% just by reporting numbers from R&D, even though every year they are able to write those costs off as tax deductions, dollar for dollar. And there is something to be said for the fact that they shacked us up at a spa/resort and practically force fed us gourmet food any time we weren't in session, but I figured hey, I've been stuck in the dreary ol' Chicago winter for a couple of months now and I deserve a vacation.

Aside from the drudgery of sitting in closed-door sessions on Thursday and Friday morning, I was able to take advantage of the finer aspects of the environs. Like the jacuzzis, king-size down beds, Lone Star beer, and the Alamo. By the way, the Alamo is totally NOT what I was expecting it to be. I had this mental image of it being out in BFE, kind of like the wedding chapel in Kill Bill, complete with tumbleweeds blowing by, but no, it's right in the middle of downtown San Antonio. Literally, you turn a corner from the main artery through downtown and it's right there. I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to see it, but it turned out that the dinner function held for us on Friday was only about a block away. Not only did I get to see the Alamo, but I was able to rub elbows with the higher-ups, namely Phyllis (my boss/PI) and some esteemed PhDs.

Some other highlights from my trip: open-bars, the 65-year-old Panthers-loving woman who knows more about football than I ever will, fresh air, the world's largest collection of antlers and trophy heads, 20 million pillows, and 12F. God bless 12F.


Currently, I am nursing my poor hip back from a nasty spill I took while cycling with Scott last weekend. When attemping the turn on the LSD path near the Drake, Scott and I hit a patch of black ice. Yes, that's right, I was outside cycling when it was cold enough to freeze water. I saw a fellow cyclist carefully tip-toeing off to the side (actually, he wasn't much of a "fellow" since he didn't even try to warn us) only before it was too late--with my narrow roadie tires, my bike slid out from under me, and Scott, merely from trying to avoid me, went down as well. Ow. I shouldn't have even gone for the damn ride in the first place; it was far too cold, and I wasn't wearing nearly enough layers. I had to take a break at Scott's place to warm up, since frostbite was most definitely settling into my poor toesies, and to borrow some extra layers in order to actually make it back home alive and still slightly thawed. Despite my now-black-and blue hip, Sus luckily suffered no injuries.

Oh, and 24 totally kicked ass, by the way. I don't care what anyone says, Jack Bauer is da man. I don't know how they keep doing it. Scrubs is also back on the air, which I am also very excited about. This season is out of control. So many memorable lines. And FYI, if any of you ever wondered why all my blog entry titles begin with "my," it's from Scrubs. All the episodes are My-something ("My New God," "My Myocardial Infarction," etc.). Those of you who actually knew that, you just earned 5,000 points in my book.

P.S. - My dog thinks the wood chairs are his new bone. We discovered he's been knawing at the bottom rungs at night. Anyone who knows of a completely indestructible, soft chew toy, I will be indebted to you forever.

The following takes place between 6:55 PM and 7:00 PM

News flash--24 has officially returned. Everyone tune in. Do it now.

My Motivation

Am I nuts to attempt a triathlon this fall? Part of me screams, "yes," but another larger part says I could realistically perform. I might not be a gold medal contender, but I mean, I did erg 42,195m two years in a row, right?

Scott, my buddy now at NU Med School, and I are talking about entering the Chicago Triathlon in August. Originally, he had informed me of the Lymphona & Lukemia Society's sports event fundraising, which would require thousands of dollars in fundraising in order to attend either a marathon, triathlon, or century ride. Realistically, with my job, that would be a high milestone to reach, so I will have to get all the details from the organization before I can make a commitment. In any case, I can still register for the Chicago Tri by myself.

Training for this would give me a reason to get off my ass every once in a while and work some physical activity back into my lifestyle. Ever since I graduated and left crew in the dust, I haven't done much in the way of exercising. All I've needed is some simple motivation, and I believe this hits the spot.

1,500m swim, 40,000m bike ride, 10,000m run, check.


In other news, the new season of 24 begins next week. I am literally on the edge of my seat here writing this, in anticipation of the premier. I know, I'm obssessed. So sue me.

My Spanish Roots VII

Tues., 11/9

Lots to recount…

The Thursday before Halloween, Paci, Rafa, María, Jon, and I started at Cubil, then proceeded to a champagne/chupita bar somewhere behind Betis. They all got high, then we to Betis where Jon reclaimed his umbrella. We tried to go to one of the bars there, but I for some reason was negged since they asked me for my ID and it was the one night I happened not to bring my license (I was the only one they asked, argh. Reminiscent of past theater experiences...). We chilled at Fundición, where we ate sunflower seeds and stood in the background as Paci and Rafa had a lover’s quarrel. And that was that.

That Friday, we went out with the high school girls again to Atrevete, the same place we met them last time. It was equally as fun, except for the 12-year-old assassin and his posse. Apparently this kid will “rob you then kill you if you even look at him.” Even the cops knew him. Kind of funny, but not really…

Two weekends ago was the group trip to Granada. Except for those who had already made plans to go elsewhere that weekend, everybody else in the program went to Granada. It was a very fun city. Its "skyline" is most famous for the giant Alhambra palace. SBC hooked us up with 4-star accommodations in the city—at least they splurged a little there. No, but the trip was well planned. We spent about an hour waiting in traffic to get to our hotel, then checked in, although Jon and I didn’t get our room until several hours later since not all the rooms had been prepared. In the meantime, we chilled with the Sweet Briar chicks (Bea, Olivia, Holly-Lane Riley, and Tory…I think they’re all from SBC anyway). After chowing down on some bocadillos, we hopped on the bus for an afternoon tour of Granada’s biggest chapel and the oldest part of the city which runs along the cliffs where the Alhambra is situated. We had the option of hiking down from the elevated part of the city where we were dropped off, so we took it. Most of the afternoon was a blur, as the guys in our little group decided it would be a good idea to stop by a supermarket and each get some booze for the way down. We each had either 40 of good-ol Alhambra beer or a liter of wine (beer for me, personally). And since we hadn’t eaten much, it was quite an intoxicating trip down. Possibly the best part of the trip back down to the hotel was stopping at a falafel shop to get some doner kebab that, probably because we drunk, tasted like heaven. I talked with Josh a bit about his apparent withdrawal symptoms from not having played his guitar in a while (looking at tabs at internet cafes, getting the shakes, etc.); he and I will jam in the near future since I brought my baby along.

The meals were out of this world at the hotel in Granada--it was all buffet-style. I honestly ate the most I’ve ever eaten here in Spain. Four full plates, I think? Anyway, after dinner I went to chill in Bea and Olivia’s room (both of whom were in towels when I entered, still need to get the picture they took...) and continued down to Cruzcampo Especials. Lots more people showed up, and I went to wake up Jon who had taken a nap. We had about 20 people smoking and drinking in the room, breaking the program's three main vacation rules in the process. We later tried to go out clubbing, but it turned out to be a bust. Lauren tried to assume leadership and started asking Spaniards for directions to this bar which was way out of the way. We eventually found it, no thanks to her directing, however. With Matt macking Bea that night, and my buzz wearing off, I didn’t feel like staying long at the Chupeteria bar, so I cabbed it back with Karli, Zach, and a few other people and crashed hard.

The next morning I proceeded to stuff my face at breakfast, then hopped on the bus again for the Alhambra tour. It is indeed a spectacular palace, and our tour guide (Raúl I think is his name, although I never found out for sure) was one stylish dude, all decked out in outbackapparel. We also toured the adjacent Jardines de Generalife. They didn’t quite compare to the Florencian Boboli Gardens, but they were still very pretty. Lunch came as a surprise--another buffet--since I thought we were just getting back on the bus and heading home directly after the tour. But again I stuffed myself, and our table with all guys recounted our favorite childhood cartoon/TV shows while getting boozed on wine that was donated from every which table that found no use for it. Then we went home, and all the wine-takers fell soundly asleep.

The following night was to see the Halloween celebrations on Betis/in Boss, but it turned out to be a huge debacle. All the high-schoolers we had made friends with weren’t able to get in since apparently el jefe intended the free passes to be only for Americans, so the bouncers were making up excuses not to let the kids in. Of course, the kids got mad. Maria and I tried to make our way to the front of the line, but as soon as we did they took away the list we were on and things just went downhill from there. One of the kids threw a glass at the entrance door; the bouncers went out into the crowd to find the perp, and after not finding him they decided to close down the bar (this at only 1:15 AM). Jon, Antony, Irene, and her friends had already entered. I couldn’t find them even though I tried texting/calling Jon a few times, but to no avail. Maria and I decided to go to Madegan’s to get a beer and wait and see if we could find them, but we never did. We tried to wait in line to find a cab at the Betis Plaza, but the line was huge, so we decided to walk across the bridge and a bit north to find one that would take us to a club to meet Chuti. But there were no taxis to be found at all. Neither were any of the cab companies answering the phone when we tried to call to reserve one. Maria told me that had never happened before. We ended up walking all the way to the university and catching a bus the rest of the way back. Oy vay. Jon felt bad, but was able to deal with all the jokes that consequently poured from Maria's mouth the next day.

As of right now I can’t remember much of what happened MTWTh—mostly just classes and rowing, I think.

Tuesday night was the election. Flaherty’s was having live CNN coverage with some drink specials (which I didin't find out about until it was too late). I chilled with Mallory and Emily for a bit to watch the initial coverage, then moved into the giant party room after they left. I stayed until just after 4AM with Jon, waiting to find out Florida’s results, but they didn’t end up calling it until a day later. The results make me sad, and pretty much everyone else here. And I’m mad at my family for all voting the other way >:o Florida once again dicked over the country. I decided not to out Wednesday night since I wanted to make my EU class. We had a big discussion about the likely election results (no winner had been declared at that point), and talked a bit about the new EU constitution.

Friday I met up with Lito, Aunt Vicki, and Aunt Linda who had planned a three-week trip to Spain way back when. I took the bus to meet them at their hotel on the outskirts of Seville, and then came back to Conci’s place to have coffee and meet the family. Maria, Conci, and Benito loved them all, especially Lito, who they said is the “perfect grandfather.” He knew exactly how to deal with Benito, since I warned him he was reminiscent of Jon. Conci had a dinner date, though, so we exited after a little while and tried to find somewhere to eat. However, this was at around 8:00 PM, an hour during which I had never really tried to go out to eat dinner here, and it didn’t even occur to me that the bars/restaurants would be closed. We ended up going by Cubil, which had just opened its doors at around 8:45. We were able to order lots of tapas and sangre, which hit the spot. After seeing the family off, Jon and I went back to make some sandwiches and get a good night’s sleep before the big canyoning trip on Saturday.

We had to get up quite early—5:45, but no earlier than during crew season, of course. DiscoverSeville had set up a hiking/canyoning trip in the mountains of Málaga. This was perhaps the greatest adventure I've ever had. It was a bit disconcerting since we really didn’t have much of an idea what “canyoning” entailed, or what part of the country exactly we would be traversing. Aunt Vicki had scared Jon and me when recounting cousin Mike’s story about body surfing in rocky waters, and reading a newspaper story of his former canyoning guide and his group who died during a flash flood on one trip. Luckily, our experience didn't end up that way.

We hiked up a mountain in one of Málaga’s national parks, near the highest peak in the southern province. It was quite steep for the first part, and kind of awkward having to hold all the gear in the process, but we made it all right. After reaching the top of our route, we took a snack break and then put on our gear. Everybody had a bit of trouble getting on the wetsuits, especially me when I unknowingly put it on backwards at first. The whole trip down was amazing—we hiked in varying depths of water and did some rock climbing/repeling down the breaks in the descent that were too high to simply walk down. It ended up taking much longer than it should have, although I could tell it would be well past the original intended departure time since we had to wait so long at the kinks where we had to rock climb down, one person at a time. Echoes of the bus driver’s joking banter with us before kept sounding in my head, that if we weren’t there at 5 PM he would leave. At the last descent, they didn’t even bother with hooking up a rope to descend—they simply stuck us in a hole under the rock that was about knee high and slid the rest of the way down. It was quite exhilarating, though—never had been rock climbing. Nor had I ever worn just boxer shorts and sneakers. That was interesting, changing clothes with everyone on the side of the road.

That loaded turkey bocadillo tasted sooo good afterward. On the way there and back we happened to stop at the big Spanish-style rest stop that we had frequented on the Granada trip, or rather what Jon likes to call “hell.” All that jamon serrano hanging on the walls, in addition to the alien mannequins, is indeed disturbing. Several people went out in Seville aftet we got back that night, but I decided not to go, as I had made a whimsical decision to go to Jeréz with a few people the next day.

There were only 6 of us who went—Elliot, both Rachels, Luisa, Ashley, and I. It was just a quite train ride via the Cercanía to Jeréz de la Frontera. We took a full tour of the Gonzalez-Byass/Tio Pepe bodega (the same place that Lito & Co. toured, I think), led in Spanish nonetheless. The smells in the barrel rooms were positively intoxicating. The tour was very well designed, lasting over two hours, and culminating in wine-tasting with tapas. We were the last ones to leave, along with a numerous, friendly Spanish family with whom we chatted for a long time. The bartender was very gracious, constantly giving us more chips/tapas and refilling our sherry . The family ended up accompanying us to a good tapas bar nearby, after a quick stop to the expansive Tio Pepe gift shop! They thought Elliot was a riot, though, even offering to set him up with some of their rather attractive daughters. It was definitely worth the day trip.

No study abroad trip would be complete, I imagine, without a little trouble back at the home school. I had had this financial hold on my account for a long while, stemming from Dad’s unemployment and long time away from home on job training. It eventually threatened to complicate my registration, so I put the pressure on Dad to resolve things on his end. After some discussion, it fell on me to write a rep from student accounts asking for a release on my account, but after a follow up email and two calls, I still hadn’t gotten a response by Monday, when I was supposed to pre-register. However, Dad was able to get in touch with him two hours after my appointment time, and I was able to clear up the problem and register, and now things are okay for now. Phew!

Maria and I had a fun time last night sharing my pictures from trips here as well as ones from home. She and the family especially got a kick out of Jon’s infamous pigeon video, heh. Benito and I also started a game of Risk. I thought I would win at first, but María entered to help Benito out, and I’ve been losing pretty hard since then. I don’t know how much longer the game will last, but hopefully things will improve for me! Jon and I played chess last night, too. He got frustrated after beating him every time since he hates to lose in general :p. Oh weeelll…

Got to go heal the hands from rowing. Es todo for now.

Lito and Me in Torremolinos

Cousin Linda, Aunt Vicki, and Me in the caves beneath Nerja

The Alhambra Fortress at Granada

El Palacio de Leones, inside the Alhambra

Alhambra Garden

Jon and our rugged Alhambra Tour Guides

The many barrels of sherry at the Jerez de la Frontera bodega

Everybody in Jerez gets some wine, even the mice...

My New Year's Resolution

Happy New Year 2006 to all! One of my new year's resolutions is to keep better records on here. And since it's winter, that wonderfully depressing time of the year in Chicago when one is forced to stay indoors 3/4 of the time, I have no excuse. Anyway, in an effort to recapture all the events that have taken place since my last update, I offer snippets of the most memorable goings-on:

*Ryan, my cousin from FL, and Chad, my cousin on the westside, and I kicking back four rounds at a Loop bar, reminiscing about our youthful day and those in our family who've left us

*Chad hanging upside down fifteen feet about ground, riffing on a guitar

*Grinding on stage with the lead actress in a play

*Piss-drunk on Division with Ryan, who still manages to pick up some ladies

*Hearing both sides of the story when Uncle Ron crashed Uncle Mike's car

*Snow "falling" sideways, and my mom loving it

*...My dad and I hating it *Meeting my cousin Sean's new baby!

*$100 lobster

*Spending just two hours with best friends in Florida and once again being reminded why, no matter what, nothing will change, ever

*Also, for unrelated reasons, being reminded why I left that state in the first place

*A full-on intellectual debate with my brother's fiancée about politics, religion, philosophy, and evolution

*Realizing I'm even more different from my family than I ever knew

*Catching up with my old piano teacher/mentor

*Admitting to my mom I'm no longer a Catholic at 1 AM

*Leaving my baby for six days, but knowing he was in good hands

*Getting a Christmas bonus!

*Spending my first New Year's outside of the eastern time zone with good friends, good booze, watching fireworks over the skyline, all while wondering why they ever let Carson Daly host the New Year Special in the first place

Throughout this nasty winter--and I'm not just bitter, it's actually the coldest start on record--I have tried to keep in mind that spring is but within a few months' reach. Especially now that I'm out on my own, it truly gets rather melancholy around here sometimes, but I try to get the endorphins going by running with Alexei when weather permits and playing a good tune on the ol' six string. I can't wait until biking season begins again. I was very tempted to take Sus for a spin, since there was actually no ice on the roads and temperatures warmed a bit, but in fact it's still a tad too chilly to have an enjoyable ride. Soon enough...

In spite of this rather dreary season, I am also warmed by the thought that not two years from now, I will likely be venturing out west to start grad school. At the moment, the University of Arizona is at the top of my list. I recently got to talking with my Uncle Ron, who is a PhD at a research institute in Phoenix, and discovered that he is on several boards and is in constant contact with several professors in the area. He could wield some serious clout for me when the time comes next year. I plan to fly out there this summer and go with him to meet some of my would-be mentors. Even though I am just finding my groove at work, I know I will definitely be ready to move on to bigger and better things by that point.

In the meantime, I will have to settle for a free "business" trip to Texas next week. GlaxoSmithKlein is holding a conference for a new insomnia/drug study, in which I will be involved. They are providing free airfare to and from San Antonio, lodging at a resort & spa, and dining for three days. I get to be that guy flagging down the driver holding up a sign for me at the airport. When Lukas, my co-worker, asked if I would be available to come, naturally I obliged.

In the absence of a new Family Guy episode, I shall now instead curl up with a good book and read until I fall asleep. Because God knows there isn't much else going on around here tonight.