I am Back

As many of you know, I have been in Utah for the last week on a business trip at a Keystone Conference ( http://www.keystonesymposia.org/ ). This meeting was planned and organized by my graduate mentor, Chris Newgard, and it focused on Beta-Cell biology and diabetes. This meeting was held at the beautiful Snowbird ski resort above Salt Lake City. I wanted to share some of the things that occurred in the last week, but I also did not take the camera with me. So, in order to tell some of my story with pictures (which really assist in our readership), I have "borrowed" some pictures from various web sites. So, here goes:

This is the view of the Cliff Lodge were I stayed for the week. It was a very nice hotel, and the view was amazing (although it was even more amazing from the top of the mountain). Most of my day was spent in the ball room of this building listening to talks.


This is the map of the Snowbird ski resort. I went skiing once. I thought that was a very big deal for me. I have not been since tearing my ACL and having it and my meniscus surgically repaired. I went slow. I was careful. When I fell, I fell with my bad leg straight in the air. I am sure that I looked funny. However, I did it, making it all the way down the mountain (blue square the whole way, those black diamonds are crazy). A coworker named Sam the Georgian (his name has been slightly been changed to protect his family) was my activity buddy for most of the week. I can say, proudly, that my reconstructed knee did out do his Southern training in the ability to ski (but just barely).


We also tried ice skating. Here is a nice picture of the ice skating rink that is present at the mountain. One extremely important point to make is that the ice skating rink does not look anything like this. Oh, the metal scaffolding is there but by no means is the ice all nice and polished as scene here. In fact, we watched them plow off the snow (at least a foot) with a tractor. No smoothness, yes bumpy. Sam the Georgian lasted 10 minutes, and emphatically decided that he was done with a fall. I followed in suit.


This is our pool. There was much more snow there as we swam in it. It was very nice, especially once you got in the water. The wind was pretty cool, so it kept you in it. The best, however, was the hot tub and a nod to my Scandinavian heritage. I decided the best way to truly "appreciate" the wonderful water was to roll in the snow and then get in. After doing that a few times and trying to get Sam the Georgian (State not Country ) to do it (he informed me that I was crazy) I did get one of the big name profs who will remain nameless to do it.


So, I stayed for a week in a room just like this one. I am showing this to you, because of an extremely interesting feature. That feature is called a "Bathtub window". This is a very interesting feature. I have had bathrooms that have windows. Usually these windows face the lovely outdoors, so that as you clean yourself you can look out the window at the mountains or whatever. The interesting thing about this window, is that it looks out over the bed. I thought that was a very...um...uh...I don't know maybe "novel" use of a window. I was extremely happy to find that there was a curtain that was also provided. I am sure that both I and Sam the Georgian felt the same way.


Finally, I just wanted to share what I had for breakfast on the way home today. Since we left so early, we were unable to get breakfast at Snowbird. After arriving at the airport, Sam the Georgian and I stopped and had breakfast at the California Pizza Kitchen. I had never eaten there before, so I didn't quite know what to expect. I did see that they had a breakfast menu, so Sam and I both ordered a "Denver Omelet". How surprised I was to find my omelet on top of a pizza. It was good, but a little odd at the same time.


So, those were the highlights of my trip. I am extremely happy to be back home with My family. I missed them a lot, and it is good to be back with my best friend and our children.