San Diego!

In San Diego attending the EERI (Earthquake Engineering Research Institute) annual meeting. It's nice that I have this kind of flexibility in grad school to just fly out and attend a conference. I don't know how I would have done it in undergrad.

My flight was full. I was really surprised because there were a lot of empty seats when I booked. There were even a standby list. I think it's because it was both a Continental and United flight. It was sold and advertised by both companies. I was hoping for a less full flight so that I can be sure I have room for my poster. We managed to finish the poster yesterday and got it printed at Meyer. I didn't know they do poster printing at Meyer but it turned out to be the cheapest (and possibly the fastest) place to do it at. There were undergrads staffing the desk but they were pretty good at what they do. Undergrads look so young...

One of my friends came to pick me up at the airport and we went for Mexican food (which is very popular here). We talked for a while and did some catching up. Actually, I think I talked a lot. This tends to happen when I do things like going to Indonesia for the summer and then deciding to move half way across the world.

Watching the Food Network right now at my cousin's place. Watching this stuff always makes me want to try out new stuff. I think I should expand my skills as far as what I make. I think there's a lot more stuff out there that I usually don't cook. I'm usually making veggie stir fry with some kind of meat. The other day I got inspired to jazz up my steel cut oatmeal with raisins, cinnamon, and honey. And I added fresh blueberries and bananas to it before heating it up. Really good and because I cooked big pot of it, I just reheat it in the morning.

Looking forward to some good talks and meeting interesting people tomorrow!