Evolution 2008

I got back this morning at about 1am from a conference in Minneapolis called "Evolution". It's put on by the SSE (Society for the Study of Evolution) who publishes a big journal called Evolution and this is their annual meeting. It was great fun to sit a listen to all the latest research that is happening in the field. I personally had a poster in a poster session, basically I made a poster outlining my research and stood by it for three hours and talked to people about what I did and what I found. The session was actually on the Washington St. Bridge, the pedestrian part, that crosses over the Mississippi. It was pretty cool to stand there over the Mississippi to do the poster except that we were in this enclosed space that was really hot, with the sun shining in as it set, and it echoed. I practically had to yell to be heard. It was really fun to do and a really good experience. I didn't expect anyone to come to my poster, but found out through the session that my advisor's name is much better known that I realized, so I had a ton of people stop by and tell me that they had worked with him, wanted to know if he was around, he sent them down to see it, etc. I stayed busy talking to people for almost 2 1/2 hours straight, which was great because it made the time go really fast. It was so interesting to talk to so many people and hear their questions, opinions, life stories etc. which was made even more fun by the fact that the vast majority of people were drinking beer and wine while we talked.
Anyway, there are more stories to come from the trip (it was really quite fun and adventurous) but this is enough for today. I some other students from my lab and one of them brought a camera and took pictures, so I am going to try and get her to send them to me. If I am successful I will post them.