BMES

Just got back from the BMES 2009 National Conference in Pittsburgh. After watching the Penguins game I really do believe Hockey refs really are biased. We saw some pretty violent stuff happen to the Penguins w/o any notice. We also saw some only mildly violent stuff happen to the Coyotes that the ref deemed worthy of the time out penalty.

It seems everyone in Pittsburgh know the history of Pittsburgh dating back to the French and Indian war in 1755. Was used to once be a steel industry is now a technology driven oasis (as they put it). That holds annual bass tournaments (they were really proud of that). In addition to Pittsburghians we saw Olive Wilde (aka #13 in the TV series House)!!! She was probably there making the movie "The Next Three Days" that comes out in 2011 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1458175/). I was pretty excited to meet her on a street corner at 11:30pm! My first celeberty encounter :)

The conference was also really nice. Met a lot of professors that have had a big impact in the biomechnics field: Drs. Frank Yin, Kevin Costa, Vorp and Scott Simon to name a few. Dr. Costa in particular bought me a nice lunch (he insisted on the place) and assured me of my methods and approach regarding AFM testing :)

On the last day we (basically the Cote lab and myself) went to see Bedrock, a band put on by 2 members at Texas A&M, Dr. Moore and Luke, and others. I had a good time catching up w/ the professor I used to work w/ Dr. Simon, dancing and talking. Although it would have been better if Clark was there playing the bass.

Thanks for reading. Tune in for the next adventure....

ACL

I have been in Texas over 3 years and I finally went to one of the biggest events: Austin City Limits. This year ACL had over 130 bands with 8 stages and about 65,000 people per day for 3 days! I only went on the last day but it was nice. Jacopo and I kept joking that we were in an ocean of diarrhea (that comes from one of Jason Mraz's songs where he says, "you're an island of reality in an ocean of diarrhea"). It had rained the day before so it was very muddy. Oh and just a side note...if you ever go to an all day concert in TEXAS forget about bringing a sweatshirt. We learned that the hard way.

I have a much greater appreciation for rock now. The musicians are some really talented people! Ben Harper plays a Hawaiian lap style steel guitar very well! Pearl Jam's lead guitarist Mike McCready is also very talented. He is able to play the guitar behind his head, and sound amazing. My favorite song is "The Fixer." Check it out if you like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxDwU_SpiMI

After getting hosed off by a high pressure U-wash car wash, getting a speeding ticket for going 19 over and breakfast at the kettle we went to bed at 4am. The end of a really awesome weekend. The only thing that could have made it better would have been to have all the ones I love there!