Atlanta part II

Of course it wasn't all work work and work. In between attending talks and networking (something I desperately need to work on...), we found time to have some fun too! Tim's very momentous 30th birthday was on the first day we arrived, and we made sure he was properly sauced up by the end of the evening. Free flow of free beer provided by the conference organisers during the welcome reception didn't hurt too. After a night out at the local brewery (on the street that will soon become very very familiar to us- Peachtree...), we persuaded him to come to Susanna's and my room to help with Susanna's and Steve's presentation rehearsals...and surprised him with a cake!

I'm just surprised and mildly impressed at how we can go out at nights, and attend talks (plus pay attention) in the day. Kinda reminded me of the glorious Okinawa ICRS days. Really enjoyed the talks at the conference, even though the rooms were too small most of the times, and I spent a lot time standing throughout the day. Also the first time that I spent all 2 hours in front of my poster entertaining a steady stream of people asking me questions about my work. It's like what James said before about attending meetings with researchers other than those working exclusively on corals. You get to see a variety of research and techniques on similar aspects that you might not get to see otherwise, like trophic cascades, larval biology, chemical ecology, competition, invasive mechanisms, etc. Plus most of the people, even the professors were pretty down to earth and easy to talk to. We ended late most days, and I hardly had time to even go for aikido. Finally managed to squeeze in one session on Friday at Dogwood Aikikai :).

It was nice to walk through campus- the weather was nice and sunny, and the trees were mostly blooming- so pretty!

My labbies and I also decided to take off a little earlier on Saturday to visit the world famous Georgia Aquarium. Parking here costs $10! And the crowds! I felt like I was part of a cattle show....we bought our tickets ($24!!!), and had to wait till a pre-determined time to enter, cos of crowd control I guess....so Susanna, Raphael and I visit the Olympic Park nearby-

And took pictures of the CNN building!

Once inside, we pushed through the crowds to reach the various exhibit areas. Skipped most of the window displays, as I didn't feel like squeezing under people's armpits to get a short glimpse at some fish or other....Pffft.... The belugas were really cool though :)

This one looks like it's smiling, no?

Was also very fascinated with the weedy seadragons....

Makes me feel like going diving to see them for real!

Tired after a hard afternoon's visit