In lieu of actually writing anything, I thought I’d post a few pictures instead. My parents came down to D.C. yesterday, so we spent the day enjoying the wonderful weather and walking around the new NationalGarden for the afternoon. It was nice to actually get outside for a bit and do something non-cancer oriented, and we were even able to intercept my boyfriend on his way back from the hospital and convince him to come along for the afternoon to actually breathe some fresh air (he is a hostage of internal medicine and only ever sees the inside of the hospital or the inside of his apartment – no time for anything else). Of course, since we took the afternoon off, we’ll both be spending the day working like maniacs trying to catch up and hopefully having time to take a break to watch some football (Eagles for him, Steelers for me). My goal for the day is to stop in the lab to do a bit of cell culture, finish up a paper due tomorrow for ethics class on animal research, try to understand this paper I’m presenting in journal club on Wednesday and start to put together a powerpoint presentation, and catch up on reading a few articles… and I think I also promised my boyfriend to work on a patient write-up for him if he would take the afternoon off to spend time with my parents yesterday. It will be a stressful day, but it was definitely worth taking the time off yesterday. And allow me to stress the point -- if you ever want to come to visit D.C., do try and come in the fall -- it is so much nicer than the swamplike summers.