We're Back!

So we are back, both figuratively and literally. July has been one hectic month so far. I started out the month travelling to New York - where I spent 8 days (2 days travelling) for a course on the "Genetics of Complex Disease". The course was held at the Banbury campus at Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory on Long Island.

The Banbury Center is across the harbor and located on an old estate that was given to CSHL. The first ever meeting talk was presented by Francis Crick in the 1970s, which is kind of cool. You walk around and the scientific knowledge in the place just oozes out your pores. The course was pretty intense and here is a list of the topic covered.

Day one: AM: Statistics 101
              PM: Introduction to Genetic Epidemiology

Day two: AM: Gene by Environment Interaction
               PM: Linkage Studies - we're not dead yet
               Evening - Practical Session - I somehow got created to do some R stuff

Day three: AM: GWAS and principals of Association
                 PM: Family-Based Association
                 Evening - trip to New York

Day four: AM: Statistical Power
               PM: Analysis of GWAS
               Evening: SNP Imputation and Rare variants analysis

Day Five: AM: GWAS - Meta Analysis
                PM: Half Day B-bq

Day 6: AM - Next Generation Sequencing
           PM - Copy number variation
           Evening - formal dinner

So that was a pretty full course and I learned a lot there is a book that many of the contributors to the course have called "Genetics of Complex Disease: A Laboratory Manual" and you can get it at Amazon.com!

Here are some pics - mostly taken by other people!

The Robertson house at CSHL

Class participants at the CHSL BBQ

Sunset on the Harbor from the beach

chatting in NYC.

Then it was back to TX for Spencer's 7th b-day bash. A bunch of people showed up (Mom and Dad forgot the camera but other people took pics - which will be posted here soon). The highlight for me is when the Geography camp from Texas State - who had come to park as we were leaving - all sang Happy Birthday to them. He did get a fish tank and some fish from his brother and sisters.

Fish are cool.

The next day Supermom, g-ma, and the gang all headed north to KS for a week. Supermom dealt with house issues (which is sinking due to a leaky pipe under the foundation) hopefully the insurance will cover it. They got to attend Charlie's 1st b-day party (BTW I know a lot of people born in July) and see friends while they were there. Meanwhile I manned the fort and subsisted off of egg rolls and ice cream. I did however discover the joy of Freebird Burritos, though. The pets and three of the fish survived my caretaking skills (to be fair the fish was already sick before I took over management)

Here are some pictures of the kids (most borrowed from Share and Enjoy).

Lil' Pooks straight mad chilling at the Park.

Dang its hotter in KS than TX

Silas and Maddy's in Lawrence for Charlie's 1st B-day party

Rock-Chalk Jayhawk

Then Supermom drove back to TX with 4 kids by herself demonstrating (somewhat insane idea if you ask me) some mad parenting skills. They survived and we had a good couple of days getting reacquainted with each other. We went and saw How to Train Your Dragon - which was great for a kid movie, how they didn't seem to interested in sneaking over and watching Get Him to the Greek.

Of course the best picture is of 'Lil Pooks who thinks it is good to be home.

Lil' Pooks fall asleep at the table - what an exhausting month.

Postdoc Diary: Day 29 - Easter

L woke me up around 6:00 and I brought here downstairs for her morning nosh session. After that S and X came down discussing Easter. I went back upstairs and slept in until 9:30 success. Of course we had friends coming over at 11 and the house need a massive cleaning overhaul. Uh-oh but at least I'm refreshed. So I head downstairs with J and clean the kitchen up. We then get ready for Easter. The kids are hyped about the idea of an Easter egg hunt and we keep them somewhat placated. The one thing I've never understood is the Bunny - Egg - JC connection. Who thought this up - Easter - Resurrection - lets do eggs from a rabbit, which are mammals and give live birth and vegetarian - well except the Monty Python one. Truthfully, the Easter Bunny creeps me out. Here are some pictures from our Easter experience.

J and C taste test the home made whipped cream that J made. Oh so good.

The kids prepare themselves for the hunt. C, S, X, and Sph

Sph and C check out the Easter loot.

L and J - I just like this picture!

X working on a stomach ache.

The aftermath.

We had a pretty good Easter and the sugar rush of the kids wasn't overwhelming they went to bed on time and everything. J made a great dinner and some wines that I don't remember - too much Holiday Cheer.