SRS Trainee Symposium – Sunday Recap

Sunday was the series of lectures for the SRS Trainee Symposium. I got up at 6:30am since I needed to be down at the convention center by 8 for the first workshop. The complimentary breakfast at the hotel was much better than expected (I had low expectations). They had a variety of hot dishes including french toast, eggs, sausages, hash browns and bacon as well as cereal, yogurt, coffee, tea, juice, etc. Not too shabby! Oh and they also had grits, which I guess is like porridge but made with corn? I had her put some on my plate and I tried it but it was a little weird. She said most people put cream, sugar, salt and pepper on it. Seemed too complicated for me so I just stuck with the eggs and hash browns!

The lectures I attended were: Understanding underlying mechanisms of sleep and sleep homeostasis through animal models, Sleep deprivation and human performance, Interactions between sleep and metabolic disorders and obesity, and Pediatric OSA.

I found the Pediatric OSA lecture quite interesting especially when she showed a video of a child presenting with obstructions and snoring while asleep. I think he was originally brought in due to bed wetting, not realizing he actually had severe pediatric obstructive sleep apnea! The rest of the day has been filled with other lectures, the last few I attended were on the locus coeruleus and the effect of sleep deprivation and fragmentation. Interesting stuff.

There was another HUGE rush of people Sunday night since there must have been another Orioles baseball game (so much orange everywhere!). I wanted to do some walking around (since I missed out on Saturday) but huge rain clouds were rolling in so I made a last minute decision to go back to the hotel. It was a good choice too since just before I got there it started raining followed by super loud thunder and lightening.

{The intersection right by the converter centre. It was totally blocked on Saturday night after the baseball game and police had to direct traffic. Lets just say there was A LOT of honking!}

I met up with my supervisor last night since her flight got in around noon yesterday. Although we mostly do our own thing during the day, it's nice to have other people here that I know! Our post-doc Sam is around here somewhere… just haven't seen him yet lol

Oh and they have a bunch of these "anti-dumping" pet adds near the convention centre. I think Halifax needs some of these!

 

S

Hello, Baltimore

Made it without a hitch to the Mount Vernon Hotel, the shuttle ride was very efficient! I was a little hesitant on what the room would be like after reading some online review (they're about average), but it was much better than expected. First, the a/c is super powerful thank god, second the beds are big and comfortable and third, the bathroom looks beautiful with a huge mirror above the sink. It's definitely not the most sauve place for for the price and the building (it's a pretty old place), I think it was a great deal. The wifi seems pretty good as well so far which is great since I have no cell service as Rogers isn't a carrier in the US. Which is great actually so I won't accidentally send any texts/calls that will cost me heap loads.

So I ended up relaxing at the hotel for a bit (I was super tired earlier but fell asleep on the plane from Philadelphia to Baltimore right when I got on and woke up just before landing so that was a nice nap) but I still needed a little break. I didn't really have enough time anyways to do some exploring since the plane was delayed and it was just too hot anyways.

I headed down to the Baltimore Convention Centre to register and get all my SLEEP 2013 goodies. There were flocks of people heading toward the Harbor so I'm assuming there is a baseball game tonight since I passed the HUGE stadium during my shuttle ride into downtown.

{Registration area where I picked up my badge and things inside the Baltimore Convention Center}

At 5pm the Trainee Symposium started on the Hilton Hotel next door to the convention centre.

Insert Note: OMG I just saw someone with a Forever 21 bag, totally forgot that I'm in the states and can go shopping there!!! Now, the question is how much room is in my suitcase….?

I arrived to he opening lecture about 10min early and was the only one there! People finally started pouring in around 5 and we got started a little late. There was a good turn out of people, I would say over 100 out of the 250 that will be participating in the symposium lectures on Sunday. The opening lecture was alright, it was on genomics and the human genome project which was very interesting but he didn't really make the connection to sleep research which would have been nice. A couple of people also presented their data during the Datablitz which was made up of quick 3 minute talks. Only four people participated so it would have been nicer to hear about a couple more projects (which was what I was expecting).

{The empty auditorium before the Trainee Welcome Reception}

I initially wanted to do some site seeing around the downtown area afterwards but ended up just heading back the hotel. First off, I was extremely tired having been up since 4am and gaining an hour through travel. Second, I just wasn't sure how safe I felt walking around by myself. A lot of the area around the hotel seems deserted with a lot of boarded up restaurants/buildings. Needless to say, it was the right choice since I have to be up at 6:30am Sunday morning.

Night!

S

LIVE from Philadelphia International Airport

Half way there! I'm currently sitting by my gate waiting for my connecting flight from Philadelphia to Baltimore (which is running about 45 minutes late :S). My first flight here went very smoothly. After the awkward walk through security and customs where I can just never seem to do the right thing, I boarded the very tiny plane. There were some empty seats so it wasn't too crowded and the plane was nice and cool. Everything went according to schedule too, so that was great. I've booked a shuttle to take to the hotel from the airport when I land in Baltimore, so I'm hoping they'll still take me even though my flight was late (I don't want to waste my $15!)

On a different note, the Philadelphia airport is huge! I got off my flight from Halifax at Terminal B which was incredible. Not only did it have the usual coffee and food paces, but it was practically an entire mall with the Body Shop, a Pinkberry (one of my fav things about visiting the states!), Brooks Brothers and tons more! It was probably even bigger than the mall back home in Bridgewater.

My flight is leaving from Terminal F, so I followed the signs to the shuttle that would take me there. As we approached there was a huge sign saying, "Terminal F is expanding!". So I figured I had already seen the spectacular part of the airport – and I was right. Terminal F just looks like your average airport with a few essential shops, nothing too exciting.

Going to "kill" some time and maybe watch a Hannibal episode (haha). My friend Ali told me about it and now I'm hooked!

Will do another update later on hopefully with some pics :)

S

Ready for an adventure!

So I'm off to Baltimore Saturday morning for my first conference! I'll be attending the 2013 Sleep Meeting and will be presenting a poster of my research. I'm super excited to attend the lectures and meet lots of people doing research in a similar area to myself. I'm going to bring my macbook with me so I can fit some blogging in along the way since I have been slacking lately. Running has been kind of on the back burner while getting all of my research together and a poster made. I'm excited to get back into it once I get back, I miss it! I never though I would miss sweating but it feels surprisingly good :)

So stay tuned over the next week and I'll try and add some daily updates!

S

Time For Some Ultimate

So here's an update from the past couple of days:

On Wednesday I took a running break and a friend from my lab (Maxine) and I tossed around a frisbee for a bit. We wanted to get some practice in since we joined an Ultimate Frisbee League for the summer! We both wanted to join a team sport and thought it sounded fun. We put our names on the "free agent list" and were recruited by a team called the Raging Rambos haha. We're both pretty excited and the guy who contacted us sounds super nice and made us feel okay about not having too much experience, saying we'll put in some practice games before playing other teams. Practicing throwing the frisbee yesterday was such a relief since we wanted to make sure we actually COULD do it. Turns out we don't completely suck after all! I have seemed to get the hang of throwing the frisbee in the relatively right direction and Maxine is great at catching it even when I throw it crazy so I think we make a great pair :) I can't wait to actually learn how to play!

{The frisbee I won at James's birthday for coming in 3rd in the "Best 90's costume contest" for being Spike from Degrassi – I dressed as her unintentionally but it worked out nonetheless! Gotta love jean vests :D}

Yesterday I went to the gym after work for a run, 4.87 miles/58:03 mins. To be honest, my legs were still kind of stiff so I took a lot more walking breaks than I should have. I think I may need to get some running shoes with a bit more support for my ankles and knees since they seem to be giving me trouble (just a little bit). I love my New Balance Minimus shoes but I'm not sure they provide enough support, at least for while I'm starting out. They stiffness seemed to subside half-way through the run though and they felt like normal which I was happy with. I think I'm still getting over taking a bit of a break when I got all those blisters since I feel like I'm just getting back into the flow I had before, therefore I must have been out of the flow!

I'm heading home to the Bay for the weekend tonight and I am very excited! It's been a couple of months since I was last home which is the longest time without a visit in a while! I'm looking forward to some delicious wheat-free meals (which I will cook my fair share of, of course) and some Rummy games with my parents – our family is obsessed with cards. Euchre is our preferred choice but unfortunately it will only be the three of us this weekend (need four to play) since Matt has to work this weekend :( I'm hoping the weather will be nice so I can do one of my last long runs before the Bluenose Half Marathon. It's getting so close, where did the time go!? My trip to Baltimore to attend the 2013 Annual Sleep Society Meeting is coming up fast too so I am busy getting my poster ready :) I leave on June 1st (my birthday!) and will be there for 5 days. I'm excited to go to and present at my first conference! I'm looking up some stuff to do during some downtime while I'm there (not that there will be too much time for sight-seeing). I'd like to visit the Edgar Allan Poe Museum which is in the house he died in, in Baltimore. Sounds pretty cool to me!

{I used to enjoy reading Poe when I was younger and lately watching The Following has reignited my interest}

Side Note:

Within our HSHC Bluenose Marathon team there is a competition to see who can get the most new pledges by next Monday, May 13th! The winner gets a gift card to Niche (one of my fav places!) so if anyone can spare just $5 or $10, it would help me out a lot! You also win bragging rights too which is always fun :P All of the proceeds from my run (and the others running for HSHC) goes towards the conversion of an old office into a new treatment room at the Halifax Sexual Health Centre! Upon its completion, they will be able to see many more patients on a daily basis as well as decrease wait times for their critical services! Any little bit helps for this amazing organization!

Happy weekend everybody!

S