Flying Solo For A Week

Brian left this morning for a conference, where he will present some of his research.  The conference lasts until Friday and then he is attending his 25th undergraduate college reunion for the weekend in Pittsburgh. So it’s just me and the kid for one whole week. It hasn’t even been a full day and I got the, “when’s Papa coming home” whine when I picked D up from school.

Brian went to the 27th Annual American Association for Aerosol Research conference in Orlando, Fl.  Why are these events always in places like Orlando and not in places like Buffalo. I never would have imagined an entire association with conferences that was all about aerosol research.  I suppose I should though, working in a clinical laboratory I hear about some strange ones. My lab director is off at a Lyme Disease conference this week too, and that’s not one of the strange ones.  I forgot to tell her I would be late all week because I have to take the kid to school, oh well.

If you’re a little masochistic, take a look at the list of abstracts for work being presented at the AAAR Conference.  Brian is listed on page 112 in 3H.02 Aerosol Growth Events Observed at Urban and Rural Locations in New York and on page 262 in 9G.03 Application of Inlet and Transport Diffusion Loss Correction to SMPS Data: Effects on Reported Size Distributions at Urban and Rural Locations in New York.

If you’re even more masochistic here’s a link to the program I run at work, the NYS Diagnostic Immunology & HIV Proficiency Testing Program. The farthest I ever get to go is about a mile for a meeting in another building.

Visiting Virginia

We finally made it to Virginia to visit cousin Tony. The boys went for a swim in the pool soon after we got here, and I tried to rest for awhile. The pool looked fun and and probably would have been more relaxing than my attempted nap.

We had a very long day and an absolutely awful drive down here. The trouble started at 7am when we intended to get on the road. My car was on the street where it had been parked for a couple days (I walk to work). As I approached the car I noticed the key remote was not working, so I just did it the old fashioned way and manually unlocked the door.

I stepped into the car, put the key in the ignition and turned it. Nothing! Not even the smallest hint of a click. What happened? I was immediately struck with anxiety about canceling our trip, since I didn’t want to spend six hours in Brian’s car. After a deep breath and some thought, I figured a light or something was left on and drained the battery over the 48 hours since the car was last used.

I got Brian’s car and moved it into position for a jump. With the cables hooked up and Brian’s car running for a few minutes I then attempted to start mine. The engine turned over and started. Then the car alarm goes off! I wasn’t even aware I had a car alarm! Did I mention it was 7am? Did I mention anxiety before?

I bought this car used and didn’t know it had a security system, or how to turn the darn thing off. I frantically searched the controls for any hint of how to turn it off. I guess an off switch on the dash would defeat the purpose of the alarm. After a couple of minutes it went off by itself.

So then, figuring it was safe to go unhook the cables, I exit the car. The alarm starts blaring again! I’m sure by now the entire block is awake and cursing. Grabbing the manual out of the glove compartment, I start skimming for any information on the alarm. Apparently with no power to the security system it had not registered the key being used to get in. All I had to do was use the key to lock and re-unlock the car to reset the alarm. It worked!

We got going a little while later and the trip down through upstate New York and to about mid New Jersey was pretty uneventful. Then we ran into heavy traffic. The heavy traffic lasted all the way through to the DC Beltway. It took us two hours longer to arrive than planned.

We should have taken the train. It would have been the greener choice and much less stressful. It probably would have taken less time and the cost not much more than the cost of gas for the trip.

Tomorrow we’re off to Kings Dominion, an amusement park here in Virginia.