What a weekend!

My graduate program has been hosting prospective students this weekend. This is one of my favorite times of the year - you get to meet a ton of new people with similar scientific interests, great conversations, free food and drinks, etc. My student was a little shy but she seemed to really enjoy her interviews and some time on the beach. Overall, I was extremely impressed with the weekend. Everything seemed to run smoothly and the recruits were impressed by everything. Our student committee definitely deserves some kudos (and a nap) for all of their hard work.

Recruiting recap:
Thursday - meet and greet dinner at Yard House - I love having dinner here because they have a varied menu, including a Gardein section, and huge drink menus for wines, beers, and specialty mixed drinks. I ordered the crispy chick'n with an orange sauce, served with baby bok choy, tiny corn, and brown rice. I've enjoyed the chick'n fingers and sliders in the past, so I wanted something different.
Friday - interviews and poster session - We had an informal buffet for dinner at the poster session. It was catered by the cafeteria. The food was shit. Clearly all frozen convenience foods that were deep fried to cook. Yuck. I did score some nice cuts of fruit though. :) It was surprising that dinner was so terrible because the lunch was decent. The lunch included wraps and cookies. I got the mushroom and veggie wrap and requested a big bowl of fruit for dessert. Anyways, we went to Square Grouper at the end of the day for drinks on the intercoastal. Another student and I took some students to Jumby Bay when Square Grouper closed so they could get food.
Saturday - boating and West Palm - Most students went deep sea fishing during the afternoon, but I took my student out on the beach because she had an early flight. For dinner, we went to BB King's in City Place. The live music was rockin' so we definitely had a blast.

After such a long weekend, and the fact that I had to work some both days, I took it easy today. I ran some errands and got birthday gifts for my roomie. Her birthday is Thursday, so I wanted to get her gifts before I leave for Mardi Gras. I also want to bake her a cake in the Hello Kitty pan I bought her last year. I had dinner with friends - vegetable soup and Hungarian potato dumplings with a piece of baked plum in the center. Very tasty. My friend's new girlfriend did the cooking. Can't be any lazier than that!

My roomie also gave me a late birthday gift. I love it! She gave me a digital food scale from Williams Sonoma! (Photo directly from link)