It's that time of year again. Time for the corniest conference of the year, Maize Meeting! Instead of being an hour west of Chicago, this year it was in Portland. Needless to say, the view from our hotel room improved just a bit.
This year Danny and I roomed together and we got there early enough to make a beer run after grabbing a bite to eat at
Petisco, a local sandwich shop. Unfortunately, we didn't have a mini-fridge in the room so we had to improvise.
Yes, that's one of our trash cans lined with a plastic bag from Safeway, haha. As most folks had been traveling that day, the first evening was fairly chill. We had dinner then the first set of talks. The second talk was especially interesting, but it was pretty warm in the place and combining that with the fact we had traveled all day and just eaten dinner left me semi-comatose. After the talks it was time to head to the informal poster gazing and socializing. I think I had one beer then packed it in. Gotta pace myself at these things! Day 2 I had some time to go for a walk and enjoy the cool weather. Joined back into the talks and had the first afternoon of official poster sessions. Talked to a few interested folks and had a good time. Then it was another set of talks, dinner, and social time! After a good time at the informal poster viewing and socializing, it was time to head to the hospitality room for some hospitable drinks! A good time was had by all, especially when we had contributions like homemade rum showing up.
At some point in the evening, Hank had gotten a hold of some rubber bands and started shooting them at the clock to knock the hands back in time. After quite a few shots, we had one of my favorite interchanges of the evening.
Me: Where did those rubber bands come from?
Hank: They just keep happening! He probably easily had 30-40 of them, though it seemed like a pretty unlimited supply. Around 4am we started counting the number of people left to see if we had made it to the top 1% (hey, we're scientists!), and I decided that it was close enough for me and I packed it in. Day 3, I got up around 8:30 and Anna and Aaron picked me up to take me out to breakfast. I can't recall the name of the place we stopped, but the food was good and our waiter was hilarious. Especially when he told us that we HAVE to check out the nearby drag show, even if it isn't his night to perform. Don't hear that in Tallahassee! A good combination of late night and beer had resulted in me moving a little slower on day three so after they dropped me off at the hotel, I walked back over to Safeway to get a grande Red Bull for that extra boost I needed for my poster session. It went well again and I had some good conversations then it was dinner and talks. Anna and Aaron picked me up to show me a night on the town and we started at one of the local pods of food trucks (fun fact, there are over 700 food trucks in Portland!) including one that was a mobile brewery!
Notice the tent behind it? Apparently that small covering is a requirement for alcohol sales. Kinda funny law, huh? A couple of their friends joined us for beer and food and then we left the food truck pod and headed to
Hopworks Urban Brewery. There, I had to follow Aaron's lead and get an awesome flight! The waitress even hooked us up with two more beers that weren't supposed to be included. Score!
After Hopworks, we stopped by Aaron and Anna's place to let the dogs out, including their cute new chubby puppy that looks like a cross between a tiny bear and a baby seal. He's so furry and chubby! We left their place and went to
Ground Kontrol, a place with lots of awesome arcade games including a floor of pinball machines and 4 person deathmatch Pacman!
[caption id="attachment_1155" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pinball Wizard #1"] [/caption] | [caption id="attachment_1157" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pinball Wizard #2"] [/caption] |
It was really awesome that I got to take some time and hang out with them. They seem to keep moving to fun places that I end up visiting! Good times!
They dropped me off around midnight, so there was still much hospitality to be enjoyed! I went to the hospitality room and it was fairly empty, which I later realized was because the dance was still ongoing. Yes, Maize Meeting has a dance, haha. Jonathan and Hank were there and this evening the MaizeGDB temporary tattoos came out. [caption id="attachment_1154" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="The MaizeGDB one was on my right forearm"]
[/caption] This year I was pretty consistent. It was about 4am again when I decided that I should pack things in. Sunday, I got up and had some breakfast, caught a few talks including the one from Thelma who is part of the FSU crew. Then it was time to pack up and make the long treck home. Luckily, all of our flights and connections went smoothly and I got home a little before midnight. I forced myself to go to bed around 12:30, which was a bit difficult considering the last two nights I had crashed at around 7am eastern time! Luckily, I didn't have anything to wake up early for so I was able to catch up on sleep. All-in-all it was another fun Maize Meeting. I wish all conferences could be like this one!
This year Danny and I roomed together and we got there early enough to make a beer run after grabbing a bite to eat at Petisco, a local sandwich shop. Unfortunately, we didn't have a mini-fridge in the room so we had to improvise. 
Yes, that's one of our trash cans lined with a plastic bag from Safeway, haha. As most folks had been traveling that day, the first evening was fairly chill. We had dinner then the first set of talks. The second talk was especially interesting, but it was pretty warm in the place and combining that with the fact we had traveled all day and just eaten dinner left me semi-comatose. After the talks it was time to head to the informal poster gazing and socializing. I think I had one beer then packed it in. Gotta pace myself at these things! Day 2 I had some time to go for a walk and enjoy the cool weather. Joined back into the talks and had the first afternoon of official poster sessions. Talked to a few interested folks and had a good time. Then it was another set of talks, dinner, and social time! After a good time at the informal poster viewing and socializing, it was time to head to the hospitality room for some hospitable drinks! A good time was had by all, especially when we had contributions like homemade rum showing up. 
At some point in the evening, Hank had gotten a hold of some rubber bands and started shooting them at the clock to knock the hands back in time. After quite a few shots, we had one of my favorite interchanges of the evening. Me: Where did those rubber bands come from? Hank: They just keep happening! He probably easily had 30-40 of them, though it seemed like a pretty unlimited supply. Around 4am we started counting the number of people left to see if we had made it to the top 1% (hey, we're scientists!), and I decided that it was close enough for me and I packed it in. Day 3, I got up around 8:30 and Anna and Aaron picked me up to take me out to breakfast. I can't recall the name of the place we stopped, but the food was good and our waiter was hilarious. Especially when he told us that we HAVE to check out the nearby drag show, even if it isn't his night to perform. Don't hear that in Tallahassee! A good combination of late night and beer had resulted in me moving a little slower on day three so after they dropped me off at the hotel, I walked back over to Safeway to get a grande Red Bull for that extra boost I needed for my poster session. It went well again and I had some good conversations then it was dinner and talks. Anna and Aaron picked me up to show me a night on the town and we started at one of the local pods of food trucks (fun fact, there are over 700 food trucks in Portland!) including one that was a mobile brewery! 
Notice the tent behind it? Apparently that small covering is a requirement for alcohol sales. Kinda funny law, huh? A couple of their friends joined us for beer and food and then we left the food truck pod and headed to Hopworks Urban Brewery. There, I had to follow Aaron's lead and get an awesome flight! The waitress even hooked us up with two more beers that weren't supposed to be included. Score! 
After Hopworks, we stopped by Aaron and Anna's place to let the dogs out, including their cute new chubby puppy that looks like a cross between a tiny bear and a baby seal. He's so furry and chubby! We left their place and went to Ground Kontrol, a place with lots of awesome arcade games including a floor of pinball machines and 4 person deathmatch Pacman! 
[/caption]
[/caption]
They dropped me off around midnight, so there was still much hospitality to be enjoyed! I went to the hospitality room and it was fairly empty, which I later realized was because the dance was still ongoing. Yes, Maize Meeting has a dance, haha. Jonathan and Hank were there and this evening the MaizeGDB temporary tattoos came out. [caption id="attachment_1154" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="The MaizeGDB one was on my right forearm"]
[/caption] This year I was pretty consistent. It was about 4am again when I decided that I should pack things in. Sunday, I got up and had some breakfast, caught a few talks including the one from Thelma who is part of the FSU crew. Then it was time to pack up and make the long treck home. Luckily, all of our flights and connections went smoothly and I got home a little before midnight. I forced myself to go to bed around 12:30, which was a bit difficult considering the last two nights I had crashed at around 7am eastern time! Luckily, I didn't have anything to wake up early for so I was able to catch up on sleep. All-in-all it was another fun Maize Meeting. I wish all conferences could be like this one! 
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