You know when you try to think ahead a few months and figure out what might be going on and what life will be treating you to?  I’m not one who worries too much about what lies ahead, I just take it a day at a time, but today I sealed my fate for another round of intense experiments in the lab during the first couple of weeks in December…..and now, my stomach kinda hurts.  I will work really, really hard for a few weeks, killing myself to get done, putting in very long days (and nights), not seeing my family and dreaming about rats.  The brightside to all this……these experiments will take me into Christmas break and then……ohhhhh how sweet this Christmas will be!  The more I think about this next round of experiments, the more excited I am.  It will give me some good motivation going into the holidays.  It should keep me preoccupied so I stay on Santa’s “nice” list and it will put me that much closer to finishing up my thesis. If all goes “well” during these experiments then I should be on my way to writing up my thesis in time to walk in May. Cross your fingers or your legs or your eyes…..anything to bring me luck.  But between now and those few weeks in December I’ll be presenting an abstract/poster at the Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Symposium, writing and submitting an abstract to the American College of Sports Medicine, running the Kansas City half-marathon, writing the general into to my thesis and, hopefully, interviewing for the medical program here at KCOM.  I have a lot to look forward to, but like I said, I’m more into taking it a day at a time.  Oh yeah, almost forgot….somewhere in the middle of all that, I’ll turn 30! OUCH!!!