After the big meal we ended up just sitting around together with blankets and books. I managed to finish a book for the first time since school started. One cannot live on scientific papers alone, right? While I missed being around everybody, nothing beats relaxing with my sweetheart.

Unfortunately I can only hold school at bay for so long: I found out that the presentation I had finished decently well ahead of time needs to be significantly reworked before I give it on Monday. From the email the professor sent out, it sounds like a bunch of my fellow students are going to have to redo theirs as well, so at least I’m not the only one with homework over the holiday weekend.

The good news is that I’m on the home stretch of my first quarter at LLU. Celebration is a bit premature at this point, but a checkpoint is in sight. And then there’s Christmas break.

That’s pretty incredible. While he was here, we went into LA for the first time since moving here and had a great time hitting some of the touristy highlights and taking pictures. After he left, though, there was a bit of an emotional letdown and then I was back to studying.

This test is also getting in the way of Neuroscience 2010, a science conference to the tune of 40,000-some researchers going on right now. Unfortunately, the test is on Monday, and all the posters from the lab I’m rotating in (including the one I’m on) are being presented before I could possibly get there. I’m still thinking I might drive down for the day on Wednesday to see a poster from Danielle, one of people from my old lab. We worked hard to get the experimental model set up for her project and I want to see the results she’s gotten.

Our close proximity to the school means we’ve been having people over to study or hang out pretty frequently. As a result, I’m realizing I’m going to need more than two Xbox 360 controllers and Castle Crashers. The hunt for cheap wireless controllers and button-mashing fighting games is on! My friend J also thinks I should get a Kinect. If only graduate school came with an “entertainment stipend,” right?

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the web (remember folks, this isn’t the same thing as the internet). If Tim Berners-Lee had tried to get a patent on it, it would not exist the way we know it today.

I’m trying to decide whether or not I should attempt to trick-or-treat on Sunday night. Last year my brother and I handed out candy at my mom’s house, and when the number of kids coming by slowed to a trickle we grabbed some hats and cloaks from our old costume bin and did some collecting of our own. Update: I am reminded that we didn’t just demand candy from folks, we actually put together a little rhyme about how older folks like candy too and performed it slapstick-fashion when people opened the door. I’m sure there’s a video of this floating around somewhere but it never made it onto the computer.

This was actually a first for me – when I was a kid, we had “harvest parties” with bonfires and candy-filled piñatas. They were fun in their own right, especially since there weren’t that many places to trick-or-treat around our house and you really need to be in a neighborhood to maximize the return. Of course, when Mark (my little brother) got older he had friends who lived in neighborhoods, and we eventually moved to a place in a neighborhood ourselves, so he’s been trick-or-treating for years.

Especially since last year’s holiday being such a blast , I’m worried that the 31st will kick of a series of festive days that are going to make me pine for Maryland. It’s hard to find people crazy enough to go trick-or-treating at this age, and I don’t know the neighborhoods around here very well. Even if we can’t go candy-looting, we’re thinking about having a pumpkin-carving party in the next week or so. Mark and I have carved pumpkins together every year around this time, so perhaps we can still do it in spirit if not in fact. Plus, lots of eviscerated pumpkins means that many more seeds for me to oven-roast.

I think all of the time he spent being bottle-fed when he was little had a big influence on his temperament, because unlike many cats he enjoyed being around people. We joined Pets-On-Wheels and were the only people visiting the nursing home with a cat instead of a dog. We’d put a little padded bed on the residents’ laps and he’d fall right asleep while they pet him. It seemed so normal at the time but looking back it was kind of out-of-the-ordinary. He brought joy to the final days of a number of lives.

I spent the most time with him during those growing-up years before I got into high school and working and all that teenager stuff, so remembering James is also a poignant reminiscing of my childhood. I got quite adept at making meowing noises, a skill that sadly has degraded from disuse.  For some reason that made sense in my eight-year-old brain I nicknamed him “Wo” (pronounced “woe”), and it stuck.

Most of the pictures I took of him were with a film camera (remember those?) so I only have a few on the computer, and none of the best ones. One of these days I suppose I’ll have to scan that stuff in.

While we were down there, both Rachel and I kept busy helping the bride and groom with the final preparations and unexpected tasks; in the end, all was worth it as the wedding went off quite beautifully. They found some of the coolest photographers to shoot the event too, which I confess made us a bit jealous. I took Jason into Atlanta, Georgia for his bachelor party, where we enjoyed some absolutely delicious food from the Seasons 52 in Buckhead. They’re the kind of restaurant the understands how to put together and present a balanced entrée that includes both proteins and perfectly cooked vegetables, as well as serving some mouth-watering flatbread appetizers.

I was really worried about my toast, since Jason’s toast at my wedding last year was spectacular. I’d say mine ended up rather smooth, too – the audience laughed when I hoped they would. Pro toasting tip: keep it heartfelt, concise and to the point, and deliver it confidently (remember Owen Wilson’s advice in the Wedding Crashers?). It’ll save you from the awkward rambling speeches. The newlyweds are currently honeymooning in Savannah where Rachel was able to score them a spot in one of the very nice Marriott locations. Congratulations Jason and Kaylin, now Mr. and Mrs. L! I now have at least one friend who knows the incredible rush of elation you feel upon seeing your bride walking down the aisle.

In addition to seeing two new states, we got to take the new Insight for a long drive totaling about 1700 miles when all was said and done (that’s roughly half of what I’d put on the car until then). We managed 50.1 mpg on the way down, and 55 for at least one leg of the trip back. All told, we got 49 mpg for the entire trip, including all of the short trips up and down steep hills we did while in the Ooltewah/Collegedale/Chattanooga area.

Finally, I also had the opportunity to meet Kristopher, an guy I was introduced to online via Jason. It turns out that he’s not, in fact, an owl (as his avatar suggests), and he’s just as awesome in person. Thanks, Jason, for having a wedding to bring me to Tennessee so I could meet Kris! In all seriousness, we’ll have to head back to visit our TN friend at some point. Thanks general ridiculousness, we can’t rent cars for a couple of years yet. This means no airborne shortcuts into the state unless somebody feels like driving us around the whole time.

Watching my baby brother grow up is exciting, because of all of the new experiences we are able share together, and frightening, when I think of the things I was doing at seventeen and realize that is where he is now. I think he’s becoming quite the fine young man, although I admit I’m a bit biased.

We’ve done some fascinating things over the years and I can’t wait to see what is to come. Happy seventeenth, Mark!