weekend in Atlanta, GA

It’s soooooo great that the Fairfield Inn of Marriott has free internet access. It’s like the greatest thing man have ever invented. It’s not the daily e-mail checks made me so glad to have internet access but finding directions to get around in Atlanta. I was so busy getting the YLC construct to be cloned into the broad host range plasmid pMMB67EH that I didn’t think about printing out maps and looking for directions to the places I want to visit. At the same time, it gives me a chance to catch up with stuff online that I’ve been missing last week while I was so busy.

Got here on Saturday around 4pm.We didn’t have any transportation to get around and cabs are too costly. So we just explored Sheraton hotel, which was where we bunk over with Jason and Alicia on Saturday night. Then we walked around downtown Atlanta to get ourselves oriented. The Olympic Centennial Park is really beautiful. It has a water fountain that shoots out from the ground and they allow kids to play with it. I thought this is interesting because I’ve seen similar kind of fountain in Beijing, China and they wouldn’t allow anyone to go near it. The fountain becomes a musical fountain at night, similar to the one we have at Mines Wonderland.

Passing the Centennial Park, we walk by CNN Center and Phillips Arena towards the Georgia World Congress Center, which is where the ASM 105^th Meeting is held. We then went back to the hotel and chill by the pool before we went out for dinner at Hard Rock Café, Atlanta. Since I haven’t eaten at any Hard Rock Café before, I think it’s a really great place. The food is not too expensive either although I wish there was more healthy choices. The best thing there is the music. They played all the old rock songs like Bob Marley, Van Morrison and Led Zeppelin.

We were sitting close to a door that leads to some audio control room or something like that. While we were eating, this lady came by and requested that we move aside as she has to get something. Then another guy came along and asked the same thing. The manager then came to our table, apologize and offer to give us two free desserts, which I think was really cool because this would not happen in Malaysia at all.

On the way back from HRC, we drop by the liquor store to get some booze – got some Bacardi and Vodka along with some fruit juice. Went back to the hotel and watched Harry Porter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. After the show, we made some drinks after and went to midtown Atlanta around 11pm. We didn’t know which club to go but saw some people lining up outside of Eleven50 and we asked around. We were told that we should definitely check out this club so that was where we went. It is the first club in the States which plays techno that I’ve been to. Had two drinks – margarita and cranberry Vodka but had lots of fun. It’s been a really long time since I get to dance this crazy. But it didn’t feel that crazy because I was still thinking about the conference and feeling guilty about having too much fun when I have so much stuff to do.

Woke up around 10am this morning and went for a swim. Chill by the pool after that although I didn’t feel like it because the sun was coming up and I am definitely not looking forward to being dark since I’m going home soon. But I didn’t really know what else to do so I just hang out by the pool side with Heather, Alicia and Kacey but I was at the shaded area. Around noon, helped Kacey to check in at Westin Hotel, which is where she’s staying. She got some undergraduate award that allows her to stay at expensive hotels which are reserved the ASM. Went back to the hotel after that to take a shower and just hang around in the room until 3pm to check-in to Fairfield Inn. Once we checked in, we walked to the GWCC for registration. Before we registered, we walked over to the CNN Center to grab some lunch as we had not eaten anything the whole day. Walked back to GWCC to register and went for the opening talk on symbiosis.

After the talk, there was a reception where there are tons of food to eat and some bands and gymnasts as entertainers. The food was okay but as usual, it’s not very healthy choices. Stayed until about 9.30pm and came back to the hotel. So that was my busy busy weekend..it was fun but part of me wish that I’m back at Lansing working on my construct.

~fun~