Oktoberfest

Posted 08:02 PM, October 02, 2006, by saerni

On Sunday was Oktoberfest in Ryan Park in Foster City. My cousin Micah and his girlfriend Vincy had invited us, so there was a huge buildup to a hopefully very exciting afternoon. They even biked in figuring there would be no parking available.

But once we arrived we saw there was TONS of parking, and a small space (maybe half of a soccer field) where the actual place was set up.

Needless to say, it wasn't quite what I expected. There was no beer tasting (although I don't drink beer, it was mostly for the benefit of others), there was line dancing (not sure if that's very traditional) and some random vendor booths. There were brats and you could buy an entire leg of turkey if you wanted it. I had a chicken and Portobello mushroom bratwurst (very traditional, right?) and a Diet Coke (hey, you have to watch the calories somewhere). There were tons of cute kids and adorable dogs all over the place. They were even auctioning a puppy black lab. It was SO cute. They carried it around and it basically slept in the arms of the auctioneers.

After we walked around for a bit, we just stopped and started chatting, and Vincy shared that she had painted Micah's toenail bright red while he was sleeping, which of course I HAD to see. She started laughing after she finished and he woke up, so she did not finish the whole foot. But then it was somehow funnier to have only one toe, even funnier that he hasn't actually used nail polish remover yet.

After about 30 minutes we felt we were done with the place, but there was a big bouncy-gym inflatable obstacle course that Ryan and I decided we had to go on. We stood around for about 15 minutes waiting for our chance to go on, while the 4-10 year olds went on it about 10 times. They were so bouncy and excited, and laughed the whole time. Ryan and I went through it once in about 4 minutes (it took forever) and we were totally exhausted after the first time. We went on once more since I would not be able to stand the jeering of the small kids who clearly had to climb obstacles about 10 times their size, rather than 3. Although I think they were just happy we didn't take terribly long (since the operator closed it to everyone else except us for the time).

Me sliding through a tube that was huge for the kids!

Me doing just what the sign says...Squeeeeezing!

Ryan doing the same thing!

I have no idea what I'm doing in this picture, aside from looking totally insane. Maybe I'm growling at the kids!

Final slide! Yay, we made it!

After this Ryan and I went up to the city. We were supposed to go see a movie, but instead we went shopping for Halloween clothes in Union Square, and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (which of course was sinfully delicious). I finally got to see Beth's AMAZING loft apartment. It's on the 12th and 13th floor, with amazing views.

Today I got up early attend the course that I'm auditing (go me, I'm so dedicated). Then I met with Mehdi for the Sidow lab. Unfortunately I think that the project they gave me is too basic, and I'm going to be under-challenged here. I need to see what I can do about that. I really want to complete a rotation, but I am concerned I won't get a feel for the lab since I don't feel very well connected to it at the moment.
I went to a Population Genetics talk, which was interesting, and shopping at Whole Foods after. It's great being able to walk over there and go shopping!

I also have a picture on the BMI website now, along with my details and all. I feel pretty weird looking through all of the descriptions of other students. They all have amazing backgrounds. I definitely suffer from that condition that was explained to me at the graduate student orientation, where I feel I got in on a fluke, and everyone else around me is amazing. I'll have to figure out what that was called! In the meantime I just stole the blurb for research that I had on my website, since it's mostly still applicable. Maybe I'll change my picture there as well, since I think it's horrendous! http://www.computationalbio.com/about.php. At least my hair looks good!