SIGNS, SIGNS, EVERYWHERE SIGNS
1) The one lab-based resume I've handed out since looking (of the 40+ sent) is the only one -- thus far -- that converted to an interview.
2) I really liked the PI with whom I interviewed.
3) The entrance is directly across the street from The World's Best Food Cart
4) The PI qualified he doesn't really know when I could start b/c the guy who is leaving needs to stay long enough so he won't have to pay back any tuition benefit. Read: The PI is a cool, understanding boss.

A POUND OF FLESH
My favorite cooking show is America's Test Kitchen. This weekend, while avoiding the leaves choking the life out from my front lawn, I watched an episode while trying to pacify my hunger with a pathetic tuna sandwich. Well, not really pathetic - My Beloved makes the greatest tuna sandwiches ever. (The secret ingredient is love.) But a tuna sandwich really paled in comparison to the incredible yellow cake the host was making with unbelievable chocolate icing. So when I was invited to lunch with my MIL today, I decided to make the cake myself. Now, note: this is not economical. The recipe for cake + icing consumes SIX EGGS, almost FOUR STICKS OF BUTTER, and 8oz of CHOCOLATE. Two words: Yum. Mee. One more word: Fat. I had trouble fitting both 9" pans into the oven so I overcooked the cake a little and the frosting truly has all the consistency of the 2.5 sticks of butter that went into it. Not that any of this will keep me from eating it. All.

TRICK OR TREAT
This Friday I am headed up to Atown to meet up with an old high school friend who is in town for a wedding. We reconnected on FB. I can hardly wait to see her and compare her today with how I knew her when we played soccer together and traveled to Europe. She has three kids, moved to Alaska, and when I met her husband (at their wedding) he couldn't talk b/c he'd broken his jaw in a mosh pit a few weeks before and had it wired shut. Good times, good times...