return of the prodigal daughter

well, I'm back in the Lou after some much needed R&R in Nashvegas. It was my Dad's birthday, a convenient excuse to get the heck out of Missouri and spend time with family. Well, that and the whole my-life-is-falling-apart bit.

some interesting news to report from the dirty South... first of all, the high rise condo craze has descended on the city. everywhere you look there's a crane and a hole in the ground. guess what's going to be there? condos. quarter of a million dollar and up condos. it's like a plague of locusts with drywall and Sub-zero refrigerators. and they have ridiculous names like "Rhythm" and shit. honestly, I don't think there are enough warm bodies in Nashville to fill all these frippin condos. even the local free paper had an article about over-building while I was there, though their take was a bit less grim.

even with all the condos going up, it was nice to head out to Radnor Lake (our own little Walden Pond at the edge of Metro Nashville) and hike around. my Dad, step-mom and I saw a barred owl, which I took to be a positive sign. I have a thing for owls. and this one was so beautiful. it was just nice to be in the same moment as that creature and to know that there is karmic balance somewhere in the universe for everything going on in my life right now.


I also ate way, waaaaay too much food while I was there. starting at the Tin Angel on Wednesday night for my Dad's birthday. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I had never been to the Tin Angel before, but I did leave the city before I was much of a gourmand- I mean, at 18 you consider Waffle House an example culinary excellence. mmmm... scattered, smothered, and covered... the food at Tin Angel was excellent and the little place reminded me a bit of my favorite StL restaurant, Atlas. unfortunately, I didn't get my Tex-Mex fix in on this visit. but there will be plenty of other opportunities. Nashville has a very large and growing Latino population. it is always cool to drive through parts of town I remember vividly from my childhood and see an entirely new community taking shape there, including billboards in Spanish.

all in all, a re-energizing visit. hopefully I can push through this week and finish getting ready for Society for Neuroscience 2007. in 2 weeks me and 30,000+ of my closest neuroscience friends will be taking over San Diego for 5 days. I'm sure that you are anticipating the blog posts as we speak.