Rocket Scientista

AAS, Here I Come! January 7, 2011

The list week has completely flown by.  I’ve been toiling away trying to make my research poster awesome, running around trying to prepare some proposals and applications, and trying to take care of Mr. MadMan’s fun new things that come with his brand-spanking-new-in-his-field-and-reasonable-hours job! And let me tell you, my apartment is much worse for the wear.  I’m not excited about trying to finish up laundry and some cleaning before heading out to the conference.

But I am excited about AAS!  See, this is my first, real, big conference.  Sure, I’ve gone to a few smaller local conferences, the Women in Astronomy and Space Science meeting, the awesome Citizen Sky workshop, but never yet to a big society meeting!  I’m stoked!

I had a (bad?) habit of switching research projects for awhile.  In undergrad, I worked on a project for a year, left to go to study abroad, I came back and it was done.  So I started on something else.  For a year! And then a few bad things happened (read: computer with my data and programs and EVERYTHING was completely unsalvageable after an attack, and I hadn’t backed up) and I couldn’t finish a thesis or the project.  Then, I went to grad school #1, and started working on a newer, more different project.  Which I promptly worked on for a little over a year, and then left to come here.

So, finally I have some (expected) results.  Finally I have something to say.  And I can’t wait to say it.  In putting this poster together, I’ve really come to appreciate just how much I’ve learned in the last two years.  And I realized just how much my fingerprint is on this entire project.  I’ve been here from the beginning, and will see it through to the end.  And it’s AWESOME.  Really.  I even had really weird dreams about aperture photometry last night, kids.  That’s how you know you’re in love, right? :)  And the ray tracing dreams? Those are even odder…

I leave Sunday for the 217th American Astronomical Society Meeting in Seattle.  I’ve got my poster, my business cards, my contacts in my phone.  I can’t wait to see friends from undergrad, friends from grad school #1, friends I see often from grad school #2,  hang out with my EPO peeps, and even better- hang out with all the awesome astronomers I’ve met online! Sure, I’ve got a little bit of work to do (it’s way easier to corner a co-I at a conference than via unanswered email), and I need to do some serious project representin’, (forgive my ridiculousness- after weeks of work, the exhaustion and excitement have caused me to go a bit batshit….) , but I get to have some fun, too!

Before I go– any advice from the seasoned conference professionals?  Anything you wish you knew going into your first big conference?  I’ll hopefully manage a post (or maybe two?) while I’m there, and I’ll definitely jump in with the occasional tweet.  And when I get back, I’ll make sure to share my n00b stories with you all (as I’m sure there will be many).  So, AAS217, watch out, here I come!