Luckily for me the really beautiful days saved themselves for this weekend. Albeit, I’m still studying- but at least I can do it outside!

I’m going to try and take a lot more pictures this spring/summer. In organizing my photos the other day I noticed that I’ve taken a grand total of about 20 photos this year so far- unacceptable. These are some of the best times of my life, I should document them better.

Last weekend my apartment building had its first porch party of the season- beer, tenants, friends, dogs, and music.

Then, on Sunday I took a walk in the lovely weather over to one of my favorite bars, The Patterson House. My friend Michael’s brother, Sam, was in town to guest bar-tend. Sam’s a rockstar in the bar-tending world, creating a wide variety of amazing concoctions and flavors with which to take your alcohol.

Michael’s parents, coworkers, and a bunch of our mutual friends were also there. Lots of great drinks were had. I’d love to describe them but I don’t even know what half of the ingredients were!

Wiley, doing his best Bogart impression

This weekend started off with yet another porch party. This time it felt more like the usual next-door-to-Vandy crowd: a lot of alumni, researchers, and graduate students

An emptier, Spring-ier courtyard

In other news is….. our lab! Check it out:

http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/reporter/index.html?ID=10341

Hopefully as the semester winds down I’ll find more time to get off my sorry butt and post some more. Until then, here’s a bit of what I’ve been doing with my free time: Going to see the USA national soccer team face off in an international friendly game with the Paraguay national team at Titan’s stadium!

It was a bit wet early on...

Steve and Mary Beth came as well

Vanderbilt University Medical Center...I work in the big glass building on the right, Medical Research Building IV

As was expected, classes and lab have left me with very little free time. Every week is packed to the gills and by midweek the next week is filled up as well. So I thought it would be good to keep a running update of what I’m up to here so family and friends won’t feel wholly disconnected when I’m not calling or emailing very often.

My advisors are Drs. Craig Lindsley and P. Jeffrey Conn. Both are former Merck researchers who broke away to set up their own drug discovery program in an academic environment. What’s resulted is the Vanderbilt Program in Drug Discovery, one of the most drug research consortiums in academia. The VPDD now consists of many more labs than Lindsley’s and Conn’s but those are the labs of which I’m a member.

I’ve worked for Craig since undergrad, he’s essentially the reason I decided to go to graduate school. His lab focuses mainly on the medicinal chemistry side of things while Jeff’s lab focuses more on cell based assays and, eventually, in vivo mouse and rat studies. Check out the links to their lab websites above if you’re curious.

Currently I’m working on finding an antagonist for the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor subtype M4. If found, such a molecule would have the possibility of alleviating symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease, seizures, and other dystonias. This project may end up becoming my primary thesis, but it’s too early to tell.

I hope this will be a start to some regular updates on what I’m doing in research and in life around Nashville. Right now I’m off to prepare about 40 compounds for a cellular assay, keep your fingers crossed for good data!

Jennifer also had been sent home early, so we got together, grabbed some sleds (read: bent to shit cookie pans), and hit the slopes (read: hill in the business park across the street from my apartment). Speeding down the hill towards West End, shouting my head off, I noticed some drivers looking at me with, dare I say, disdain– I am writing this off as mere jealousy that they did not have half a day off. I love how snow has the ability to turn everyone into kids again.

After we were thoroughly iced and soaked there was a brief break for hot chocolate and cooking our clothes in the oven. Then we suited up again to go to a giant snowball fight in Centennial Park that we were alerted to thanks to Nashvillest and Nathan Baker.

Snow!!! (Credit: Alice G.H. Kim)

A sock-handed, snowball throwin' machine!

The snowball fight started off slow, just a few of us tossing missles by the Parthenon, but then we noticed a mass of people at the other end of the park. As we approached them there was a Braveheart moment as we released blood curdling screams and charged them!

Unfortunately for us we were outnumbered by 3 to 1, so I guess it was more like a Tennyson “Charge of the Light Brigade” moment. In any case, we made quick friends with the newfound warriors around the van brought by a wondrous Nashville beverage company, whose name I am not at liberty to disclose. Once we’d warmed ourselves with beverages, we collectively decided to sneak up on (as much as “sneaking” can apply to a group of thirty or so people) a Channel 4 News van that was parked nearby. They fought briefly, but mainly stayed cloistered in the van…pansies. Still, Jenn and I got them with a few good scoops of snow from our sleds!

Courtesy of the Tennesean photographer we tried not to hit.

Also courtesy of the Tennesean photographer we tried not to hit.

Jennifer lying in wait

Here's to an awesome snowball fight!

The after parties were every bit as fun as the fight itself. We stopped at Sweetwater and puzzled the 60 something alcoholic crowd there, then we hit up Rotiers, where every employee seemed to be pissed off that they couldn’t go home yet. Finally we wound up at Jennifer’s place with a few of our newfound friends and forties. We drew dominoes to see who got which forty. As I recall the selection order went something like this: PBR, Colt 45, Steele Reserve, Coors Light, Bud Light, Bud Light Lime. Yes, that’s right, PBR and Colt were the first to go…I think you can deduce how fun the rest of the evening was.

If you haven’t heard of these guys, even if you’re not a fan of bluegrass, you need to check them out. They are without a doubt the best live band I have ever heard. All of them are incredibly talented musicians, but more than that, they are skilled at playing with each other. The improvised solos and duels they screw around with onstage are slackjaw-worthy.

Credit: Last.fm

If you love The Band I hope this is on your list of great films. Not only do you get to hear a full concert by The Band, but you also get to hear them play with the likes of Muddy Waters, Van Morrison, Emmylou Harris, Neil Diamond, Neil Young, and, of course, Bob Dylan.

On the other hand, my friends’ goal for the evening was to introduce me to a Nashville institution: Hot Chicken. There is a triple crown of Hot Chicken joints in Nashville: Bolton’s, Prince’s, and 400 Degrees. My friends decided I should try 400 Degrees first. We sampled all three of their categories (my impressions in parentheticals): 100 degrees (“Oooh, giggle giggle, that’s kinda hot!”), 200 degrees (“Whew, oh yeah, that’s the kick I’m looking for! Hand me the milk, quick!”), and 400 degrees (“EEEEhhhGGGuuuHHH, HrnNnNNNN, UGHhhhhghGH”).

After we’d taken the requisite hour to let our mouths return to less than nuclear conditions, I decided it would be a perfect time to crack a bottle of 1985 Fonseca Port. Backstory: 1985, the year I was born, turned out to be a vintage year for Fonseca. My parents decided to grab a case to present to me when I turned 21. Up until this get together, I’d only had one bottle, shared with my parents and some family friends. So I decided to keep up the idea of sharing the stuff with close friends and we all enjoyed the second bottle thoroughly. Hooray for getting sauced on incredibly good drink!

First off, I can’t rightly call this “Drinking Gin in Foreign Locations” anymore. “Drinking Gin in Perfectly Familiar Locations” seems a bit contrived. Hmm, I’ll think of something. I think I’ll keep the blog pretty general, though all of my writing seems to eventually boil down to culinary adventures, but we’ll see where it goes…

My last great view of Tokyo from my hotel room

A great view of Tokyo Station from the hotel

Before I left I had one final Japanese meal!

Yum. Unagi, rice, and cold soba.

Then it was off to America! The flight back was pretty smooth, I pretty much slept the entire way. Now I’m back home in lovely old East Tennessee! It’s nice to be able to read signs again!

All in all it was an absolutely fantastic trip!

Right near my hotel is the Emperial Palace. Of course, pretty much all of it is closed to the public, but it is allowed to walk around the eastern grounds. It was a pretty, perfectly manicured area, but that was only because you aren’t allowed to walk on the grass at all! There’s an extensively paved area reserved for walking! The palace also had a beautiful water garden, including a fountain specifically designed to generate rainbows!

Palace moat

Bridge to the grounds

The rainbow fountain!

The water garden

Further proof that the Japanese are the leading makers of uncomfortable seating

After wandering a bit I headed back to the hotel and had an incredible bowl of hot and sour noodles. It was so good it’s what I had for dinner as well. Yes, that’s right, my last dinner in Japan was Chinese food.

mmm... hot n sour noodles

Finally, it was time to pack. Amazingly enough I managed to fit all my stuff into my backpack after shedding disposables and expendable items!

I wrapped up the evening with a Cuban cigar and a few drinks at the hotel’s bar. I wish I’d discovered this bar earlier. I would have spent every night there!