Snowbird Utah

Her kommer der  lige et hurtigt indlæg fra Snowbird I Utah, hvor der er faldet ½ m sne I går. Hurraaa – eller noget (dem, der kender mig godt, ved at jeg hellere vil save min arm af med en sløv lommekniv end at spænde ski på fødderne……..). Jeg er på konference sammen en stor bunke andre nørder. Nærmere betegnet andre nørder der sidder og nørkler med hjerner fra fede mus og rotter. Jeg skal være den første til at indrømme at et par af foredragene er fløjet hen over hovedet på mig med stor fart – apropos at blogge midt I en foredrag – ahem). Men der har heldigvis også været oplæg, der understreger at der ikke er noget I hele verden jeg hellere vil lave end det jeg gør lige nu. Som fx den professor (der I øvrigt opdagede leptin red) der havde tænkt længe over at metal I mikrobølgeovne eksploderer = det kan man da bruge til at sætte jern fast på hjerneceller og så ellers udsætte musen for radiobølger (I et apparat leveret af en flok lokale rumænere fra svejse branchen) eller evt lade sine medarbejdere svinge magneter over et musebur 2 minutter hvert kvarter, for at aktivere neuronerne. Arj, men hvor cool er  DET lige? Det mest crazy er, at han faktisk fik brugbare resultater ud af det. Et andet højdepunkt var “min” professor der lagde salen ned med at brag af en præsentation om fedmeoperationer (jow jow, vi forstår at more os…..).

Here is a quick post from Snowbird in Utah, where we had 28inches of snow yesterday. Yay – or whatever (those who know me well also know that I would rather detach my arm with a blunt pocket knife than put skis under my feet……). I am at a conference with a bunch of other geeks who also spend a lot of time trying to figure out what goes on in the brains of fat mice and rats. I will be the first one to admit that a few of the session flew over my head in a very fast pace (regarding writing blog posts in the middle of some of them – ahem). But there has also been talks that underscores that there is really nothing in the whole world I would rather be working on right now, than exactly this. Such as the talk by the professor (the same one who discovered leptin red) who thought long and hard about the fact that one can’t put metal in the microwave as it explodes = that might be used to attach iron to bran cells and then expose the mice to radiowaves (in an apparatus delivered by some local Romanians from the welding business) or alternatively let your employees wave a magnet over a mouse cage for 2 minutes every 15 minutes to activate neurons. How cool is that? Seriously? The most crazy thing is that it actually worked and created results. Another highlight was “my” professor making the entire audience laugh out loud with an excellent talk on bariatric surgery (oh how we know to have fun in this field……). 

Jeg ankom søndag eftermiddag til høj sol, en bjergudsigt, der næsten tog pusten fra mig, og en udendørs opvarmet swimmingpool. Nice! Mandag var også fantastisk.  Jeg fik mig en god lang svømmetur og sluttede dagen af med en fest I “senior hytten” (deroppe hvor alle de cool professorer bor). Der manglede hverken mad eller whiskey eller “work bitch” af Britney Spears – suk.

I arrived Sunday afternoon to clear blue sky and sunshine, a mountain view that almost made me lose my breath, and a heated outdoor swimming pool. Nice! Monday was also really good. I had a good swim in the pool and ended the day at a party in the “senior cabin” (where all the hot shot professors stay). There was no lack of food, whiskey and “work bitch” with Britney Spears – sigh.

Tirsdag syntes at være oplagt til tur op ad bjerget i høj sol, og lidt blæst…… der blev værre og værre. Vi skulle også lige snige os forbi en låge med store “no trespassing” skilte…….. Vi så nogle MEGET store hjortelorte…… Og ca 50m længere fremme mødte vi så lorternes ejermand – en KÆMPE elg, der ikke have tænkt sig at flytte sig nogen steder hen udover at rejse sig op og stirre olmt på os. Vi blev relativt hurtigt enige om at lange ture var stærkt overvurderede, og at en kort tur også er en god tur.

Tuesday seemed to be perfect for a hike up the mountain in sunshine and slightly windy conditions…. that kept getting worse. We also had to sneak past a large “no trespassing” sign…. We saw some GIANT deer poops….. and about 150 ft further up the trail we encountered the owner of the poops – a giant moose, that was not gonna go anywhere except standing up and giving us the evil stare. We decided relatively fast that long hikes are indeed very overestimated activities and that short trips are just as good.

Selve hotellet er super lækkert, men jeg er ærlig talt ikke imponeret over maden. Her er heller ikke de store aktiviteter at foretage sig I lokalområdet, hvis man ikke står på ski. En arrangeret bustur til Salt Lake City, faldt derfor på et meget tørt sted onsdag eftermiddag. Der var rigtig meget sne. Bussen blev forsinket op ad bjerget pga en ulykke, og chaufføren bad alle spænde sig godt fast inden nedstigningen – gisp! Det var heldigvis ikke så slemt som frygtet, men han kørte nu også ret forsigtigt (bemærk snekæderne på bussen nedenfor). Sneen var ikke kun faldet I bjergene – inde I byen lå der en hel del. Det var ret surrealistisk at se forårs grønne træer og blomster begravet I sne.

The hotel in itself is really classy and nice, but I am not impressed with the food. Besides skiing there is not a lot to do in the local area either. A bus trip to Salt Lake City Wednesday afternoon was a highly needed activity. There as a lot of snow and as a consequence the bus was delayed due to an accident further down the road, and the driver asked everybody to buckle up before he started the decline – yikes! Luckily it was not as bad as expected (please notice the snowchains on the bus below). The snow had however not only appeared in the mountains, but also down in the city. It was quite surrealistic to see the spring green trees and flowers covered in snow.

Planen var sushi (apropos den ikke alt for tiltalende mad på hotellet). Een af de andre post docs kommenterede tørt I bussen “and then they went to Salt Lake City and got the best sushi of their life – said no-one EVER……….". Ironisk nok, fik vi intet mindre end fantastisk sushi og åd til vi dårligt kunne bevæge os til lige knap 20$. Og vi fik rigtig kaffe –ikke bare det der lunkne stads I 20 L portioner. 

Bussen var parkeret lige overfor Temple Square, hvilket gjorde det oplagt at slentre en tur rundt derinde. Selve templet er utrolig flot udefra, men hermetisk lukket for turister (ikke en gang alle mormoner får lov at gå derind). Der var kor-øvelse I tabernaklet = ingen adgang her heller. Vi havde ikke tid til at tage en guidet tur I deres conference center, men kunne gå over I mormonernes visitor center, der bestemt er et besøg værd I sig selv. Ovenpå sådan en tur, kan jeg lige klare at tage den sidste dag med, selvom jeg er ved at nå mit mætningspunkt for hvor meget information jeg kan blive ved at stoppe ind I hovedet.

The plan was to eat sushi (regarding the not too appetitive food on the hotel). One of the other post docs commented on the bus “and then they went to Salt Lake City and got the best sushi of their life – said no-one EVER………". Ironically we had nothing short of amazing sushi and stuffed ourselves until we were barely able to move for less than 20$ pr person. And we had real coffee – not the lukewarm brown stuff in 20L containers. 

The bus parked right acrossed from the temple square, which made it an obvious choice to wander around in there. The temple is incredibly beautiful from the outside, but is also hermetically closed for tourists (not even all mormones are allowed in there). There was a choir rehearsal in the tabernacle = no entrance there as well. We did not have time to take the tour of the conference center, but went to the visitor center instead, that turned out to be an interesting experience in itself. After such a trip I am capable of stuffing my head with one final day of information, even though my saturation point is getting pretty close.