Greetings from the Windy City!

Lauren and Steve's trek across the country continues...last week, we were in Winston-Salem together for Z's high school graduation, each took brief trips to Las Vegas (me) and Seattle (him), and then back to W-S. After only 2 days back in State College, we were on the road again. Why are we in Chicago, you ask? For a conference, the American Psychological Society (APS), the more experimental, research-based counterpart of the American Psychological Association (APA). My advisor, Lynn, was one of the invited speakers, so she encouraged me to submit a poster on my masters thesis. I did, it got in, and here I am. Once Steve looked at the program and saw all of the interesting talks, he decided that he'd pay the registration fee (freaking $100) to go also. We drove in Wed morning, 11 hrs in the car! I went to the State College library to get some books on tape--among them Paul Reiser "Couplehood" (I knew you'd be pleased with that choice, Erica!) and Dean Koontz "Intensity." We started Intensity and are 3 yrs, only a fourth of the way, through it! It is 12 hrs, 12 tapes! Craziness. That should get us to Minneapolis on Sunday (where Steve's family is, where we're going for a week after this) and even through the beginning of the return trip!

Thursday morning we went to a grant-writing workshop, and the keynote speech (given by Tulving, for those of you in psychology) "Memory, Consciousness and Time." He's an old German guy, but still gave a good talk and did one thing in particular that was HILARIOUS. He was talking about knowing the difference between things we've actually experienced vs. just imagined, and said "so, if you were getting bored at this talk and imagined that a gorilla came in the room, sat down and started listening to the talk, you would later be able to remember that that was only in your imagination and not an actual event." Then, the curtains behind him parted and a person in a gorilla suit came out, beat his chest on stage, and sat down in the audience. LOL!!!! That was great, after sitting in this packed lecture hall for over an hour, through boring award addresses! :-) After that, Steve & I found this great little Greek restaurant for dinner, where he ate almost an entire chicken (seriously!) and I had spinach salad with walnuts, blue cheese, tomatoes and plums, and spanikopida and olives. YUMMM.

Today, Steve and I "conferenced" (my new verb) in the morning and through mid-afternoon, and then headed to the Art Institute. It was great. I went to the impressionism, photography, contemporary and modern art sections...missed the stained glass, armor, earlier paintings, etc but we had limited time! Right now, Steve is napping (I got up after about 20 minutes), while I updated this. Next, we're heading to an Ethiopian restaurant for dinner, which is supposed to be good, spicy and vegetarian-friendly. (This was recommended by my friends Erin, Annie and Leah who were here for a conference a few weeks ago!) Apparently, they don't give utensils, just pita bread, which you're supposed to rip and use to eat the food! I can resist referencing the joke from "When Harry Met Sally," the line, "oh, I didn't know they had food in Ethiopia, this should be a quick meal!" LOL.

TOMORROW, I'm soooo excited because after conferencing in the morning, we're heading to the Museum of Science and Industry, which has an exhibit of actual human body slices :-O so you can see cell layers, internal organs, etc, as well as an exhibit on Jazz & Blues, and an IMAX movie about Jane Goodall and the chimps. I loooove comparative research with non-human primates, so this should be great!!! Later that night, we're going to the APS-sponsored show at the Second City Comedy Club. Woo hoo!!! :-)

Well, that's all, folks. It's time to wake up Steve (he's been sleeping for over an hour!) and head to Ethiopian food for dinner. I'm excited about trying something new!