i had the privelege of having dinner with Dr. McGaugh, Christa, Dan, Ryan, and an old postdoc of the lab with whom Christa is collaborating on a study, Dr. Guzowski. It was at a really really nice restaurant in Laguna Beach. NOrmally their menu's pretty pricey, but their sunset specials were pretty reasonably priced. Anywho, as i was waiting in the lounge waiting for the others to arrive and for our table, there was this lady at another table having a conversation with someone in her party. she looked awfully familiar. after a while my memory finally accessed the information and it hit me - it was jenni meno! She was a pairs figure skater with her husband, Todd Sand. and i looked next to her and there he was. I was very excited. =) Never seen figure skaters this up close. and the other couple in their party could've been skaters too, but i didn't recognize them.

Dinner was interesting. I felt a little awkward and intimidated because i was the only undergrad in the group. I was expecting scientific conversation. Nope! Ryan and Dr. McGaugh had a long extended conversation about politics and history. Needless to say i was pretty quiet, but attentive throughout the whole thing. I'm really out of the loop when it comes to politics and sometimes i don't even know what my own political views on things are.