Of Cookouts and Committees

Dr. Soni had his final gathering at his house a couple of Sundays ago so Paula and I had to stop working around the house to attend.  Don't get me wrong - parties at Dr. Soni's are a good time.  He has lots of beverages, good food and it is nice to see everyone away from work.

The party started about 4 and until 6 it is small talk and finger foods....if you can call grilled shrimp skewers and tandoori drumsticks finger food.  Dr. Roy made the drumsticks and while not as messy as they usually were (he baked them so not as wet) they were still delicious.  I think I had 4.  At 6 Dr. Soni's wife breaks out dinner.  Now despite the fact that the finger foods were meat, dinner was vegetarian.  Not exactly my tastes, but I had some Nan and rice..and another chicken leg.

By all accounts the night was a "success".  Everyone had a good time and while apparently there was some tension early on about Dr. Soni's leaving, it was long forgotten by the time the food started leaving the kitchen.

If the evening had ended on that note I would have been happy.  A night out, even at the "bosses house" is a rare thing.  But the night was even a little more special because I came one step closer to finishing off my committee.  I approached Lee Moradi (Dr. Lee) about being on my committee and he said he would be happy to be on it.  Lee is the Director of Engineering Research here at UAB so he adds a little weight to the committee, plus he is another Engineering professor so it helps balance out Dr. Kerby being primarily a medical doctor.

In addition, I finally heard back from Dr. Snyder.  Dr. Snyder works closely with Dr. Kerby and had been recommended to me by both Dr. Kerby and Dr. Soni so I had approached him about meeting to discuss the final 'UAB faculty' seat on my committee.  Dr. Snyder agreed to meet AND I found out Dr. Kerby sent him a letter strongly advising him to accept the position on my committee.

Means one more spot to fill and I will be done with that side of things.

Missing in Action

OK.  You don't have to say it.  I know I have been missing in action for a while..but what is a month and a half between friends.  I'll tell you what, to make it up to you I will post 3-4 posts today and tomorrow..just depends on if you count this one :)