Last week I spent three days in beautiful Colrain, a small village in Western Massachusetts. A professor from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has been hosting a small meeting at his farm in Colrain for the last 21 years.

(Some pictures of this great location here). It is a special meeting since it is only accessible to (former) postdocs and grad students of this and three other professors (including the infamous Bob Weinberg), called the F1, and their ‘offspring’ - postdocs of former postdocs, known as F2. I am F2, my advisor is F1. So it small scale, with a number of great scientists, very informal, very direct - and I had to present my work. Now in science that is pretty normal, I present regularly at work meetings with my direct colleagues. But this meeting made me a bit nervous because of the impressive audience, albeit a small audience. Like how I was nervous before defending my thesis.
The presentation went fine, though, I got some interesting suggestions and talked with many different people. I used to crap my pants for presentations, sleepless nights as an undergrad student, but it has become such a routine now that I do not care too much anymore. The next presentation that is coming up is in December at a TCGA meeting in Bethesda and I actually look forward to it - my first real opportunity to present for the TCGA community!

This weekend we celebrated that there are only 100 days left under the Bush/Cheney presidency. And considering the situation the national economy we are in, that is a good thing. The upcoming elections are the talk of the town and it is pretty cool to be in the middle of it. Although me and most of my friends are not eligible (yet!) to vote, we also discuss the topic frequently. That said I have yet to come across the first McCain voter.

The last few weeks have been taken away by McCain’s surprising choice of vice-president, which is currently dragging him under. Sarah Palin is as big a joke as Dan Quale was as veep for the Bush senior administration. She got her first passport less than two years ago. I probably have more international experience than her. And she could be just a heartbeat away from being the most important person on this planet. Fortunately the American public seems to realize this, shown by McCain lagging behind in most polls. Whether Obama will make it remains unsure. This has two reason. First, it is the first time the US has a serious black contender. Second, there is a group of people who worship Obama as the new Messiah. Both aspects may put off a group of voters who are afraid to admit in public that they will not vote for the Democrat candidate.
Nor this, nor the big financial debacle is likely to have a big effect on me personally. The biggest consequence is the drop of value of the Euro versus the dollar, but I am convinced that that will be reversed soon enough. I would never vote for Obama who is far too liberal for my liking. I endorse the Dutch Animal Rights Party and until that exists in the US I could not care less who wins.