a new (and nerdy) adventure

i've spent the past 3 days in lawrence, kansas. a long way from home!

i'm at what is fondly called "stats camp" - a series of week-long statistics workshops. the "adventurous" part of it is trying to learn a complex and sophisticated statistical technique in 7 days. so far, i'm doing okay, but it is definitely a challenge.

lawrence is a small college town, just between topeka and kansas city. the first day we had a group dinner and social time, so i got to meet and socialize with some of the other attendees. (there's about 50 people in my class and 100 in the other class this week) yesterday, i got to go to downtown lawrence ("downtown" might be a stretch), to wander and have dinner. i ate at a cute bistro with an incredible vanilla lavendar cream soda (YUMO!), and then stumbled onto a build-your-own-cupcake shop. my dream come true! i got to pick a cupcake (vanilla, chocolate, red velvet, strawberry), a frosting (or mix!), and two toppings. the verdict? i walked out with a vanilla cupcake with oreo frosting, chocolate drizzle, and an oreo cookie AND a vanilla cupcake with a bit of strawberry frosting and a layer of peanut butter frosting, raspberry drizzle, and toasted pecans. the oreo cupcake was good, but the peanut butter / strawberry / raspberry combination was like the most delicious PBJ i have ever eaten. delicious!

it's hard to believe it's wednesday night and the week is more than half over! tonight i stayed in, reviewing my notes (still not through the first day!) and catching up on work and email (and blogging. and finishing off my cupcakes.)