So this week, from a diet, exercise and health standpoint, has been atrocious.

Dave, Brooks and Baby came into town, and we had a blast going around Buffalo, having delicious take-out and lunches at restaurants (side note: Lloyds Taco Factory is pretty good!), and hanging out. This alone, did not cause my self-destruction this week, rather just added to a disruption to my normal routine. Partner that with feeling a bit under-the-weather the past few days, and add in 500 rambunctious eight-grade Buffalo City School kids for our annual "Genome Day", pizza and beer consumption has been at a 2016 year high.

Genome Day was a stunning success this year. For those of you who aren't familiar with the initiative, my research center brings in all of the area schools for a hands-on science day in which students learn how to extract their own DNA from cheek cells. We teach them how to use chemicals like a basic buffer, cell-lysis solutions, and protein degradation enzymes to produce a visible amount of DNA. The whole process takes about an hour, and every student leaves with a little pendant with their own DNA. A pretty cool hands-on science lesson! I am not much of a wet-bench technician, but I am proud to say that I assisted with the extraction of many-a-kids DNA. My pipette skills were on point.

Events like this, and our weekly lab meeting resulted in many a bagels and donuts consumed. I have to admit, I feel like garbage from eating all of the junk food this week. As I sit and write this I have a box of Paula's donuts on my desk, as well as one on my kitchen counter at home. Please send help, for I am not strong enough 🙂

This coming week is going to mean some extra reps at the gym, as I get back on track and back into full training mode. Hopefully I can kick the cold I picked up quickly, and get back to hitting some great runs and weight sessions.