90 to 1 odds

March is a great month for birthdays. This month, my grandmother turned 90, my little nephew turned 1 and my sister-in-law (who shares a birthday with said nephew) didn't have to age because she has forfeited her birthday. When she gave birth last year, she declared, "Now, I no longer have to age!" Joshua's sister Amy, who also has a birthday in March, may have declared the same anti-aging policy a number of years ago because, honestly, she doesn't seem to age at all! Happy birthday to all these lovely ladies and to the Little Man.

Here is Grandma Whelihan enjoying her big birthday bash. We like to give gifts that call it like it is. (Champion brand was established the same year as my grandmother was born, 1919.)
Right after that trip to NYC to celebrate my grandmother's life, I jetted off to Las Vegas for a weeklong American Association of Geographers Conference in Las Vegas. I was able to present my thesis, Mapping Geographically Weighted Regression: Spatial Nonstationarity of Logistic Regression Models of Juvenile Drug Crime Recidivism. The presentation went well. The questions afterward were tough. That's what I get for writing a statistically-focused paper and inviting people who wrote books on the subject to the session. Not that I'm complaining; their questions and suggestions are super helpful as I put the last touches on my thesis. Statistical stats is so interesting to me, but I am constantly reminded how big the field is. Some day I'll be an expert too. Some day ....

Unfortunately, since I'm allergic to cigarette smoke, I got the worst cold during this trip. I went nearly two full years without being sick and, while I'm grateful for that, I'm bummed that I had to endure a cold during this trip. The sessions I attended were fascinating -- census tract changes set for the 2010 big event, mortgage foreclosures, among others -- but the cold was a little more than distracting.

In an attempt to avoid the casinos, I spent a small chunk of time poolside at Caesar's Palace, which was beyond pleasant.
While touring around the city, I did not go into this building. The large photos of Elton John, Bette Midler and Cher were clear signs that I did not belong there.

One of the best parts of the trip was walking out to the Vegas burbs to visit the Springs Preserve. While interesting, it was a bit of a sham -- the water company putting up a museum dedicated to how Las Vegas is so extremely good at saving at water and how environmentally-conscious the area is. Um, excuse me? Sure, the ten-acre lot where the museum stands may be made with the environment in mind, but I had a hard time finding that same mindset in the rest of the area.


Even though I missed Joshua during my week in Vegas, it was nice to have some time on my own. I like exploring.

During my three-hour layover in Chicago on the way back to Philly, I emailed Joshua's best friend Scott to see if he was in the airport. Of course, in only a way that Scott can be, he was just flying in from Duluth. It was great to have a little visit with him before hopping on my flight home.

Once I got back to Philly, Joshua and I went over to our neighbors house to watch wrestling. Back story: Our talented neighbor, Randy, is a writer for the Associated Press and has to produce a piece on the 25th anniversary of Wrestlemania. He invited us over to watch the first and the most recent Wrestlemanias. It was fun to watch Mr. T and the Hulk team up back when they were so much younger. Randy wrestled and wrote a piece two years ago about professional wrestling so I'm excited to read this newest piece. Please watch the video. My favorite part is when (very faintly) you can hear Randy say, "Oh no, this is bad."

This morning, I attended a shower to celebrate Amanda's pregnancy. She looks great. The party was fun and it was nice to catch up with friends from college.

Next weekend: Comprehensive exams = approximately 55 hours to write three essays that prove I am Master (with a capital M) material. Topics: 1. GIS and Crime Mapping, 2. Spatial Statistics with regard to Geographically Weighted Regression, 3. Peer Contagion within the Juvenile Delinquent Population. Fun stuff. Wish me luck!