Stuff we've been doin'

I've been in Murfreesboro full-time for two weeks now, learning the ropes at my new job and getting used to the commute. So far I've had a really positive experience and I like my new coworkers and my boss. A lot of the other clinical research specialists are like me, some have PhDs in biology and one's husband is a music professor at MTSU where Chris works (her husband actually got his graduate degree in Bloomington as well). Most of them have connections with Vanderbilt, which is just up the street from my company. It's also almost all women--in my department of 25 people, there are two men. Chris has been working pretty hard getting his lectures together and working in the evenings at home. When we aren't working, we've done a few things in the area (all of the following are borrowed images, I haven't gotten my camera out much):

Last weekend we went tailgating with the biology department at the MTSU-Maryland game, which ended up being the biggest win for little MTSU in a long time. It was fun to meet some of the other biology professors. We left the game at half time and finished watching the game at the Mellow Mushroom, currently our favorite pizza place/restaurant in town.

Yesterday we drove up to Nashville and went on a brewery tour at the Yazoo brewing company. It was a cool tour and afterwards we tried a cheese and fruit sampler in the tap room. The Amarillo Pale Ale is their crowdpleaser and probably my favorite, although yesterday I tried out Ken's Belgian Ale (Ken is in the photo). Yazoo is a region in Mississippi where the founders are from. Here is a recent article about the Brewery: Yazoo emerges as a Nashville Favorite.

Afterwards we walked around the nearby Tennessee State Capitol Bicenntennial Monument/Mall. I'd been there before maybe six or seven years ago when I went down on a Leavenworthia-collecting trip.

Finally we walked around the Nashville Farmers Market next door to the Mall. The Geraldine Pies stand is apparently a must-buy but they had departed for the day long before we got there. We bought a peach and apple pie from the stand next to it, but our goal is to try Geraldine's pies someday soon.

P.S. Last Tuesday was the three-year anniversary of this blog!