Winnie update, thoughts on Tucson, and NAVC

I'm in the Tucson airport waiting for my flight to leave, and since the airport kindly provides free Wi-Fi, I thought I'd post a little update...
Winnie Bear is pretty much back to her old self. None of the tests we ran found any cause for her pneumonia, but after her lung biopsy she turned around and seemed to get better every day. Her chest x-rays that we took on Monday looked normal, so whatever happened seems to be behind us. The going theory is that the lung biopsy released the evil spirits ;) Whatever works!

Of course the whole country has had its eyes on Tucson for the past week... It's still all a little surreal. I keep seeing the mountains in the background of photos and thinking, "Wow, that place looks just like Tucson." I think everyone is still absorbing the full impact of what happened. I don't live very close to where the shootings occurred, but it's certainly a familiar area. Gabrielle Gifford's office is on my way to work, so I have been watching the number of flowers, signs, candles, and other memorials grow every day. President Obama's speech seemed to resonate well with everyone. I hope we eventually get some insight into what drove Laughner to do what he did and destroy the lives of so many people.

For now, I am leaving sunny Tucson behind for a week in sunny Orlando at the North American Veterinary Conference. This is my first time off from my internship since I went home in August. I've never been to NAVC, but it's supposed to be completely amazing and overwhelming. There are over 20 lectures to choose from every hour for 9 hours a day, plus breakfast lectures before the official lectures start, plus lunch-and-learn lectures, plus dinner lectures after the official lectures end, plus wetlabs and master classes. There are tons of avian and exotics lectures this year, and I'll be attending a master class about avian medicine that should be really valuable. They say you need to set aside a whole day just to peruse the exhibit hall and look at all the fun new gadgets, medicines, books, and supplies available in vet med this year. Should be great! I'll also get to see a handful of classmates, so it will be fun to catch up and see how everyone's been doing since graduation.

Hooray for travel and seeing vet friends!