A celebration for Taylor Jensen Ph.D

Alright, I guess I'll take this blog thing over. Not that I will do much better...but I'll give it a shot! Not too much is new with us. We are quite boring folk, and until we have kids to brag about there probably won't be too many new posts.
As many of you know, Taylor received his Ph.D in Pharmacology and Toxicology in December. We are looking forward to the Jensen and Meurer clans making the trek to the desert to attend the graduation ceremony with us this month. I'm sure we will have LOTS of pictures and stories to share. Including pictures of the new Dr. in his hood and gown. I guess when you're special, you get to wear a hood instead of a cap! Lucky us, we get to witness this! Until then, here is what his announcements look like.

4th of July

Wow, it has been a long time since I updated this. I thought that our trip home to visit some friends and family over the 4th of July was as good of a reason to update this as anything else. We had a great time seeing everyone, we really enjoy living in AZ but we do miss being able to see friends and family more frequently. Here are a few pictures from the trip, most of which focus on my nephews....no surprise there.

This past week I was in Memphis, TN at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital giving a talk, presenting a poster, and talking with the faculty as part of the National Graduate Student Symposium. It was a truly humbling experience to be there with some of the smartest graduate students and faculty that I have ever come in contact with. By far the most memorable thing about this trip, however, was seeing the children. Each day as I walked through the halls I saw children with cancer or other diseases. Each of them were surrounded by their families and while so sick, they were still kind enough to smile back when you smiled at them. I feel that this would be a great atmosphere in which to work in the future. Everyone there clearly had one goal and that was to improve the lives of these children and eventually cure pediatric cancer. I had a very good time at St. Jude.

My Upcoming Trips

A couple of months ago, I was contacted by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital about applying for a National Graduate Student Symposium. Considering it was a great opportunity, I did just that. Well, long story short, I was selected to participate which means I will be flying to Memphis, TN to present a talk and a poster summarizing the research that I am currently doing. While there, I will be interviewing with faculty, touring the city, and looking at housing with the possibility of a fellowship opportunity there when I graduate (hopefully this fall). I am very excited, and also a bit nervous, about this trip which I will be making in two weeks.

After I get back, I am here a couple weeks before leaving to the American Association for Cancer Research national meeting in San Diego. This trip will be a lot more fun and a lot less stressful than the one to St. Jude. Emily and I will be going for almost a week. I have to be at the conference most of the time, but she gets to stay in the nice hotel room as well as go see some sights. It should be a lot of fun going to the Padres game, going to the wild animal park, and going to Sea World, along with seeing Tyler, Stacy, and family while we are there.

Well, that is what is going in the next little bit. My little sis is coming to visit next week and we are going to go watch some Spring Training games. If anyone wants to see some good baseball and enjoy the 80 degree weather that we are experiencing right now, come on down and visit.

My new (small) business venture

I often get asked by people "what nutritional supplement should I take, when, how, etc. and where should I order them?" Well, with the help of my good friend Al, I have tried to answer the "where should I order them" portion of that question. Al created www.tapo31.com for me. This website will simply redirect you to bodybuilding.com, the largest online retailer for nutritional supplements in the world. In doing so, I get a commission. So if you would like to order any nutritional supplements, please consider www.tapo31.com. Also, if you could, please delete the "cookies" on your internet browser prior to visiting the website as if you do not, the tracking program will not process the referral. Thank you very much.

P.S. If anyone has questions on what the best things are to order, please do not hesitate to leave me a message here or e mail me.

New Car

Well, after a couple months with only one car, we bought ourselves a new (used) one yesterday, I consider it a birthday present to myself. We bought a 2007 Pontiac G6. The engine went out on our Rodeo on the way home from Utah when we were home for Thanksgiving so we have only had one car since. Here are a few pics of our new car, nothing too extravagant, but pretty nice for us poor folk :)

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving was great. We were able go home to Utah and spend some time with our families. Here are some pictures, mostly of my nephew Jake.