My mind is a ruminator

That is how someone from our group described how I think the other day. The more I think about it, the more I realize that is true (case in point?). I have never been the type that has all the answers at the tip of my tongue, but much prefer to regurgitate things in my mind.

Yesterday (Thursday) morning, I skipped the conference sessions and took a bit of a breather to see some of Lisbon. I wandered and saw some some pretty amazing parts of the city. I rode a tram that put me in mind of a roller coasters, had an amazing view of the city from a hidden rooftop cafe and saw a very majestic palace-type building. The conference schedule is pretty packed and the time away was much needed.

After an excellent session on abotic stress, I had a bit of an unexpected experience. I was invited to join a meeting of all the huge lentil people with the head of the Grain Legume Improvement Program (GLIP) who is one of the smartest (yet most down to earth) people I have ever encountered. It is incredible that someone could understand everything at such a level of detail. Anyways, there were talking about using one of the populations I am working on is the basis for all future lentil work (BAC library development, common mapping parent and tilling population parent for those who are interested in the details). The exhilarating of this was comparable to having an animal you own selected as a champion at the Royal Winter Fair! It sounds like it may not go through due to some sterility problems I have encountered, but it was fun to think that it may be a possibility.

One more day of conferencing then it is beach time. I am really looking forward to it!