A trip to land of Disney - Orlando

I have to admit, it's a little hard for me to be sitting in Mississippi writing my thesis when there is an awesome conference going on in Tampa Bay this week...the National Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show! If you'll recall, last year I had the opportunity to serve as an intern for this conference, The experience of a lifetime - #NCBA12. I am pretty excited for some of my fellow cattle industry friends that had the opportunity to serve as interns this year!

I did get to make a little trip to Orlando, Florida earlier this week for the American Society of Animal Science Southern Section meetings. It was really nice to get away for a few days and meet up with some people that I hadn't seen in awhile. You might be wondering what goes on at conferences like this... Attendees have the opportunity to listen to presentations on current research and extension programs as well as have a little fun at the same time. There are several social events planned during the conference like the graduate student mixer (where you get to meet fellow grad students in the southeastern part of the US) and the graduate student lunch and learn (eat lunch with other grad students and listen to a few speakers).  I actually ran into one the girls I interned with at NCBA last year at the grad student mixer and met some pretty cool grad students from Oklahoma State University. At the conference, I presented on three abstracts (research summary) I had submitted. One on my thesis research related to cattle transportation, another on DNA markers for quality grade, and the last one on two extension programs we offer at MSU (the cattle facilities and herd health workshops).

Don't be fooled though...it wasn't all work and no play. One of the other grad students, myself, and one of the professors and his family played a pretty competitive game of putt putt golf! We also ate at some awesome resturants - my favorite was Fogo de Chao. It's a brazillian steak house where they bring around a variety of meats for you to try...my favorite was the Picanya (top sirloin) and Cordeiro (leg of lamb). By far the best meat I have ever had...and it was all you can eat! What a great way to load up on some protein! You can go to Orlando without having some kind of Disney experience so we went to Downtown Disney for dinner the last night we were there. It was a really fun trip and I am glad I was able to go!

A sampling of some of the great meat at Fogo do Chao!

Me and one of the other graduate students, Sam, at the lunch and learn session.

Myself and Brittany from Texas A&M - we both accepted travel scholarships at the awards banquet!