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!

There's an App for THAT?!?

This morning while waiting for my statistics to run through the computer, I was browsing around on Twitter and came across a tweet about the BEEF Daily post by Amanda Radke, McDonald's Launches Consumer App for Food Source. (follow the link to read the article) As you can well imagine, this quickly caught my attention and my mind wandered off from my statistics. So what is the app about?? McDonalds in Australia has designed a mobile app, TrackMyMacca’s (Macca's is a nickname for McDonalds), that allows the consumer to see where their food is coming from. How cool is that?? You're first reaction might be, "Who cares where your food comes from, just eat it!". This was the exact response from one of my fellow grad students. Here is the significance: Agriculture is getting more and more removed from people's everyday life. Many people are unaware of all Agriculture does for us. I wouldn't have been able to put clothes on, brush my teeth, eat my biscuits that I had for breakfast, or drive to work this morning (just to name a few) without Agriculture. These are the things I can think of off the top of my head from the first 4 hours of my day! I saw a hashtag on Twitter last night that I LOVED - #nakedandhungrywithoutag. That is so very true and often forgotten! I think that this app will serve as a reminder to people that 1) the world needs Ag,  2) food doesn't miraculously appear at the grocery store...it takes a hard working individual, dedicated to putting food on the world's table, to grow that product (aka a farmer!).

See my point?? It's takes a lot of hard work from many farmers, from many different parts of the US to build a hamburger! Cool huh? 

I am curious, what are your thoughts on this topic and the new app? Do you think something like this will be released in the US soon?

My "one word" resolution...

Do you all remember my post about choosing a "word of the year"? I was inspired to do this when I saw on Instagram that a very talented lady, Lisa Leonard, had designed a necklace with this in mind. That every woman would choose one word to focus on throughout the year. I have never kept a New Years resolution so I loved the idea of simply choosing one word! Today I got this lovely package in the mail...



I love the way she has branded her work by incorporating the cute muslin bags and even adding a free calendar filled with inspirational themes for every month.



Here's the necklace...dainty enough it can be worn every day while still making a statement!

If this is the first time you have heard about Lisa Leonard Designs, head over to her website - http://lisaleonardonline.com.

Hope everyone is having a great week and staying warm - it's bitterly cold in some parts of the country right now!