We're winners!

Remember I told you yesterday that my lab was participating in a pumpkin carving contest? Well, we won! We won the award for Most Scientific, and came in 2nd in the Most Artistic category. Our pumpkin was "Cytomegalovirus," and here it is, with its many awards.
It's a bit difficult to tell what's going on from this photo, but we carved a small green gourd to represent the viral capsid, and suspended it inside a carved pumpkin, representing the outer part of the virion. It's simple but clever, and apparently everyone agreed :) The pumpkin that won Most Artistic was amazing:

I'm so impressed with this. I'm not even sure how I would begin such a carving project. No question that they deserved Most Artistic!

It has been SO cold here the last few days - a girl needs a cat and a hat to stay warm! I knit that hat, by the way. It was the first thing I knit that wasn't a scarf, so it was quite an accomplishment. I've made two more since (as gifts), but it's been awhile and the urge to cable is making me want to make myself another one...That's the knitting content for today - a hat I made two years ago. Sorry to be so lame! I'm almost done with the second RPM sock, so I'll be close to finishing a pair of socks for Socktoberfest, but not quite successful. Had I not had to create an elaborate Powerpoint presentation last weekend I definitely would've been finished!

Oh, you should all go see The Prestige. Dave and I saw it on Saturday and it's terrific. One of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Great acting, great story, and you'll come out of the theater analyzing the movie and talking about it for hours (well, we did anyway). We're eagerly awaiting the release of Borat this Friday...I'll report on that as soon as I've seen it!