Chicago Visit

 On behalf of the Northwestern University Alumni Club of Portland, we had the opportunity to attend the Annual Leadership Symposium in Chicago back in September.  It's a great venue to meet Alumni Club leaders from all over the country and share ideas of how to make our clubs better.  It's also a great excuse for us to visit family and friends in Chicago as well as sample our old favorite restaurants.

I had a few hours to kill before my morning meeting, so I visited my old laboratory.  They have since moved into a new building with a state-of-the-art molecular imaging facility.  Yes, I am a little jealous of the high tech toys the grad students have now, including a 25 panel 3D wall for viewing drug molecules and how they interact with proteins:

 A lot of this new technology is made possible by the generous donations from Professor Rick Silverman, who made a few hundred million dollars when he invented the blockbuster drug, Lyrica, in the labs of Northwestern University Chemistry Department.  Thanks Rick!

The two day Leadership Symposium also included an awards ceremony where the Portland Club won the nationwide award for Excellence in Membership....thanks in part to yours truly, the Portland Club Membership Chair!  :)

 Emily and I accepting the Portland Club Award for Excellence in Membership

Overall, though, I gotta give Emily the credit she deserves as a strong leader for the Alumni Association.  She is the Regional Director for the NW Region 8, encompassing Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco.  Out of all the cities/clubs nationwide, the Seattle Club and the SF Club won the two coveted "Club of the Year" awards.  So, along with the Portland Club award, her clubs represented with a 'clean sweep' at the awards banquet. 

 Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco Club Leaders showing off our trophies!

Of course, we cannot visit Chicago without visiting our friends Pauline, John, Amanda, and Mike.  On Friday night, we all went out to our favorite Korean BBQ for a small feast:

As with most of our trips, we tried to cram as much visiting as possible in our short amount of time.  On Sunday, we were running short on time before our flight, so we really appreciated when my sister Kristy was able to slip down to meet us for lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant, Chi Cafe.  

We want to give a special thanks to Mike and Amanda for sharing their condo with us for the weekend and for shuttling us around in Mike's new Mercedes.  :)