CSM 2011 New Orleans

On Wednesday last week I left to go to our national PT conference in New Orleans. I drove down to Atlanta and met a friend who I flew to NO with. We had an exciting beginning to our trip having to run through the airport to catch our plane. We were the last people to board! Thankfully, we made it safe and sound.
As we were checking into the hotel we met up with a PT I know from one of my internships. We all went out to dinner at a little place called the Red Eye Grill. It was nice to get to catch up and relax after our kind of rocky start.

memorial to Katrina victims outside the conference center

 The next day we woke up early to get over to the conference center and register. I got a name badge and the book that gave us the schedule and description of all the courses. There were so many courses I wanted to go to, but since there is only time for 3 courses in a day and there are over 25 courses listed for each day I had to really decide what my priorities were. So I went to courses on the major chronic diseases, MS and Parkinson's, a course about dual tasking (walking and talking), chronic pelvic pain, the coccyx and its function, hamstring injuries (specifically how the pelvis and trunk alignment can cause them), and a cool interactive course on one Pilate's method used to enhance posture and decrease risk of osteoporosis. All of them were very interesting and informative. One was taught by a lady whose name I recognized, and then I remembered where I knew it from... she wrote one of my textbooks. Pretty cool. Then, today, I was reading one of my PT magazines and featured in one of the articles was the speaker from the Parkinson's course. Crazy.

random street parade

 On the second day of the conference I presented the poster with the data from the research project I did in school. I was proud and a little humbled to have the opportunity to present in this much bigger forum. Plus I got a cool "presenter" ribbon to wear on my name tag. :) I really am mature. I promise.

Each night after the conference we found some place cool to eat. Thursday night was the best. We went to a restaurant called "Mulate's Original Cajun." They had a sampler appetizer platter that had all kinds of stuff I have never tried. It came with stuffed mushrooms, fried catfish, meat pies, crawfish tails, alligator, and frog legs! Everything was good. The frog legs were surprisingly salty, and the stuffed mushrooms were my favorite. 

tiny little frog leg... yum ;)

The next night we went out with my company who treated us to dinner and drinks. I got to meet some of the representatives from the company, but my recruiter was not there, unfortunately, so I still have not met her. Afterward, we took a cab and drove to the "Creole Creamery." This little ice cream shop was featured on an episode of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives that I saw a few weeks before going on this trip. It is known for having made over 400 different flavors of ice cream. There are not that may on the menu at all times, but they rotate through. I got a sampler dish of 6 mini scoops so I could try lots of different flavors.

 Flavors: Triple Shot Mochaccino, Cookie monster, Peanut butter Fudge Pie, Banana Foster, Lavender Honey, and King Cake Dough.
The most site seeing in the city I did was on the cab ride to the Creole Creamery. We saw a bunch of big, beautiful southern homes with large columns. They were all done up with Mardi Gras decorations. Too bad it was late and the sun was down. Sorry no pics.
This weekend I am going with a friend to West Virginia. We are going to the Heritage Farm Museum and Village. Should be interesting!