Dr. Janai Ryan-Marie Carr (My amazing little sister)

A few days later I'm still at a loss for words. In most families there is a shining star. Someone who really stands out. Someone who not only meets your expectations, but proceeds to blow those expectations out of the water with a Hiroshima sized atomic bomb. In my family, as much as I wish it was me, I have nothing on my sister Janai. I have called her Jane for as long as I can remember, and as of two days ago, you've got to call her Doctor Carr. Yes, my sister has done something few can say. She has earned a PH.D in Biochemistry. My entire family has always been aware of her high intelligence. She skipped the 1st grade for crying out loud! That aside, as snarky, playful and witty as she can be, this has never masked the fact that she is scary smart. I flew out to Chicago to watch her defend her thesis in front of a room of friends, family, peers and other scary smart scientists. She not only defended it, but made me wonder why or how anyone in their right mind would question her work when her roughly 50 minute talk ended. It was absolutely brilliant. Just listen in to her mentor introduce her:

As you can see, her colleagues not only admire and support her work, but they think what we've always known Jane to be: way above the rest of us mere mortals. One of the heads of her department made a point of pulling us aside and informing us that she was the best student they have ever seen. Did you catch that? EVER! While following all the terms and processes of her work was hard to follow to us laymen, it was obvious that what Jane's doing is nothing short of groundbreaking. I have included a coupe of videos and pictures capturing this occasion below. What goes without saying is that my sister is well on her way to making her imprint in this world and our family could not be any prouder if we tried. Me personally, I couldn't help but puff out my chest as wave after wave of her friends, coworkers and colleagues came by to shake my hand, say congrats, and share their experience with this most extraordinary member to the Carr family. Best of luck Jane, we love you so much. You've made us so proud!
(I apologize for the audio in the videos; she wasn't miked)

Okay...Now say it in English.

This is a longer video, but the thank yous are toward the end. You might see and hear some familiar names *cough* Carr Family *cough, cough*

This is the part where Sean and I got pretty defensive of our sis because how dare they question her awesomeness!!

 Carr family dressed and on aproach

 She looks amazing, I know, but if only you could see the shoes...

 Title of Jane's presentation

 Long name; longer hallways

 This room will be nearly full by the time Jane starts talking. Of course Jane's friend Yalda had to get into the picture.

 Jane talking to her mentor Pradip and another really smart sciency guy

 Just one of her many amazingly detailed and informative slides. This made total sense at the time.

Carr family hanging on Jane's every word; even if we didn't understand it all.

Sean Jr. (my nephlet) didn't quite make it all the way through, but he couldn't have picked a better time to nap

Jane's peers had everything all decked out

If you didn't know, Jane's favorite cake is strawberry shortcake. I normally don't do cake, but this one was phenomenal!

Jane arrives to the party met with roaring applause

Hugs all around!

One for Uncle Don too. It was great to see him again. He seems to fly around the country in order to show up to our stuff. Thanks for all the years of support. We love ya Don!

Nephlet and DeeDee. I hadn't seen DeeDee in a long time. It was great to see you!! We gotta hit the links again soon.

Proud mother

Yeah, it's the cake again, but this time it's not covered!

Yalda, Jane and a proud father. He seems to be talking instead of smiling, which is unusual because he's normally so quiet:)

Looking good Carr family

Uncle Don, Jane and nephlet.

Jane's friends

Looks like they are holding her up. Figuratively that's what they're doing

Yalda, Jane and her other friend Matt.

It's a little blurry, but you can feel the love, right?

Jane standing next to her avatar. As Rowan would say: "Same, same!"

Jane's very "tidy" workstation

 

Jane promised that they weren't doing anything bad to this cute little mouse, but we had our doubts.

The guys down the hall doing a little "work"

This pic was hanging on Jane's workstation wall. Talk about a blast from the New Year's Eve past.

By the way, check back soon for the pics and vids from the rest of my antics in Chi Town...

Dragon on the Ledge