Yesterday was up around 94F and humid, but we never got the relief of a big drenching and cooling thunderstorm unfortunately. Storms passed just to our south, leaving us high and... moist. Today appears to offer much of the same, but a cold front will actually pass through tonight I believe.
In fun news, this weekend a group of us will be heading up to NH to a ski resort somewhere to "camp" (which was the original plan) and party in honor of the 4th of July. Should be LOTS of fun, I can't wait...
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Hiking n camping
Just got back from a great weekend of hiking and camping with laura in the Berkshire mountains on the Appalachian Trail, which runs from Georgia to Maine and takes 4-8 months to traverse in its entirety. We started on friday afternoon from central square, picking up a rental car from the nearby corner Enterprise that Laura secured with a little flirtation for a mere $67 for fri-sun (returnable at any time!); this followed picking up food from Shaw's and Harvest for the trip.
We headed out, directions in hand, out down I-90 west through MA-20 to Jacob Ladder Scenic Way, about a 2 hour drive due west. We arrive, park the car at the designated spot, then wandered around a bit trying to find where the trail actually begins (for us). Finally, we locate the stairs to descend southwards across I-90 and through the woods 1.6 miles from the parking area. We first follow the wrong trail about a quarter of a mile, not fully appreciating the fact that the A.T. (as it's known) is clearly marked by white "blazes", or paint marks typically on trees, every 100 feet or so, and so following orange diamonds is certainly not the correct path. But we figured it out and arrived at our destination: Upper Goose Pond Cabin. And quite a cabin it was indeed. It was in fact someone's old house donated to the AT and so was well-equipped with a full kitchen, living room, front porch etc. There happened to be a bunch of hikers there at the time, including RoboJesus (explained below), but we arrived right around sundown and were hungry, and given that hikers apparently typically sleep right at sundown, we were quick to put up a tent and get in to take advantage of the fancy kitchen to cook some food.
As an important aside, I found out right away that it is tradition to have a trail name different from your real name and that this trail name is to be your official name that you give to others on the trail. Typically this trail name is given to you based on some initial encounters early on in the journey, but occasionally folks name themselves as well. For us as simple weekenders, we named ourselves first "Smores" as a unit but then changed to myself as "Hurricane" and Laura as "Ant Hill". Folks found them to be unique.
As we cooked and set up, we interacted with the cabin caretaker Maaret (muh-RHET), who was a bit of a strange girl in her mid-20s from New York who had been working as caretaker one week per summer each year since she was eight. She is of dutch origin, and apparently her dad attempted to give her a Dutch first name but failed to follow basic Dutch grammar rules (two consonants following double-a's? something like that) and thus ended up bestowing upon her a name that is a combination of Finnish and Estonian. She works with deaf people, and was fun and nice though certainly odd at times. We also met RoboJesus, who was this middle-aged man with a cute dog named Patches (who also had a trail name, but I can't remember it) who told us of a story where they were on the trail and Patches was going to the bathroom, and RoboJesus saw a bear flying down the hill aiming to snatch the dog. He quickly ran towards the bear yelling and slapping his walking sticks against everything until at the last moment the bear noticed him, slid to a stop, and ran back up the hill. It was cute, he clearly loves his dog.
Our final notable social encounter was a bit more interesting. We were readying to eat our food (couscous, refried beans, cheese, salsa--not actually a great combination unfortunately) when Circle Walker (sorry, all I ever want to say is circle jerk), a nice quiet, though surprisingly timid middle-aged woman, comes in exclaiming that there is a bear near our tent. We were immediately shocked and weren't sure what to do. According to her she was in her tent very near to ours, heard something loud and heavy rustling outside, looked out and saw the animal hovering around our tent but not moving, and she quickly moved away and into the cabin; soon after she noted that she never actually saw the animal, and so perhaps it was something else, too. Nonetheless, we became very concerned that the tent retained some residual food scent from its recent use by Laura's sister Dana and her fiancee Colin at Bonaroo last week. After cautiously cleaning our dishes out back, us two and Circle Walker ventured over to the tents to check it out. We saw nothing, and it appeared our tent was undisturbed. That said, none of us had any interest in sleeping in tents while bears are around, and so headed inside for the night; this decision was also made based on RoboJesus noting earlier that he too was pretty sure he saw a bear lingering around the cabin earlier in the day.
Laura and I crashed with our sleeping bags on the floor (the upstairs had open bunks, but everyone was sound asleep and apparently it was extremely smelly up there), and Laura taught me how to play Hi-Lo-Jack, which is quite similar to a combination of Dirty Clubs and a couple of other trump games that I can't recall but have learned.
The next morning, we packed up, cooked breakfast (eggs, bagels), took a quick ride in the canoe on the lake, and then headed out. This time, we went back north to the parking area then continued northwards on the trail another 7.5 miles to the October Mountain lean-to (a simple shelter with a few wooden bunks). It was a fairly tiring hike, full of plenty of steep inclines and declines, as we went up to the top of Becket mountain (~2300 ft), then across a couple of similar peaks, then down to Finerty pond, around and up Bald top, and then back down to the lean-to.
Along the way, we stopped a couple of times to rest and eat, though the weather was generally cool and cloudy, and it drizzled a bit for a time but nothing significant. We also passed Lights Out, an older, jolly man who would later catch up to us at the lean-to. He also caught up with us after we followed a portion of the trail that had been remade as a detour but which still lacked blazes, but which clearly was the correct path after we also found the old path (including blazes) lined with trees and large branches, obviously indicating that it was no longer the correct path.
By around 430p, we arrived at the lean-to, set up the tent (so that we'd have plenty of time to see if any bears showed up before sundown), pumped some water using Laura's new filter, and relaxed a moment. In the meantime, Archeopteryx, another less jolly older man who claimed to be from New Zealand, and Boo and Scout, an interesting couple in their mid-50s (though they looked younger), had shown up. Laura and I announced our intentions to build a fire and cook, something that was unheard of among our fellow campers to our disbelief--most apparently simply boil water over a camping stove, and moreso eat basic undergrad-like things such as ramen. We first took a walk into the woods (shelter in sight, no bears), had a little fun, then wandered back and began to build our fire. We sauteed the remainder of our peppers and onion, cooked up some couscous, and made some delicious veggie quesadillas to the awe of our older compatriots. We shared a bit of our extra food, and then all of us indulged in our large stash of smore ingredients as we shared stories, mostly from the couple.
According to the couple, they were classmates in highschool in texas, grew up separately and "had families and jobs" (Boo a lawyer, Scout in administration), then ran into each other again "35 years later" (so around 50) and decided apparently on the spot to quit their jobs, presumably leave their families, and run away to go on adventures. They lived in the DR, went diving, hiking, etc. What emerged from all of this was an interesting realization of who actually embarks on the complete AT journey, which requires at least 4 months of your life: those who can choose to have no responsibility for at least 4 months in a row. The people we met who were hiking the full trail were typically older men alone, or else small groups of young people, along with this couple.
In either case, we imagined that, ignoring the simple young adventure-seekers, perhaps the AT-ers can be broken up into 2 categories: the ones looking to find nature and the ones looking to escape the real world (not necessarily mutually exclusive). In the former, we have the uber-outdoorsy, many of whom likely did the trail when they themselves were young adventure seekers and who, with the kids out of the house, are now more free to take on the adventure once again. In the latter, we have the life-seekers, many of whom were spurred on by a traumatic, life-jarring event: a divorce, a death, a mid-life crisis--anything that makes one re-evaluate their life and/or their past decisions such that they want to get away from everything to find/remake themselves again.
Obviously, these are far too great of generalizations. But Boo and Scout were perfect examples of this latter group: they actively gave up their former lives ("we're homeless.... we have a house, we just don't live in it") and all of the responsibilities attached to them in order to seek adventure and absolute freedom. Similarly, among the plethora of older men that we encountered, the obvious question that arises is: where is your family? Perhaps they remained single throughout life, perhaps they had a family and left it, perhaps the family left them. Whatever it is, it's hard to imagine in our modern society someone maintaining a complete lack of responsibility: people have jobs and pay bills and have loved ones to attend to. Thus, it's hard to imagine that a single person can pursue a journey like the AT without first severing--or having severed--important ties to a well-established life. Exploring the motivation of these hikers would make for quite a fascinating documentary.
In any case, following dinner and smores, we headed to bed in our tent and, after a good 30 minutes of general fear and discussion about the possibility of a bear coming near us and our complete lack of knowledge of what we should do in such a scenario--regardless of whether the bear actually cares about our presence or not--we fell asleep, awoke the next morning, and had a leisurely breakfast of oatmeal by the fire. Boo and Scout headed out shortly after we awoke. We then cleaned up and headed back to the car, playing 20 questions and team construct-a-sentence games along the way.
On the way home, we grabbed some delicious strawberries from a road-side berry farm and store, and then grabbed some tasty food at the Shenanigans at Westfield (I thought this was a chain, but I think that's just from Super Troopers). I'll only note it briefly, but Westfield was depressing, as literally probably half of the stores were shut down permanently--an abundantly clear sign that the recession continues.
And now I am home. Quite sore, but well worth it for a great weekend.
We headed out, directions in hand, out down I-90 west through MA-20 to Jacob Ladder Scenic Way, about a 2 hour drive due west. We arrive, park the car at the designated spot, then wandered around a bit trying to find where the trail actually begins (for us). Finally, we locate the stairs to descend southwards across I-90 and through the woods 1.6 miles from the parking area. We first follow the wrong trail about a quarter of a mile, not fully appreciating the fact that the A.T. (as it's known) is clearly marked by white "blazes", or paint marks typically on trees, every 100 feet or so, and so following orange diamonds is certainly not the correct path. But we figured it out and arrived at our destination: Upper Goose Pond Cabin. And quite a cabin it was indeed. It was in fact someone's old house donated to the AT and so was well-equipped with a full kitchen, living room, front porch etc. There happened to be a bunch of hikers there at the time, including RoboJesus (explained below), but we arrived right around sundown and were hungry, and given that hikers apparently typically sleep right at sundown, we were quick to put up a tent and get in to take advantage of the fancy kitchen to cook some food.
As an important aside, I found out right away that it is tradition to have a trail name different from your real name and that this trail name is to be your official name that you give to others on the trail. Typically this trail name is given to you based on some initial encounters early on in the journey, but occasionally folks name themselves as well. For us as simple weekenders, we named ourselves first "Smores" as a unit but then changed to myself as "Hurricane" and Laura as "Ant Hill". Folks found them to be unique.
As we cooked and set up, we interacted with the cabin caretaker Maaret (muh-RHET), who was a bit of a strange girl in her mid-20s from New York who had been working as caretaker one week per summer each year since she was eight. She is of dutch origin, and apparently her dad attempted to give her a Dutch first name but failed to follow basic Dutch grammar rules (two consonants following double-a's? something like that) and thus ended up bestowing upon her a name that is a combination of Finnish and Estonian. She works with deaf people, and was fun and nice though certainly odd at times. We also met RoboJesus, who was this middle-aged man with a cute dog named Patches (who also had a trail name, but I can't remember it) who told us of a story where they were on the trail and Patches was going to the bathroom, and RoboJesus saw a bear flying down the hill aiming to snatch the dog. He quickly ran towards the bear yelling and slapping his walking sticks against everything until at the last moment the bear noticed him, slid to a stop, and ran back up the hill. It was cute, he clearly loves his dog.
Our final notable social encounter was a bit more interesting. We were readying to eat our food (couscous, refried beans, cheese, salsa--not actually a great combination unfortunately) when Circle Walker (sorry, all I ever want to say is circle jerk), a nice quiet, though surprisingly timid middle-aged woman, comes in exclaiming that there is a bear near our tent. We were immediately shocked and weren't sure what to do. According to her she was in her tent very near to ours, heard something loud and heavy rustling outside, looked out and saw the animal hovering around our tent but not moving, and she quickly moved away and into the cabin; soon after she noted that she never actually saw the animal, and so perhaps it was something else, too. Nonetheless, we became very concerned that the tent retained some residual food scent from its recent use by Laura's sister Dana and her fiancee Colin at Bonaroo last week. After cautiously cleaning our dishes out back, us two and Circle Walker ventured over to the tents to check it out. We saw nothing, and it appeared our tent was undisturbed. That said, none of us had any interest in sleeping in tents while bears are around, and so headed inside for the night; this decision was also made based on RoboJesus noting earlier that he too was pretty sure he saw a bear lingering around the cabin earlier in the day.
Laura and I crashed with our sleeping bags on the floor (the upstairs had open bunks, but everyone was sound asleep and apparently it was extremely smelly up there), and Laura taught me how to play Hi-Lo-Jack, which is quite similar to a combination of Dirty Clubs and a couple of other trump games that I can't recall but have learned.
The next morning, we packed up, cooked breakfast (eggs, bagels), took a quick ride in the canoe on the lake, and then headed out. This time, we went back north to the parking area then continued northwards on the trail another 7.5 miles to the October Mountain lean-to (a simple shelter with a few wooden bunks). It was a fairly tiring hike, full of plenty of steep inclines and declines, as we went up to the top of Becket mountain (~2300 ft), then across a couple of similar peaks, then down to Finerty pond, around and up Bald top, and then back down to the lean-to.
Along the way, we stopped a couple of times to rest and eat, though the weather was generally cool and cloudy, and it drizzled a bit for a time but nothing significant. We also passed Lights Out, an older, jolly man who would later catch up to us at the lean-to. He also caught up with us after we followed a portion of the trail that had been remade as a detour but which still lacked blazes, but which clearly was the correct path after we also found the old path (including blazes) lined with trees and large branches, obviously indicating that it was no longer the correct path.
By around 430p, we arrived at the lean-to, set up the tent (so that we'd have plenty of time to see if any bears showed up before sundown), pumped some water using Laura's new filter, and relaxed a moment. In the meantime, Archeopteryx, another less jolly older man who claimed to be from New Zealand, and Boo and Scout, an interesting couple in their mid-50s (though they looked younger), had shown up. Laura and I announced our intentions to build a fire and cook, something that was unheard of among our fellow campers to our disbelief--most apparently simply boil water over a camping stove, and moreso eat basic undergrad-like things such as ramen. We first took a walk into the woods (shelter in sight, no bears), had a little fun, then wandered back and began to build our fire. We sauteed the remainder of our peppers and onion, cooked up some couscous, and made some delicious veggie quesadillas to the awe of our older compatriots. We shared a bit of our extra food, and then all of us indulged in our large stash of smore ingredients as we shared stories, mostly from the couple.
According to the couple, they were classmates in highschool in texas, grew up separately and "had families and jobs" (Boo a lawyer, Scout in administration), then ran into each other again "35 years later" (so around 50) and decided apparently on the spot to quit their jobs, presumably leave their families, and run away to go on adventures. They lived in the DR, went diving, hiking, etc. What emerged from all of this was an interesting realization of who actually embarks on the complete AT journey, which requires at least 4 months of your life: those who can choose to have no responsibility for at least 4 months in a row. The people we met who were hiking the full trail were typically older men alone, or else small groups of young people, along with this couple.
In either case, we imagined that, ignoring the simple young adventure-seekers, perhaps the AT-ers can be broken up into 2 categories: the ones looking to find nature and the ones looking to escape the real world (not necessarily mutually exclusive). In the former, we have the uber-outdoorsy, many of whom likely did the trail when they themselves were young adventure seekers and who, with the kids out of the house, are now more free to take on the adventure once again. In the latter, we have the life-seekers, many of whom were spurred on by a traumatic, life-jarring event: a divorce, a death, a mid-life crisis--anything that makes one re-evaluate their life and/or their past decisions such that they want to get away from everything to find/remake themselves again.
Obviously, these are far too great of generalizations. But Boo and Scout were perfect examples of this latter group: they actively gave up their former lives ("we're homeless.... we have a house, we just don't live in it") and all of the responsibilities attached to them in order to seek adventure and absolute freedom. Similarly, among the plethora of older men that we encountered, the obvious question that arises is: where is your family? Perhaps they remained single throughout life, perhaps they had a family and left it, perhaps the family left them. Whatever it is, it's hard to imagine in our modern society someone maintaining a complete lack of responsibility: people have jobs and pay bills and have loved ones to attend to. Thus, it's hard to imagine that a single person can pursue a journey like the AT without first severing--or having severed--important ties to a well-established life. Exploring the motivation of these hikers would make for quite a fascinating documentary.
In any case, following dinner and smores, we headed to bed in our tent and, after a good 30 minutes of general fear and discussion about the possibility of a bear coming near us and our complete lack of knowledge of what we should do in such a scenario--regardless of whether the bear actually cares about our presence or not--we fell asleep, awoke the next morning, and had a leisurely breakfast of oatmeal by the fire. Boo and Scout headed out shortly after we awoke. We then cleaned up and headed back to the car, playing 20 questions and team construct-a-sentence games along the way.
On the way home, we grabbed some delicious strawberries from a road-side berry farm and store, and then grabbed some tasty food at the Shenanigans at Westfield (I thought this was a chain, but I think that's just from Super Troopers). I'll only note it briefly, but Westfield was depressing, as literally probably half of the stores were shut down permanently--an abundantly clear sign that the recession continues.
And now I am home. Quite sore, but well worth it for a great weekend.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Catching up
It's been a while since I've entered here, mainly due to simple forgetfulness. Last weekend we hung out on Malte's roof for perhaps the last time. Saturday I went with Neil, Christine, and Seb to the American Craft Brew Fest, for tons and tons of great great beer. We were plenty drunk, walked all the way from the World Trade Center through the city to Beacon Hill to get pizza at Upper Crust. Along the way, I chatted with Seb in french the whole time, which was pretty great. We munched on some delicious pizza with Tara and John, a random couple who lived out in a suburb an hour away. Pretty entertaining stuff, as we were well intoxicated and enjoying the beautiful day. I followed it up in Harvard watching a random act (with a super cute lead singer) playing outside of Peets' Coffee with Malte, Morgan, Christine, and a drunkenly angry and dramatic Neil. We attempted to grab a drink at Charlie's Kitchen, which was pretty great except that I couldn't handle any more alcohol (and haven't since in fact).
Sunday I went to RI with Laura for Father's Day. I was still exhausted from the marathon drinking the day before, but we just hung out and swam a bit in their pool.
This week there has been crazy sport: yesterday morning I hosted the second edition of Breakfast 'n World Cup, this time with some tasty scrambled eggs. USA won 1-0 on a crazy final goal that sent us all out of our seats screaming and jumping on each other. Then yesterday and today (and two days ago) the Isner-Mahut Wimbledon match rolled on for 11 hours, finally ending with Isner winnint 70-68 in the 5th set, an absolutely insane (though welcomed, as I can finally get some work done) finish. World Cup + tennis + NBA finals last week means not a lot of work has gotten done recently. It's awesome, but I definitely would like to get back into a regular work routine.
Sunday I went to RI with Laura for Father's Day. I was still exhausted from the marathon drinking the day before, but we just hung out and swam a bit in their pool.
This week there has been crazy sport: yesterday morning I hosted the second edition of Breakfast 'n World Cup, this time with some tasty scrambled eggs. USA won 1-0 on a crazy final goal that sent us all out of our seats screaming and jumping on each other. Then yesterday and today (and two days ago) the Isner-Mahut Wimbledon match rolled on for 11 hours, finally ending with Isner winnint 70-68 in the 5th set, an absolutely insane (though welcomed, as I can finally get some work done) finish. World Cup + tennis + NBA finals last week means not a lot of work has gotten done recently. It's awesome, but I definitely would like to get back into a regular work routine.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
New roommate, new look apartment
Ash(ley) moved in this weekend, and in doing so brings all sorts of fun new things for the apartment. With the addition of a super nice new couch and matching chair and a big new tv, we decided to finally revamp the livingroom/kitchen layout. With couches and chairs lining the back and far side (i.e. across from the windows) walls, we now have space to seat 9 people (very) comfortably onto soft furniture, and plenty of floor space in the middle. It's really amazing, the place looks totally different and much, much more spacious. We also now have a wii, the N64 is working, and the piano fits nicely in the corner.
Laura and I also went to a truffle-making workshop yesterday, which was really fun. It turns out that the ganache on the inside of those fancy chocolates is remarkably easy to make: boil some cream, pour it over chunks of your favorite chocolate (no vegetable oils!), add a little butter, and mix into a pudding-like substance. We were told not to put it in the fridge, but after attempting some grand marnier ganache overnight it's clear that the fridge overnight is needed to get the ganache to firm up enough for rolling into balls. Then you roll those balls in your favorite cover (for me it's cocoa powder) and eat. At the workshop we got to make a bunch and put them in a fancy box just like at the store. To make the true shiny shelled chocolates, though, you need to temper (i.e. heat, cool, then heat) chocolate in a tub and then you dip your truffles into this liquid chocolate and let dry for a few minutes. We got to do a few of these at the workshop, and I was surprised to see how easy it is to make chocolates that look just like those that you get for $5 in boxes at chocolate shops. Pretty cool.
Laura and I also went to a truffle-making workshop yesterday, which was really fun. It turns out that the ganache on the inside of those fancy chocolates is remarkably easy to make: boil some cream, pour it over chunks of your favorite chocolate (no vegetable oils!), add a little butter, and mix into a pudding-like substance. We were told not to put it in the fridge, but after attempting some grand marnier ganache overnight it's clear that the fridge overnight is needed to get the ganache to firm up enough for rolling into balls. Then you roll those balls in your favorite cover (for me it's cocoa powder) and eat. At the workshop we got to make a bunch and put them in a fancy box just like at the store. To make the true shiny shelled chocolates, though, you need to temper (i.e. heat, cool, then heat) chocolate in a tub and then you dip your truffles into this liquid chocolate and let dry for a few minutes. We got to do a few of these at the workshop, and I was surprised to see how easy it is to make chocolates that look just like those that you get for $5 in boxes at chocolate shops. Pretty cool.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Charlotte cuisine le diner pour nous
Last night, Charlotte cooked us some yummy pommes de terre and interesting bake tomato things (they were better than I make them sound). We dined at the SidPac lounge with a good group of friends, drank plenty of wine, and the headed over to the Thirsty for some super nerdy trivia (integrals, really?) and random on-stage dancing to michael jackson. This morning I was totally exhausted, wow. I really need to catch up on sleep.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
End of Philly, back to reality... not really.
The final evening in Philly was a genuine Philly experience. Rory and I headed out to a local bar to watch the Flyers in Game 5 of the Cup finals vs. the Blackhawks. We first grabbed Pizza from Gusto nearby to his sister's place, which was pretty good. Then we headed over to the small bar a block away. We walked in, it turned silent as all 30 or so people looked right at us, and then a woman's voice on the PA said "Welcome! We've just started, would you like to join us for Quizzo?". Rory noticed that the TV was playing the game but muted, and so he promptly said "um, no", and we were promptly booed out of the bar by everyone. It was hilarious, and not something that happens too often.
We headed over to Grace bar, where a super drunk belligerent bowling ball of a man yelled profanities at every player seemingly every moment of the first period. And no one seemed to blink an eye, not even the dude's friends. Clearly this is standard fare in Philly, for which they are quite well-known (note our relief that we weren't kicked out of the previous bar with a round of batteries). Philly lost, but it was a great game, and Rory chatted with a big semi-drunk dude in a bright orange shirt with a surprisingly strong knowledge of movies for much of the game.
Early the next morning I ventured over to the French bakery/cafe nearby, only to find that it is closed on Monday. Lazy, lazy french people :) Luckily there were cards at the Dollar General, so I picked one up and wrote a nice note for Catherine, Ryan, and Rory. Last night laura and I made a nice big salad, as I needed something to offset all the greasiness I consumed over the prior three days.
Today I headed into work in a very relaxed fashion and spent my "working" time checking out new Mac computers. Still haven't decided on which to get, but it was surprisingly quick and easy to select one with the features I need. Then we headed over to the Scooperbowl in City Hall plaza in Boston for $8 all-you-can-eat ice cream. Awesome, but then gross. I'm definitely still on the gross side of the fence as I write.
We headed over to Grace bar, where a super drunk belligerent bowling ball of a man yelled profanities at every player seemingly every moment of the first period. And no one seemed to blink an eye, not even the dude's friends. Clearly this is standard fare in Philly, for which they are quite well-known (note our relief that we weren't kicked out of the previous bar with a round of batteries). Philly lost, but it was a great game, and Rory chatted with a big semi-drunk dude in a bright orange shirt with a surprisingly strong knowledge of movies for much of the game.
Early the next morning I ventured over to the French bakery/cafe nearby, only to find that it is closed on Monday. Lazy, lazy french people :) Luckily there were cards at the Dollar General, so I picked one up and wrote a nice note for Catherine, Ryan, and Rory. Last night laura and I made a nice big salad, as I needed something to offset all the greasiness I consumed over the prior three days.
Today I headed into work in a very relaxed fashion and spent my "working" time checking out new Mac computers. Still haven't decided on which to get, but it was surprisingly quick and easy to select one with the features I need. Then we headed over to the Scooperbowl in City Hall plaza in Boston for $8 all-you-can-eat ice cream. Awesome, but then gross. I'm definitely still on the gross side of the fence as I write.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Partying in Philly
I took the Amtrak down to Philly on Friday morning. It's a 6 hour journey that is quite beautiful between Boston and New York as you pass through lots of cute little small old towns. But then in stark contrast you pass through New Jersey and all of its dilapidated buildings and abandoned (or maybe still functioning) industry. I spent the whole time, including the 3 hours stuck next to a really fat guy despite the existence of open double-seats elsewhere, brainstorming the logic or my global warming website, which should be interested to see how I can transform it into a user-friendly science website that is accessible both to scientist and layperson.
In any case, I arrived in town, wandered around downtown around Rittenhouse Square for an hour or so, picked up some sweet sandals from the Puma store, then met Rory outside of a Sonoco station somewhere and walked over to his place, which is actually his sister Catherine's and her husband Ryan's place. It's quite nice. We headed over to Resurrection bar, which had fantastic beer and even better food. Rory informed me that Gourmet magazine declared the fried chicken the "best in America" and so I had no choice but to try it out. And they are absolutely right. They fry the chicken, then cover it in honey, then fry it again (then supposedly add more honey). Needless to say, it was one of the tastiest things I've ever eaten. Then I followed this up with a pork belly sandwich, which melted like butter when it touched your mouth--the second installment of one of the greatest things I've ever eaten. Ryan is a very cool guy, apparently everyone loves him. We watched the Flyers beat the Blackhawks in Game 4 of the Cup finals--getting fans who apparently don't normally care about their hockey team to be excited--then headed over to Grace Bar to meet Sean and two female friends of his from his lab. One was a Kiwi and we spent most of our time making fun of New Zealand stereotypes. Fun times.
Yesterday I woke up after a glorious night of sleep on an air mattress in their study, which is wonderfully air-conditioned. We got up, grabbed dark chocolate and banana waffles at Bonte Waffles ("Bonte means happiness in French" "no it doesn't" "what?"). Then I stopped over at the Mutter museum of medical oddities, which was awesome: tons of conjoined twins (including the livers of the original Siamese twins), nasty tumors and other awful medical conditions that make you so grateful for modern medicine. Needless to say, it was one of the coolest museums I've been to, though the shop was highly disappointing in that I was totally willing to spend multiple tens of dollars on something unique and awesome, but they were sorely lacking in any such items (I did by a yellow ceramic magnet with a skull on it).
Afterwards, I came back, we headed over to Pat's (not Gino's, who is racist :) to get the obligatory Philly Cheese Steak (I got the "mushroom provy wit"). It was pretty tasty, though not something I really need to experience again in my life (unlike the fried chicken). We came back and joined Catherine and Ryan's cocktail party with friends, which was a good time and lasted from 5-midnight. Their friends are pretty cool and nearly all have cute kids ages .5-3 (except Aaron, who is gay). We chilled out inside and out, had many drinks and lots of hors d'oeuvres, and talked seemingly the entire time about movies--the Lucey family and friends are really the ultimate movie connoisseurs. Then we headed over to Sean's sweet apartment and chatted til 230a with Sean and Paul. It was great to see Sean, but unfortunately he's got his qualifying exam paper due Monday and is apparently quite far behind, so he hasn't really been able to hang out much. Kind of annoying, but also I understand after having gone through the process myself.
Today's plan: watch(ed) the French Open final (kind of a sad effort by Soderling) and then head over to Paisano's which apparently has the best sandwiches you'll ever have.
Note the theme: it's been a great couple of days here with some quite memorable activities. Clearly, at the least, Philly has a great food scene.
In any case, I arrived in town, wandered around downtown around Rittenhouse Square for an hour or so, picked up some sweet sandals from the Puma store, then met Rory outside of a Sonoco station somewhere and walked over to his place, which is actually his sister Catherine's and her husband Ryan's place. It's quite nice. We headed over to Resurrection bar, which had fantastic beer and even better food. Rory informed me that Gourmet magazine declared the fried chicken the "best in America" and so I had no choice but to try it out. And they are absolutely right. They fry the chicken, then cover it in honey, then fry it again (then supposedly add more honey). Needless to say, it was one of the tastiest things I've ever eaten. Then I followed this up with a pork belly sandwich, which melted like butter when it touched your mouth--the second installment of one of the greatest things I've ever eaten. Ryan is a very cool guy, apparently everyone loves him. We watched the Flyers beat the Blackhawks in Game 4 of the Cup finals--getting fans who apparently don't normally care about their hockey team to be excited--then headed over to Grace Bar to meet Sean and two female friends of his from his lab. One was a Kiwi and we spent most of our time making fun of New Zealand stereotypes. Fun times.
Yesterday I woke up after a glorious night of sleep on an air mattress in their study, which is wonderfully air-conditioned. We got up, grabbed dark chocolate and banana waffles at Bonte Waffles ("Bonte means happiness in French" "no it doesn't" "what?"). Then I stopped over at the Mutter museum of medical oddities, which was awesome: tons of conjoined twins (including the livers of the original Siamese twins), nasty tumors and other awful medical conditions that make you so grateful for modern medicine. Needless to say, it was one of the coolest museums I've been to, though the shop was highly disappointing in that I was totally willing to spend multiple tens of dollars on something unique and awesome, but they were sorely lacking in any such items (I did by a yellow ceramic magnet with a skull on it).
Afterwards, I came back, we headed over to Pat's (not Gino's, who is racist :) to get the obligatory Philly Cheese Steak (I got the "mushroom provy wit"). It was pretty tasty, though not something I really need to experience again in my life (unlike the fried chicken). We came back and joined Catherine and Ryan's cocktail party with friends, which was a good time and lasted from 5-midnight. Their friends are pretty cool and nearly all have cute kids ages .5-3 (except Aaron, who is gay). We chilled out inside and out, had many drinks and lots of hors d'oeuvres, and talked seemingly the entire time about movies--the Lucey family and friends are really the ultimate movie connoisseurs. Then we headed over to Sean's sweet apartment and chatted til 230a with Sean and Paul. It was great to see Sean, but unfortunately he's got his qualifying exam paper due Monday and is apparently quite far behind, so he hasn't really been able to hang out much. Kind of annoying, but also I understand after having gone through the process myself.
Today's plan: watch(ed) the French Open final (kind of a sad effort by Soderling) and then head over to Paisano's which apparently has the best sandwiches you'll ever have.
Note the theme: it's been a great couple of days here with some quite memorable activities. Clearly, at the least, Philly has a great food scene.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
WOOOOHOOOO I PASSED!!!
Yeah!!! I passed, finally. It was a big relief, although a little surprised to find out that we now have our thesis proposals due by mid-September, rather than 6-12 months as seems to have been done in the past. Hopefully that's still totally doable given that I planned to be gone virtually all of August. I'll meet with Kerry next week to discuss, but nonetheless finally finally I am officially a PhD candidate. Hooray :)
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
DONE!!!
Done with the oral!!!! It went alright I think. It felt more like a discussion most of the time, and I felt like I had a response or could at least discuss the prospects of most questions. The atmosphere was relatively friendly overall. Deep down I am confident, particularly given that I've gotten a fellowship to pay for me for the next few years and I presented an interesting theory (though Kerry never made any comments), but I still won't feel relaxed about everything until 11am tomorrow when they let us know. One way or the other, I'm done with generals, and that feels good.
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