It was retail mania in Oklahoma at Wall's Bargain Center and the two "crazy shopping ladies" (= my friend Ulli and I as described by her two daughters) were at it again. Whenever my travels lead me to visit the Schoenknecht family in the Sooner State, a trip to this Mecca of consumerism is part of the program, and quite necessary so as to beef up my wardrobe every year. Most of you know about Wall's - located in a semi-abandoned shopping mall on the outskirts of town, it is kind of like a Marshall's on steroids - the place is jam-packed with stuff, from clothes to mattresses, household items, garbage cans, carpets, pillows - you name it. Of course we were not there for the garbage cans, but for the fancy schmancy clothes at rock bottom prices. One has to dig a path through the piles of not so nice clothes to get to the good loot, but it is soooo worth it. Once you purchase a satin skirt fit to be worn for the opera for 1 dollar or a Ralph Lauren Sweater for less than ten bucks, there is no going back. The frenzy we found ourselves in was heightened by the fact that Wall's was having a "bucket sale" - one could stuff all the goodies collected into a 5-gallon bucket and that entitled the happy shopper to an additional 15% off. The bucket size, as we learned later, was not restricted to a five-gallon specimen, and as one of the cashier's told us "if you can drag a 55-gallon bucket in here, that would work for us too". Ulli and I contemplated finding a trailer and declaring it a bucket, and I think the very liberal staff at Wall's would have given us the discount on a trailer full of clothes accompanied by a big smile.
I had traveled out west this past Thursday and after experiencing the first signs of fall in Boston, I was welcomed in Tulsa with some roasty-toasty temps of 99 degrees. We managed to stay cool inside and divert ourselves quite nicely over the holiday weekend. Among the highlights was a trip to Tulsa to the Gilcrease Museum (http://www.gilcrease.org/) to see an Ansel Adams exhibit and the museum's vast collection of American art and history. The Adams exhibit featured about 140 prints of America's favorite nature photographer, and a whole slew of his cameras. The Osage Restaurant (http://www.gilcrease.org/osage.aspx) in the museum, aptly named after the Osage Hills surrounding the site, provided a stellar brunch buffet, and we all moved a little slower post-gluttony ( I remember going for refills on whipped cream.... everything else is a blur).
Labor Day was spent in the town of Guthrie, a Midwestern town established in the late 19th century following the Oklahoma Land Run (Wikipedia says it grew from nothing to 10,000 inhabitants in a day) - with its wonderfully preserved Victorian architecture (http://www.guthrieok.com/) it certainly is a favorite of mine. It was Oklahoma's first state capital and is now a Historic Landmark. The downtown area features quite a few antique shops, a Victorian tea room, a drug store museum - and the city has several claims to movie fame - among them the movie "Rain Man" - the scene were Dustin Hoffman crosses the road but stops because the sign says "Don't Walk" - you guessed right, it is Guthrie!! The movie "Twister" with Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton also features some street scenes from Guthrie.
What else did we do? Oh yes, we went to the Payne County Fair and did us some shootin' - nothing real, just shooting little cork bits at plastic cups, but we had quite a fun time and brought home some nice stuffed animals for the kids. We went to Shake's for their delicious frozen custard ice cream (http://www.shakesfrozencustard.com/) and to the newly minted Texas Road House (http://www.texasroadhouse.com/) where we enjoyed some Grade A fillet mignon, threw peanuts on the floor and watched the wait staff do some line dancin". Yiihaah!
Overall it was a wonderful visit and I had a stellar time; very relaxing and enjoyable. The pace of life is so much less hectic, the skies are vast and blue, and the people are friendly - so what's not to like?
I got back Tuesday, and after one day in Boston fell back into crazy-busy mode - everyone is back from their summer vacation, ready to get crackin', and hence it was a bit of a stressful week. The weather has been very summery, we enjoyed (or not) 87 degrees today, but fall is definitely in the air, and starting tomorrow temperatures will (hopefully) drop back into a more moderate range.
My first social outing this week took place last night, when yours truly had cashed in a gift certificate and attended a "sushi and sake" pairing at Gordon's Fine Wine and Liquors" in Waltham (http://www.gordonswine.com/). Not only do they have an exquisite wine and spirit selection, but their classes are fabulous (and affordable). The Asian-infused evening featured a presentation by Sake expert and imported Michael John Simkin (www.mjssakeselections.com) who brought with him a series of five sakes from the Ichishima Sake Brewery in the Niigata province of Japan (these sakes are not going to be available in the US until October, so we were the first US audience to try them). This guy was quite on top of it, knew everything there was to know about Sake, and the very educated audience certainly appreciated his efforts. Now the food, people, OHMYGOD - sushi chef Kenji Alt, a chef on America's Test Kitchen (http://www.americastestkitchen.com/) , writes for Cooks Illustrated (http://www.cooksillustrated.com/) and for several other magazines around Boston, together with his sous-chef Paco, dished up some of the best Japanese food I have ever tasted - here is the menu:
**diver scallop sashimi with fresh wasabi, myoga and mustard see caviar
**hamachi sashimi with ginger-watermelon juice, basil seeds and shiso chips
**salmon sashimi with fermented soy beans, scallions and liquid nori
**simmered duck breast with yu choy and onions
**miso-glazed eggplant with charred sea urchin
I have never ever had scallops this good, safe to say - every dish was an amazing combination of flavors and presented to perfection. The sakes were wonderful, except for the Koshu, which had aged for five years, and (to me) smelled a bit too much like old cheese. My favorites were the Junmai Genshu and the Silk Deluxe Junmai, a desert sake. The organizers meant well and filled our glasses quite nicely, which meant we all left Gordon's in a very good mood. I have been pretty abstinent from alcohol over the past few months, and as you can imagine, my head was a little fuzzy this morning after all that tasting and such. Things moved a little slower than usual....
It's late, gotta go, the weekend is upon us. I spent the evening with my friend Hillary and her charming son Atticus, who I am so in love with!!! At 7 weeks, he is quite the charmer, and kept smiling at me, which I hope is true affection and not something related to his digestive tract. We enjoyed a nice evening out at 1369 Coffee House at Central Square (http://www.1369coffeehouse.com/), browsed the book shelves at Rodney's book store (http://www.rodneysbookstore.com/) - where the Little A seemed mesmerized by a calendar from Cape Cod - and had a nice evening overall.
Tomorrow I am heading to Southern New Hampshire to find a final and lovely resting place to spread the ashes of my beloved avian companion Oscar - may his spirit enjoy the mountains as much as I do.
Until soon my friends,
pet:)
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Caution: Rain Causes Puddles - August 22, 2008
The citizens of Vermont, or actually the officials up there must think we are all idiots, and maybe we are, but this sign in Ascutney, Vermont took the cake - "Caution: Rain Causes Puddles". Well, somebody call the press!!! Not that we don't appreciate a little friendly advice, but I feel now thrown into the same group of bright citizens that needs to be told not to microwave your poodle, because that just may harm the dog.
My friend Rick and I decided to disrupt our hiking pattern and for once head to Vermont instead of exploring every corner of New Hampshire. Not that we went too far into Vermont, the area around Mt Ascutney borders precariously close to the granite state. The weather promised to be reasonably decent if we got there early - thunderstorms were forecast for the afternoon. I have to insert a quick note about the weather here - this must be the suckiest summer in a long time. For a while it seemed we had one t-storm per day, and the only good thing resulting out of this sorry and soggy excuse of a summer is that it will lead Massachusetts to have a record cranberry harvest this fall.
Back to the hike - http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Mt%20Ascutney&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi - Mt Ascutney is a wonderful mountain to hike, it offers such a great variety in terrain and some excellent views. The summit itself is less spectacular, but the West Ridge affords stunning vistas, and a platform for hang gliding enthusiasts (http://www.vhga.org/images/AscutneySetup.jpg). We managed to stay ahead of the storm, and also miss a bear, that, according to some hikers we met, scared them pretty good by traipsing across the trail about 20 feet away from them. The most amazing thing to see in the woods were the gazillion mushrooms who were out there - (thanks to the record amounts of rain this summer) - all shapes, sizes and colors were represented. Unfortunately some of them were in an advanced stage of decay, and filled certain parts of the forest with a seriously nauseating smell. Yuck!!
We did pretty good in terms of time, and my foot did not complain at all. I have been doing somewhat better; the plantar fasciitis is not completely healed, but the foot recovers quickly after exercising, and for the past three weeks I have been able to get in some short and sweet morning jogs - about 1-2 miles. You cannot imagine how much I missed running, and just to have a little of it is wonderful. I also immediately dropped six pounds in three weeks - my previously snug clothes appreciated the newfound flexibility.
The summer, crappy as it is, has been zipping by and I have barely an evening to myself. Not sure how that always happens, but there are so many things to do in Boston, the fun never ends. Speaking of fun - just a word of advice - stay off the Valium!!! My wonderful doctors put me on the little happy pills a while ago to get rid of some chronic pains I had, and while it was fun for a couple of days, the drug confused that already slightly disordered brain of mine even more and there were some moments that seemed much more funny to others than they were to me. Now I know the docs all mean well and try to help you, but these days they hand out pills as if it was candy, and no one tells you that when you are on a friggin' sedative, you may have withdrawal symptoms once you stop - boy, did I have a strange and scary week after coming off the stuff! Shaking, rubber-legged, weak, dizzy spells, palpitations - the first couple of days I was convinced I was either having a stroke or multiple sclerosis, both scenarios that would have not made me particularly happy. I am well now and feeling reasonably normal (as normal as I'll ever feel), so no worries.
In order to get the good health juju flowing and improve my life in general, I had asked my friend Sonya to come and Feng Shui the little home in Cambridge. What a fun thing to do and so therapeutic! I have been de-clutterizing the home, we are re-doing the bedroom completely with some nice earthy colors and the paint process will start soon. In addition to the good vibes, I have picked up and old habit of mine, and started cooking again on the weekends - last Sunday it was five hours straight, and I had such a good time. I made a chicken dish with a leek-mushroom-goat-cheese sauce, whole wheat pasta with a four-cheese sauce; cream of leek soup, Indonesian Bami Goreng, banana bread, waffles..... there was no stopping me. Anything that could be turned into food, was turned into food. Wonderful smells filled the house and the freezer is so full, that you could not even fit a single popsicle in. Life is good.
Aside from the home-bound activities, I have been quite busy. The weekend of August 9th, I headed out to the lovely town of Concord, Mass (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Concord+MA&gbv=2) with a walking group (through www.meetup.com ) - our little outing was supposed to get us to Great Meadows, but our slightly addled guide had not checked out the route beforehand. There were constructions sites and numerous other obstacles, so we did a lot of backtracking, never made it to Great Meadows (http://www.fws.gov/northeast/greatmeadows/), but ended up taking a tour of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord. Not the famous cemetery from the movie (that one is in NY state) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepy_Hollow_Cemetery,_Concord - this one is a lovely place nevertheless and quite a few famous people are buried here, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, Henry David Thoreau and of course most famously, Nathaniel Hawthorne - all of them with their final resting place on "Author's Ridge". The evening was spent much less confused and in lovely company at a farewell party of my running mate John Warren and his wife Ginny, who moved to Los Angeles and threw a nice little shindig to day goodbye.
The rest in short form - last Wednesday - dinner at Panificio on Charles Street (http://www.panificioboston.com/); Thursday a Red Sox Game with my friend Holly courtesy of the Suffolk University Alumni group (what a great game - the Sox clobbered the Texas Rangers - 9 runs in the second inning alone). Monday this week - dinner at S&S Restaurant in Cambridge (http://www.sandsrestaurant.com/); Tuesday night - enjoyed a free concert at Christopher Columbus Park with my German friend Dorothee (http://www.bostonharborwalk.com/placestogo/location.php?nid=3&sid=18) - music (From Sibelius to John Williams) by the Orchestra Symphonique des Jeunes de Strasbourg (turns out Boston's sister city is Strasbourg, France - about an hour from my home town in Germany) - fabulous, albeit windy performance (the score sheets kept flying away, which provided some enjoyable and confusing moments) - followed by dinner at Quincy Market (http://www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com/); Wednesday Lunch with German friend Ulrich at Quincy Market (again); business dinner at a French-Cambodian place , The Elephant Walk (http://www.elephantwalk.com/) on Beacon Street; Thursday night - volunteered at the telethon of our public television station, WGBH (http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/about/) - this time I got four calls!!!! It was a fun experience this time, I sat with a hysterical group of people and we kept each other entertained during the "staged" portions of the broadcast. The organizers provided us with a yummy dinner, courtesy of Somerville favorite, Red Bones Barbecue (http://www.redbones.com/) - hmmmh.....
Upcoming (if you are not dizzy yet): Tonight I am meeting a colleague and friend at the Cambridge Brewing Company (http://www.cambrew.com/) for a drink; tomorrow is a cookout in Marblehead with my colleagues from the translational research lab and Sunday I am heading to the Cape to meet up with my cousins from upstate New York. Monday I have a date with little Atticus (we're staying in for a movie) and Thursday I am hopping on a plane and go visit my friends Ulli, Gerald, and their charming daughters Louise and Siri in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
I'll leave you to digest this lengthy diatribe, but not before boasting a little about my latest photographic accomplishments - some of my photographs were accepted for the next MGH Cancer Center art exhibit "Illuminations" - 7 this time, and I placed third in a photography contest at the Boston Public Library's West End Branch. Very exciting news indeed.
Enjoy these last days of summer.
pet:)
My friend Rick and I decided to disrupt our hiking pattern and for once head to Vermont instead of exploring every corner of New Hampshire. Not that we went too far into Vermont, the area around Mt Ascutney borders precariously close to the granite state. The weather promised to be reasonably decent if we got there early - thunderstorms were forecast for the afternoon. I have to insert a quick note about the weather here - this must be the suckiest summer in a long time. For a while it seemed we had one t-storm per day, and the only good thing resulting out of this sorry and soggy excuse of a summer is that it will lead Massachusetts to have a record cranberry harvest this fall.
Back to the hike - http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Mt%20Ascutney&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi - Mt Ascutney is a wonderful mountain to hike, it offers such a great variety in terrain and some excellent views. The summit itself is less spectacular, but the West Ridge affords stunning vistas, and a platform for hang gliding enthusiasts (http://www.vhga.org/images/AscutneySetup.jpg). We managed to stay ahead of the storm, and also miss a bear, that, according to some hikers we met, scared them pretty good by traipsing across the trail about 20 feet away from them. The most amazing thing to see in the woods were the gazillion mushrooms who were out there - (thanks to the record amounts of rain this summer) - all shapes, sizes and colors were represented. Unfortunately some of them were in an advanced stage of decay, and filled certain parts of the forest with a seriously nauseating smell. Yuck!!
We did pretty good in terms of time, and my foot did not complain at all. I have been doing somewhat better; the plantar fasciitis is not completely healed, but the foot recovers quickly after exercising, and for the past three weeks I have been able to get in some short and sweet morning jogs - about 1-2 miles. You cannot imagine how much I missed running, and just to have a little of it is wonderful. I also immediately dropped six pounds in three weeks - my previously snug clothes appreciated the newfound flexibility.
The summer, crappy as it is, has been zipping by and I have barely an evening to myself. Not sure how that always happens, but there are so many things to do in Boston, the fun never ends. Speaking of fun - just a word of advice - stay off the Valium!!! My wonderful doctors put me on the little happy pills a while ago to get rid of some chronic pains I had, and while it was fun for a couple of days, the drug confused that already slightly disordered brain of mine even more and there were some moments that seemed much more funny to others than they were to me. Now I know the docs all mean well and try to help you, but these days they hand out pills as if it was candy, and no one tells you that when you are on a friggin' sedative, you may have withdrawal symptoms once you stop - boy, did I have a strange and scary week after coming off the stuff! Shaking, rubber-legged, weak, dizzy spells, palpitations - the first couple of days I was convinced I was either having a stroke or multiple sclerosis, both scenarios that would have not made me particularly happy. I am well now and feeling reasonably normal (as normal as I'll ever feel), so no worries.
In order to get the good health juju flowing and improve my life in general, I had asked my friend Sonya to come and Feng Shui the little home in Cambridge. What a fun thing to do and so therapeutic! I have been de-clutterizing the home, we are re-doing the bedroom completely with some nice earthy colors and the paint process will start soon. In addition to the good vibes, I have picked up and old habit of mine, and started cooking again on the weekends - last Sunday it was five hours straight, and I had such a good time. I made a chicken dish with a leek-mushroom-goat-cheese sauce, whole wheat pasta with a four-cheese sauce; cream of leek soup, Indonesian Bami Goreng, banana bread, waffles..... there was no stopping me. Anything that could be turned into food, was turned into food. Wonderful smells filled the house and the freezer is so full, that you could not even fit a single popsicle in. Life is good.
Aside from the home-bound activities, I have been quite busy. The weekend of August 9th, I headed out to the lovely town of Concord, Mass (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Concord+MA&gbv=2) with a walking group (through www.meetup.com ) - our little outing was supposed to get us to Great Meadows, but our slightly addled guide had not checked out the route beforehand. There were constructions sites and numerous other obstacles, so we did a lot of backtracking, never made it to Great Meadows (http://www.fws.gov/northeast/greatmeadows/), but ended up taking a tour of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord. Not the famous cemetery from the movie (that one is in NY state) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleepy_Hollow_Cemetery,_Concord - this one is a lovely place nevertheless and quite a few famous people are buried here, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, Henry David Thoreau and of course most famously, Nathaniel Hawthorne - all of them with their final resting place on "Author's Ridge". The evening was spent much less confused and in lovely company at a farewell party of my running mate John Warren and his wife Ginny, who moved to Los Angeles and threw a nice little shindig to day goodbye.
The rest in short form - last Wednesday - dinner at Panificio on Charles Street (http://www.panificioboston.com/); Thursday a Red Sox Game with my friend Holly courtesy of the Suffolk University Alumni group (what a great game - the Sox clobbered the Texas Rangers - 9 runs in the second inning alone). Monday this week - dinner at S&S Restaurant in Cambridge (http://www.sandsrestaurant.com/); Tuesday night - enjoyed a free concert at Christopher Columbus Park with my German friend Dorothee (http://www.bostonharborwalk.com/placestogo/location.php?nid=3&sid=18) - music (From Sibelius to John Williams) by the Orchestra Symphonique des Jeunes de Strasbourg (turns out Boston's sister city is Strasbourg, France - about an hour from my home town in Germany) - fabulous, albeit windy performance (the score sheets kept flying away, which provided some enjoyable and confusing moments) - followed by dinner at Quincy Market (http://www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com/); Wednesday Lunch with German friend Ulrich at Quincy Market (again); business dinner at a French-Cambodian place , The Elephant Walk (http://www.elephantwalk.com/) on Beacon Street; Thursday night - volunteered at the telethon of our public television station, WGBH (http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/about/) - this time I got four calls!!!! It was a fun experience this time, I sat with a hysterical group of people and we kept each other entertained during the "staged" portions of the broadcast. The organizers provided us with a yummy dinner, courtesy of Somerville favorite, Red Bones Barbecue (http://www.redbones.com/) - hmmmh.....
Upcoming (if you are not dizzy yet): Tonight I am meeting a colleague and friend at the Cambridge Brewing Company (http://www.cambrew.com/) for a drink; tomorrow is a cookout in Marblehead with my colleagues from the translational research lab and Sunday I am heading to the Cape to meet up with my cousins from upstate New York. Monday I have a date with little Atticus (we're staying in for a movie) and Thursday I am hopping on a plane and go visit my friends Ulli, Gerald, and their charming daughters Louise and Siri in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
I'll leave you to digest this lengthy diatribe, but not before boasting a little about my latest photographic accomplishments - some of my photographs were accepted for the next MGH Cancer Center art exhibit "Illuminations" - 7 this time, and I placed third in a photography contest at the Boston Public Library's West End Branch. Very exciting news indeed.
Enjoy these last days of summer.
pet:)
Monday, August 4, 2008
Fenway Paaaaaak - August 4 2008
Yes, I have finally gotten the letter from the US Immigration Service, and the ceremony is indeed on September 17th in Fenway Park!!! Yeah! My friend Mike is going to be sworn in as well, and hopefully my friend Carol as well. It will be a fun day (unless it's raining, which would definitely suck). Stephanie is going to be with me and I can bring up to three people, so I will reach out to a few of you, and see if you are itching to get away from work and spend a day with me and the Green Monstah. The letter said I have to be there at 10 AM and that I should eat a healthy breakfast, as the whole hoopla will take five hours. Concession stands are going to be open, so one can get some good American ballpark food while being sworn in. This is definitely as good as it gets.
Gosh, it feels like such a long time since I have written, and so many things I want to talk about. I'll backtrack, which is best. This past weekend was one of the busiest I have had in a while, and it is always good if you start by taking Friday off. Makes the weekend so much more pleasant. I got up, hopped in the car and drove to Shrewsbury, Mass to pick up my friend Linda Deschenes for a day of fun. (I am mentioning her last name because I have four friends named Linda, one of them with a y - hi Lynda B!). Our first stop on the way was the Northampton Bike Trail (http://www.fntg.net/), where we stretched out legs a little and walked for a mile or so, before some serious hunger befell us and we just had to go for lunch. So we headed to downtown Northampton, which is a fabulous place with lots of ethnic restaurants, nice galleries and tons of places to stretch your credit card balance. Our choice for a meal was Zen (http://www.zennorthampton.com/), a wonderful Pan-Asian restaurant, which featured some lovely lunch selections, courteous wait staff and delightful atmosphere. Once we were pretty stuffed, we shopped a little and then headed to the town of Stockbridge to visit the Normal Rockwell Museum (http://www.nrm.org/), a wonderful place honoring America's most hardworking and prolific painter and illustrator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Rockwell). He painted the covers of the Saturday Evening Post for more than forty years, and passionately and accurately captured the essence of daily life in America. I love his work - it is so easily accessible, and my favorite picture is "The Rookie" (http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/PD--12549499/SP--A/IGID--1917220/The_Rookie.htm?sOrig=CRT&sOrigId=32&ui=8C8CE914E4784760866BA9DEF65ACCF3), which features five Red Sox players, including Ted Williams. We toured the Museum, visited Rockwell's studio, and also enjoyed a couple of other exhibits of art - "Raw Nerve! The Political Art of Steve Brodner" (http://www.nrm.org/page283), and "In Full Bloom - Design Garden Gates" (http://www.nrm.org/page305).
We left the museum, and headed to Stockbridge, which is your quintessential quaint and cute town in an area called The Berkshires, one of Massachusetts' true gems - located in the Western part of the state, if provides stunning landscapes, cozy little towns and villages, and tons of cultural opportunities - and is not only home to Tanglewood (more on that later), but also several theater festivals and museums. (http://www.berkshires.org/). We toured the town of Stockbridge just a wee bit, and stopped at the famous Red Lion Inn (http://www.redlioninn.com/) - a beautiful old inn that has been around for two centuries and whose front porch invites for some Class A relaxing, and whose two restaurants promise some very delectable fare and great ambience.
We grabbed dinner, and then headed off to Lenox, Mass to Tanglewood, a park and music venue, which is not only home to a music and a jazz festival, but it is also the summer home for the Boston Symphony Orchestra (since 1937) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanglewood. Situated in the stunning green hills of the Berkshires, this is definitely a little slice of heaven - one can experience top notch classical music in an outdoor setting, either purchase lawn tickets for $19 or pay some more dollars for a sit underneath the rainproof Music Shed (which is what we did). It was my first time visiting and Linda and I first headed for the Seiji Ozawa Hall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Seiji_Ozawa_Hall_%28exterior%29%2C_Tanglewood%2C_Lenox%2C_Massachusetts.JPG) to listen to the Preconcert with members of the BSO - we sat on a blanket, ate our food and enjoyed some fab classical tunes.
The main event, and our purpose for making a whole day of it, was the Boston Symphony Orchestra and its featured guest for the evening, Joshua Bell, one of the world's leading violinists (http://www.joshuabell.com/). You may know him if you saw the movie "The Red Violin." I can honestly say that seeing him in concert was one of the most beautiful experiences I have had in my life - it was simply stunning. Tears were running down my face, the music was so beautiful and so was he (Mr. Bell is definitely easy on the eyes, if you know what I mean). The BSO of course, was exquisite as well and Linda and I were quite entertained by the harp and percussion sections which were kept very busy during Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modest_Mussorgsky). While his first name is Modest, his music was anything but, and the orchestra definitely infused the piece with the passion it required.
And that was just Friday!!! No worries, I'll wrap up the rest of the past two weeks as quickly as I can...... Thursday night, yet another concert, and in this case a repeat offense - Joshua Radin (remember my friend Josh? http://www.joshuaradin.com/) played at the Middle East, accompanied by two very talented female singer/ songwriters, Alexa Wilkinson (http://www.alexawilkinson.com/) and Vanessa Carlton ( http://www.vanessacarlton.com/). Well, what can I say about this evening? Loved the ladies, did not get to see Josh. Reason: Stupid Middle East place; 500+ people packed in a basement with literally no air-conditioning. Concert started an hour late (9PM), the bouncers again had it in for me, and one of them actually slapped me on the arm. No place to sit. Standing in a stuffy basement for 4 hours in 90 degree temps - naaah. So I left early, did not see Josh and was grumpy indeed. I did have a nice dinner though with Rick, Denise and her brother Eric at the Tavern in the Square (http://www.taverninthesquare.com/).
Wednesday - visit to my friends Hillary and Brian to meet their two-week old son, Atticus. I brought Chinese food, we ate tons, chatted away and Atticus and I became instant friends. Tuesday, birthday dinner for my friend Ken at the swanky Capital Grille (http://www.thecapitalgrille.com/Locations/Boston/Main.asp) - Halibut dish was too die for. Mashed Potatoes contained large amounts of butter, which is why they were the BEST ever!!! Saturday (after returning from Shrewsbury) - BBQ in Arlington at my friend Melanie and Cory's house, which was so nice and pleasant that I scrapped the plans for the rest of my day (apologies to the dinner group who had to go and see the new Batman movie without me......) and on Sunday I attended my friend Jo's birthday brunch, where we consumed large amounts of French Crepes, piled fruit on top and had a grand old time.
Well, what else did I do - the weekend prior I joined the Boston Walking Group in Wakefield for a walk around Lake Quannapowitt (http://www.visitingnewengland.com/wakefield.html) and because we were such good little walkers rewarded ourselves with the best muffins in the universe, courtesy of the Gingerbread Construction Company - http://www.gingerbreadusa.com/muffins.php. Those not-so little suckers are so good, I would drive to Wakefield any time just to buy muffins (it's a 30 minute drive without traffic). After I purchased a whole box of them, I headed off to meet Rick and Denise for a quick hike in the Middlesex Fells (http://www.fells.org/) and then headed home in this godforsaken heat we've been having. Next on the agenda was a performance by the Boston Opera Collaborative (http://www.bostonoperacollaborative.org/) who performed my favorite Opera "The Magic Flute" at the Boston Latin Auditorium . Boston Latin is famous you know, being the first public school in this country (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Latin_School), and the auditorium is very stately. However, yet again, NO AIR CONDITIONING (Petra does not like) and I was busy during the entire performance fanning myself with the program so that I would not pass out. Accompanying me were my friends Austin and Carol, and we warmed up beforehand with a dinner at The Brown Sugar Cafe, a wonderful Thai place, not far from Fenway Park.
Somewhere in that past two weeks, I also went to Jacob Wirth's to attend the German Stammtisch (http://www.toytowngermany.com/wiki/Stammtisch) and get a foot massage at the gym. And yes, I do sleep at night, 7 hours (unless my neighbors start packing again at 9 PM, like they did yesterday).
This is my update - hope this finds all of you well.
pet:)
Sunday, July 20, 2008
All American - July 20 2008
Over the past couple of weeks, I had my citizenship test and interview, attended a Red Sox Game and met Sally Struthers - can I get more American than that?
Becoming a Citizen
Well, I am sure most of you are glad this is over (so am I), and I am no longer entertaining those of you around me with every little detail about the American Revolution. The day before the big interview I went to a Red Sox game with my colleague and friend Renee and every 15 minutes or so I threw in a detail or two about the history of this country. Being the total geek that I am, I could not help telling her on which day exactly the Star-Spangled Banner was written and what happened during the War of 1812. I did calm down eventually and ended up enjoying the game – the Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles by a score of 2:1 which we appreciated especially after a shaky outing by our relief pitcher Jonathan Papelbon, who was not his usual dominating self.
The big day started early, my appointment was at 8:30 AM and needless to say I did not get a lot of rest the night before. I had dolled myself up for the occasion figuring looking professional was definitely in my favor, and was seen as a better choice than the guy sitting next to me in the waiting room with jeans hanging down his waist and a t-shirt that said “Hustle”. It’s your citizenship interview, dude – you think you could make an effort?
The whole ordeal took place in the Federal Building at Government Center and while it was not the most cheerful of places, everyone was friendly and courteous. You check in, then wait to be called in for the test, where you are asked six out of the 100 sample questions you have been reviewing. Of course, the nerd in me had taken studying to new heights (there were Excel spreadsheets involved) and I was hoping for the real tough questions, such as listing the four voting amendments in the constitution or naming the 13 original colonies. My friend Ram, who recently along with my friends and colleagues Georges, Mike and Carol has undergone the citizenship procedure as well, had called the day before and after asking me a few test questions warned me not to answer as comprehensively as I did and risk being kicked out of the country for being a wise-ass.
I think most of you, my friends, could have passed the citizenship test (or so I hope) Here are the questions I had to answer:
How many stars are there on our flag?
Who becomes president if both the president and the vice president die?
Who was Martin Luther King Jr.?
Who was the main writer of the declaration of independence?
Who meets in the US Capitol building?
Name one benefits of being a citizen of the United States?
After answering them all very quickly and accurately, I was handed a green slip of paper and then sent to waiting room #2 where Mr Hustle and I watched CNN until we were called in. The interview itself was very relaxed and not stressful at all (maybe the raising your hand and swearing to tell the truth, nothing but the truth was a bit on the serious side). We talked about all kinds of things, US history and then briefly cruised through my application, and then we were finished.
I got a nice heartfelt handshake, words of congratulations and that was it. The swearing in ceremony, which is the next official step, will take place in mid-September, most likely on the 17th, and the best part is- it is in Fenway Park. How cool is hat??? I was hoping for Fanneuil Hall, but Fenway, our most beloved baseball park – it can’t get better than that!! I will have to inquire and see if I can bring guests and maybe we can have a little “Go Petra” cheering section somewhere near home plate. (Banners are appreciated).
Thanks for all your congratulatory wishes, hip hip hoorays, real and e-hugs!! You guys are pals!
Dropkick Murphys
If you are a Red Sox fan, you inadvertently also become a fan of the Dropkick Murphys, our cherished Boston band who sings the Red Songs anthem, Tessie. Just thought I add that in this time. Here are a couple of you tube links for your entertainment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKJxgxS-aQk&feature=related - Tessie " the Red Sox anthem....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-64CaD8GXw&feature=related - "I'm shipping up to Boston"
When Petra Met Sally
Thanks to my friend Stan I recently had the distinct pleasure to meet Emmy winning actress Sally Struthers (http://sallystruthers.tripod.com/ ) a couple of weeks ago. Stan, who is a violinist and performs for many plays, musicals and with various orchestras in New England, met her during a 4-week stint of Fiddler on the Roof at the Ogunquit Play House in Maine, and when she was in Waltham for a performance as Miss Hannigan in the musical “Annie”, we just had to go and see her. It was so worth it, she was hysterically funny and totally stole the show, and in person was as gracious as can be. I’ll send a picture of our encounter soon, I promise.
El Greco, Velasquez and Gang
Considering it was about 200 degrees outside yesterday (well not quite that bad, but anything over 80 degrees feels like 200 to me), and I have only a small fan to keep me cool, I decided to head for a place featuring the benefits of air conditioning, so I ventured out to the Museum of Fine Arts for their latest Special Exhibit –“ El Greco to Velázquez: Art during the Reign of Philip III” – which was absolutely wonderful. When it comes to art, I most appreciate paintings, and even though the subject matter may not always be something I appreciate, the skill displayed by some of the artists of the early 17th century was just stunning. http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/sub.asp?key=15&subkey=2145
Hooking up with the Germans
I have to leave the house once in a while, so I decided to go to the German Language Meetup, a lovely group that gets together every two weeks at the Asgard Irish Pub in Cambridge (http://www.classicirish.com/asgard_about.html) where we all congregate around a big wooden table and talk German until the cows come home. Actually, most of the time we leave around 10 or 10:30 when the music starts at the pub, and venture across the street to Cambridge’s own Toscanini’s ice cream, labeled by the New York Times as “the best ice cream in the world”. http://www.tosci.com/
I am going to wrap up right now, it looks like a thunderstorm may break loose any time now, and the Hitchock movie “Saboteur” is waiting in the DVD player to be watched.
I am adding a celebratory bit about my friend Jennifer Duran, who is not only as charming as they come, but an amazing person and devoted athlete. Most of you know her story of having two kidney transplants, the second of which was a revolutionary medical procedure where the transplant was combined with a bone marrow transplant. She is now past the 5-year mark, takes no medications and just ran her first marathon in October of 2007. She recently took part in the US Transplant Games in Pittsburgh (http://www.kidney.org/news/tgames/index.cfm) and here are her results (Go Jen!):
“I ended up winning 4 golds (500yd freestyle, 5k road race, 1500m run, and 50m breaststroke), 1 silver (50m back), and 1 bronze (4x100 team relay). You can only enter 4 events, but the 5k and relays don't count. I was already quite excited, because my 5k time was faster than my goal time, and the 1500m run was also really good. But things just got better... At closing ceremonies, I was named the Outstanding Female Athlete of the 2008 US Transplant Games. This means that, along with the Outstanding Male, I light the torch at the opening ceremonies at the 2010 US Games. The best part though..... the NKF pays my way to represent the US at the World Games next summer on the Gold Coast of Australia!!!!!
Talk to you soon.
pet:)
Sunday, July 6, 2008
I'm Swimming in the Rain - July 6 2008
I'm swimming in the rain!
Greetings from Cape Cod where a whole group of us is spending the 4th of July weekend and where the weather changes every hour or so. Mainly it has been switching between rain and no-rain today, that is as best as I can describe it, grey skies, humid, not too cold, but kind of blah. I actually got here Thursday by myself, spent an afternoon of cooking like a banshee so that the contingent arriving on Friday morning would be welcomed by some tasty dishes (I must recommend the Sweet Potato Bread Pudding which has whiskey as one of the ingredients.....). I also studied for my citizenship test before the crowds plowed in here, and then proceeded to ask my fellow vacationers bizarre and unusual questions about US history. Who wrote "America The Beautiful?", huh, huh? When did they built the White House? What was the name of Paul Revere's horse?"
We have been incredibly active since we got here, I think we covered most of the Cape Cod Bike Trail yesterday and today, went for a hike (and almost got lost in a conservation area across the road) and hopped in the pond whenever possible. I love swimming in the pond, and armed with goggles one can actually see what's on the ground and this makes the lake less scary. I don't know what I am expecting - a dead body maybe, a monster lurking below?? I also discovered that I love swimming in the rain!! We came back after the bike ride and the hike today, and I could not wait to hop in the water and go swimming. I just loved the way the rain drops pelted the water when it rained - very cool. Among the group of visitors this weekend are a bird (Marge, who has the sun room to herself and seems to enjoy herself) and four dogs, Phoebe, her mom Annie, her half sister Addy and Addy's daughter Sidney, who is a nine-month old puppy. It was so much fun yesterday to have the dogs jump in the pond, chasing after sticks and trying to out-swim each other. My colleague Steven, who just bought a house on the next pond over, also paddled by and visited with some friends, and the big floating turtle was used to make a little boy very happy floating on the lake. Not a dull or boring moment around here.
We have been to at least one ice cream place ("Short and Sweet" on the bike trail near Chatham) and may go to the Sundae School in Orleans tonight (http://www.sundaeschoolicecream.com/ ), there are some fireworks there as well, and there is also the option of seeing Dave's brother in law (who is in an Irish band) play at a pub. Not quite sure what the plan is, right now we are waiting for the Spaghetti to finish, and then we'll take it from there.
Rick wants to kill me
Of course, the mosquitoes got me today, and now that the plate-size welts don my neck and arms, the group sitting here with me, especially the lovely Joanna, encouraged me whole-heartedly to take Benadryl. I am a little miffed that Rick enthusiastically supported this action, knowing well that combined with Valium I may ever wake up again. I must discuss this with him some time, most likely in a dark alley.
Tapas! Tapas!
A little while ago we had a dinner that I forgot to tell you about - at the most wonderful Spanish Bar and Tapas Place in Somerville, Dali ( http://www.dalirestaurant.com/), where one can comsume some delectable food, white and red Sangria, and is greeted by a very enthusiastic wait staff. Georgiana, you see, is getting married and so got a whole gang of girls to go out and start the celebrations. We then moved on to Christina's Ice Cream (http://christinasicecream.com/) where we met the groom-to-be, Will, and then the ladies headed over to the Bukowski Tavern to wash down the dairy treats with some exotic beers (http://boston.citysearch.com/profile/36411553/). What a lovely evening that was (and all right in my neighborhood)!
Where the Hell is Matt?
This is just cute and great to watch - http://www.vimeo.com/1211060
The Hike that Broke Petra
This last weekend I spent in Peterborough, New Hampshire with the Maclaurin family, who hosted family member and author Roxana Robinson for a reading of her newest book "Cost" (http://www.roxanarobinson.com/), which you all must read (just as you have to buy my cousin Rebecca Barry's book which is now in paperback (http://rebeccabarry.net/). The event at the Toadstool Bookstore (http://www.toadbooks.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp) was wonderful and after some lolling around, a reception took place at the Maclaurin house with some exquisitely delectable food and spirited conversation. Well, Sunday came along, and with it the invitation for hike that I certainly was not prepared for. There were four of us to start with, Rob, Kathy, Ken and I, and we attacked North and South Pack, both mountains along the Wapack Trail. Well, let's just say Ken and Kathy attacked the mountain with speed and as if it was a stroll in the park, and I was huffing and puffing along and giving them well-deserved breaks while I was trying to catch up. At some point, we scaled down a cliff, and I was coached by the two of them on where to exactly place my foot. I held up through the hike, but during the lunch afterwards, I was in serious danger of keeling over with my face in the soup bowl, I was that knackered. This was the first time I had hiked a distance that long (7 or 8 miles) and I was a pile of sweat, and exhausted as can be. For the next three days I could not go down stairs without saying "ow, ow, ow, ow, ow....". (Note to self: Work out, for cryin' out loud!). Of course the drive home did nothing to help me relax, as I got into the biggest thunderstorm of all times - I was driving 35 mph with the emergency flash lights - there was so much rain, it was like driving through a swimming pool and I was so glad when I was back at home in Cambridge. Phew!
Permanent Vacation Needed
Working in a hospital, in particular a cancer center, turns you into a total hypochondriac, and I am the queen of that club, so whenever I have a test done, even a fairly innocent ultrasound conducted recently, I worry like crazy (yes, I admit it) and call my poor girlfriends, because I am now convinced I have several diseases at once, and feel like I am heading down the plank ready to be pushed in the ocean. Of course, the test came out well, and I am not required to go postal, haywire or fall into a deep depression. Why do we, myself in particular, worry so much about things we absolutely have no control over? I am the wrong person to ask that question, that is for sure. Interestingly enough, I never worry when I am out in the mountains or on vacation - which makes me think that I should just be on permanent vacation, and I think the donation of large sums of money may help me reach that goal. So, if you have some extra cash lying around, feel free to direct it my way. I will use it wisely. Swimming in the rain and such! Actually, according to recent news report, Americans (and I am pretty close to being one, soon), are pretty darned happy, and rank 15th on the happy-ness scale of a group of nations surveyed. Denmark was the front runner, but there were 80 nations behind us, so we did not do too bad I say. http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111725&org=NSF.
On that note, I am going to bed now, it was an evening with a very animated discussion around the living room table, we did not go to the Sundae School or the Irish Pub, but it was just as lively here, especially with the demonstration of certain hand signals that only Princeton graduates seem to understand.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
pet:)
Congrats to my friends Mat and Christelle in Bath, UK on the birth of their son William Philip!!!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Bill with his Head in the Pan - June 22 2008
Bill With His Had in the Pan - "Emergency" Swimming Lessons
I don't even know Bill, but as my friend and expert swimmer, the most lovely Stephanie Cooper, was teaching me to breathe under water (correctly) in order to make a decent swimmer out of me, she related the story of her friend Bill, who went to Immersion Swim Training, and who had to start out learning how to breath by putting a pot of water in the sink, dip his head in and then practice blowing out under water. I am glad I went straight to the pool for the blowing bubbles and bobbing-up-and-down part of the training program. My sink is right next to the window and who knows what the neighbors would have thought what I was doing. But then again my street is full of octogenarians and their eye sight may be compromised.
There was no "emergency" really to the swimming lessons, the term actually stems from my friend Brad and Chris' son Marvon who is enrolled in a Spanish immersion class, but proudly proclaims he is in Spanish emergency class.
Stephanie said that I did good, and to remember that "breathing is important", which I will certainly keep in mind for other activities as well, not just to prevent myself from drowning.
Pennsylvania - Land of Interesting City Names
Last weekend I drove to Pennsylvania and back to attend my Uncle Coop's memorial service. It was a long haul back and forth, but I was more than entertained by the variety in city names, which were just so much fun. There was Kutztown (big festival there this weekend) and Klumsville, Virginville, Bethlehem next to Hellertown, Bird in Hand, and course the most famous of them all, Intercourse, located right between Blue Ball and Paradise. Pennsylvania to me is always like stepping back in time, it has a lot of history, but unlike Boston and vicinity it is very rural. It is beautiful and reminds me that this is the first place I ever visited in the United States as a teenager many many years ago, and how different this place was from the small town in Germany I came from.
The Big Black Bear
Well, on the way back from Pennsylvania, heading up I-84, a huge black bear ran across the freeway, and fortunately for all of us, he was about 15 seconds before we were in that spot, and so no one got hurt. It was an impressive animal and outside of a zoo, this was the closest I had ever seen a bear. Wow!
My new friend Nuvi
I have a new toy, a Gamin Nuvi GPS (http://shop.vendio.com/targetrm/item/970850779/?s=1h214044404) which guides Ella and me to the destination of our or its choice. It is a great tool, in particular locally - you just type in an address and off you go. A friendly voice tells you when and where to take a left or right turn, and pretty soon you're there. Long-distance is a little trickier at times, and I have to figure out how to tell it to avoid certain areas. It tends to pick the most direct route possible, and on the way down to Pennsylvania it decided to send me down I-95, which goes directly through New York City. Boy, was that fun, stuck on I-95 in the Bronx with one big rig after the other surrounding me. For some reason, the Nuvi also got a little confused (may have been the tunnels), and wanted me to take a U-turn right on I-95, in the Bronx. This is when I started talking back to the gadget, informing it that I was on an interstate with a center divider, and even if there was no center divider, there was no way that I would take a U-turn on 176th street in the Bronx. I got through it alright, and can proudly say that I made it across the George Washington Bridge and ended up in Pennsylvania after all.
The return trip was much more delightful (including the bear sighting), heading up I-84 and I-87 with a little Nuvi-induced detour and only one getting lost episode near the Berkshires, but I did make it home without being in one single traffic jam and that does count for something.
Celtics
The Celtics won the MBA Championship this week with a demonstrative victory over the LA Lakers. What can I say, we are a kick-ass sports town!! There was a big parade on Thursday and everyone was running around in bright green outfits, it was a delight to see. Now all we need to do is to win the World Series again and the Superbowl and all will be well in the hub.
Post-Eulogy
Thanks to all of you who send me your thoughts and support on the passing of my little bird Oscar this week. Thanks to the special friends who came by to help me what needed to be done immediately, thanks to the special friends who let me stay overnight, because I could not bear to be in my place without the little chirper around, thanks to the special friends who called, who brought chocolate chip cookies the size of my head, who sent cards and helped with whatever else needed to be done. There were so many memories that came with your emails - I thank you for that. I will keep that little bird forever in my heart because he truly was special.
Saturday
Saturday started out with the sad task of bringing Oscar to Angelview Pet Cemetery to be cremated (his ashes will be scattered in both New Hampshire and Cambridge, places he both loved), and knowing that this would be an emotional day, my friends made sure that I was distracted and kept me busy and going. I met up with my friend Denise for lunch at Stephanie's on Newbury Street (http://www.stephaniesonnewbury.com/) and a visit to the Boston Health and Fitness Expo. The Expo was not that good of an experience for a crowd-phobe like me, plus I think it was really designed to scare people into going to the doctor for every little pinch they feel anywhere. We lasted about 1 1/2 hours, but then I had to hoof it out of there.
The evening was spent with my fire-displaced friends Ruth and Georges, who invited me and their friend Laura to a most delicious dinner which featured a brisket made in the oven with beets, rutabagas, turnips and carrots, fresh pasta, a tasty salad, olives from Georges' family's orchard in Lebanon, tasty cheese (supplemented with fig jam - courtesy again of Georges' mom) and a yummy desert with angel food cake, fresh berries and vanilla ice cream. Truly a wonderful evening, and not just because of the food, but the stellar company. Good friends you are.
The Bionic Woman
I am officially declaring my friend Stephanie the bionic woman - she ran the Mt Washington Road Race yesterday - http://www.mountwashingtonroadrace.com/ - Motto: "Only One Hill. 6288 ft. The actual running distance is 7.6 miles, but the elevation gain is 5000 feet, so this is an unbelievable accomplishment. The winner, Eric Blake of Connecticut ran the race in 1:00:39, with a pace of 7:59, which is something I could not even do on a flat surface even if ran my little heart out. Congratulations Steph - you rock!!! (She is of course also doing a Half-Ironman, just in case if you wondered). I meanwhile have signed up for the sofa Olympics, at least for today, where the weather promises rain and T-storms. Movies it is!
Hope this email finds you well!
pet:)
I don't even know Bill, but as my friend and expert swimmer, the most lovely Stephanie Cooper, was teaching me to breathe under water (correctly) in order to make a decent swimmer out of me, she related the story of her friend Bill, who went to Immersion Swim Training, and who had to start out learning how to breath by putting a pot of water in the sink, dip his head in and then practice blowing out under water. I am glad I went straight to the pool for the blowing bubbles and bobbing-up-and-down part of the training program. My sink is right next to the window and who knows what the neighbors would have thought what I was doing. But then again my street is full of octogenarians and their eye sight may be compromised.
There was no "emergency" really to the swimming lessons, the term actually stems from my friend Brad and Chris' son Marvon who is enrolled in a Spanish immersion class, but proudly proclaims he is in Spanish emergency class.
Stephanie said that I did good, and to remember that "breathing is important", which I will certainly keep in mind for other activities as well, not just to prevent myself from drowning.
Pennsylvania - Land of Interesting City Names
Last weekend I drove to Pennsylvania and back to attend my Uncle Coop's memorial service. It was a long haul back and forth, but I was more than entertained by the variety in city names, which were just so much fun. There was Kutztown (big festival there this weekend) and Klumsville, Virginville, Bethlehem next to Hellertown, Bird in Hand, and course the most famous of them all, Intercourse, located right between Blue Ball and Paradise. Pennsylvania to me is always like stepping back in time, it has a lot of history, but unlike Boston and vicinity it is very rural. It is beautiful and reminds me that this is the first place I ever visited in the United States as a teenager many many years ago, and how different this place was from the small town in Germany I came from.
The Big Black Bear
Well, on the way back from Pennsylvania, heading up I-84, a huge black bear ran across the freeway, and fortunately for all of us, he was about 15 seconds before we were in that spot, and so no one got hurt. It was an impressive animal and outside of a zoo, this was the closest I had ever seen a bear. Wow!
My new friend Nuvi
I have a new toy, a Gamin Nuvi GPS (http://shop.vendio.com/targetrm/item/970850779/?s=1h214044404) which guides Ella and me to the destination of our or its choice. It is a great tool, in particular locally - you just type in an address and off you go. A friendly voice tells you when and where to take a left or right turn, and pretty soon you're there. Long-distance is a little trickier at times, and I have to figure out how to tell it to avoid certain areas. It tends to pick the most direct route possible, and on the way down to Pennsylvania it decided to send me down I-95, which goes directly through New York City. Boy, was that fun, stuck on I-95 in the Bronx with one big rig after the other surrounding me. For some reason, the Nuvi also got a little confused (may have been the tunnels), and wanted me to take a U-turn right on I-95, in the Bronx. This is when I started talking back to the gadget, informing it that I was on an interstate with a center divider, and even if there was no center divider, there was no way that I would take a U-turn on 176th street in the Bronx. I got through it alright, and can proudly say that I made it across the George Washington Bridge and ended up in Pennsylvania after all.
The return trip was much more delightful (including the bear sighting), heading up I-84 and I-87 with a little Nuvi-induced detour and only one getting lost episode near the Berkshires, but I did make it home without being in one single traffic jam and that does count for something.
Celtics
The Celtics won the MBA Championship this week with a demonstrative victory over the LA Lakers. What can I say, we are a kick-ass sports town!! There was a big parade on Thursday and everyone was running around in bright green outfits, it was a delight to see. Now all we need to do is to win the World Series again and the Superbowl and all will be well in the hub.
Post-Eulogy
Thanks to all of you who send me your thoughts and support on the passing of my little bird Oscar this week. Thanks to the special friends who came by to help me what needed to be done immediately, thanks to the special friends who let me stay overnight, because I could not bear to be in my place without the little chirper around, thanks to the special friends who called, who brought chocolate chip cookies the size of my head, who sent cards and helped with whatever else needed to be done. There were so many memories that came with your emails - I thank you for that. I will keep that little bird forever in my heart because he truly was special.
Saturday
Saturday started out with the sad task of bringing Oscar to Angelview Pet Cemetery to be cremated (his ashes will be scattered in both New Hampshire and Cambridge, places he both loved), and knowing that this would be an emotional day, my friends made sure that I was distracted and kept me busy and going. I met up with my friend Denise for lunch at Stephanie's on Newbury Street (http://www.stephaniesonnewbury.com/) and a visit to the Boston Health and Fitness Expo. The Expo was not that good of an experience for a crowd-phobe like me, plus I think it was really designed to scare people into going to the doctor for every little pinch they feel anywhere. We lasted about 1 1/2 hours, but then I had to hoof it out of there.
The evening was spent with my fire-displaced friends Ruth and Georges, who invited me and their friend Laura to a most delicious dinner which featured a brisket made in the oven with beets, rutabagas, turnips and carrots, fresh pasta, a tasty salad, olives from Georges' family's orchard in Lebanon, tasty cheese (supplemented with fig jam - courtesy again of Georges' mom) and a yummy desert with angel food cake, fresh berries and vanilla ice cream. Truly a wonderful evening, and not just because of the food, but the stellar company. Good friends you are.
The Bionic Woman
I am officially declaring my friend Stephanie the bionic woman - she ran the Mt Washington Road Race yesterday - http://www.mountwashingtonroadrace.com/ - Motto: "Only One Hill. 6288 ft. The actual running distance is 7.6 miles, but the elevation gain is 5000 feet, so this is an unbelievable accomplishment. The winner, Eric Blake of Connecticut ran the race in 1:00:39, with a pace of 7:59, which is something I could not even do on a flat surface even if ran my little heart out. Congratulations Steph - you rock!!! (She is of course also doing a Half-Ironman, just in case if you wondered). I meanwhile have signed up for the sofa Olympics, at least for today, where the weather promises rain and T-storms. Movies it is!
Hope this email finds you well!
pet:)
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Eulogy for a Little Friend - June 18 2008
My dear friends,
This morning my beloved avian companion, Oscar, passed away. I was there with him when he took his last breath and chirped his last chirp. He would have been 12 years old in a couple of week's time and I was fortunate to have him as a pet and friend. He helped me through some pretty difficult times in my life, and even though he never answered, he listened - tilted his head to the side as if to say, I understand.
He had quite a wonderful life, from his early beginnings in California to our exciting life here in Boston. He flew in a plane all across the country (can't say he liked it very much), took frequent weekend trips to New Hampshire and Cape Cod and even upstate New York, and when I was out of town, happily spend time with his foster families, the Coopers in Salem and the Cooleys in Watertown. He had many human friends, some of whom became his caretakers while I was away from him - Denise, Rick, Ruth, Renee, Ken, Sally, Claire, Joanne, Ben, Kaitlin, Martin, Lucy, Glennys and Patrick, Beverly - he loved you all. He had many nicknames - "Little O", "Banana Boy", "Mr Meyer" or as I called him lovingly in German, "mein kleiner dicker gelber Vogel" (my chubby little yellow bird).
I will miss him terribly, that little yellow rascal, he was a special bird. He spoke German (mostly about himself, how cute he was, what a good kisser he was etc - he may have been just a wee bit vain), loved making kissing sounds, and sit on my shoulder, nibble on my earrings and constantly had a project going in his cage, usually involving the destruction of one of his toys. He loved the beeping sound the phone made, was very fond of keyboards, and had his favorite foods - corn flakes, orange juice, oats, yoghurt, celery greens and parsley. He disliked the color red and once in a while during one of his moods (we all have them, don't we?) he flew around like a madman just to show me who was the boss in the house. He loved his bird friend Marge, and taught her how to fly around the house and land safely back on the cage, and he loved his friend Phoebe, who always treated him special.
My favorite sound in the world was his first chirp in the morning, very quiet, very faint, as if to say, I am not quite up yet, give me a minute.
My friend Rick said something very nice today about having pets - they are part of your family, loyal companions who are always chipper, who never judge you, and are always happy to see you. That was true for Oscar - when I came home, he hopped to the front of the cage to welcome me, and he never cared if I looked my best that day, or if my hair was a total mess (at least he kept it to himself). He was my first pet as an adult and definitely set the bar high.
He was a good bird.
Very sadly,
pet:)
Monday, June 9, 2008
#51- Boston - 15 Blueberry Muffins - June 9 2008
15 Blueberry Muffins
That is all my friend and colleague Murray thought he would be able to eat during ASCO, the cancer conference we both just attended. The food courts in the McCormick conference center in Chicago are notoriously bad, and one does not have two many options - Starbucks being one (blueberry muffins, yes!) and the slightly expensive two bistros courtesy of the Hyatt Regency hotel that is attached to the conference center. The regular "food courts" are quite awful and the food is inedible. By the time we met up with Murray and his colleagues from a UK biotech we work with, he would have probably eaten anything that was put in front of him, unless it had blueberries in it or was muffin-shaped. Good luck for him that this was the night we picked to eat in my favorite restaurant in the US of A, Nacional 27 (http://www.nacional27.net/), which features food from all 27 Latin nations in the world, killer ceviche and tapas, and let me tell you, they know how to mix a cocktail. I have not had had alcohol in the past three months except for a bottle of hard cider at a concert recently, but for this night, I had saved up all my good drinking karma to have my favorite cocktail, "Dark and Extra Stormy" - ginger beer, rum, lime, and real ginger crushed up, with a sugar cane stick to stir. Oh my!!! In addition, and that adds to my admiration for this place, they have an entire page of non-alcoholic cocktails and their "Mango-Ginger-Habanero" concoction was so good, I asked the waitress three times to make sure she did bring the non-alcoholic version. The ginger and the habanero give it such a kick, you really don't care if it contains booze or not.
30,000 of my Closest Friends
What can one say about ASCO, the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology, other than it is a complete zoo. The McCormick Conference Center is a cavernous maze, and to add to he confusion they now added a new wing, the West Wing. You have to plan your daily schedule - forget about sitting in one session and then deciding you don't like it and go to a concurrent one. No no - not possible. 20 minute walk. At certain times during the day, when the major sessions let out, the main corridor resembles the Tokyo subway during commuter time, which is not good if you have a problem with crowds.
Sessions or meetings start at 7 or 8 AM in the morning, and by the time the poster sessions and the exhibit halls close, you are usually toast. You try to find the shuttle to your hotel, which may be at least a mile away and if you are too sick and tired, you grab a cab. You get about an hours rest before heading off for a business dinner and maybe in between you do some emails. The last day, which in my case was Monday, I was unable to move by 4 PM, headed to the hotel, grabbed a cheap sandwich around the corner at Chicago's own "Potbelly Sandwich Works" (http://www.potbelly.com/) and watched whatever was on TV. When you know you have to get up at 5 AM the next day to catch a flight back to Boston, going out is not an option.
I have to say though that the conference organizers tried hard this time to make some improvements - more seating areas were added, and everything was recyclable - the big fat conference proceedings books, and even the conference bags, of which us frequent attendees have dozens in our basements, and we really do not need another one. Really.
Good Eats
I did eat at some very nice places, my friend and colleague Peter from Belgium and I headed to Nick's Fishmarket (http://www.nicksfishmarketchicago.com/), which I believe I told you about already. Very good seafood, upscale prices as well, and generally a very attentive wait staff, except for the fact that they could not figure out how to spread the bill over three credit cards. Interesting about Nick's is that it shares an entrance with a McDonalds, which may be a slight turn off to some. Business meetings during the conference lead us to 101 Bistro (the first place I ever at in Chicago in 2003 - http://www.levyrestaurants.com/Levy/DiningExperiences/Restaurants/Group4/Bistro+110.htm), 312 Chicago (http://www.levyrestaurants.com/Levy/DiningExperiences/Restaurants/Group4/Bistro+110.htm) and of course Nacional 27. My favorite breakfast chain, the Corner Bakery, was just around the corner (http://www.cornerbakery.com/) from the hotel and so were tons of small places to grab a bite in the morning or whenever needed.
Look at that Bitch
I am not naming names, but following one of these dinner occasions I returned with my two colleagues after our dinner to my hotel and we were waiting to hail a cab for them. Now my hotel is in the slightly funky theater district and featured a beautifully ornate, but brightly colored pink bench in front of it. One of the lovely ladies I was with exclaimed "Look at that bench", and I was so glad that I was not the only one with a baffled look on my face (or bad hearing), but our other companion and probably several bystanders heard her say "Look at that Bitch". May have had something to do with a certain accent, but again, I am not naming names, as promised.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Well, upon my return and after a day of being in a complete daze, I joined my lab mates Hannah and Susan for an ushering gig at the Lyric Stage Company, this time for the Oscar Wilde play "the Importance of being Earnest", a lovely and light-hearted play and acted to perfection by the company at the Lyric (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Importance_of_Being_Earnest). In particular the incomparable Bobbi Steinbach took the role of Aunt Augusta to new heights, and was simply fabulous. http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2008/05/23/versatility_is_her_calling_card/ Most theater companies are now going on summer break, so maybe a little less ushering in the near future, and more outdoorsy stuff to come for yours truly.
Numb What?
I am not even going to try to describe this, just watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjzrNWPul9E
Celtics
The Boston Celtics are in the NBA playoffs and the whole town is going gaga, wearing kelly green outfits and routing for the team to beat the LA Lakers!! Go Celtics!
From Winter to Summer in 2 Days
Last Thursday, temperature 54 degrees Fahrenheit (12 degrees Celsius), Saturday 98 degrees Fahrenheit (=36 degrees Celsius). Enough said.
4-year anniversary in Boston
On June 4th, four years ago I moved to Boston with three heavy suitcases and a frightened little bird in a travel cage. Time has gone by so quickly and I can't believe what an adventure it has been. Celebrations were held, a lovely dinner at Bambara in Cambridge (http://www.bambara-cambridge.com/), a chick flick with the lovely Denise (Sex and the City - what else?) and a hike in Lynn Woods yesterday, where the bloody flies had a field day with me and I now feature welts the size of dinner plates on my arms and legs. I have been spraying myself with Benadryl and hope the swelling goes down and I don't look I have some disease like leprosy or the Ebola virus.
You may have noticed that I am sending the update a little less frequently. After 4 years of weekly diatribes, I felt it was time to take a break and write when I felt like it and when there was something to write about. You'll still hear from me, you just won't know when and who doesn't like surprises? Thanks to all of you who have enjoyed them, and who on occasion send a brief word or an update of your own. I do enjoy hearing from you and when I am in your neck of the woods , I'll let you know.
Now it is time to focus my attention back to the TV where the 1964 movie "Seven Days in May" with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas has been keeping me entertained. Did you ever notice he had a hole in his chin? http://www.medaloffreedom.com/KirkDouglasNice.jpg Very distracting, I must say).
Until then.
pet:)
That is all my friend and colleague Murray thought he would be able to eat during ASCO, the cancer conference we both just attended. The food courts in the McCormick conference center in Chicago are notoriously bad, and one does not have two many options - Starbucks being one (blueberry muffins, yes!) and the slightly expensive two bistros courtesy of the Hyatt Regency hotel that is attached to the conference center. The regular "food courts" are quite awful and the food is inedible. By the time we met up with Murray and his colleagues from a UK biotech we work with, he would have probably eaten anything that was put in front of him, unless it had blueberries in it or was muffin-shaped. Good luck for him that this was the night we picked to eat in my favorite restaurant in the US of A, Nacional 27 (http://www.nacional27.net/), which features food from all 27 Latin nations in the world, killer ceviche and tapas, and let me tell you, they know how to mix a cocktail. I have not had had alcohol in the past three months except for a bottle of hard cider at a concert recently, but for this night, I had saved up all my good drinking karma to have my favorite cocktail, "Dark and Extra Stormy" - ginger beer, rum, lime, and real ginger crushed up, with a sugar cane stick to stir. Oh my!!! In addition, and that adds to my admiration for this place, they have an entire page of non-alcoholic cocktails and their "Mango-Ginger-Habanero" concoction was so good, I asked the waitress three times to make sure she did bring the non-alcoholic version. The ginger and the habanero give it such a kick, you really don't care if it contains booze or not.
30,000 of my Closest Friends
What can one say about ASCO, the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology, other than it is a complete zoo. The McCormick Conference Center is a cavernous maze, and to add to he confusion they now added a new wing, the West Wing. You have to plan your daily schedule - forget about sitting in one session and then deciding you don't like it and go to a concurrent one. No no - not possible. 20 minute walk. At certain times during the day, when the major sessions let out, the main corridor resembles the Tokyo subway during commuter time, which is not good if you have a problem with crowds.
Sessions or meetings start at 7 or 8 AM in the morning, and by the time the poster sessions and the exhibit halls close, you are usually toast. You try to find the shuttle to your hotel, which may be at least a mile away and if you are too sick and tired, you grab a cab. You get about an hours rest before heading off for a business dinner and maybe in between you do some emails. The last day, which in my case was Monday, I was unable to move by 4 PM, headed to the hotel, grabbed a cheap sandwich around the corner at Chicago's own "Potbelly Sandwich Works" (http://www.potbelly.com/) and watched whatever was on TV. When you know you have to get up at 5 AM the next day to catch a flight back to Boston, going out is not an option.
I have to say though that the conference organizers tried hard this time to make some improvements - more seating areas were added, and everything was recyclable - the big fat conference proceedings books, and even the conference bags, of which us frequent attendees have dozens in our basements, and we really do not need another one. Really.
Good Eats
I did eat at some very nice places, my friend and colleague Peter from Belgium and I headed to Nick's Fishmarket (http://www.nicksfishmarketchicago.com/), which I believe I told you about already. Very good seafood, upscale prices as well, and generally a very attentive wait staff, except for the fact that they could not figure out how to spread the bill over three credit cards. Interesting about Nick's is that it shares an entrance with a McDonalds, which may be a slight turn off to some. Business meetings during the conference lead us to 101 Bistro (the first place I ever at in Chicago in 2003 - http://www.levyrestaurants.com/Levy/DiningExperiences/Restaurants/Group4/Bistro+110.htm), 312 Chicago (http://www.levyrestaurants.com/Levy/DiningExperiences/Restaurants/Group4/Bistro+110.htm) and of course Nacional 27. My favorite breakfast chain, the Corner Bakery, was just around the corner (http://www.cornerbakery.com/) from the hotel and so were tons of small places to grab a bite in the morning or whenever needed.
Look at that Bitch
I am not naming names, but following one of these dinner occasions I returned with my two colleagues after our dinner to my hotel and we were waiting to hail a cab for them. Now my hotel is in the slightly funky theater district and featured a beautifully ornate, but brightly colored pink bench in front of it. One of the lovely ladies I was with exclaimed "Look at that bench", and I was so glad that I was not the only one with a baffled look on my face (or bad hearing), but our other companion and probably several bystanders heard her say "Look at that Bitch". May have had something to do with a certain accent, but again, I am not naming names, as promised.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Well, upon my return and after a day of being in a complete daze, I joined my lab mates Hannah and Susan for an ushering gig at the Lyric Stage Company, this time for the Oscar Wilde play "the Importance of being Earnest", a lovely and light-hearted play and acted to perfection by the company at the Lyric (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Importance_of_Being_Earnest). In particular the incomparable Bobbi Steinbach took the role of Aunt Augusta to new heights, and was simply fabulous. http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2008/05/23/versatility_is_her_calling_card/ Most theater companies are now going on summer break, so maybe a little less ushering in the near future, and more outdoorsy stuff to come for yours truly.
Numb What?
I am not even going to try to describe this, just watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjzrNWPul9E
Celtics
The Boston Celtics are in the NBA playoffs and the whole town is going gaga, wearing kelly green outfits and routing for the team to beat the LA Lakers!! Go Celtics!
From Winter to Summer in 2 Days
Last Thursday, temperature 54 degrees Fahrenheit (12 degrees Celsius), Saturday 98 degrees Fahrenheit (=36 degrees Celsius). Enough said.
4-year anniversary in Boston
On June 4th, four years ago I moved to Boston with three heavy suitcases and a frightened little bird in a travel cage. Time has gone by so quickly and I can't believe what an adventure it has been. Celebrations were held, a lovely dinner at Bambara in Cambridge (http://www.bambara-cambridge.com/), a chick flick with the lovely Denise (Sex and the City - what else?) and a hike in Lynn Woods yesterday, where the bloody flies had a field day with me and I now feature welts the size of dinner plates on my arms and legs. I have been spraying myself with Benadryl and hope the swelling goes down and I don't look I have some disease like leprosy or the Ebola virus.
You may have noticed that I am sending the update a little less frequently. After 4 years of weekly diatribes, I felt it was time to take a break and write when I felt like it and when there was something to write about. You'll still hear from me, you just won't know when and who doesn't like surprises? Thanks to all of you who have enjoyed them, and who on occasion send a brief word or an update of your own. I do enjoy hearing from you and when I am in your neck of the woods , I'll let you know.
Now it is time to focus my attention back to the TV where the 1964 movie "Seven Days in May" with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas has been keeping me entertained. Did you ever notice he had a hole in his chin? http://www.medaloffreedom.com/KirkDouglasNice.jpg Very distracting, I must say).
Until then.
pet:)
Thursday, May 29, 2008
#50 Boston - Paper with a Pulse - May 29 2008
The Tiniest Closet of Them All
Greetings from Chicago, the windy city, where yours truly landed today after a fairly uneventful, slightly bumpy flight. I am comfortably settled in the Hotel Allegro (http://www.allegrochicago.com/) , very cool place, newly renovated. The rooms are chic, but tiny, and I swear I could not find the closet at first ,it is that small!!! Astronauts have bigger accommodations and I actually think one of my pantry closets may outsize this one. The bathroom is also very small, but spotless and features a really cool design. Everything else about the hotel is fantatastic, the staff is the coolest, there is free wireless, and you get free daypasses to a gym nearby (http://www.fitnessformulaclubs.com/) - I just came back from a nice swim - and they even give you a rollaway bed for free. My colleague Eunice was called last minute to a couple of meetings at the conference and will be crashing in the tiny room for a couple of days with me, and the staff could not have been nicer. Finding a room on such short notice with 40,000 oncologists in town is pretty much impossible and Eunice and I have frequently roomed together.
Tomorrow the conference starts, so I have the night off and my friend Peter from Belgium and I will go to the prime seafood place in the neighborhood, Nick's Fishmarket (http://www.nicksfishmarketchicago.com/) for some tasty treats. After swallowing all that pool water, I have worked up an appetite.
No Trouble with Bouncers This Time
Last Monday I had to return to the site of my previous altercation with a bouncer, the Paradise Lounge in Boston to see one of my favorite bands, Augustana( http://www.augustanamusic.com/) alongside with two opening acts - David Ford( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybt26QmzZ6U) and Wild Sweet Orange (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv3DlQzDCz0&feature=related). This time no melee with the staff, plus we got seats, which suited my sore heel very nicely. We were able to see the bands mostly, except for one ditzy dame who definitely made a better door than a window and whose rear view is forever etched in my memory. Augustana were just fabulous and proved why they were the headliners. Go see them when they perform in your town - you may know there songs "Boston" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnqvjD7Kxs4) - my favorite - or "Stars and Boulevards" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDLAmUj9P2k&feature=related).
Paper with a Pulse
After looking at my laundry pile which was reaching the critical point and some work tasks that needed attention, I decided to not go to the Cape this weekend, but hang around Boston. After putting in some time at work, I headed to the Wimberly Theater at the Boston Center for the Arts for an ushering gig, which was so worth it and one of the most outrageous performances I have ever witnessed. Ennio! - aka Ennio Marchetta (http://www.enniomarchetto.com/) appears on stage dressed in an all-black suit and then dons adult-size origami costumes and effortlessly switches from one character into the next. Watch the movies on his website - one second he is Eminem and with two flicks of his wrists, he is Donna Summer. A jewish rabbi turned into Britney Spears, Frankenstein morphed into Frank Sinatra and then Nancy Sinatra, and of my favorites was the transformation of a wine bottle into Amy Winehouse. The Hollywood Reported called his performance "Paper with a Pulse" and the audience including myself lept to their feet for a standing ovation - anyone who can play 100 characters in 60 minutes deserves a response like this.
Now I am Never Gonna get my Ego back!
After getting the laundry crisis averted and making some progress on the work front, I decided on Monday to have some fun and head out with the bike and join my friends Holly and Carol on a ride on the Minuteman Bikeway. We were joined by Carol's 7-year old Boston terrier Dunkin who was just the sweetest thing ever, and had sort of a side-car thing going in form of a milk crate that is bolted down on the back of Carol's bike. He is quite comfy in there, enjoys the breeze during the ride and receives plenty of attention from fellow bike riders and joggers along the route. According to Carol he learned his lesson (meaning stay in the crate) when he once tried to hop out and chase after a squirrel, but then the leash held him back and dangling from a bike was not too much to his liking. Well it was a beautiful day and everyone was out and about, kids hat lemonade stands, including one group who was quite noisy in their quest to get us to stop and drink some of their artificial juice-like stuff, whatever it was. When we gracefully declined, one of the kids yelled after us and what I heard was "Now I am never gonna get my Ego back" and I thought, wow, he is taking this serious - turns out it was my bad hearing again, and he actually called "Now I am never going to get my Eagle Batch". I am cleaning my ears out with bleach, I swear.
Tidbits
*I got a new lap top from work, and boy am I happy. There are still a few kinks with the remote access of my network folders, but it is nice not thave to lean the computer against a cast-iron cook book or a Jim Beam bottle, and all the keys are there and work.
*My new favorite You Tube Video (I love Weezer!!): Pork and Beans http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI
*Falling under the heading of bad names for products should be "Mommy's Bliss Nipple Cream" who not only has an unfortunate name but also was just pulled off the shelves by the FDA because it containes ingredients harmful to infants.
The Next Big Step
I received my note for my US citizenship interview and July 14th is the big day. Monday morning, 8:30 AM. My friend Ram already is finished with his process and proudly has his US passport (Congrats!), and my friends Georges and Mike are in line before me. This is going to be one big citizenship party/shindig. Some time this summer, stay tuned! (If all works out well, I will be able to vote!)
The Coolest Guy Ever
I am ending on a very sad note - our Uncle Coop passed away this last week, and the extended family is immersed in deep sadness about losing him. He was kindness in person and will be missed so much. My first memory of him was when I came to the US as a 15-year old girl from a small town in Germany and was staying with my great uncle Albert in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We were sitting out on the porch on a hot and muggy summer day on Edgeware Road and Coop came strolling down the street. I thought he was the coolest guy I had ever seen, and once you met him you knew that was true. He was an avid jogger and two years ago during a visit to him and his wife Louise, he and I and a jogging buddy of his went for a five-mile run on a crisp November morning, and it was just beautiful. I will keep both of these picture memories in my heart and count myself lucky to have met him.
Until soon.
pet:)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
#49 Boston - The Knob Behind the Potato - May 21 2008
The Knob Behind the Potato
My friend Rick and I have slightly strange ways of describing a beautiful view in the White Mountains and at one point after our hike up Table Mountain we stopped along Bear Notch Road at a "vista" and were trying to identify the range of mountains we were looking at.
Rick: "I think that round thing is the mountain we hiked" (referring to Table Mountain)
Petra:" You think?"
Rick: "I wonder what the knob is back there?
Petra: "What knob - the one that looks like a potato?"
Rick: "No, the one behind the potato!"
Sooooo out of shape!
I am officially out of shape. It was a sad picture, hiking up the Attitash Trail up to Table Mountain. It was a beautiful day in the White Mountains, and if you are not a big time hiker or a slacker like me, this may be up your alley. It starts out easy, but then gets a little steeper as you go on. The weather was fantastic this weekend up in the White Mountains, and Mother Nature did something really swell - it was sunny and warm during daytime and only rained a wee bit in the evening (we made it off the patio in time after dinner, before the rain drops started falling. Table Mountain afforded spectacular views (all the way to Squam Lake and Lake Winnipesaukee), even though it was unclear as to where the actual summit was. We went as far as we could and stopped at the point where Rick had to crawl underneath a tree and still could not find the trail.
A Bear, Three Snakes and Two Rabbit Legs
It was an interesting day for wildlife, good for some - the snakes were out sunning themselves along the hiking trails, which delighted Phoebe to no end; Rick and I spotted a bear on Cannon Mountain (don't worry, we were on I-93 far away) - bad for others, as we saw two rabbit legs and a whole lot of fur along the trail. Some predator had a poor little bunny for lunch, but apparently did not appreciate the whole treat.
Knuckelitis
On account of the Plantar Fasciitis, I am now wearing my inserts in my hiking boots which makes them a wee bit tight (time for new boots, I say!). Since our hikes were steep this weekend, several of my toes now have knuckelitis, which is so much fun. Next time, I'll get taped up, I swear. I am a wreck.
BoocerBall and Tiny Table Tennis
Among the many diversions in Franconia are Boccerball (http://www.boccerball.com/) and a table tennis set that is clearly designed for children. Denise and Rick were unbelievable at Boccerball, which is fast and fun, and I demonstrated my skill for knocking the ping pong ball anywhere but on the table, so Will spend a lot of time hunting for lost ping pong balls under couches, behind the treadmill etc.
Stupid is As Stupid Does
Said Forrest Gump, and please, sign me up to that list! On our hike up Georgiana Falls in New Hampshire, Petra got it in her silly little head that going up boulders in the middle of a raging river might be a good idea. They looked big and sturdy, and for some reason, neither Rick, Denise or Will stopped me from doing it. Come to think of it I don't think I would have listened to their objections anyway. Maybe I had something to prove, after the huffing-and-puffing episode the day before up Table Mountain, but I should know that it is never a good idea to give in to the notion that you feel like superwoman. (Reminds me of one of those joke E-mails - you may be a redneck if you can respond with a number to the question "How many relatives of yours have died right after saying "Hey, watch this!" ?). So, here I was, in the middle of the river, thinking I could walk on water, gingerly balancing over slippery rocks and realizing quite quickly that this was one of the stupider ideas I had in recent months, and believe me, there were others.
I did fall into the water once (thank goodness for quick drying pants) and would not be surprised if a certain part of my anatomy (the one you sit on) would have a nice bruise on it. The highlight was when I was really stuck in the middle of the river, in front of a 7-foot boulder with no good plan on how to climb on top of it (which I needed to in order to escape the dilemma I was in). So I hoisted the back-pack, my hiking poles and the camera up on top and then in a performance that resembled one of those snake-woman acts in a circus, weaseled my way up the rock. There was no room for the slightest mistake and it took me quite some time to calm down afterward and stop my legs from shaking. Rick came back to rescue me at some point, when I had made it out of the water and we re-joined Denise and Will, who had already made their way up to the top of Georgiana Falls. The trail going up at some point is unrelentingly steep and not marked well at all, so you have to bushwhack it quite a bit (I think I fell two more times - maybe this is why my right knee hurts), but once you make it up there it is phenomenal (http://public.fotki.com/12101995/hiking-pix/2007/georgiana-falld-nh-71207/georgianafalls71207004.html - this is a web site I found with some great photos - mine will follow in due time). Worth the effort.
The Week in Review
Week-work-work-work-nice-walk-with-Hillary-along-the-Charles-River-on-Wednesday-etc-etc-etc-Friday-leaving-for-Franconia. Buying new running shoes, darn Plantar Fascitis acting up again. C'est ca.
The Nearsighted Cyrillic Computer
Well, the laptop computer is now officially dead. While it operated in limited fashion (leaning against a cast-iron pot (or in the case of Franconia against a Jim Beam bottle), keys missing (Page Up, A, CTRL, some others, broken in half), you can now no longer read anything on the screen, unless it is in 100-point bold type font. Trying to read any document or application name is as if you are extremely near-sighted without contacts or glasses and you are trying to read Cyrillic letters. The new computer is being shipped and better times are ahead.
Talk to you soon.
pet:)
Sunday, May 11, 2008
#48 Boston - Bless the Feet - May 11, 2008
Another incident related to my reduced capacity to hear people in noisy restaurants – Friday night at my friend Christian’s birthday party (Happy B-Day Chris!) at STIX (http://www.stixboston.com/) , a posh little place in the heart of the city (not for from Copley for those of you in the know), a group of us were discussing road races and my friend Sriram started mentioning a specific race where there is “the blessing of the fleet”, but being the running-focused person that I am (and not as sailing-inclined as he is) I thought he said “The blessing of the feet” which for a road race made total sense. Actually in 2004 about 55 runners of the then-108th Boston Marathon went to Our Lady of Victories in Boston’s Bay Village to have both their feet and running shoes blessed. Made sense to me, and once I start running again (I got the go-ahead for some light jogging in July) I may resort to some kind of ritual to keep the footsies happy.
STIX is a wonderful place BTW, dipped in warm and Friday-evening appropriate colors and aptly named after their “kebabs”, which feature chicken, beef or shrimp skewered on flat, broad sticks. The food was delish (try the chicken stix when you go, they are superb!!!) and the wonderful bartender whipped up a non-alcoholic cocktail for me, a pomegranate Cosmo, which was so delightful, I had two of them. Don’t worry, I took a cab home.
Believe it or not, I worked on Saturday for a few hours (but not before laying on the couch earlier on for two hours straight to finish my book group book (Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand, excellent read), and then headed over to start help with the setup for Community Running’s 10th anniversary party/ shindig http://communityrunning.org/) that took part at Crossroads, an Irish pub on Beacon Street on the edge of the Back Bay (http://crossroadspubboston.com/ ). As this is one of our favorite post-run hang-outs, we decided it was a great place to celebrate at, and we convinced the managers to give us the entire upstairs. Aside from a couple of old ladies looking for margaritas and a group of frat guys looking for their letters on the wall no one bothered us up there, and it was an enjoyable evening, with speeches, raffles, and a trivia quiz that was just evil. Did you know that Steve Prefontaine’s middle name was Roland, and that the fastest time one mile has been run backwards is 6 Minutes and 9 seconds? Well neither did I and so it came as no surprise that I did not win, not even close. 7 out of 10 of my answers were “no idea”, and for some of them I just made something up. Since I have not been running with the group since last July on account of my injury and only see people for our volunteer work (I am the coordinator of these efforts), it felt really good to see lots of familiar faces. However, it was pretty hot up there, and I left reasonably early; I was tired and completely knackered, as they say in the UK>
Speaking of the UK, today I watched a couple of movies – both play in the UK - (“Hot Fuzz” – a Must Watch and “Children of Men” – very gripping), made use of the couch and in the late afternoon went for a 22-mile bike ride on the Minuteman Bikeway (http://www.minutemanbikeway.org/Pages/intro.html). Contrary to the weather forecast we had a decent weekend, and today, just in time for Mother’s Day, the sun came out and provided me with no excuse to stick around the house. I had done a couple of 11-mile rides this week in the evenings, but the Minuteman is much less populated than the Charles River Esplanade and if you want to catch up (as my friend John and I wanted to do) and ride next to each other, this is the place. It was a nice ride, and only an episode with some troublesome youths who I believe attempted to grab my purse put a bit of a damper on the day. Thankfully there were some riders right behind us who also stepped in, and we escaped unharmed and my purse and all its contents is still with me.
The week pretty much went by quickly, work was all-consuming – Tuesday Lab Day, Wednesday I hosted a company all day, and Friday I was so absorbed in a project that only at about 2:30 PM when an email came out that there was food leftover from a luncheon, I ran screaming out of my office “Lunch, where is the lunch? I have not eaten - everyone out of my way!!” At that point I was ready to tackle anyone for a slice of cheese or a spoonful of pasta salad. Some rewards this week came in form of two long bike rides along the Esplanade, a massage at MGH and a nice luncheon with my friend Chris at Ma Soba (http://masobaboston.com/).
Next weekend will find us again up in Franconia, New Hampshire for a couple of days of hiking and a little celebration, but more on that once it has happened. I am still horrendously overdue with sending you photographs, but promise to do so soon. I am halfway through the San Diego pictures, and hoping that I may be able to finish them some time this week.
Today was Mother’s Day, so Happy M Day to all of you moms, moms-to-be-, those of you who have moms, and those of you whose moms have passed on and who you miss so much. I know you think of them often, and there are days when time does not seem to soften the blow and you miss them even more. I certainly do. I have to send a quick thank-you-for-your-kindness shout-out you to my local branch of Citizens Bank, whose staff are not only all really nice people but also gave me a flower just for being a “mom” of a 12-year old gnarly budgie named Oscar.
Hope this email finds you and your families well –
Pet:)
STIX is a wonderful place BTW, dipped in warm and Friday-evening appropriate colors and aptly named after their “kebabs”, which feature chicken, beef or shrimp skewered on flat, broad sticks. The food was delish (try the chicken stix when you go, they are superb!!!) and the wonderful bartender whipped up a non-alcoholic cocktail for me, a pomegranate Cosmo, which was so delightful, I had two of them. Don’t worry, I took a cab home.
Believe it or not, I worked on Saturday for a few hours (but not before laying on the couch earlier on for two hours straight to finish my book group book (Generation Loss by Elizabeth Hand, excellent read), and then headed over to start help with the setup for Community Running’s 10th anniversary party/ shindig http://communityrunning.org/) that took part at Crossroads, an Irish pub on Beacon Street on the edge of the Back Bay (http://crossroadspubboston.com/ ). As this is one of our favorite post-run hang-outs, we decided it was a great place to celebrate at, and we convinced the managers to give us the entire upstairs. Aside from a couple of old ladies looking for margaritas and a group of frat guys looking for their letters on the wall no one bothered us up there, and it was an enjoyable evening, with speeches, raffles, and a trivia quiz that was just evil. Did you know that Steve Prefontaine’s middle name was Roland, and that the fastest time one mile has been run backwards is 6 Minutes and 9 seconds? Well neither did I and so it came as no surprise that I did not win, not even close. 7 out of 10 of my answers were “no idea”, and for some of them I just made something up. Since I have not been running with the group since last July on account of my injury and only see people for our volunteer work (I am the coordinator of these efforts), it felt really good to see lots of familiar faces. However, it was pretty hot up there, and I left reasonably early; I was tired and completely knackered, as they say in the UK>
Speaking of the UK, today I watched a couple of movies – both play in the UK - (“Hot Fuzz” – a Must Watch and “Children of Men” – very gripping), made use of the couch and in the late afternoon went for a 22-mile bike ride on the Minuteman Bikeway (http://www.minutemanbikeway.org/Pages/intro.html). Contrary to the weather forecast we had a decent weekend, and today, just in time for Mother’s Day, the sun came out and provided me with no excuse to stick around the house. I had done a couple of 11-mile rides this week in the evenings, but the Minuteman is much less populated than the Charles River Esplanade and if you want to catch up (as my friend John and I wanted to do) and ride next to each other, this is the place. It was a nice ride, and only an episode with some troublesome youths who I believe attempted to grab my purse put a bit of a damper on the day. Thankfully there were some riders right behind us who also stepped in, and we escaped unharmed and my purse and all its contents is still with me.
The week pretty much went by quickly, work was all-consuming – Tuesday Lab Day, Wednesday I hosted a company all day, and Friday I was so absorbed in a project that only at about 2:30 PM when an email came out that there was food leftover from a luncheon, I ran screaming out of my office “Lunch, where is the lunch? I have not eaten - everyone out of my way!!” At that point I was ready to tackle anyone for a slice of cheese or a spoonful of pasta salad. Some rewards this week came in form of two long bike rides along the Esplanade, a massage at MGH and a nice luncheon with my friend Chris at Ma Soba (http://masobaboston.com/).
Next weekend will find us again up in Franconia, New Hampshire for a couple of days of hiking and a little celebration, but more on that once it has happened. I am still horrendously overdue with sending you photographs, but promise to do so soon. I am halfway through the San Diego pictures, and hoping that I may be able to finish them some time this week.
Today was Mother’s Day, so Happy M Day to all of you moms, moms-to-be-, those of you who have moms, and those of you whose moms have passed on and who you miss so much. I know you think of them often, and there are days when time does not seem to soften the blow and you miss them even more. I certainly do. I have to send a quick thank-you-for-your-kindness shout-out you to my local branch of Citizens Bank, whose staff are not only all really nice people but also gave me a flower just for being a “mom” of a 12-year old gnarly budgie named Oscar.
Hope this email finds you and your families well –
Pet:)
Sunday, May 4, 2008
#47 Boston - The Purple Passion of Love - May 5 2008
You gotta love Chinese restaurants and their menus. Turns out it was actually “The Purple Tour of Romance”, but Renee and I later on just could not remember what the name of the fancy sounding drink was at Wisteria, the new Chinese place in my neighborhood. Their menu is full of surprises, but I think I asked too much of the waitress with my questions about various items. Well, the purple thingy disappointingly turned out to be just a couple of juices mixed, among them grape (hence the purple attribute), and when I inquired as to what would be in the mango smoothie, she guessingly looked at me and said “You know smoothie”? “Yes, I know smoothie” I said, “but what is in there in addition to mango”, as generally in most smoothies there is more than one fruit. Turns out it really was just mango crushed up with ice, not sweetened, which I actually did like, but after asking some more questions concerning their dinner entrees, I did not even want to venture finding what the “Sea of Magic” was. Other interesting items on the menu were “Lion’s Head”, “Sun, Moon, Stars”, and “Pipa Tofu”. And then of course there were those dishes where you clearly knew what they were, but there was no chance in hell that you would ever order never mind eat it – Pork Blood Tofu and Intestine and the Pig’s Ear appetizer, just to name a couple of the tasty bits.
Additional entertainment was provided by a couple sitting next to us, who clearly had different ideas on how to spend their Sunday morning. “I don’t wanna go to church”, exclaimed one of them, and his partner shook his head in disbelief on how he ever ended up with an atheistic boyfriend, who was clearly going to hell some day. The latter informed both us and his significant other that he rather visit the Church of Bloody Marys and Mimosas, and I don’t think there was much headway made on solving the issue.
Renee and I had been in need of some nourishment prior to our drive down to Foxboro to Gillette Stadium (http://www.gillettestadium.com/), the arena where both the New England Patriots and the New England Revolution play. Renee had won us some tickets in an MGH lottery to attend a soccer game between our home team, lovingly called “The Revs” by their fans, and let me tell you, the tickets were not too shabby. We had club access, so could either sit in our seats or sit in the clubhouse and watch the whole game in a cozy warm area, where you could buy bear for 10 dollars and a hot dog for 8. This was my first game to attend with the Revolution, and let’s just say their motto “Pride and Passion” was nowhere to be seen (http://www.revolutionsoccer.net/). The Chicago Fire, the opposing team, clearly ran the show and sacked the Revs with a score of 3:0. As much fun as it was to sit in the cushiony seats and stroll around the fancy club house, the real action was in “The Fort”, the north stands of the stadium which is where the hardcore Rev fans were sitting. They are called “The Midnight Riders” and “The Rev Army” and I think in order to sit there you must bring a drum with you - the noise coming from section was deafening, but I am sure those guys had fun.
As usual, my hearing which is going down the tubes (it may have been the noise in the place too), lead to some funny moments – as Renee and I were nosy-ing our way through the club house, we saw that there was an event going on behind a curtain, so walked up to the bouncer and asked him what the illustrious group was, and why we were not invited. What he said was that is was some sort of Youth Soccer Association, but his Massachusetts accent was so thick, that I swore he said “nude soccer association”. Now there’s a reason to quickly walk away.
In another deafness-related incident, when Renee said she was going to get something to eat and was looking for the pretzel-cooker, I thought she said that she was looking for the “pretzel hooker”. I thought, wow, these tickets are definitely worth it. Pretzel hookers and preferred parking, hot dogs at exorbitant prices, what more can you ask for?
Meanwhile last weekend, as mentioned, my friend Frank (who happens to live in my hometown in Germany) was in the hub for a conference, and for some entertainment, we decided to head up to beautiful Newburyport (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Newburyport&gbv=2) and Plum Island (http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=Plum+Island). It was a lovely day and despite the fact that some of the beaches were closed on account of bird nesting season, we had a lovely stroll along Sandy Point beach and also did the dune loop portion of the Hellcat Trail. We waltzed around Newburyport for a while, but it is a touristy town and surprisingly none of the restaurants on the main drag (tourist traps, all of them!!) was a true fish restaurant. This is a seaport town for God’s Sake. We want fish!! Fortunately, we asked a woman who worked in the local book store, and she pointed us to a wonderful place called “Michael’s Harborside”, located in a small marina right next to Route 1, which served spectacular seafood. And apparently the word was out on the street, because the place was packed (http://www.michaelsharborside.com/) and deservedly so. Some of the best seafood I have had in a long time.
Sunday I lazied around watching bad movies, and after a Mexican dinner at “Fajitas and Ritas” (http://www.fajitasandritas.com/) headed to the Orpheum Theater, a beautiful old theater built in 1852 and which was the original site for the New England Conservatory (http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=Orpheum+Theater+Boston). We went to see a concert with Colbie Caillat (http://www.colbiecaillatmusic.com/) – you may know her song “Bubbly” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PWfB4lurT4). The concert was nice, not spectacular, not one of those “wow, what a night” experiences. Part of the “not-so-good” bit was that there was a 40-minute break between the opening act, Jason Reeves (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rG1Rp2Jh-c) and the main act (Colbie). Loved his performance, he is a great singer/songwriter, except for when he talks - he sounds like he is about 12 years old and completely stoned, but hey…
Monday night, the 4S Wine Group (Holly, Hannah, Christos and I) accompanied by new Bostonian Caroline Grace attended a dinner at the Museum of Fine Arts to commemorate the “Art in Bloom” annual exhibit. We had tons of fun, welcomed back Christos, who is a CPA and tends to disappear during tax season, and our waiter Nathaniel thought we were the most fun table in the room. We were probably also the noisiest – which is why the flower fairy (a woman dressed up as a peony or gerbera who ran around blessing everyone with flower love or something similar) spent only a limited time with us. I think we may have scared her.
Other events this week – our boss Bruce took Renee and myself out to lunch on Wednesday at the new Italian restaurant in the Liberty Hotel, “Scampo” - http://libertyhotel.com/dining.html - very tasty food, however they just opened and the staff was not quite “in tune” shall we say? Wednesday night was the Lab-rat Dinner Group, this time at Susan’s place in the North End. We had picked Mexican as the theme, and had a feast – Georgiana made a killer guacamole, I made a Mexican Jicama salad (with beets, carrots, oranges), Susan provided all the trimmings for burritos, her sister Anne made a fabulous corn bread, and Hannah served up a flan to die for (accompanied by some cookies that we dipped in Dulce de Lece). We were so full that at some point Susan stated she was unable to lean forward or even sit up straight. Leaning back was the only option. (I agree with that since all I wanted to do was to lick out the bowl with the dulce de lece, but was unable to do so).
Thursday evening was the book group, and apparently it was not a good date for most of the members - it ended up being just Renee and me, so we made an executive decision and went out for dinner in Arlington, at a wonderful Indian restaurant called Punjab (http://www.punjabarlington.com/). We discussed the book (Christopher Moore’s “Dirty Job”) and stuffed ourselves silly with delectable Indian cuisine.
Friday night, I headed to the airport to return Frank’s suitcases to him (they stayed with me for a wee bit while he headed off to Philadelphia) and we ended his visit with a dinner at Legal Seafood at Logan Airport. Did you know that you can check in a live lobster? Frank bought one, the poor little creature gets put on ice, with a little seaweed, packed up and checked in along with the rest of the luggage. Who woulda thunk?
Some good news - my photographs, the ones I just recently showed at the MGH Cancer Center, are going to be in a small exhibit at the West End Branch of the Boston Public Library on Cambridge Street (nor far from MGH). I will be out of town for the reception, but will let the Boston contingent know when it is (June 3rd I believe).
This week has been a taxing one at work, no matter how hard I pushed, I did not seem to get anywhere, there was just too much to do. Monday was probably the worst day of the week (Isn’t it always?) and I want to describe an incident (hang in there with me, I know this is a long write-up) otherwise known as “Gels gone awry”.
Now for those of you who are not of the scientific persuasion, I will explain just a wee bit (yeeee, science lesson!). Gel electrophoresis is a process where you separate DNA – an electric current is applied to a gel matrix and the molecules will move through the matrix at different rates depending on their size. Usually you make the gel with Agarose (1 g in 100 ml of a specific water) and nuke it in the microwave, 4 min at 40% and then add ethidium bromide (very bad stuff), pour it, stick in the comb that creates the wells for the DNA, it sits 20 minutes and then you can add the DNA, apply the current and 35 minutes later you look at the result and take a nice picture. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gel_electrophoresis)
Here is how it went on Monday:
Gel Attempt #1: We are using a 2% gel (2 g in 100 ml) – which apparently boils over after about 2 ½ minutes. Do over.
Gel Attempt #2: Same thing again. Petra did not learn from the first one that it may be a good idea to hang around the microwave and watch the damn thing.
Gel Attempt #3: Figured out that I need to watch this closely, and get the gel to not boil over. Pour gel and let it sit to solidify (takes usually 20 minutes). After 15 minutes realize I forgot to put the comb in the gel.
Gel Attempt #4: Everything seems to go according to plan (except for my nerves which are a bit strained already at this point), gel comes out beautiful, comb was in; I have wells. When attempting to put DNA and loading dye in wells realize that I used wrong comb, wells too big, can’t see which wells have been filled. When adding more loading dye to each of the samples, instead of doing it gracefully, release huge blob of dye from the pipette.
Leave lab to hyperventilate and have minor nervous breakdown in the rest room.
Compose myself, finish loading wells.
Notice that the comb made only 20 wells (I needed 26).
Gel Attempt #5: Make additional gel for the remaining samples. Everything works out well. No more major disasters.
Not one of my best moments I have to say, but as they say “an opportunity to excel”. In moments like these, one has to remember my favorite quote from Albert Einstein “If we knew what we were doing, it would not be called research”. Or as one of colleagues emphasizes “It’s called RE-search”.
On that note, may all your experiments, scientific or not, go well. I am heading to my couch and will continue to watch “Anna Karenina” and let me just say typing this update was a major challenge, since my laptop is falling apart as we speak. Yesterday I lost the “a” and the “CTRL” key, several others are missing already, and the hinges that connect the screen to the base are broken, so the whole thing is leaning against a cast-iron cook pot. Never a dull moment!
Toodles,
Pet:)
Additional entertainment was provided by a couple sitting next to us, who clearly had different ideas on how to spend their Sunday morning. “I don’t wanna go to church”, exclaimed one of them, and his partner shook his head in disbelief on how he ever ended up with an atheistic boyfriend, who was clearly going to hell some day. The latter informed both us and his significant other that he rather visit the Church of Bloody Marys and Mimosas, and I don’t think there was much headway made on solving the issue.
Renee and I had been in need of some nourishment prior to our drive down to Foxboro to Gillette Stadium (http://www.gillettestadium.com/), the arena where both the New England Patriots and the New England Revolution play. Renee had won us some tickets in an MGH lottery to attend a soccer game between our home team, lovingly called “The Revs” by their fans, and let me tell you, the tickets were not too shabby. We had club access, so could either sit in our seats or sit in the clubhouse and watch the whole game in a cozy warm area, where you could buy bear for 10 dollars and a hot dog for 8. This was my first game to attend with the Revolution, and let’s just say their motto “Pride and Passion” was nowhere to be seen (http://www.revolutionsoccer.net/). The Chicago Fire, the opposing team, clearly ran the show and sacked the Revs with a score of 3:0. As much fun as it was to sit in the cushiony seats and stroll around the fancy club house, the real action was in “The Fort”, the north stands of the stadium which is where the hardcore Rev fans were sitting. They are called “The Midnight Riders” and “The Rev Army” and I think in order to sit there you must bring a drum with you - the noise coming from section was deafening, but I am sure those guys had fun.
As usual, my hearing which is going down the tubes (it may have been the noise in the place too), lead to some funny moments – as Renee and I were nosy-ing our way through the club house, we saw that there was an event going on behind a curtain, so walked up to the bouncer and asked him what the illustrious group was, and why we were not invited. What he said was that is was some sort of Youth Soccer Association, but his Massachusetts accent was so thick, that I swore he said “nude soccer association”. Now there’s a reason to quickly walk away.
In another deafness-related incident, when Renee said she was going to get something to eat and was looking for the pretzel-cooker, I thought she said that she was looking for the “pretzel hooker”. I thought, wow, these tickets are definitely worth it. Pretzel hookers and preferred parking, hot dogs at exorbitant prices, what more can you ask for?
Meanwhile last weekend, as mentioned, my friend Frank (who happens to live in my hometown in Germany) was in the hub for a conference, and for some entertainment, we decided to head up to beautiful Newburyport (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Newburyport&gbv=2) and Plum Island (http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=Plum+Island). It was a lovely day and despite the fact that some of the beaches were closed on account of bird nesting season, we had a lovely stroll along Sandy Point beach and also did the dune loop portion of the Hellcat Trail. We waltzed around Newburyport for a while, but it is a touristy town and surprisingly none of the restaurants on the main drag (tourist traps, all of them!!) was a true fish restaurant. This is a seaport town for God’s Sake. We want fish!! Fortunately, we asked a woman who worked in the local book store, and she pointed us to a wonderful place called “Michael’s Harborside”, located in a small marina right next to Route 1, which served spectacular seafood. And apparently the word was out on the street, because the place was packed (http://www.michaelsharborside.com/) and deservedly so. Some of the best seafood I have had in a long time.
Sunday I lazied around watching bad movies, and after a Mexican dinner at “Fajitas and Ritas” (http://www.fajitasandritas.com/) headed to the Orpheum Theater, a beautiful old theater built in 1852 and which was the original site for the New England Conservatory (http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=Orpheum+Theater+Boston). We went to see a concert with Colbie Caillat (http://www.colbiecaillatmusic.com/) – you may know her song “Bubbly” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PWfB4lurT4). The concert was nice, not spectacular, not one of those “wow, what a night” experiences. Part of the “not-so-good” bit was that there was a 40-minute break between the opening act, Jason Reeves (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rG1Rp2Jh-c) and the main act (Colbie). Loved his performance, he is a great singer/songwriter, except for when he talks - he sounds like he is about 12 years old and completely stoned, but hey…
Monday night, the 4S Wine Group (Holly, Hannah, Christos and I) accompanied by new Bostonian Caroline Grace attended a dinner at the Museum of Fine Arts to commemorate the “Art in Bloom” annual exhibit. We had tons of fun, welcomed back Christos, who is a CPA and tends to disappear during tax season, and our waiter Nathaniel thought we were the most fun table in the room. We were probably also the noisiest – which is why the flower fairy (a woman dressed up as a peony or gerbera who ran around blessing everyone with flower love or something similar) spent only a limited time with us. I think we may have scared her.
Other events this week – our boss Bruce took Renee and myself out to lunch on Wednesday at the new Italian restaurant in the Liberty Hotel, “Scampo” - http://libertyhotel.com/dining.html - very tasty food, however they just opened and the staff was not quite “in tune” shall we say? Wednesday night was the Lab-rat Dinner Group, this time at Susan’s place in the North End. We had picked Mexican as the theme, and had a feast – Georgiana made a killer guacamole, I made a Mexican Jicama salad (with beets, carrots, oranges), Susan provided all the trimmings for burritos, her sister Anne made a fabulous corn bread, and Hannah served up a flan to die for (accompanied by some cookies that we dipped in Dulce de Lece). We were so full that at some point Susan stated she was unable to lean forward or even sit up straight. Leaning back was the only option. (I agree with that since all I wanted to do was to lick out the bowl with the dulce de lece, but was unable to do so).
Thursday evening was the book group, and apparently it was not a good date for most of the members - it ended up being just Renee and me, so we made an executive decision and went out for dinner in Arlington, at a wonderful Indian restaurant called Punjab (http://www.punjabarlington.com/). We discussed the book (Christopher Moore’s “Dirty Job”) and stuffed ourselves silly with delectable Indian cuisine.
Friday night, I headed to the airport to return Frank’s suitcases to him (they stayed with me for a wee bit while he headed off to Philadelphia) and we ended his visit with a dinner at Legal Seafood at Logan Airport. Did you know that you can check in a live lobster? Frank bought one, the poor little creature gets put on ice, with a little seaweed, packed up and checked in along with the rest of the luggage. Who woulda thunk?
Some good news - my photographs, the ones I just recently showed at the MGH Cancer Center, are going to be in a small exhibit at the West End Branch of the Boston Public Library on Cambridge Street (nor far from MGH). I will be out of town for the reception, but will let the Boston contingent know when it is (June 3rd I believe).
This week has been a taxing one at work, no matter how hard I pushed, I did not seem to get anywhere, there was just too much to do. Monday was probably the worst day of the week (Isn’t it always?) and I want to describe an incident (hang in there with me, I know this is a long write-up) otherwise known as “Gels gone awry”.
Now for those of you who are not of the scientific persuasion, I will explain just a wee bit (yeeee, science lesson!). Gel electrophoresis is a process where you separate DNA – an electric current is applied to a gel matrix and the molecules will move through the matrix at different rates depending on their size. Usually you make the gel with Agarose (1 g in 100 ml of a specific water) and nuke it in the microwave, 4 min at 40% and then add ethidium bromide (very bad stuff), pour it, stick in the comb that creates the wells for the DNA, it sits 20 minutes and then you can add the DNA, apply the current and 35 minutes later you look at the result and take a nice picture. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gel_electrophoresis)
Here is how it went on Monday:
Gel Attempt #1: We are using a 2% gel (2 g in 100 ml) – which apparently boils over after about 2 ½ minutes. Do over.
Gel Attempt #2: Same thing again. Petra did not learn from the first one that it may be a good idea to hang around the microwave and watch the damn thing.
Gel Attempt #3: Figured out that I need to watch this closely, and get the gel to not boil over. Pour gel and let it sit to solidify (takes usually 20 minutes). After 15 minutes realize I forgot to put the comb in the gel.
Gel Attempt #4: Everything seems to go according to plan (except for my nerves which are a bit strained already at this point), gel comes out beautiful, comb was in; I have wells. When attempting to put DNA and loading dye in wells realize that I used wrong comb, wells too big, can’t see which wells have been filled. When adding more loading dye to each of the samples, instead of doing it gracefully, release huge blob of dye from the pipette.
Leave lab to hyperventilate and have minor nervous breakdown in the rest room.
Compose myself, finish loading wells.
Notice that the comb made only 20 wells (I needed 26).
Gel Attempt #5: Make additional gel for the remaining samples. Everything works out well. No more major disasters.
Not one of my best moments I have to say, but as they say “an opportunity to excel”. In moments like these, one has to remember my favorite quote from Albert Einstein “If we knew what we were doing, it would not be called research”. Or as one of colleagues emphasizes “It’s called RE-search”.
On that note, may all your experiments, scientific or not, go well. I am heading to my couch and will continue to watch “Anna Karenina” and let me just say typing this update was a major challenge, since my laptop is falling apart as we speak. Yesterday I lost the “a” and the “CTRL” key, several others are missing already, and the hinges that connect the screen to the base are broken, so the whole thing is leaning against a cast-iron cook pot. Never a dull moment!
Toodles,
Pet:)
Saturday, April 26, 2008
#46- Boston - Bisses and Hoos - April 26, 2008
Well, that is how tired I have been, my friends – apparently I am incapable of pronouncing even the simplest of words, and when we headed to the Arlington Friends of the Drama’s performance of Charles Dickens’ “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” last night, and I was explaining, make that, trying to explain, to Stan and Caroline that this is all about audience participation, and there should be “hisses and boos”, I instead exclaimed, “You’ll love this, there will be bisses and hoos!” I blame the Valium. I pretty much blame everything on the Valium (“baby doses”, year right…), that my doctor ordered so that those cramps of mine finally settle down (and they are doing so), but it has made me a little “unfocused”, shall we say? My friend Birgit who visited last week experienced it first hand last week, and I started to come up with a whole new set of Petraisms and other incomprehensible gibberish in German- somebody has to write this stuff down some day.
Back to Edwin (http://www.afdtheatre.org /). “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” was pretty much the last thing Charles Dickens ever wrote; he actually never finished it, and so from his point of view, there was no indication as to where he wanted the story to go. Did young Edwin Drood really disappear; was he murdered, or did he fake his own death in an insurance scam? No one knows, and that is the beauty of it – theater troupes can finish the play any way they see fit or involve the audience as happened last night in Arlington. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Drood). This one was actually performed as a musical, written by singer, songwriter, composer Rupert Holmes, who was best know for his “Escape” pop ditty, also known as the “Pina Colada Song” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVdhZwK7cS8). “If you like Pina Colada……..”
First the story – young Edwin is about to be betrothed to the lovely Rosa Bud, but his uncle John Jasper, a sinister character and choirmaster, has the hots for her too. He is her music teacher and keeps trying to convince her that he is the better deal. Enter Neville Landless (our friend and dinner group member Irene’s boyfriend Dave, who looks mighty good in a turban, if I may say so myself) and his sister Helena, who both take an immediate dislike to Jasper. One night in Cloisterham, where the whole story plays out, Edwin Drood disappears. There are tons of suspicious characters including the Reverend Septimus Crisparkle, lawyer Hiram Grewgious and his clerk, Mr. Bazzard, stonemason Durdles, detective Dick Datchery, and Princess Puffer (who was most un-princess-like and ran an opium den) and the honorable mayor Thomas Sapsea.
The audience hissed and booed as requested last night, and also yelled “gulp, gulp, gulp”, whenever Durdles drank from his flask (which was often), and a little into the second act, we got to decide who the detective would be (Helena was chosen, even though I wanted her to be the murderess….), votes were taken as to who the audience thought the murderer should be (we were not told, but the play revealed it later) and who the lovers should be. One needs to have a happy ending, right? Well, turns out Princess Puffer was the culprit last night – apparently she had been Rosa Bud’s nanny a long time ago, and could not stand seeing her former charge tortured by Jasper. On the night of Edwin’s disappearance she went out to do him in, and unfortunately attacked Edwin by accident since he had borrowed his uncle’s cloak. Complicated you think? Turns out – Jasper found Edwin’s body and not to be implicated hid him in a not-yet-closed vault at the cemetery. Alas, Edwin was not dead and showed up later, to the delight of everyone and the happy couple turned out to be Helena and the very excitable Mr Bazzard, who according to my friend Caroline, who just moved here to Boston from the UK, had the best and most accurate British accent of the troupe. It was definitely a fun experience!!
The whole gang of us (Patrick, Ellen, Irene, Jen, Stan, Caroline and later Dana and Amy) had met earlier in Arlington for a very nice dinner at “Not Your Average Joe’s” , quite a nice restaurant to enjoy a pre-performance dinner (http://www.notyouraveragejoes.com/)
I cannot tell you how happy I am that this week ended – Little Miss Cranky here was tired and in a pretty stinky mood. Post-conference work takes on a very hectic pace, and for some reasons the evenings piled up with things – not unpleasant stuff, just lots of it, and they just resulted in an accumulation of lack of sleep that made me not a nice person. I actually flew of the handle on Tuesday morning already and snapped at a colleague of mine who told me that he does not recycle. It was Earth Day, I had just returned from my stint at the MGH Environmental Committee table in the main building, and was a bit excited about the issue, and I totally lost it. When I later apologized, he informed me that he was just pulling my leg and of course does he recycle, but I was so tired on Tuesday already that I was not picking up on any nuances. Be very explicit with me when you see me, I seem to be going in and out of my mind these days with regularity.
Last weekend I wrote to you from Franconia, New Hampshire, where Rick, Birgit and I spend a lovely weekend. Sunday we drove around a bit to show Birgit the White Mountains, in particular the Presidential Range, stopped at a few roadside waterfalls, and after a visit at Katrina’s Organic Market and Café in North Conway for food, we decided to go to see Diana’s Bath’s, which is a spectacular series of cascades, waterfalls, and potholes. As a result of the snowmelt and the enormous quantities of water gushing down it looked impressive and breathtaking. If you are not a big hiker, this is a very accessible place to go, only about half a mile in, however we went without our stabilicers or yak traks and it was tricky to walk on the slushy/icy snow that still remains on the ground. (http://www.newenglandwaterfalls.com/waterfall.php?name=Diana's%20Baths).
Birgit stayed until Monday, we said goodbye over a nice dinner at Ma Soba on Cambridge Street in Boston (http://masobaboston.com/), one of my favorite restaurants in the hub for Asian food. Monday was Marathon Day (and Patriots Day) – the streets were littered with people and later on with runners wrapped up in Mylar blankets; excitements buzzed everywhere, and those few of us who were not running or watching, kept monitoring the progress of our colleagues and friends on the Internet.
My friend Caroline moved here from the UK (everyone say “HI Caroline, Welcome to Boston”), started her job at MGH and found a nice flat on Beacon Hill and is ready to get settled in. We already started a tradition, when she came to visit for interviews, and headed to my favorite neighborhood restaurant, The East Side Bar and Grille located a few footsteps away from my house. Caroline loves meat loaf, and with that in mind I think she is well on her way to become Americanized.
I slept in this morning, which was so nice and already fell a bit more together. My friend Frank from Germany is in town for a conference and we will be heading up to Newburyport and Plum Island this afternoon, and then hopefully find a nice place for a lovely dinner.
I’ll leave you with a couple of nuggets, one is a follow-up item to the Mari Lynn email I sent you this week – if you think she was bad, you have not yet heard Wing, a Hong Kong born, NZ resident, who I honestly believe should not be allowed near anything made of glass. You must listen to her “operatic” renditions of AC/DC songs. It is absolutely horrific. http://www.wingmusic.co.nz/listen.html
Secondly, an article I saw on Boston.com, which stated that a mother’s diet may influence the baby’s sex, so if you want a boy apparently you need to eat lots of bananas and cereal. Just thought you should know. (Interestingly enough that IS exactly what I had for breakfast….. no worries though; I am not giving birth to anything except for a headache in the near future…..) http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2008/04/24/mothers_diet_may_be_tied_to_babys_sex/
On that note, wishing you a nice weekend – New England is feverishly trying to force spring to come out, everything is blooming and blossoming, but I think next week we are expecting lots of rain and lower temperatures. As usual, we may move pretty much straight from winter into summer. And of course you remember the 4 Seasons in Boston – Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, Construction.
See ya!
Pet:)
Back to Edwin (http://www.afdtheatre.org /). “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” was pretty much the last thing Charles Dickens ever wrote; he actually never finished it, and so from his point of view, there was no indication as to where he wanted the story to go. Did young Edwin Drood really disappear; was he murdered, or did he fake his own death in an insurance scam? No one knows, and that is the beauty of it – theater troupes can finish the play any way they see fit or involve the audience as happened last night in Arlington. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Drood). This one was actually performed as a musical, written by singer, songwriter, composer Rupert Holmes, who was best know for his “Escape” pop ditty, also known as the “Pina Colada Song” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVdhZwK7cS8). “If you like Pina Colada……..”
First the story – young Edwin is about to be betrothed to the lovely Rosa Bud, but his uncle John Jasper, a sinister character and choirmaster, has the hots for her too. He is her music teacher and keeps trying to convince her that he is the better deal. Enter Neville Landless (our friend and dinner group member Irene’s boyfriend Dave, who looks mighty good in a turban, if I may say so myself) and his sister Helena, who both take an immediate dislike to Jasper. One night in Cloisterham, where the whole story plays out, Edwin Drood disappears. There are tons of suspicious characters including the Reverend Septimus Crisparkle, lawyer Hiram Grewgious and his clerk, Mr. Bazzard, stonemason Durdles, detective Dick Datchery, and Princess Puffer (who was most un-princess-like and ran an opium den) and the honorable mayor Thomas Sapsea.
The audience hissed and booed as requested last night, and also yelled “gulp, gulp, gulp”, whenever Durdles drank from his flask (which was often), and a little into the second act, we got to decide who the detective would be (Helena was chosen, even though I wanted her to be the murderess….), votes were taken as to who the audience thought the murderer should be (we were not told, but the play revealed it later) and who the lovers should be. One needs to have a happy ending, right? Well, turns out Princess Puffer was the culprit last night – apparently she had been Rosa Bud’s nanny a long time ago, and could not stand seeing her former charge tortured by Jasper. On the night of Edwin’s disappearance she went out to do him in, and unfortunately attacked Edwin by accident since he had borrowed his uncle’s cloak. Complicated you think? Turns out – Jasper found Edwin’s body and not to be implicated hid him in a not-yet-closed vault at the cemetery. Alas, Edwin was not dead and showed up later, to the delight of everyone and the happy couple turned out to be Helena and the very excitable Mr Bazzard, who according to my friend Caroline, who just moved here to Boston from the UK, had the best and most accurate British accent of the troupe. It was definitely a fun experience!!
The whole gang of us (Patrick, Ellen, Irene, Jen, Stan, Caroline and later Dana and Amy) had met earlier in Arlington for a very nice dinner at “Not Your Average Joe’s” , quite a nice restaurant to enjoy a pre-performance dinner (http://www.notyouraveragejoes.com/)
I cannot tell you how happy I am that this week ended – Little Miss Cranky here was tired and in a pretty stinky mood. Post-conference work takes on a very hectic pace, and for some reasons the evenings piled up with things – not unpleasant stuff, just lots of it, and they just resulted in an accumulation of lack of sleep that made me not a nice person. I actually flew of the handle on Tuesday morning already and snapped at a colleague of mine who told me that he does not recycle. It was Earth Day, I had just returned from my stint at the MGH Environmental Committee table in the main building, and was a bit excited about the issue, and I totally lost it. When I later apologized, he informed me that he was just pulling my leg and of course does he recycle, but I was so tired on Tuesday already that I was not picking up on any nuances. Be very explicit with me when you see me, I seem to be going in and out of my mind these days with regularity.
Last weekend I wrote to you from Franconia, New Hampshire, where Rick, Birgit and I spend a lovely weekend. Sunday we drove around a bit to show Birgit the White Mountains, in particular the Presidential Range, stopped at a few roadside waterfalls, and after a visit at Katrina’s Organic Market and Café in North Conway for food, we decided to go to see Diana’s Bath’s, which is a spectacular series of cascades, waterfalls, and potholes. As a result of the snowmelt and the enormous quantities of water gushing down it looked impressive and breathtaking. If you are not a big hiker, this is a very accessible place to go, only about half a mile in, however we went without our stabilicers or yak traks and it was tricky to walk on the slushy/icy snow that still remains on the ground. (http://www.newenglandwaterfalls.com/waterfall.php?name=Diana's%20Baths).
Birgit stayed until Monday, we said goodbye over a nice dinner at Ma Soba on Cambridge Street in Boston (http://masobaboston.com/), one of my favorite restaurants in the hub for Asian food. Monday was Marathon Day (and Patriots Day) – the streets were littered with people and later on with runners wrapped up in Mylar blankets; excitements buzzed everywhere, and those few of us who were not running or watching, kept monitoring the progress of our colleagues and friends on the Internet.
My friend Caroline moved here from the UK (everyone say “HI Caroline, Welcome to Boston”), started her job at MGH and found a nice flat on Beacon Hill and is ready to get settled in. We already started a tradition, when she came to visit for interviews, and headed to my favorite neighborhood restaurant, The East Side Bar and Grille located a few footsteps away from my house. Caroline loves meat loaf, and with that in mind I think she is well on her way to become Americanized.
I slept in this morning, which was so nice and already fell a bit more together. My friend Frank from Germany is in town for a conference and we will be heading up to Newburyport and Plum Island this afternoon, and then hopefully find a nice place for a lovely dinner.
I’ll leave you with a couple of nuggets, one is a follow-up item to the Mari Lynn email I sent you this week – if you think she was bad, you have not yet heard Wing, a Hong Kong born, NZ resident, who I honestly believe should not be allowed near anything made of glass. You must listen to her “operatic” renditions of AC/DC songs. It is absolutely horrific. http://www.wingmusic.co.nz/listen.html
Secondly, an article I saw on Boston.com, which stated that a mother’s diet may influence the baby’s sex, so if you want a boy apparently you need to eat lots of bananas and cereal. Just thought you should know. (Interestingly enough that IS exactly what I had for breakfast….. no worries though; I am not giving birth to anything except for a headache in the near future…..) http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2008/04/24/mothers_diet_may_be_tied_to_babys_sex/
On that note, wishing you a nice weekend – New England is feverishly trying to force spring to come out, everything is blooming and blossoming, but I think next week we are expecting lots of rain and lower temperatures. As usual, we may move pretty much straight from winter into summer. And of course you remember the 4 Seasons in Boston – Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, Construction.
See ya!
Pet:)
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