A Catch-Up Summary

As you can probably tell from the lack of recent posts, I’ve been going non-stop for this week of travel since I left; I’m currently writing this on my MSP-LGA flight. Admittedly, it has been both work and socializing—e.g., “I really need to catch up with him/her while I’m in town with a free evening.” I’ve barely had time to read the newspaper beyond the headlines, write Christmas cards (although I’ve been carrying them through Cambridge, New Hampshire, Westford, Arlington, Minneapolis, and now New York), or even enter phone numbers into my new phone.

• I had about as perfect of a homecoming to Boston as I could wish for—got off the plane, rode to South Station, walked to Brehznev’s, and got a plate of scallion pancakes with a bunch of folks. I got to hang out with Morton, Sarah, and Guy over at Tep afterwards; Morton and Sarah showed off progress on their house. As a side note, however, I think that the slogan for the Silver Line will need to be, “Like the Green Line, but even suckier!” Slow, jerky ride, overcrowded, badly routed. When the luggage racks are in use coming back from the airport, and there are people standing in the aisle of the bus, it turns into an uncoordinated clusterfuck (people don’t want to get off, so others can’t extract their bags…). At least they have Charlie Card ticket machines at the Logan terminals, so I didn’t get screwed as per last time.
  
  
• Took the train up to see Bird & Jen, and to hang out and check out their new kitchen. Got the best Christmas present evah from them (although the humor might be lost on folks who didn’t grow up in the New York tri-state area): a ceramic version of the Greek corner restaurant paper coffee cup! There's even a seam where the original seam is on the paper version!
  
  
• Since work is paying for this travel, it was time to head down to a day-long meeting at the office, followed by smaller meetings and the office Christmas party. My coworkers and their families all came into town; one of them asked if I had any Canadian honies crying over my departure from K-W. I replied with my practiced line, “Well, short fat dorky guys like me are definitely not in hot demand--we really don’t draw much market share. If guys were sodas, I’d probably be friggin' Shasta or something.”
  
• By fortuitous coincidence, U-Boat and Christy were in Boston, and they organized a power dinner at India Samraat. As you can see, they seriously pull in the crowds (well, that, and the central location).
  
  
• My former boss and my advisor are doing a series of building science seminars around the country, and they bring a member of the firm along for logistics support (taking attendance, audio visual, running out to buy video tapes). I got to do the job for the Minneapolis show: although I’ve seen them both present plenty of times, it’s really good to see two people I know and respect at the top of their game. The audience was about 50 people; it included lots of business colleagues/friends that I was happy to catch up with.
  
• Hopped onto the Minneapolis Light Rail (an awesome little system, BTW—they have funky three-section cars; the short middle section holds the middle wheel trucks) to link up with Psycho Security Guard, and meet his wife and two year old daughter. Stayed up late drinking Scotch (he is building up a serious collection, like me), and he got me to the airport the next day.
  

I am now stuck in Long Island burb world on dialup; actively looking for things to keep me occupied--I’ll be here for 12 days. I’ll keep you posted as the entertaining family conflicts and stories roll in.