Entries tagged with travel

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Summer Recap

Autumn is just about to begin, and I find I have been quiet for the summer. Mostly there was a lot of psyche recovery. It had been a hard year in many ways, and I am nervous about my last semester that I have just entered. So there was a lot of recharging and storing up spoons for the months to come. I wanted to share a few highlights though:

May
* slept a lot and recovered
* Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with my mom and Chiquita
* visited NB and the Bay of Fundy with

majes
* hiked Welsh Dickey with

curly_chick and company

June
* mural painting
* my birthday!
* mini vacation with

salvbard

July
* camping with

majes
* helped organize lovely birthday things for

curly_chick
* went to London and visited

jasra
* went to Virginia and visited

quietdeath
* refinanced the house

August
* helped host the Malden party
* professional conference
* started moving forward with a few personal opportunities
* informational interview in the manufacturing sector

September
* 25th anniversary IgNoble ceremony with Chiquita
* Mt Auburn cemetery with my mom

Crossposts: http://omly.livejournal.com/328424.html

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travel

Places I Slept 2012

I have always sort of loved this meme:

Denver, CO
The Forks, ME
Berlin, MA
Boston, MA
Malden, MA
Mount Washington, MA
Plymouth, MA
Somerville, MA
Hudson, NY
Slippery Rock, PA
Austin, TX
Irving, TX
McKinney, TX

This year's list is a little longer than I remembered somehow, but I have lots of fond memories associated with each of these places. There was a bit more travel and adventure than many years and yet lots of places I felt safe and loved.

Current Location: US, Colorado, Golden, Jefferson, Illinois St, 3301

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travel,
via ljapp

Colorado Day 2

Saturday, still on EST, I woke a little before dawn. I didn't mind though, as I got to sit on the deck in the night cooled air and watch the sun rise between the trees and over the mountain.

After that I did my yoga while the house was still quiet. Fortunately I received some kitty assistance though. I am not sure how I might have managed on my own.

Eventually people started to stir, and soon I was helping with fruit salad, while sausage and French toast were in progress. Breakfast out on the deck was lovely, and soon we were packing up.

We spent the day with my cousin and her partner. They already had plans to go tubing at Clear Creek Whitewater Park, which we were invited along to.

It is a shortish ~1.5 mile stretch that was taking about 25 minutes to either float down or walk back up.

It had a really good mix of fun rapids and deeper lazy parts, where you could just lay back and enjoy the sounds of the river, the view of the mountains, and the aerial dance if sparrows and dragonflies over the water. Depending on how you steered you could get more of one or the other.

After our first trip down , we came across a groom's party doing wedding photos. This led to a really funny set of shots for which we volunteered our tubes, and they laughed and gamely mixed brightly colored river tubes with formal suits.

There were a ton of people there, unsurprising given the mid to high 90s temperatures. And they had a huge range of floats. We saw just one inflatable dingy (with oars), tons of both thick black tubes and thinner but funky colored ones like ours. We only saw one inflatable pirate ship, but it was awesome. There were several really funny groups on inflatable mattresses. The two on a twin mattress almost made sense, but the 4 early 20-somethings on a queen mattress was just crazy.

We picnicked in Lions Park in Golden, before hoping back in. And after some more water time, we went to go get icecream at Golden Sweets. Then we headed back to the house for pizza and guesstures. Much hilarity ensued, and I finished knitting another ball of yarn into my Clapotis.

As mentioned for Day 1 my plan was sunscreen sunscreen sunscreen. Knowing I am probe to sunburn and that we were significantly higher with less atmospheric protection, this was a huge priority for me. Since I was reapplying every 40 minutes to an hour, I managed to mostly avoid redness other than the tops of my feet that were in the water, as my sunscreen was water-resistant rather than water-proof. Everyone else came away with too much sun though. Poor salvbard got his first serious sunburn in approximately 20 years. Fortunately we got him some aloe which helped some.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

Current Music: children laughing and playing next door

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travel

NYC Trip Recap

I have had 2 dreams now about going back to visit NYC so apparently my subconscious wants me to write about the trip a few weeks ago.

We did a heck of a lot of walking around, including going to see the Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art. There were a few artists in particular that I really liked but had not heard of, and I jotted down their info. (Need to remember to look them up later and see what I can find.)

Also I managed to do a tiny amount of sketching during one sitting break, which was pretty awesome. I have had a hard time getting myself to sit and draw for... well much longer than I care to say.

We also went to see Avenue Q, although

crazybone had been to see it one before (in Boston?). I was familiar with the plot and music, but I was glad to have the chance to see it live.

rosefox and

sinboy were amazing hosts, and the kitties were surprisingly social. There was much tasty food (including soup dumplings!) and all of the advice about how best to wander was really appreciated.

There were lots of things we didn't get to see, as we didn't feel the need to rush around and try to cram too much into one visit. Mostly we saw stuff in Manhattan, so there is lots of things we didn't even get anywhere near. All the more reason to go again at some point. I know among other things, I would love to get to see

regyt's hive someday when she has it up and running, if she were willing.

I was tired when I got home, but in a pleasantly fulfilled way. All and all, it was a really fun trip. I am so glad that

crazybone threw out the idea of going and doing this. I would not have done it on my own, and I had a lot of fun. The only (minor) downside was that I missed

cintyber and

salvbard a lot while I was there, often thinking of things I would have liked to point out or ask questions about, but that just makes me want to do a bit of travel/vacation with them this year if possible (may not be, and likely not to that location).

Current Location: home
Current Music: Spellcast

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I'm not dead yet

Life has totally broadsided me. We came back from a brief trip to Canada, while Tab was visiting WI with her grandfather. Sunday

crazybone called to see about interesting in seeing Stardust, which was really good. I am drowning in laundry, vegetables, and school supplies. The house is almost presentable now though. Research is going well.

Current Location: home

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Hong Kong Planning Links

great article about visiting the outlying islands
We are planning on 2 days in Lantau and one for traveling the other outer islands

$20 a day guide to Hong Kong for the urban area

interview style guide on Hong Kong and China some of which is useful

article from the Backpacker (not terribly unique but included for completeness

Google Map of Hong Kong includes MTR stops

Honk Kong Hostels

Hong Kong Cultural Centre calendar

Current Location: Tisch Library

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travel

Silver Line

I took the silver line for the first time today. I have to say that I was fairly impressed with the experience. It was very clean and much faster than taking the blue line. How to get from the terminal to the silver line stop caused a small amount of difficulty, but I managed. Fortunately since I had my MBTA pass, I didn't have to worry about CharlieTickets or anything. In general though, I would recommend for future airport travel, and would take it rather than a cab or trying to work out a ride.

Also while on the silver line, I saw from the bus a statue that I believe I had seen previously at the Boston Commons. It looks like 6 emaciated native americans on horses, with heads hanging low. Is this a copy or did they move it?

Current Location: home

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travel

Return to Boston

I got in late wednesday night, and was fortunate that

thanos73 could pick me up. At some point during the trip I managed to majorly screw up something in my shoulder though. My sister is going to take a look at it this weekend.

I came home to a sleeping child (thankfully! She had wanted to stay up, but she had her first day of school the next day), an extra huggy Roger, and a house with a freshly cleaned kitchen and bathtub. No matter what anyone else says that boy has his priorities straight. Given limited time, those are the 2 that were the most important to me.

The rest of the house on the otherhand needs a bit of work. I am not sure when I will have time to really get it looking the way I want it to though. I also need to freeze/can/store a bunch of produce. I know I will be shredding and freezing zuchini for zuchini bread later in the season and making a huge batch of eggplant parmesan for easy meal planning later. The rest of the produce will have to be eaten very soon or similarly found a way to store.

There were so many things I missed! Beyond all the important people in my life some of these include: the Boston city skyline, "my" bridge, the stove, the bathtub, our bed, the spice cabinet, my stash, the fact that bus signs usually have not only a route number but also where the bus is headed, the fact that people say thank you to the busdriver when they get off, great seafood, and countless other small details.

Current Location: University of Wisconsin Madison

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To Do List

~~finish packing for flight on wed~~
~~eat rest of perishable food in dorm fridge~~
~~defrost fridge/freezer~~
~~go to atm~~
~~mail packages~~
~~take recycling to bin/empty garbage~~
~~finish collecting data~~ (not processed)
send data home - Rahul contacted
~~send research report~~
~~return keys for dorm/office~~

Currently Reading:

The Thirteenth Scroll by Rebecca Neason

Current Location: University of Wisconsin Madison

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2 weeks down

So I have been in WI for 2 weeks now, just 2 more to go! I finally feel like I am understanding how to phrase my commands and edit the input files. This has meant learning a lot about both the specific program we are using here, and more general linux commands. I can't believe it took me this long to get where I am though. I have some basic models done, so now I need to get the more complicated ones and data processing started.

In non-research related thoughts, I still have abunch of stuff I want to do while I am here. I want to get the free zoo in Madison at some point. I may go to Lakeside Fibers at the very end of my trip depending how my fiber stash is running at that point. I need to mail some stuff home, but I will wait until after week 3 is done to do that. (

astro_babe am I meeting you at some point?) Oh and the "dairy store" on campus has cheese curds in both "plain" and "dill and onion".

cwellan, do you have a preference?

Current Location: University of Wisconsin Madison
Current Music: KnitCast Episode 25

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(no subject)

I know these are really late at this point, but below the cut are my journal entries I wrote on the road.( in reverse chronological order 8/5-8/9 )

Random VI Thoughts
* NPR should not use the phrase "the money shot"
* I am not amused by the size of the bugs, though the larger number of frogs and toads is neat. Wouldn't it be funny if the size of the reptiles was proportional to that of the bugs?
* Neither Roger nor I should travel south in the summer due to the heat; we both wilt.
* The word "indian" drives me crazy especially when used by educational facilities. These people are native americans; they are not native to India.
* My step-mother likes the apartment really cold. No really. Neither Tab nor I are feeling fantastic. I suspect that it is from going back and forth from 100*F to 62*F.
* Unsupervised children in hot tubs should be held ransom.

Current Location: University of Wisconsin Madison

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Airports

So I survived. Logan was horrendous. Everyone goes through the same security check point, which at first was why I thought that they were being extra careful with the carry-on, but I was told later that people to England were not allowed any carryon at all. (I have to wonder what they did about laptops, cameras, medications and everything else you are told not to check.) It took me a little more than 2 hours to check my bag and get through security, so I am glad we left early.

With the heightened alert (as you may have heard) they were not allowing anything liquid or gel on the plane. Really this meant in carry on, but that was not immediately clear. In my checked luggage I later discovered that I had a bottle of moisturiser explode. At least it smells good I guess. Also I had brought a pair of wooden circular needles, which I was told by 2 different security people that I could not have (when I asked). When I was getting on the plane I saw a woman with a pair in a clear bag with her knitting. She said they gave her no problems at all. I guess the key is not to ask. Also if you have to fly in the next few days I recommend wearing shoes with socks, as you will have to take off your shoes to have them run through the machine.

Traveling through both Detroit and Madison airports were unnotable. I was a little worried that due to delays getting everyone through security and on the plane that I would miss my connecting flight, which was scheduled to take off slightly less than an hour after the first one was scheduled to land. Although it was close (I had just enough time to walk from one terminal to the other with a few minutes to spare) it worked out.

Current Mood: listless
Current Location: home

Entry tags:

travel

Mentally Preparing

I find myself puttering about the house. I had a great couple of days with Tab and Roger: our first real family vacation. I will post more about that later. We dropped off Tab at her grandmother's house at 11:30 tonight and didn't get home until about 1 am. Roger is in bed, but although I am tired I am awake taking in the details before I go.

My plants seem to have missed us. There were a bunch of tomatoes ready to eat. The strawberries are getting a second wind. And the tomatillos have still done nothing but flower (although that quite prolificly). The tomatoes in particularly got very tall the few days that we were gone since they were inside and wanted more light.*

My flight leaves tomorrow at 9:10 from Logan. Please do not call me before 1 pm if you have need to as I will still be in the air. My phone will be off. I would be happy to hear friendly voices after I am settled though, particularly if you are willing to call during the "evening". I have a feeling I will be using a lot of minutes this month and am trying to keep the phone bill under control.

* Roger's mom's trick for plants when are going away for a while really works well. Put all the plants in the tub. You can either use 2X4s to lift them and then fill below the bottom of any of the pots or fill a giant pot with water and place it in there too. Then use strips of a fabric that adsorbs water well (like cotton) to connect the water to the soil of the pots (bury the ends a little near the plant). As the plants use up the water they have in the soil more will wick up through the fabric strips. This can work for a couple weeks depending on the number of plants and the amount of water left.