I am told that people still look at this blog

So it has been quite a while since either Jason or I have posted anything here, but I am told that people still look here for updates every now and then, so I thought that I would post something to let people know what we have been doing until I forget or it is time to go to bed.

Life has been busy working too much, but until the summer rains started this past week, I had been riding my bike to work a few days a week. It is an old British three speed which is perfect for Boston-- cushy seat, upright handlebars, and as many gears as one needs in a place as flat as Boston. I have also been getting out on the weekends and found some hills (much smaller than in San Diego). Now I just need people to ride with. Most of the rides seem to go out around 9:30 or 10:00 AM, which is fine in the winter, but a bit warm at this time of the year. I am sure that fall will be here before I know it and it will be cool enough that riding at 10:00 AM feels good.

This past weekend was a bit hectic. We went to my parents' house where my nieces had spent the night, had lunch, drove to my sister's house and learned that you should not let children have zip ties before long rides in the car (especially if you have nothing to cut them off of their wrists with), spent the afternoon with my sister as Jason put in a wireless network for them, off to Tanglewood (the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra) for a work function, back to my sister's house for the night (a one hour drive rather than three), and then back to our houses the next day. It is fun to be able to see my nieces more than once or twice a year. They are both far too much fun, but I could not disagree with Jason when we were driving from my parents' to my sister's on Saturday and he said "I am making an appointment for a vasectomy tomorrow."

Friday night we went to see the new Batman movie at the IMAX theater. So worth it seeing it on the REALLY BIG SCREEN.

A few weekends before that we went to see Amanda Palmer, lead singer of the Dresden Dolls, play with the Boston Pops. (Yes, two fully functioning symphonies in Boston. It really is lovely.) For those of you not familiar with the Dresden Dolls, they bill themselves as "punk cabaret." Amanda (Wesleyan class of '99) treated Symphony Hall as if it were some cabaret. Her personality is as big as the space so she could get away with it. Quite a fun night, and too hard to explain in any sort of a satisfactory manner.

One of our friends Srikar is trying to teach me to make Indian food. He came over one night and we cooked together, but by two days later I had forgotten it all. There will be another lesson when there is enough time for me to take notes.

I have been getting back to the climbing gym again and even lead two climbs a few weeks ago (5.5 and 5.6, but considering that it was my first time on real rock in 2 years, I was happy). When the weather stabilizes there will be a trip up to Rumney in New Hampshire-- multipitch bolted climbing. There should also be climbing up in Maine at Arcadia National Park. Our friends Julie and Rick just moved to Bar Harbor, Maine. As happy as we are that they moved to such a cool place, it was much more convenient to hang out with them when they lived in Brookline. They moved to Maine to take jobs at Jackson Labs which they are very excited about. As they were almost always the source of interesting new beers in our house (e.g., Dogfish Head), we will have to visit them frequently to find out what they are drinking.

We spent the Fourth of July with John and Emily who are also leaving for new jobs in San Diego. Since they are not going to be close enough to easily visit, we are happy that they will be living some place that we visit. Fortunately, they will not be leaving until October or so which leaves time for climbing, cycling, and eating before they go.

We went camping a few weeks ago with my sister, her husband, and the neices. There are some photos here http://www.photoworks.com/photo-sharing/shareSignin.jsp?shareCode=A9BF953C5C4&cp=ems_shr_alb_pml&cb=PW

Yes, that is a picture of a bear, and yes it was that close. No bear boxes or any other real precautions. It was the first time that the girls had been camping and they found it to be completely satisfactory. I am sure that there will be more trips in the future.


We went to Pooja and Neeraj's wedding in Houston on Memorial Day weekend. A substantial contingent of the San Diego crowd was there-- Karan, Kusum, Kira, Sunil, Shilpa, Anu, Manish, Shruti, Sahil, and other people who I am sure that I am missing. There was lots of dancing, eating, and socializing. We all stayed on the same floor in the hotel and it felt sort of dormish in a good way. We decided that we need to see each other more often and hope to get together to go skiing at some point this winter.


The departing friends have been swapped for some friends who are now more local. Bob Brown, climber and cyclist is now living in the Boston area during the week. Karan, Kusum, and Kira will be moving to the Newark area so that Kusum can start a job at Rutgers. We were hoping that they would move to Boston, but there is always hope. Manish will be visiting in a few weeks for a meeting, so we will lobby him when he is here.

We have finally found good places to food shop, and I found a local farm on a recent bike ride. There are tomatoes growing on the deck and the cucumbers are starting to flower. Gardening is not encouraged in Somerville because there can be lead in the soil. Apparently when they scraped off the lead paint, they were not very good about cleaning it up. We also have a very shady back yard, so even if the soil were good, I am not sure that anything would grow.

We are going to be heading up to Maine this summer/ fall, both to see Julie and Rick and to spend some time at Sara's family's place in York. It is right on the water, and we have been there enough times that if we never make it further than the chairs in the front yard, it is not a problem. It is a weekend away that is truly relaxing.

Time to call it a night. There are four biologists who went to law school at night who are out for the month studying for the bar. It has made me more certain that I do not ever want to go to law school. As a result, work is crazy. It should return to normal in a few weeks though which will be nice.

I got out on a sail boat twice this summer, but both Jason and I would like to find a boat to sail on regularly. We really miss it.