some of us will always stay behind
Some geeky items of note:
-Neil Gaiman was even better in person than I'd anticipated. The lecture at MIT was an unexpected highlight of my year. Once I get the DVD (which will be amazing to draw to) I will probably inflict some particularly squee-inducing quotes on you all.
-Prince Caspian was surprisingly enjoyable, in spite of the godawful pop song that played over the last few minutes of the film. (Don't do that, dammit. Classic fantasy and contemporary pop just generally do not mix, and that was a really revolting example of the latter. If you must use it, save it for the credits themselves . . . if I ever watch again, I will have to mute the ending.) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was also mostly great fun, if not utterly amazing. Marion was (unsurprisingly) the high point of the movie for me. I have still not seen Iron Man, but I will.
I had a commuting adventure yesterday (along with a sizeable portion of the workforce)! I arrived at Park Street station to find that it was full of smoke, and smelled strongly of something burning. There were huge crowds of frustrated commuters milling around the Red Line platform, but you could barely see through the haze, so I got the hell out of there immediately. (I understood from talk going on around me that there was no fire actually in the station, though people seemed unclear beyond that; someone thought there had been a burning train.) I have no idea what possessed those people to just stand there breathing that in--fortunately the station must have been evacuated not long afterwards.
Fortunately, I knew (from the last time the Red Line went down on me, back in September) that you can catch the number 1 bus to Harvard Square from Hynes Convention Center, so I jumped back on the Green Line. Of course, a sizable number of my fellow commuters had the same bright idea; I think there were about fifty of us packed in on the sidewalk by the time the first bus came, though I wasn't really counting. The bus didn't arrive for a good half-hour, during which time there was rain varying from drizzle to brief downpour. I did have an umbrella, but also a bag full of dry groceries, sigh. Trying to keep them dry meant that I wound up soaked all down my back, which was rather fruitless, as they were crushed immediately once I got on the bus. At least I hadn't risked buying anything frozen. (I was lucky to make it on the bus, also; I don't think more than seven or so of us managed. There were more buses behind.)
From there it was just a straight shot to Harvard Square, packed in like sardines the whole way. (It was disgusting and humid, too; why can't these things ever happen on a cold day?) The sidewalk was packed with similarly thwarted people going in the other direction, but the sun was back out, which was lovely. Somewhat oddly, the trains were running (only) between Harvard Square and Alewife, so the rest of the journey was blessedly simple. The whole process only added about an hour to my normal commuting time, which was impressive!
I'm telling you, the excitement never ends. (Apparently this was all caused by an electrical fire just down the tunnel from Downtown Crossing; they had it sorted by this morning.) It certainly wore me out; I slept like a log, for the first time in quite awhile.
Anyway, I've generally been busy. Spent this weekend all over Boston with Kath. We're in the middle of the doc exam at work, which means that for the next few days, I come in early and am on call all day (in case of more fun temperature quibbles or computer problems). I'm not a huge fan of summer, but I'm looking forward to things calming down a bit . . . to Kate's visit, and guitar lessons, and the school year being over.
-Neil Gaiman was even better in person than I'd anticipated. The lecture at MIT was an unexpected highlight of my year. Once I get the DVD (which will be amazing to draw to) I will probably inflict some particularly squee-inducing quotes on you all.
-Prince Caspian was surprisingly enjoyable, in spite of the godawful pop song that played over the last few minutes of the film. (Don't do that, dammit. Classic fantasy and contemporary pop just generally do not mix, and that was a really revolting example of the latter. If you must use it, save it for the credits themselves . . . if I ever watch again, I will have to mute the ending.) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was also mostly great fun, if not utterly amazing. Marion was (unsurprisingly) the high point of the movie for me. I have still not seen Iron Man, but I will.
I had a commuting adventure yesterday (along with a sizeable portion of the workforce)! I arrived at Park Street station to find that it was full of smoke, and smelled strongly of something burning. There were huge crowds of frustrated commuters milling around the Red Line platform, but you could barely see through the haze, so I got the hell out of there immediately. (I understood from talk going on around me that there was no fire actually in the station, though people seemed unclear beyond that; someone thought there had been a burning train.) I have no idea what possessed those people to just stand there breathing that in--fortunately the station must have been evacuated not long afterwards.
Fortunately, I knew (from the last time the Red Line went down on me, back in September) that you can catch the number 1 bus to Harvard Square from Hynes Convention Center, so I jumped back on the Green Line. Of course, a sizable number of my fellow commuters had the same bright idea; I think there were about fifty of us packed in on the sidewalk by the time the first bus came, though I wasn't really counting. The bus didn't arrive for a good half-hour, during which time there was rain varying from drizzle to brief downpour. I did have an umbrella, but also a bag full of dry groceries, sigh. Trying to keep them dry meant that I wound up soaked all down my back, which was rather fruitless, as they were crushed immediately once I got on the bus. At least I hadn't risked buying anything frozen. (I was lucky to make it on the bus, also; I don't think more than seven or so of us managed. There were more buses behind.)
From there it was just a straight shot to Harvard Square, packed in like sardines the whole way. (It was disgusting and humid, too; why can't these things ever happen on a cold day?) The sidewalk was packed with similarly thwarted people going in the other direction, but the sun was back out, which was lovely. Somewhat oddly, the trains were running (only) between Harvard Square and Alewife, so the rest of the journey was blessedly simple. The whole process only added about an hour to my normal commuting time, which was impressive!
I'm telling you, the excitement never ends. (Apparently this was all caused by an electrical fire just down the tunnel from Downtown Crossing; they had it sorted by this morning.) It certainly wore me out; I slept like a log, for the first time in quite awhile.
Anyway, I've generally been busy. Spent this weekend all over Boston with Kath. We're in the middle of the doc exam at work, which means that for the next few days, I come in early and am on call all day (in case of more fun temperature quibbles or computer problems). I'm not a huge fan of summer, but I'm looking forward to things calming down a bit . . . to Kate's visit, and guitar lessons, and the school year being over.