(no subject)
So, I'm here at Cold Spring Harbor. I normally would expect to be bored out of my wits, but luckily I brought along a few books to read, which has significantly reduced my boredom levels.
I left on Thursday morning, when my mother came and woke me up at an unpleasantly early hour. After getting everything into the car, it turned out that my dad hadn't finished his grant proposal yet, and his original estimate of 8:30 AM was not enough time. To make a long story short, we didn't leave until about noon.
On the plus side, I got to drive a large portion of the way here. In fact, my dad had me drive through all of New Jersey and navigate through the heavy traffic in New York City, much to the distress of my mum. Getting on and off the George Washington Bridge (across the Hudson River, between New Jersey and New York) involved numerous lane changes, and I experienced first-hand forcibly merging my car into another lane of traffic. It's actually not very difficult when the traffic is stop-and-go... you just position your car so it's blocking two lanes of traffic, then the cars have to stop and let you through. Afterwards we moved towards the Triborough Bridge (from Manhattan to Queens), where they had cleverly marked four lanes in the space of three, thereby increasing the flow of traffic. Unfortunately, I was in the right-most lane, right against the concrete wall that prevented the plunge some fifty feet down into the Harlem River. On my left lumbered a large tractor-trailer. There was probably a foot of clearance on either side of the car.
Later, I had moved to the lane second-from-the-right (after the traffic cleared up a little). Suddenly, the cars behind me (in my lane) started shifting to other lanes. Soon all that was behind me was an NYPD squad car with intermittent lights and a megaphone. "MOVE TO THE RIGHT." So I signalled to the right, and moved back up against the wall. The squad car continued forward, followed by a black, probably armoured Cadillac. I moved back to the left, immediately behind the Cadillac, only to realize that behind me was another car of the same sort -- they were part of a caravan. They frantically signalled for me to move back over. I later saw that they were escorting a diplomatic delegation to LaGuardia Airport.
Arriving Thursday evening at Cold Spring Harbor, I was dismayed (though not surprised) that the Williams apartments had not installed air conditioning. I read The Elegant Universe and I slept.
Nothing too exciting has happened since then. After my sister woke me up at an ungodly hour Friday morning, we went shopping for produce which my dad used e as props during his lecture that evening. After getting back, I visited the Cold Spring Harbor Bookstore, where they sold various apparel emblazoned with the CSH logo or double helices of all sorts. They also sold DNA chocolates (mmmm... yum) and these GIANTmicrobes. My sister bought Saccharomyces cerevisiae; I bought Streptococcus pyogenes. They also sold the Ebola virus, E. coli, dust mites, bookworms, and other familiar things.
Later, I watched some of the Germany-Argentina game. They had reserved Grace Auditorium for this purpose, and they projected the game with incredible clarity onto the large screen. It was quite the experience.
That afternoon I visited the Harborfields Public Library, one of my favorite haunts when I lived here. I was a little surprised that I remembered all the streets and where they led, even after nine years of not living here. Anyway, they completely remodelled/redesigned the building, and I think they built an addition, too. It looks much better than before; more spacious and better lit. Still, I miss the old one a little, if only for familiarity's sake.
Saturday morning, my mom had to lead a lecture on how to prepare sections (... or something like that) for study under a microscope. We had to assemble the machine that does the section-ing. Later, I was dragged along to the Banbury Center to swim. The Banbury Center is a very nice, Cold Spring Harbor-owned conference center type place. The pool was closed when we got there, but several others just climbed the fence and went in. My sister and my mum did the same. I (not having any desire to swim in the first place) sat off to the side, where there were a small grove of trees. There was a steep hill with a small, gently curving walkway that led down to the seashore. Up on the hill, it is possible to see over the canopy of the trees towards the Harbor, and the sun glimmering across the water was quite a sight. To the north you could see Long Island Sound, and you could barely make out the Connecticut shore. The occasional sailboat would float pass, and there was a gentle breeze that rustled the leaves, which, when angled right, would let through different amounts of sun. On the trees, there were a few messages scratched in, such as "You'll be loved forever, PJ. -Kelly" and "Class of '81!" I'd really like to return and take a few photographs.
Today, I have done relatively little. After getting up and eating breakfast, I read a few more pages in my book. After lunch, my mum and my sister decided to drag me to the mall. Though I originally thought it might be a good idea, I convinced them to turn back and let me get some computer time in when we arrived at the mall.
If any of you read all of that, I commend you.
I left on Thursday morning, when my mother came and woke me up at an unpleasantly early hour. After getting everything into the car, it turned out that my dad hadn't finished his grant proposal yet, and his original estimate of 8:30 AM was not enough time. To make a long story short, we didn't leave until about noon.
On the plus side, I got to drive a large portion of the way here. In fact, my dad had me drive through all of New Jersey and navigate through the heavy traffic in New York City, much to the distress of my mum. Getting on and off the George Washington Bridge (across the Hudson River, between New Jersey and New York) involved numerous lane changes, and I experienced first-hand forcibly merging my car into another lane of traffic. It's actually not very difficult when the traffic is stop-and-go... you just position your car so it's blocking two lanes of traffic, then the cars have to stop and let you through. Afterwards we moved towards the Triborough Bridge (from Manhattan to Queens), where they had cleverly marked four lanes in the space of three, thereby increasing the flow of traffic. Unfortunately, I was in the right-most lane, right against the concrete wall that prevented the plunge some fifty feet down into the Harlem River. On my left lumbered a large tractor-trailer. There was probably a foot of clearance on either side of the car.
Later, I had moved to the lane second-from-the-right (after the traffic cleared up a little). Suddenly, the cars behind me (in my lane) started shifting to other lanes. Soon all that was behind me was an NYPD squad car with intermittent lights and a megaphone. "MOVE TO THE RIGHT." So I signalled to the right, and moved back up against the wall. The squad car continued forward, followed by a black, probably armoured Cadillac. I moved back to the left, immediately behind the Cadillac, only to realize that behind me was another car of the same sort -- they were part of a caravan. They frantically signalled for me to move back over. I later saw that they were escorting a diplomatic delegation to LaGuardia Airport.
Arriving Thursday evening at Cold Spring Harbor, I was dismayed (though not surprised) that the Williams apartments had not installed air conditioning. I read The Elegant Universe and I slept.
Nothing too exciting has happened since then. After my sister woke me up at an ungodly hour Friday morning, we went shopping for produce which my dad used e as props during his lecture that evening. After getting back, I visited the Cold Spring Harbor Bookstore, where they sold various apparel emblazoned with the CSH logo or double helices of all sorts. They also sold DNA chocolates (mmmm... yum) and these GIANTmicrobes. My sister bought Saccharomyces cerevisiae; I bought Streptococcus pyogenes. They also sold the Ebola virus, E. coli, dust mites, bookworms, and other familiar things.
Later, I watched some of the Germany-Argentina game. They had reserved Grace Auditorium for this purpose, and they projected the game with incredible clarity onto the large screen. It was quite the experience.
That afternoon I visited the Harborfields Public Library, one of my favorite haunts when I lived here. I was a little surprised that I remembered all the streets and where they led, even after nine years of not living here. Anyway, they completely remodelled/redesigned the building, and I think they built an addition, too. It looks much better than before; more spacious and better lit. Still, I miss the old one a little, if only for familiarity's sake.
Saturday morning, my mom had to lead a lecture on how to prepare sections (... or something like that) for study under a microscope. We had to assemble the machine that does the section-ing. Later, I was dragged along to the Banbury Center to swim. The Banbury Center is a very nice, Cold Spring Harbor-owned conference center type place. The pool was closed when we got there, but several others just climbed the fence and went in. My sister and my mum did the same. I (not having any desire to swim in the first place) sat off to the side, where there were a small grove of trees. There was a steep hill with a small, gently curving walkway that led down to the seashore. Up on the hill, it is possible to see over the canopy of the trees towards the Harbor, and the sun glimmering across the water was quite a sight. To the north you could see Long Island Sound, and you could barely make out the Connecticut shore. The occasional sailboat would float pass, and there was a gentle breeze that rustled the leaves, which, when angled right, would let through different amounts of sun. On the trees, there were a few messages scratched in, such as "You'll be loved forever, PJ. -Kelly" and "Class of '81!" I'd really like to return and take a few photographs.
Today, I have done relatively little. After getting up and eating breakfast, I read a few more pages in my book. After lunch, my mum and my sister decided to drag me to the mall. Though I originally thought it might be a good idea, I convinced them to turn back and let me get some computer time in when we arrived at the mall.
If any of you read all of that, I commend you.