Bizarre Novelties

Three items of moment for this Thursday (my second in Boston!):

1) In between killing a small forest while printing out relevant journal articles about chronic pain and acupuncture (not to mention this fascinatingly grisly number by the New Yorker...read it, I dare you), I had my first MGH/Martinos Center MRI!  Yes, it could be argued that it's mildly masochistic of me to voluntarily lie perfectly still within the bore of a giant magnet for several hours while idly imagining large, pointed, and heavy metallic missiles whizzing towards my helpless skull.  Safety training really drove home the magnetic aspect of MRI by unleashing scissors and fire extinguishers on a watermelon located within the field...pun intended.  Right, but on the other hand, I think it's a good idea for researchers to submit themselves to what they plan on submitting their subjects to, plus I made some pseudo-friends!  The researchers were really friendly and made a start at showing me the ropes.  Plusss, MRI studies pay well.  Just sayin'.

2) After work, I went on a pilgrimage to Whole Foods (...) to look for live potted herbs.  I struck out, although they did say they were getting them in this weekend.  Also they had nice Chinese lantern flowers and dried lavender.  Exciting stuff, but that's not the point.  What is the (hugely awkward) point is that I ran into an ex-realtor, Paul, who showed us about fifteen properties and who I ended up dissing when I got the place I'm currently staying at.  ...HI PAUL!!! was my reaction, after quite literally attempting to running away.  Fun times.  He recommended I look for plants down the road.  And it looks like I'll be on the hunt for alternative grocery stores, ones that aren't so expensive and populated by ghosts of properties past.

3) I got back to the apartment and for a minute or so thought the locks had been changed, but it turns out that someone had been in and out of the place and had locked the doors weirdly.  I am thinking it was probably the dishwasher repairman, because now my dishwasher works (YAY).  I'm not 100% sure about that, actually, given that it makes a noise somewhere between tsunami and trash compacter...but the dishes don't appear broken, and there's no water on the floor...and the burning smell is gone...what else could one ask for?

Baked Goods

Mike's Pastry: 300 Hanover Street

Modern Pastry: 257 Hanover Street

Maria's Pastry: 46 Cross St Boston

So far I'm voting for Modern on the basis of cannoli and chocolates (not to mention that it's slightly more trendy and less touristed...oh hi there did I mention I'm slightly pretentious?), but I haven't fully explored Maria's - although the atmosphere isn't as...atmospheric - and I diddd just have an incredible cream puff from Mike's that makes me think this battle of the bakeries is far from over.

Scintillating

Fairly average day...le job is almost (but not quite) falling into a rhythm, the old apartment is pretty much status quo - I am still hunting for a nice flower or shrub or bunch of twigs to put in a pot next to the kitchen table - and I cooked some meat for the first time (!).  It was some sausage.  Excitement abounds.

First Week

I've been here on my own for one week now, well done me...

Living in the North End is not living in Italy.  But it is - in some ways - rather like living in Italy.  I would imagine.

There is a man who lives down the street who, every Sunday, takes a plastic lawn chair and sits on the corner and listens to Frank Sinatra while watching the world go by.  There are Catholic churches and shops that sell handmade leather shoes, and thinly sliced meats, and cafes where you can buy a latte in the morning and an espresso after noon.  Laundry hangs across the back streets (although why, when it rains every other day, I'm not quite sure).  I went into the local supermarket and asked where I could buy a mezzaluna and a passatutto, and not only did the checkout girl know what I was talking about, she knew where to direct me.  Turns out the hardware store across the street had what I was looking for, in addition to terracotta flower pots and potholders with little Italian flags on them. 

And while you're just as likely to hear a tourist group speaking English - or French, or Japanese - as you are Italian...and while it looks like it's going to rain six out of the next seven days (and not rise above 65 degrees even once)...while it seems like it's primarily the over-fifties that are immersed in the recreation of Old Country lifestyle...well, va bene - I am crossing back over the Atlantic by degrees.

10.10.10!

Not much else to add, though - today's date is almost certainly the most interesting aspect of the day.

Got up, ate an egg (protein!), chilled out, went to church, chilled out some more.  Might read later.  Needless to say, the big party town Boston allegedly is hasn't made much of an impact as of yet.

Tomorrow's going to be pretty big though; despite it being Columbus Day, I'm going into work...at 4:30pm...to administer MEG!  So stay tuned...

Saturday with John, Paul, George and Ringo

Shortly upon moving in, I located Boston's classic rock radio station (the oldest in the country, apparently!  Celebrating their 25th birthday!  Although...25 years ago, wasn't classic rock just called...rock?  Maybe not, maybe not.); I've been enjoying listening to Led Zepplin and the Rolling Stones in the shower ever since. 

However, something special's going on at 100.7 WZLX today, because it's the 70th anniversary of John Lennon's birth.  They're celebrating by playing the Beatles A to Z this weekend, which makes me very happy - the Beatles were my first favorite band, you know.  If you're not in Boston but want to tune in as well this weekend, check out their website, there's a place where you can stream live!

I'm hating to tear myself away from "Lovely Rita," but I've been meaning to go explore the local shops (hardware and grocery, not shoe and jewelry)...hopefully I'll be back before the O's!

The Job Thus Far

I definitely should have taken some kind of computer programming course at some point in my education...

because you know Linux?  Me either, really.  I think I am figuring it out, but I'm continually having flashbacks of trying to master this game in during middle school Earth Science classes.  (Hey, just because I turned out to be a neurobiologist doesn't mean I care about plate tectonics.  Much.)  That game, incidentally, is worth playing if you are familiar with Douglas Adams / a giant nerd.