Bicycle Redux

In an effort to be more exciting, I took my bicycle out of the basement...yes, that's right, strictly for the purpose of having a blog-worthy experience.  New levels of eh, eh?

Anyway, I am including a PHOTO of said bicycle to further spruce things up:

My fan base (Mom.  ...Alyssa?) might be having a sense of deja vu, because I did something quite similar almost exactly two years ago.  Man, my bike might have gotten classier (despite a lack of basket), but my skill and dedication as an amateur author has most definitely suffered.  Also...I read through that entry and its sequel, written a day later - because I wasn't feeling melancholy enough, right? - and wowww how long ago was that?  And how strange - the person whose lecture I walked into late due to the brakes that wouldn't die turned out to be the very same person who rejected me from graduate school!  Karma's a bia...also, I feel much more harmonious with the universe.  It's like everything makes sense.  Or wait.

ANYWHO back to the present.  Aren't bicycles the best?  They're so beautiful!  And simultaneously so utilitarian!  There's almost nothing in them that doesn't have a function...

This little Peugeot, though, is a particularly sexy little machine.  Yeah look at those fenders....and I tricked her out with flashy lights and a bell.  Did I mention the step-through?  Because as a ladies' bike, there's gotta be a step-through.  The vintage gear shifts, the white vinyl seat and matching rubber handle grips, the 1980s dayglow decal?  Perfection.  I got her from my mom, so you know it's the real deal...the restoration costs were a bit steep, but worth! it!

Boston drivers being what they are, I'm a little concerned about taking the Peugeot out and about before I know my way around the city (not to mention I like the way my face is arranged currently).  Still, tooling around the North End's back alleys and one-way streets isn't too strenuous, so I struggled out of the tiny basement door, helmet in hand (yeah, next time I'll put it on beforehand so I don't brain myself on the lintel and nearly crash back down the cement stairs under 25 pounds of pointy metal tubing), and found my way to the post office and the hardware store.  That place, incidentally, has everything. 

Maybe I'll stop back tomorrow to find a nice wire basket?

A Day in the Life

UM.  So the problem with having a regular schedule consisting of a nine-to-five job is that things are pretty repetitive.  And the teensiest boring.  And unbloggable - not in an interesting way.

But I'm going to do it anyway.

Today, in a nutshell, was: wake up, shower, dress, breakfast, drop egg carton onto tile floor (bah), read journal articles, go to work, sit in hallway at desk, pull hair out over fMRI analysis software, lunch (chicken picata yummm!), more scalp-shredding - like that New Yorker article, did you read it? eww - until chat with Polly and co., peace out via bus, post office, emails and general computer putzing, dinner, Doctor Who, nostalgic tea and inCREDIBLE cream puff, shower (wait...I just realized I showered twice today...well that would explain the damp towel), reading about Boudicca, and (I'm projecting here) bed by midnight.

Huzzah.

But heyyy I've got another ten days of real-life entries to get down, sooo I'll try to start being more interesting.  Or I'll start making stuff up.

Gigantic Nerds

...Well it's the third week of work and I have just made a pretty intense discovery.

That's right, today I've come to the realization that I am working with the geeks of the world.  Although - to be honest - it's been coming on for some time, and I should probably have figured it out sooner.  They're neuroscientists, physicists, and 'analysts'.  But what really brought it all home for me is, while I was going through the computer networks on Linux, all the directories were named (as it turns out) after Transformers.  The robot/aliens who turn into cars.  And stuff.  I don't really follow, but this is what I am gathering from Wikipedia...if anyone has more information, please let me know.  Anway, my own personal Linux platform is called Soundwave, after a talking robot who apparently turns into a cassette tape.  And is evil.  ...I know.

That's not all, because it would seem that my Windows platform is named Barbossa.  I'm not really sure why, but I guess someone else in the lab is into...swashbuckling?  Whereas all the Linux machines are Tranformers, all the PCs get to be pirates.

In my former lab, the Macs were all named after trees.  I was often on Birch, I believe.  And I feel like at this point I ought to make some sweeping statement about what this all means...but honestly, I just can't even begin.

Miss MEG

Pretty long day today...after five, while everyone else was packing up to go home, I traipsed over to the MEG lab and got to hang out with gigantic magnets.  It was at once incredibly cool - rooms shielded from the Earth, humming computers, pointy pointy needles - and also eerily similar to last year - waveforms, NuPrep gel, and unforseen subject-related problems that cut recording time short.  Truly haunting.

Church

Day two of church shopping!  And this time...it was Church of the Cross (conveniently, where Drea goes).  Less weirdness than at Park St, but I haven't settled down yet...we shall see where I end up.

These Boots Are Made For Walking

I spent most of the day trekking around the city (in boots, no less) - the weather was sunny, if rather windy, and I wanted to get out and explore things further afield.  I still haven't crossed the river but I did make it to Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Beacon Hill, the Back Bay, and back through Boston Common to Haymarket, where I picked up a number of nice veggies for a gorgeous cottage pie. 

Dinner and a movie and it looks like another relatively quiet weekend for me (but I have tea and chocolate, so I won't complain too loudly).

Ether Day

Today is Ether Day at Mass Gen - sounds fun, yes?

Well it commemorates the landmark event that occurred on Oct. 16, 1846 (yes, tomorrow is the 16th, but tomorrow is also a Saturday).  On that date, at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. William T. G. Morton became the first to use ethyl ether to anæsthetize a patient.  Go science!