Rain Gear and other bits

It rained  a lot from Friday through Sunday.  Problem with rain here is that the old streets are not leveled, so many large puddles form, and it's sometimes impossible to avoid stepping into one (unless you want to backtrack A LOT and find a new path).  Fortunately, I had my long purple rain jacket and green boots (see photo above) -- thanks, Ima and Aba.  These are two wonderful products that have been and will be extremely useful here.

Boyfriend K and I went to meet a college friend and his girlfriend; both just moved here in August.  Had brunch at Johnny D's, a surprisingly good brunch joint with live jazz, and the food is both carnivore- and herbivore- friendly (which you might expect from Davis Square).

Work is going well.  Progress is slow.  But I'm learning a lot here, and I'll have more to say about that.

Oh, almost forgot -- the lab had a surprise birthday party for me last Friday.  Awwww!  They got me a black-and-white cake from Rosie's, which happens to be a bakery I've been eyeing since I got here.  Yay!

One more thing that I want to bring up before my anger completely wears off: the Harvard administration is the most unwieldy academic institution I have dealt with.  I should emphasize that the people I've dealt with directly have been great, but some people that were removed from me were not doing what it takes to serve new employees.  For example, they decided for some reason that new employee paperwork cannot be put through until the employee arrives to begin work.  But that means that upon arrival, you do not have things you need, for instance an ID card!!!  Not only that, but the ID card took 3 weeks to get, and it would have taken longer if I hadn't bothered the admins I knew, who in turn pushed for me to get the card.  So for 3 weeks, I was not fully recognized as a Harvard employee, not having access to my lab building, the gym, journal articles, Harvard websites and online employee training!  How the hell is one supposed to do their job under such conditions for weeks?  I expected that, at Harvard, one would immediately be able to start their job as a functional and recognized employee.  LAME.

Okay, let's finish up on a pleasant note: Shana Tova!  That's happy new year in Hebrew :)

Birthday

Boyfriend K arrived Monday night.  The poor guy had to go to my parents' beforehand and pick up a huge suitcase of things to bring to me and then lug it over to Cambridge :)  But somehow he managed to remain positive, as he usually does.

So, the next day, my birthday.  My mom has been talking about this birthday for at least a year because she thinks it's really cool that I am turning 3^3 (three to the power of three).  I just think it means I'm 27.  I decided that if I'm going to be turning 27, I better do it in style.  I started out the day by ironing (yes, ironing!) my new dress, and even though it was WAY too cold to wear a short dress, I did it.  K and I had a very late breakfast at Petsi Pies, said to be the best bakery in Cambridge: www.petsipies.com .   Had a blueberry muffin and a pumpkin cranberry walnut scone, washed down with some coffee.  Very good.  Came back the next day (Wednesday), but limited the food order to one scone between the two of us.  But anyway, back to my birthday...

Went to lab.  Boss R was away, and almost everyone was gone.  So I had a nice easy workday -- started at 11:30am and ended at 4:30pm.  K then picked me up at the lab.  Earlier in the day, he had gone out to Boston to pick up my present -- a wonderful down jacket that is ultra compressible.  I think it's what the cool kids around here wear :)  Anyway, it's super warm and super light, and it's bright pink/red, because K thought that I could use a non-neutral in my wardrobe.  With my warm jacket on, we headed over to Cambridge Commons, a brewery I like a lot, for some birthday beers and buffalo chicken.  MmmmMmmm.  I had the pumpkin ale because I am a sucker for autumn and winter seasonal things.  

Headed home and changed out of the dress and into something warmer, because it was really cold by then, and then went out for Italian in the North End.  Feasted on delicious prosciutto, melon, and figs -- the prosciutto was mild, perfect because it didn't overpower the fruit.  Only slight problem was that the fruit was kind of cold, as if it had been refrigerated, which is a no-no for me.  But anyway, some wine and pasta later, we were heading to Modern for some Italian dessert.  But what??  It was closed.  Darn!  Oh well, probably better for my waistline and cardio health.  Headed home and had some chocolate instead.

There have been some positive developments in lab, but I'll write about those in another post.

Newbury Street and Boston Common

Today was a great day, and as I write this happy blog,  I am enjoying a Dunkelweizen (unfiltered wheat beer).

So, I woke up with no Moshe the Mouse on the glue trap (my dad named him).

I went for a run in the neighborhood and found the local bike/walking/running path as well as a little nursery where I can get potted flowers, if I can just find space for them in this apartment.

I then had my bowl of healthy cereal.  Soon after, I was feeling very hungry again (as I often do in the mornings), so I counteracted the benefits of my run by eating a Nutella sandwich.  YUM! Okay, then it was time to go have my Newbury adventure and do some pre-bday shopping.

On my way to the T (subway), I stopped at Porter Sq Books for the usual short browse and also to wait around for my friend, who was going to join me.  Then found out that she got some cold from her husband, so I was on my own.

T ride went smoothly.  Got off at the right station and successfully navigated around and through Boston Common -- made a mental note to stop there after my shopping duties b/c it was a BEAUTIFUL day.

Made it to Newbury Street.   Ah, Newbury, where most of the shops are so upscale I won't even go in.  H&M, however, I will gladly go into.  In fact, H&M is the main reason I motivated myself to go to Newbury.  Okay, so I went to work at H&M because I have some gaps in my wardrobe that needed to be filled.  I did pretty well -- I returned a cute purple dress that was too small (they didn't have the next size up, sorry Ima) but I replaced it with a similar-looking brown dress, got some tops, but unfortunately I couldn't find the non-jean pants I wanted.  No worries, read on.

Did lots of window shopping and even more people watching/analyzing.  Got myself a burger and fries; hey, this was my pre-bday trip, so I really went all out.  Went into some other places in search of what I decided had to be gray pants.  Found some at American Eagle.  Not exactly what I was picturing, but they might work.  The return policy is great, though, so if I change my mind, no problem. It just means another trip to Newbury.

On my way back, I realized I was totally dehydrated and lacking caffeine.  My lab has a fancy Italian coffee/espresso machine, and the psych dept has free sugary caffeinated drinks in the afternoons, so between those two caffeine sources, I've become kind of dependent.  A little iced tea fixed the caffeine and dehydration problems.  Then headed back toward the T, but stopped at Boston Common (public park) for a little relaxation and more people watching.  See photo above. 

Nothing noteworthy on the way home.

So I went down to the basement of my apt building to do laundry for the first time.  Hmmm... people living in UCSD housing, appreciate what you have -- washing machine here costs $2 and dryer costs $1.50.  Well, I sucked it up and am now waiting for the dryer load to finish.  Perhaps I will be doing some hand washing in the future.

That's about it.  Going to have me a little salad for dinner.  The K-meister is showing up tomorrow evening.  Woohoo!  

 

Mouse Attack

I've experienced a first here in Cambridge, MA, just as I was starting to get comfortable with my teeny tiny apartment.  I was sitting in my living room, using the laptop, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a gray blob dart from one side of the kitchen to the other.  Now, I recently had some visual 'hallucinations', so my first thought was that I was having one of those again and that maybe I needed a brain scan.  But then I decided to go check it out.  So I walked over to the kitchen and waited patiently, and what do I see?  A MOUSE.  We both squealed with terror, and the little guy went into hiding.  After clearing away all exposed (and even not-so-exposed) food, I left the kitchen in the hope that the mouse would go back where it came from, away from my apartment.  I think it left.  

My landlord C came by with glue traps today.  He said that he hasn't had mice in these apartments in previous years but that there was a mouse sighting on the first floor a couple weeks ago (I'm on the third floor).  We couldn't find an obvious opening where the mouse could have gotten in.  Great.  I really hope I do not find a squeaking mouse on the glue trap, ever. Fortunately, boyfriend K is coming soon, so he'll take care of it, right?  :)  Well, in the meantime, various members of the family get to hear my whining.

More to come about my impression of Cambridge and Harvard.  Oh, and stay tuned for my Newbury St adventure tomorrow!