A day downtown

After a really fantastic Easter, complete with an egg hunt for Cora and Chance, a ham dinner, and the four and a half hour-long production of The Ten Commandments, we returned to Waltham on Wednesday.


Yesterday (Saturday) we were treated out to downtown Boston to see the Big Apple Circus with Mark, Gina, Adah, and Kate. It was a fairly small one ring circus in the heart of Government Center--it could boast having two horses, strong men, twin jugglers, and a troupe of dogs. As neat as it was, I think it would have been really interesting to see trained cats, which they apparently had last year. Regardless, it was nice to go out with M, G, and the girls, though I wish we had gotten there a bit earlier to join them for lunch on the steps of City Hall (the stupid T held us up... ergh...).


The Coluzzis made a quick exit after the circus, as did nearly every other family with sleepy children ready for naptime, and Seth and I walked to Chinatown to splurge on several marvelous Asian buns (we got a char shu bao, steamed rice cake, red bean pie, and pineapple bun). Though the bakery selection in Boston isn't as wondrous as what we found in other major cities, it is still more than enough for us to have our fix. The buns were... so heavenly delicious...

We spent the next few hours in the North End at a relaxed organic coffee shop to catch up on some reading and writing then met up with an old fraternity brother of Seth's and his wife for dinner at Dolce Vita Ristorante. It is always interesting to meet these college friends of Seth's--they give me clues as to what his younger, wilder days were like :P

Of course we had to top off the evening with cannolis from Mike's Pastry, after waiting in line for ages just to make it to the counter (it is one of those places not suited for claustrophobic people, where the queue pours out the door).

The Easter Bunny is on his way

Having a few days off for Passover (Seth is slowly converting to Judaism), we were able to drive up to his house in NY for Easter. In college we always celebrated with my folks in NC so it was nice to come up here to try a different flavor.

Yesterday when Seth was at home working, I drove myself into town to help clean his grandparents' old house. Seth's dad and brother have been working on fixing it up for several months now so they can put it on the market. The job is nearing completion and the house looks really great--I am sure anyone would be happy to live there. It is obscene that the house will probably sell for 1/4 the price of a similar home in Waltham... makes me jealous...

This morning I went into town again and bought Seth and myself two pairs of running shoes each (Asics 2130s), on sale for about $50/pair (which is almost 50% off, so I decided to take advantage of the sale!). I also got myself 'custom' insoles to hopefully help with the shins--I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but I am extremely excited about trying them out for an early Easter run tomorrow!!

The kids (Cora and Chance) are over today--they dyed eggs and were later visited by the mysterious Uncle Louie. He lives in the basement ;o)

"Working" on the house

Dolly's morning routine (soon the cup will be tipped over, which is also a part of the routine)

Dying eggs

Searching for Uncle Louie's trail

**By the way, it has been VERY nice to practice driving Seth's manual car here in a friendly and relaxed environment the past day or two. I feel comfortable driving a tiny bit in Waltham (like down the road a few blocks to school or to the library), but I am terrified to go any farther, especially somewhere I am not extremely familiar with. The combination of poorly marked, confusing, and winding streets and aggressive drivers makes Boston area roads so intimidating that I wouldn't even want to drive an automatic transmission car. I have never seen drivers like Boston drivers before. Besides being angry and impatient I have noticed other shocking driving habits that are actually quite commonplace: they will make up their own lane to pass you; when stopped at a red light and the light turns green, the oncoming traffic will speed ahead and make their left in front of you to cut you off (they are supposed to yield, of course); they run red lights ALL the time; they are not afraid to lay on the horn if they have to wait longer than a heartbeat for you to start moving when the light turns green; they do not give pedestrians/joggers enough room in the roads; and many other unsafe behaviors. Once when I was driving behind our apartment (I was going a bit slower than the rest of traffic) I could almost hear the woman in the car behind me screaming at me. Seriously.
Since I hate driving in the Boston area (as does Seth--in fact, we hardly ever drive if we can help it) I find it hard practicing driving, but lately I have been feeling much more confident with the standard transmission. When I am not as afraid of the MA roads, it will be great to have a bit more freedom to drive myself places when Seth is not available to be my chauffeur :o)

Shaky shins

Thanks to the Massachusetts mandatory health insurance (and thanks to being 'jobless', I am one of the people who greatly benefits from the program--though Seth and I say his taxes are paying for me), I had my first physical in four and half years. The doctor confirmed my suspicion that I have shin splints in both legs, which first became a problem when training for Inward Bound two years ago. Fantastic.

Another overdue realization came with Seth staying in Westford last night. We had been dog-sitting for Mark and Gina this past week, but since I have a field trip this morning (leaving from Brandeis), we figured we could save Seth a long drive by having me stay in Waltham while he went back to Westford after an evening recital at school yesterday. This was the first time I had been completely by myself overnight in almost three years. The month Seth was gone while I was at Johns does not count, nor does the 6 weeks he was gone when I was at the share-house in Canberra, since in both cases I was still in close-quarters with other people.

The reemergence of the albino robin

Lately, in Raleigh, Dad has been spotting an albino robin in the backyard, which I assume it is the same one I saw one morning last summer (see the July 24th 2008 entry). I'm jealous I can't be there to see it!

A turtle without a shell... finds a shell

Yesterday was a big day for us and our simple, minimalist apartment: we FINALLY bought a desk. It's hard to imagine that we have gone all this time without a proper work-space. What is a 'student' and a professor without a desk? Until now we have been doing most of our work at the kitchen table, which will probably remain a place to use the computer and write since 1) that is the only place we pick up internet and 2) we only have one desk ;o)

The desk and chair, bought off Craigs list (of course), are very beautiful solid oak. The desk is rather small because we wanted to make sure we could fit it up the stairs and into the apartment, yet it was too big to fit comfortably in the car--we left half of it sticking out of the trunk, which we tied down with rope, and then had to drive several miles down I95. You occasionally see this sort of thing and pity (or snicker at) the poor folks with their trunks wide open and awkward, and I can't believe it was our turn to do it. I am so glad we made it!

A sushi first

A few nights ago I tried making sushi for the first time. Not terribly familiar with Japanese food, and always intimidated by sushi (a fine art, really), I finally got the motivation to give it a try. I kept the ingredients/filling simple to start off with, and I was pretty happy with how they turned out. However, I'll need to keep 'practicing.' I don't think Seth will complain ;o)

New York

The other weekend, during our Spring Break (or was it Winter Break? Mid-semester break?) Seth and I were lucky enough to spend two nights in New York City, staying with Bo in The Village. The trip wasn't entirely non-work related--Seth had a date with some madrigals in Columbia University's special collections library. Besides this, we had some time to explore Chinatown, feasting on sweet buns and other treats, wandered around Central Park, and visited the mind-boggling amazing MOMA (Muesum of Modern Art) during one of their Free Friday afternoons. We also got to catch up with Chad, a friend from Chapel Hill studying at Columbia, over dinner with Bo and Natalie.

The Village

Times Square

Central Park

One thing we got to indulge in was a handful of the specialty food places New York is known for. Having such a high population density, the city seems to have developed numerous amazing eateries, many of which fill some tiny niche in the culinary world. (Ironically the best shops are also located in tiny little spaces, making seating virtually impossible). Just around the corner (literally) from Bo's apartment is a place that specializes in peanut butter sandwiches. Though extremely overpriced ($5 for a simple, but large PB&J), we had a coupon and I couldn't resist! The next day we had lunch at a place (around the other corner) called Hummus Place. Guess what they specialize in.

Peanut Butter and Co. Notice all the wonderful, gooey peanut butter and jelly in that white bread, and the free jar of PB! Ignore the bag of potato chips.

Bo, Natalie, Seth and me enjoying big bowls of hummus.

New York City is extremely overwhelming--there is just so much to do, so much culture and history and endless places to drink coffee. I don't even dare to flip through a travel guide or look up "things to do in Manhattan"--luckily we have 'locals' to show us neat hot spots! Hopefully we can fit in one more visit with Bo before she moves to Boston this summer. However, it will be even better to have her close by!

Our morning runs consisted of heading east from West 3rd St until we reached the East River (NYC is big into cardinal directions), following FDR Dr clockwise along the southern tip of the island until eventually reaching West 3rd St. The first day we (actually, I) paused to take a look at the Statue of Liberty, and the second day we visited Ground Zero.

East River Park

Three bridges

City dog

Battery Park

Ground Zero