Day 138: Night-time picnic on the Charles

In the spirit of yesterday, and since today was technically a holiday (happy Labor Day, everyone), I decided to spend the majority of the morning at Dado, a tea shop on Mass Ave., catching up on writing and (mostly) making a plan for pictures for this blog (meta, right?).  D. joined me for a bit, having just come from Harvard Square, and his eagle eyes didn't miss a thing.  Two abandoned salads somehow made their way over to our table.  After he left, I ended up ordering one myself, and I must say that I was pretty impressed -- I don't know when Dado branched out into fancy lunches, but they did a good job of it.

After Dado, I biked around Cambridge and Somerville by myself for a bit, taking of a bunch of shots of Central/Harvard/Inman in a sort of loop.  It took quite a while, and by the time I was done, it was nearly time to get ready for the dinner D. and I had decided to invite folks to, by the Charles.  Quick trip to Trader Joe's for some picnic essentials, including Sangria ingredients, and then back to prep.

But first, we had a bit of a piano jam session with a friend who is also leaving town soon (though in a slightly more drastic manner -- he's moving to Thailand indefinitely!).  After, he drove us to the river, and under the lights of the Harvard footbridge (by the business school), we had a drop-by-and-say-hi style picnic.  Several people came actually, which was nice.  An amalgamation of groups, of sorts.  The evening ended with D. and one of his friends deciding it was still warm enough outside to jump into the Charles, and that the footbridge was a safe enough place to do it from (there is also photographic evidence of that, but it was slightly too obscene to post here :)).  Gotta love the Muddy Charles.

Day 123: Sanders Theater

There was so much to do this weekend that I did not really have any idea how it was all going to get done.  So instead of fretting I did the sensible thing and just tried to DO things.  Today that entailed waking up early enough to go grocery shopping, make cookie dough (tried it with vegan "butter" this time, and it seemed to go alright! tomorrow we'll see...), going costume shopping with our two "cops" for the play at Garment District, and then getting the pleasure of finally meeting the newest members of E's family -- two BEAUTIFUL twin girls born late at night on June second.  The bike ride out to meet them at their pad in Belmont with E.E. himself was quite pleasant.  Their names are Eva Penelope (EE the second) and Amalia Rose, and both are as sweet as can possibly be.  They look a little like my youngest sister did upon her arrival into the world -- mostly due to the shock of nearly-black (but not quite) hair gracing their little noggins!  Oh dear.  Must not because nauseatingly baby-oriented.

Anyhow, they had quite the visit, with I believe five extra adults around for the evening (all Espada brothers and some compatriots).  Upon our exit, it was time for me to go home and get ready for the upcoming performance at Sanders Theater with the Mercury Chorale, which I was pretty pumped for.  We all knew we could have done with more rehearsal time, but honestly we peaked tonight, which is a good sign for any performer.  (Such a waste to have ever done it better than the night you perform, right?)

E. and several of D's friends came to the show, and it was really a treat to perform in that theater space.  The rest of the evening was a big treat as well -- with B. still in town, we had a nice little crew for tearing it up at karaoke at Courtside (what I suspect will be my last venture out there for this stint in Cambridge -- even said my good-byes to Mark the Shark!), and paid a small social call to our director from Mercury.  Really nice experience singing with them in the past couple of weeks.

Day 122: The Max and Irma's of vegetarian food

Down the street from my house lie many restaurants and bars, most of which I have tried several times and few of which remain a mystery to me.  However, one of the newer places to nosh in Central Square, Veggie Galaxy, was a first for me this evening.  After work was our final dress rehearsal for the Mercury Chorus at Sanders Theatre, which was pretty cool.  Got to see a bit “behind-the-scenes”, and singing from the stage was great – it’s got a very interesting lay-out, and the building is beautiful on the inside and out.

I was starved after practice, and D. joined me to wander the streets looking for tasty fare. When the first place he suggested was closing (we realized it was already after 10p), I asked whether that veggie place might still be open – and it was.  Its interior is darling – 50s-style diner, done very tastefully.  We sat in one of the booths placed right in the center (the kind that would drive T. wild, with no side of the booth to the wall).  Even though D. was on-record as not being hungry, he still managed to finish half of  the veggie pot pie that I ordered (which I thought was delicious).

After dinner, I headed out solo to Charlie’s Kitchen to meet up with a group that had convened for T.’s birthday festivities.  Didn’t stay too long, but it was a good scene at another of the diners nearby.  It’s a rare occasion that we experience the diner atmosphere as we usually choose to sit in the beer garden outside in the summer, but it was raining tonight, so the corner table upstairs did us just fine (one of my favorite little spots in Harvard Square – many a nice evening with friends spent there).

Day 118: The hidden outdoors

This blog acts as an existence proof that I really am quite fond of Cambridge.  But I will say this: it could use a bit more green space.  There are some small parks that dot many of the neighborhoods, but it has nothing to counter the likes of Brooklyn's Prospect Park or Boston's Public Garden.  But if you look for it, you can find a few venues which at least have some outdoor seating space (some favorites are of course Charlie's Kitchen in Harvard Square and Daedalus just south of it).

It was only recently that I discovered that The Field, a nearby pub I've always been sort of "meh" about, has a back deck as well.  Its interest to me suddenly went up about ten-fold upon learning this, and so it was there that I might T., and later E., for an after-work and pre-rehearsal drink this afternoon.  We were joined later by one of our more elusive friends who it was good to see, especially as the summer seems to be rapidly coming to a close.

Tonight's Rumors practice was optional, and ended up being mostly filled with goofing off doing characters in various silly voices, but it was sort of nice to have most of the cast together for a night off, not even trying to be all business.  Also nice to bike from The Field to Arlington with E. for the rehearsal - we made a good biking duo, silent-style.

A final surprise came with C. was returning to Boston from a weekend visit to NYC, and wanted to hang out after practice.  We ended up mostly hanging out on my "stoop" (i.e., my fire escape), another "hidden" way to be outdoors in the city.  A very textured day full of good friends.

Day 113: Biking along the Charles

For Day 3 of biking to work, I took the path not through Central and Harvard but rather through Cambridgeport and along the water.  The Charles River has always been my favorite part about the city I live in (I speak loosely hear of course -- I suppose I just mean in gross geographical terms, or something), and I will darn well attempt to see it a lot over the next month.  One time my first summer here I managed to make it out by the MIT sailing dock in time for sunrise -- just gorgeous.

After work, I met E. in our "old place", Thelonius Monkfish in Central, for some sushi -- this time, veggie sushi for me.  (I have never, ever ordered vegetarian sushi before.  What is becoming of me?)

Capitalizing on the nice summer air some more, there was a later venture out to Harvard to the beer garden at Charlie's, and later to a friend's house in Somerville who has something that almost qualifies as a roof deck.  It's definitely a... well a roof.

Boston must be a city with some of the best and most diverse views, honestly.  For having so few really interesting geographic features, to boot -- the river winding through really makes it.

Day 89: The Importance of Resisting Harvard Square

You got to hand it to Cambridge when it comes to blending different "scenes" into one coherent atmosphere. Although I stand staunchly in favor of Central (I've sung its praises here ad infinitum), Harvard Square stands as another strong exemplar of a melting pot.  Amongst the Georgian architecture of the university's buildings roam all sorts of folks between the posh restaurants and shops, the bustle of streets artists and buskers, the crowded college-scene bars, and the tobacco shops.  Among other things.  To be fair, in Harvard Square the upscale outnumbers the tawdry (much more so than in Central -- and hence why Central will always come out on top in my book) -- but these juxtapositions make the roaming and people-watching some of the best in the city.


However, if you're like me, you need to remember that you belong with the tawdry, and not so much with the upscale -- important to remember as I shopped briefly this afternoon looking for one of those rare moments of finding an inexpensive-yet-blow-your-mind-great get-up for this weekend's wedding.  I had a close call a couple of times but managed to resist, so it was a pleasant (if brief) bit of time roaming around the square in the lovely evening weather.

This evening we held practice for Rumors at my place, then did the usual Thursday night sing-a-long at Asgard.  A decent crew amassed and it was fun, but I must admit I did a really hack job of Tracy Chapman.  Going on the to-do list soon (the one that is full of things I wish I had time to do) is doing some re-con on San Diego karaoke spots (clearly the thing that should be at the top of my priority list).

Day 75: Pirates of Penzawesome

Today was certainly a day which turned out much differently from how I expected. My thoughts upon waking were to try to get some chores done, get as much work done as possible, make it to a hair appt. on time, etc., and then go to a Gilbert and Sullivan show at 6p with friends before returning for a bit more work.  I even thought about giving the ticket to a friend, as they were sold out and I knew I wanted to get some work done.

But things don't always go the way we plan them, and so in fact, the day went more like do a few errands, attempt to work but actually just pay some bills, get a (rad!) haircut from a(n even radder!) gal in Harvard Square, return to work, come _back_ to Harvard Square for the show... and then the night took nice summer evening twists.  And I'd venture to say that part of the reason for letting the rest of the evening be such a random-walk is that seeing Pirates of Penzance at the ART's Oberon (as part of the Emerging America festival) was blow-your-mind remind-you-of-why-life-is-awesome awesome.  Plenty of talented folks (singing, acting, dancing, playing their own musical accompaniment on washboards/fiddles/guitars/saws/etc. (!)) -- but the whole vibe was just different and great.  Kids sitting on the floor, the performers moving the audience around, there being no stage whatsoever (except the whole room was the stage), kiddie pools on the tables, beach balls flying through the air... all set to Gilbert and Sullivan's wickedly witty lyrics and tunes.  We were just so darn happy when we walked outside after the show into the beautiful Cambridge evening.

And then lo! and behold, we cross paths with a roving minstrel.  From down the road we heard someone singing one of the sadder of the Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs ("We still dance on whirling stages / In my Busby Berkeley dreams"), and the voice belonged to D., who was busking in Harvard Square in our direct path.  E. and I should know better by now than to be floored by such random run-ins, but we still found it a riot and joined in for a few tunes.... er, well, they were supposed to be tunes (!).  We headed on to dinner shortly and then received word that some friends were heading to a roof deck at a restaurant nearby for drinks, but I stopped to check on the busking scene on the way back and somehow managed to sneak an invite to the "after-party" of a wedding later that evening.

But first, to the roof deck of Daedalus went I to meet the crew from PoP and some other friends.  There was a quite funny scene involved in the evening between some locals (that is, pretty, educated drunk girls) and our crew (that is, E.) which left one of our crew to chuckle and point to her beer glass, which read "Hoegaarden".  It was a good scene, and I felt bad when I had to leave on the early side - because I had to find something decent enough to wear to a wedding after-party.  Honestly I had no idea what a wedding after party even was, nor that it was going to be in a public place at the bar of a hotel (albeit a very fancy hotel with a very nice bar!).  So I figured I might as well wear something moderately fancy, just in case.  The bar at the Ames Hotel, for the record, is an excellent place to roll into solo-style on a Saturday night in a fancy dress and heels, in which to order yourself a white wine, and in which to whip out a novel whilst waiting for your friends to arrive (Sarah B. from the _real_ wedding reception, and D. from god knows where).  The Ames Hotel also appeared to have many eligible young bachelors (including members of a bachelor party) in addition to not just one but two bridal parties.  Fun way to end the night dancing and carrying on in fancy clothes!  Maybe not a bad idea to try it on a random night?

Day 68: Go to Casablanca without leaving Cambridge

In addition to going to Hong Kong without leaving Boston, it is also quite possible to go to Casablanca without leaving Cambridge. I believe this was only my second time going there, which is a shame, as it's quite charming and usually fairly empty. Today, there were too many plans to keep straight (festivals in Central and Harvard, two barbecues, etc.) so I opted for what I thought the simplest option with the highest pay-off would be and bike to get hot dogs to grill at my former housemates' place on Plymouth St. near Inman.  After walking there with T. and spending a couple of hours chatting, etc. (in the it-was-supposed-to-be-beautiful-but-instead-it's-kinda-blah weather), we decided to rejoin the rest of our crew in Harvard Square, where they had attempted to enjoy the music festival but found more solace in enjoying Charlie's beer garden.  By the time we got there, people were ready to head to Brattle St. for some Casablanca action.

After a drink or two and some appetizers, it was apparently time for bbq #2 (a "not-the-father's-day"-themed bbq, no less), located in East Cambridge -- a bit of a hike.  We took a cab, and the end of the evening was apparently quite lovely (with lots of food and sing-a-long), but I missed a portion in favor of going to Courtside (seriously like 2 blocks away -- how could I resist?). But the end of the night involved reconnecting with friends and making some new ones, so all in all, a very nice (and actually somewhat relaxing) Saturday.

Day 63: Club Passim

Tonight took a few twists that I wasn't prepared for, but it ended up being a quite lovely evening. All day I had been excited about going to Club Passim in Harvard Square, a place which feels kind of old-timey to me -- you go, you sit, you have some food and some drink, and you listen to music being performed on a stage.  It's underground, but I find it funny that it really does *not* have a night-club feel, probably mostly due to the fact that the only music I've ever seen performed there is either folk or Celtic tunes.

Tonight it was Celtic tunes, with the Boston Celtic Music festival folks.  I didn't realize it would be like this, but it ended up being 11 really short acts over the course of about three hours, which was nice.  Many of the acts were duos, one a father and daughter pairing (the daughter was 12!).  It ranged from pipe and fiddle couplings to a 9-person ensemble to a solo a cappella voice, but it was all Celtic music and all lovely. As a bonus, our table won a few of the raffle items including two CDs and an Irish drum (!).

Just before I was heading out to Club Passim, I got a message that a friend was having a birthday gathering at Grafton St., an Irish "pub" (strong word -- it's way too fancy for that really) also located in Harvard Square. So Passim ended up being sandwiched between hanging out with birthday boy and co. before and after, and at the end of the evening we had a nightcap at another friend's place.

Day 41: The Arboretum.

Today was going to be completely a waste, or so I thought when I woke up at 11. Excessive awake-ness lasted throughout yesterday night to this morning until about 8am, when I finally finished uploading pictures from the scavenger-hunt-to-end-all-scavenger-hunts.  However, surprisingly enough, it was by no means a waste.  Around noon, I got a message from my former housemate inviting me to do something low-key and outdoors-y, and we settled on going to the arboretum -- neither of us had ever been before.  E. came with, and the three of us drove out past JP to the Arnold Arboretum and climbed to the moderately tall hills, one spiraling upward, one a straight shot.  With a couple of rest stops under some weeping-willow-esque hemlock trees of some sort (so perfect they looked like Disney World fakes, honestly), and a nice view of the city at the top, it was a very pleasant afternoon.

Afterwards, I headed back to do some work outside with my old housemate, who still lives in my former back yard which is beautiful this time of year -- it has a garden and pluot tree! Then I met up with some girls from my class at MIT whom I hadn't seen in awhile. We headed to Park, the new restaurant by the Kennedy School that I tried a couple of weeks ago.  The risotto did not disappoint, and the company was lovely. Finally managed to make it an early night, mostly out of desperation!

Day 31: Park

Today I had the happy circumstance of meeting an old acquaintance, who is really a friend of friends, at a new establishment in Cambridge. He works at the Kennedy School at Harvard (public policy) and alerted me to the fact that this place had emerged as a rival to Russell House Tavern down the road, home of the illustrious fried poached egg.  The left side is actually a different bar/restaurant, hosting leather couches, bookshelves, and the feeling that pipes should be obligatory.  The rest has a cozy yet stylish restaurant feel, with so many nooks and crannies that you never feel you've seen the whole place.

By the time I got there (late, of course, because I was coming from desperately trying to catch up on work), we were both hungry, so he got the meat pie of the day (slow-roasted beef in mushroom/wine sauce) and I got the clam chowder.  We had a leisurely meal, complete with drinks (of course -- I tried the Fireside Poet) and a lovely chat.  Afterward, I ended up heading to meet E. at his friend's house -- a roommate was having a goodbye party as she is leaving to go back to Germany, back home -- and since our karaoke hookup in Boston said the place was sketch, we ended up hanging around in Cambridgeport for a bit before venturing back toward Central (read: my home) and ending up with our very favorite live karaoke band, B-11.  Though we didn't get to sing (showed up too late), it was still a good time.  Another beautiful, random Cambridge summer evening.

Day 25: Shay's

Something like two or three weeks ago, I was at Charlie's Kitchen with T. & H., and someone mentioned that Charlie's was not the only bar in Harvard Square with an outdoor seating area.  Charlie's has a huge beer garden, but apparently, there was another location called Shay's which had a smaller, but nice, outdoor area or porch.

H. claimed to really like Shay's; T. abhorred it. I couldn't quite understand whether it was supposed to be divey or classy - T. said it was a "shit show", H. said it was a "lovely wine bar." You can imagine my confusion and intrigue. 

When my roommate suggested we go there after work today, I leapt at the chance. It turns out, both friends were right: Shay's is a cozy, cluttered, basement-level bar with steps leading up to a small outdoor patio.  The night was chilly, so few people were out, making the inside even more cramped.  Honestly it was what I felt like one of the bars in Diagon Alley might have felt like -- everything lopsided.  For looking like such a dive, though (in such a wonderful way, mind you), there was quite an extensive wine list, and prices weren't cheap.  I'll have to explore more thoroughly, soon.

Day 24: The Wrong Campus Pub

Today, a friend of mine dissertated (!) and now has a Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard.  Pretty sweet.

I couldn't make it to the actual defense because I had to work, but of course there were festivities afterward.  So after work, I headed over to Harvard's Campus to the Queen's Head, Harvard's answer to some combination of the Muddy Charlies and the Thirsty Ear (the "other" on-campus pub at MIT).  It turns out my memory had just re-written itself, overwriting "Cambridge Common" with Queen's Head. For so many reasons, Queen's Head was the Wrong Campus Pub.

I figured my mistake out pretty quickly thanks to my helpful friends who were already at the right location, and much fete-ing was done for the dissertee.  In fact, JR and I managed to persuade a big group of folks out for live-band karaoke later in the evening.  But while I was still at the Wrong Campus Pub, so many Wrong things happened. It's located in the basement of Memorial Hall (pictured above), and as you can see even with my crap-camera-phone shot, it's a lovely old building (albeit a shortened version of a lovely old building, according to the story whereby the Cambridge fire station located across the street sees a part of Harvard burning and lets it burn, an answer to a many-years-old standing feud between Cambridge at-large and Harvard at-small).  In the basement, there are some pretty narrow halls that contain several extra tables where one can drink beer purchased in the pub, but there is not much room between the walls of the pub and the exterior walls of the building.  For some reason, some Harvard folks decided it would be a great idea not only to throw some sort of rather-obnoxious-and-flamboyant-Oscar-Wilde-style-dramatic-music-ky thing inside the pub, but also to have its cast members darting back and forth wildly amongst beer drinkers in the hall.

So thing number 24 that is right with Cambridge is how deliciously *wrong* Harvard can be.  (But then again, it is, more often, right. :))

Day 18: The Beer Garden

I know I have mentioned it in a number of posts, but the beer garden at Charlie's Kitchen is the real show-stealer in Harvard Square. From what I hear, it is actually one of two locations in H. Square with outdoor seating in the summer, though also from what I hear, the other place "is a shitshow."  I supposed I'll report back on that at some point this summer.

Anyhow, if it's one of those first nice spring days, it's going to be packed -- and so worth waiting for a seat. Tonight was one of those nights where someone sent out an impromptu emailing saying she'd be there at 6p, and people crawled out of the woodwork for some open-air celebration in a cozy back corner outdoors, a few of us crouching on the steps leading up to a higher-level street.  For once I didn't get my standby order - grilled cheese on white. Only two places in C-bridge top Charlie's grilled cheese, and that is only because they come with tomato soup.  It is sort of the perfect meal.

Methinks the MIT sailing pavilion will open soon... sailing is definitely on the bucket list for this summer.  I sort of want to get an actual bucket. And make a list on it. Or in it. And carry it around with me for when I have new ideas.

Day 16: Extension School

Since today was the last lecture (for me, anyhow), for my biology class, I figured I'd might as well use it as an excuse to voice my enthusiasm for the Harvard Extension School. Honestly, I didn't think the class (second semester of first-year bio for pre-meds/bio majors) was as well-taught as the first-semester bio class I took while an undergrad, but it was still very well done. In particular, the teaching fellow who teaches my lab section is fantastic. Harvard Extension is generally just pretty good because the profs teaching the classes are typically post-docs (or perhaps sometimes even graduate students?) at Harvard, and they know their business, yet the classes are extremely affordable. I've mentioned this class to several people I know from many walks of life in Cambridge, and many of them have had similarly good experiences there over the years. Kudos to you, Extension School.

A few days back I posted about the last lab, which was embryo development in zebrafish. I was telling my mom about how cool it was, and a day or so later she sent me a video of a mathematician/imager giving a Ted Talk on human development. I finally watched it today and, apart from the guy using the word "divine" a bit too often, I must say -- how cool.

Next week, we have our last lab, and the following is technically the last lecture, but I will be in Indiana for a visit involving my middle sister's graduation. In fact, my original tentative calculation of 144 days in Cambridge may now be a little bit off, because I'm going home for a whole week... may have to fudge the numbers a bit, woops!

Day 15: Cambridge Post Office

You might think that lauding a post office is a strange way to show appreciation for one's city, but that is what is going to happen in this post. Today is April 17, but due to the 15th being a Sunday and (presumably) Patriot's / Marathon day being important enough to disallow Monday the 16th from being considered a real work day, Tax Day 2012 fell on this very date. Meaning that when I realized I was still at work at 6:45 and hadn't mailed my checks in to the IRS / Massachusetts tax office, and that the lone blue mailbox down the street already had collection at 1pm, I felt like I was probably screwed. A friend kindly let me know that the post office in Central Square had its last collection at 7pm, and I jumped in my car (affectionately know as Yoshi, or, in comparison to my green bicycle, "blue Yoshi") and hauled you-know-what down Concord from work to Mass Ave. After a brief foray into Cambridgeport in a failed attempt to find parking, I briefly stashed my car (hazards on) in a handicapped spot and sprinted to the front doors of the quite (British sense here) epic Cambridge Post Office, where a woman opened the door to my pounding, asked, "Are these stamped?", and, upon affirmation, happily took the two envelopes from me for mailing postmarked the 17th. Crisis avoided!


Apart from madly dashing around to the post office (albeit dashing with happy ending), today's other joys included waking up to find my car had been towed. Granted, I had parked in front of someone's driveway, the irony of which lies in the fact that I had also parked in front of a fence, which under normal circumstances would have been fine. Except for the fact that the fence opens, and it has a driveway behind it. Mostly I'm including this tidbit to acknowledge the fact that I do not find Cambridge to be perfect all of the time. But isn't that part of its charm? After the bus ride to Pat's Towing (of course the car had to be taken to the not-quite-walkable spot in Somerville, rather than the towing service in Cambridge just up the block), my drive in to work was also filled with some Cambridge "joy", being honked at by cars who appeared to be doing nothing other than trying to hit my car. I like that, you know -- honking just to show that really, the car should have just been running in to me, because it was too impatient.

At any rate, the end of this rather frantic day was nice, culminating in a beer outside in Charlie's Kitchen's beer garden, which I must admit I felt was rather well deserved.

Day 13: Bloc 11

This past year I have finally felt like the pieces that make up my understanding of the jigsaw puzzle of Cambridge and surrounding cities have been clicking more rapidly. Not only can I navigate Harvard Square (for example), but I know how it connects with Fresh Pond, Inman, and Central. And recently, I'd say that I can add Union Square to the puzzle. I've been there several times, but mostly by car or perhaps even bike. Today I walked, and I must admit that I was shocked at how short a walk it was and a bit embarrassed at how rarely I get up there.

In particular, I was looking for a new coffee place that would be good for studying, and a friend reminded me of Bloc 11. I had been there before, but not in ages, and I didn't remember that they had (gasp!) outdoor seating. Since it has been so gorgeous, this made my day. It also turns out that their coffee is pretty good, too :).

Another thing learned today pre-studying was that at 3pm, it is nearly impossible to find lunch on a Sunday in between Central and Harvard - Cellar, Plough & Stars, Mass Ave cafe all out. However, People Republik will serve you -- but at that point you might as well just walk back the way you came (either Harvard or Central would do) because although People's Republik is a lovely place to enjoy a beverage, they haven't quite figured out how to accompany those with pub fare. Not hating, though, I promise.

Day 9: Harvard Coop

This morning on my way to work I very responsibly stopped by the Harvard Coop to pick up some lab goggles (which I had neglected to purchase before the heart dissection lab a few weeks ago, woops) for my biology class. Today we examined and stained some zebrafish embryos / larvae (see, for example, Mr. Z above -- I swear, the one we stained was identical to that image, which blew me away). I was pretty sure I was going to find this horribly dull, but it turns out that I find embryo development (at least of zebrafish) to be rather fascinating. And they do it all in like *two days* (well, almost).

Anyhow, the venture this morning into the Coop reminded me of how much I like it. I entered through the Brattle St. side entrance today, but entering the main drag off of Mass Ave is like entering into the library from the Disney animated version of Beauty and the Beast. It's seriously old-school, floor-to-ceiling books around the entire store, and if you're standing behind the cash register on the second floor looking out the front entrance, it's a pretty damn good view too.

I was also reminded of how Harvard includes MIT in its Coop in a special section: "Harvard graduate schools and MIT apparel". MIT doesn't do that for Harvard :)

Day 4: BBN

Not that I don't go to work every day, but today I decided that I am pretty darn lucky to have my job, so much so that I should include it early on. I work in the northwest part of Cambridge (close to Fresh Pond). While the route from mid-Cambridge (where I live) to this area of Cambridge north of Harvard Square is not the most beautiful, there are very many beautiful things around the workplace itself. Fresh Pond is a reservoir, so it's not possible to go very close to the water, but the paths surrounding it are constantly filled with joggers and bikers (and lots of dogs!) making it a quite scenic location for a picnic lunch. However, if the short trek to Fresh Pond seems ambitious, my workplace also provides its employees with a lovely area outside of the building, complete with the shade of some trees and many picnic tables.

This evening was the wonderful kind of evening where you don't quite know what will happen, and something beautiful emerges. Several people ended up convening at a friend's house in Medford, where there was grilling and chatting and, most of all, singing! It turns out that evening the most casual of singers among us was cutthroat at the board game we played called Encore, where teams battle to show they can come up with the most songs based on a single word or category.

But more on beautiful Medford some other time.... and likely, more on the venue of the night's final events, which involved dancing (which has been done before and will be done again) in Harvard Square, followed by a surprisingly delicious bout of midnight Chinese. Well done, Hong Kong.

Day One: Futurity

I was waiting in the doctor's office this afternoon, my Kindle recently broken and my smart phone left in the car, and I pulled out my decrepit moleskine (which has doubled as a wallet in recent months) and a pen. I like to make lists, so I started calculating exactly how many days I have left in Cambridge, MA. First I totaled up the days I'll be gone in the coming months on various trips -- home for my sister's graduation, in WV for a family reunion, in NH for the July 4 weekend, etc. -- and then I added up the remaining days in the months from April to September where I'd be around.

Wouldn't you know, the number of days was a lovely one -- 144, or the square of my favorite number. As I'm always looking for reasons to keep track of things in an organized, fun way, I decided I'd make a blog that I'd try to stick to. It will also give me a way to organize pictures from the last few months in Cambridge (and a reason to take pictures!).

I suppose I guess I'll treat this as a count-up (to the end of the 144 days), rather than a countdown. Seems more climactic that way. So, today is day 1.

And tonight I am going with some friends to a show at the ART, a place near and dear to Cantabrigians who frequent Harvard Square. The show is called Futurity, and as a friend of mine put it, it's a "futuristic, humanistic, steam-punk musical." What's not to love? There will be 12 of us in attendance tonight. I'll try to post a picture later.