I know it's been a while since I last rapped at ya, but things have been pretty damn busy for the D-man. The APS meeting in Baltimore was overall a sucess - getting my nanocar talk out of the way Monday was probably my favorite part (as apposed to a Friday talk last year), though there were some good talks to attend as well. Veeco (a company that makes AFMs) had a good free dinner for its users on Tuesday. Wednesday had a free lunch with (a very nice) Dr. Krim of N.C. State and a good group dinner in little Italy, followed by a good deal of drinking with some labbies and other friends. Thursday, while the morning was about attending promising talks that only disappointed, will primarily be remembered for the Baltimore Aquarium and its fire alarm that vacated the building after we'd been inside only a few minutes. Things ended early at APS on Friday, and I trained back down to BWI to pick up my rental car. I caved, and for only $5 extra a day rented a Dodge Charger.
I then went up to see my college roomate Josh and his wife Jaime in NJ, where we went out for dinner before Josh and I trained in to Manhattan to meet up with Julie and see a Cyro Baptista show. It completely rocked, but the best explanation I can offer is that with the 8-10 extra percussionists on stage with him, it was like a high-energy stomp show with lots of household and random objects as percussion instruments. Really really cool.
Saturday was all about a lazy morning with Dunkin Donuts before going back into the city to meet up with Julie again and just wander around. The farmer's market and various parks were fun, as was making fun of the dogs in the dog park, and the entire day was permeated by more donuts. We then met up with a cool friend of Julie's in a middle-eastern restaurant / hookah lounge before catching up with Jaime and eating sushi before seeing Josh's show. It's really cool to see my college roomate with an off-Broadway show he composed. Called "I Love You Because" it was really funny and all around just a fantastic show. I really like knowing smart, successful, talented people. How lucky am I?
After some tasty chocolate cake in a bakery on Bleeker St, and Josh and Jaime went their separate ways, Julie and I met up with her friend Matt and went to a Complacency party called I (heart) danger. In a Brooklyn warehouse, it was fantastically cool, filled with great people and relatively good dancing music. I didn't make it to bed before 5. Now that's a sign of a good night. Sunday was mostly just lazy, including some Wallace and Gromit, shopping, and more eating of good food (a common theme throughout the week.)
All in all the weekend was awesome, but Monday sucked donkey balls. The short version follows:
/rant on
I woke up at 5:45 in Manhattan to walk 20 blocks in 28 degree windy weather to catch an hour-long train to Josh's house in NJ and my rental car so i could leave by 8. (had to return the car by 12 at BWI to save $40.) I made good time but got a ticket on the NJTurnpike for speeding - trying to pass dangerous assholes who had been messing with me for the past 8-10 miles. I returned my car by 11:30, tried to get 2 early flights, but both were overbooked, so i ended up wasting 6 hours in the airport. I gave up my extra legroom bulkhead seat for a stupid mother who can't plan ahead enough to get seats with her 2 small children, and got shafted with a middle seat that didn't recline between a fat angry man and an insanely talkative pregnant woman, behind a beligerant gold-toothed mother who kept smashing her seat into my knees (even after i yelled at her to stop) and whose stupid kids, when they weren't crying, were reaching their hands through the seat gaps to grab at whatever was on my tray. And to top it all off, after the flight from hell, I didn't get home till 11 because Continental lost my luggage.
/rant off
I'm glad it's not Monday any more.
I did get my luggage back, so that's good, but I still don't know how much my ticket's going to be for. NJ doesn't put the amount on the actual citation, and the website listed doesn't have the info yet.
I've been writing this intermittently while doing some data analysis for a paper I'm writing (hopefully for PRL) so I apologize for it's insane length and potential disjointedness. I'll try to include some links and pics in a little while, but for now all you get is the text. HA!
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