Parrot Mimosas

The local brunch joint of choice, Johnny D's, offers a free, handmade, ceramic, parrot-shaped mug to anyone that drinks two mimosas out of one during the course of their meal.  I'm not sure how I keep getting talked into these things... but the Acetarium has a new drinking vessel.

The Boston Heymarket

Imagine the bustling atmosphere of a farmer's market combined with the grime of a dumpster, and you have the Boston Heymarket.  One dollar buys you two pounds of tomatoes, three pounds of plums, or five pounds of onions.  Between the tents there are a variety of meats and cheeses offered for similarly head-scratching prices.  Mako, Mika, Eric, and his girlfriend Joan ended up hauling about ten pounds of produce for not much more than 15 dollars. 

There are precious few circumstances where it's just not worth it to ask yourself "why".  This is one of them.

Evening

Too tired for details.  Met up with Ari, Greg, and others, which was rad, at a Malaysian restaurant (should be called Euaysian because it was neither bad nor evil).  Ice cream at Toscaninis, omg, turkish mocha ice cream.  I get why people are so obsessed with ice cream over here.

Alex's travel advice tip #1:　While it may at first seem an appropriate substitute, you can't make a white russian with soy milk.

Subway

Im like a little kid when it comes to trains. What is it about railed
transport that just screams "fun"?

I was hoping to see the Red sox play tonight , but standing room
tickets are going for upwards of 80 dollars.

which reminds me of an ad I just saw...

Evening

I accomplished very little today.  I happily blame this on the either jet lag, humidity, or the fact that the new iPhone firmware came in the early afternoon.  One of the three.

I did take a quick stroll around the Tufts campus, though.  It's a nice campus-- A mix of old and new Harvard Brick buildings surrounded by old, well-kept townhouses.

I met up with Mika at Porter Square for bubble tea at the Japanese mall and (eventually) dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant.  I know there's nothing more touristy than complaining about slow service, but just don't go there if you're in a hurry, or even if you have any obligations whatsoever for the next several weeks.

After:  Ice cream in the rain from Emack's.  Apparently it's the origin of Emacs' unusual name.  RMS enjoys their ice cream.

It's nice to have a few days like this to remind yourself why obligations aren't always bad things.

Evening

Following the conclusion of my self-guided tour of MIT, I met up with Mako in the Media Lab.  For any moderately nerdy person, the MIT Media Lab is like an amusement park-- except that instead of being staffed by haggard, underpaid immigrants, it's staffed by nerdy types who seem to love their jobs.  I, for one, would much rather pay for a tour of the Media Lab than the MIT Museum.  And, of course, admission to Disneyland, but that goes without saying.

It wasn't all good, though, as I sat in for an unenlightening talk about online social networking.  I honestly can't remember anything from the lecture (except for "don't tase me bro"), but I'm willing to bet it wasn't one of the better ones.

Mako and I walked across the street to the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) Lab, where I met many of the previously faceless handles I know from IRC.  Dozens (hundreds?) of green XO laptops occupied the desks, walls, and ceilings (suspended by hooks). Again, everyone seemed to have legitimate interest in their jobs.  As well they should-- The OLPC is one of the most compelling tech projects out there.

Several of the developers, Mako, Mika, and myself went out to Grasshopper,a vegan Chinese restaurant that I can't possibly recommend highly enough.  Similar to Bhudda's Delight in that they served familiar dishes with vegan "meat", it had a more contemporary flare that might remind Seattle readers of a Chinese-themed Araya's.  I suggest the orange "chicken" called No Name.

We finished the night off with a beer and a strawberry shortcake at the nearby Deep Ellum, then took the bus/subway back home.

Oh my god I cant believe I missed this

This is why waking up early can actually be a good thing:

http://us.m.yahoo.com/p/search/event;_ylt=AvE.IJ1BLEcF1tKmWdUXsmUh.0sJ?id=67671868

Whew

Long day at the MIT museum. I learned a lot, though. The first thing
I learned: How painfully inadequate I am compared to the average MIT
student.

Check out all the pictures I took.

Too hot

Why didn't anyone tell me about this?  So much for packing long underwear...

I'm off to check out the MIT museum today.  Pictures forthcoming.  Also, if anyone in the greater Boston area is interested in beer, let me know.  I think there might have to be a Sam Adams brewery tour in the future.

I'll be staying at The Acetarium for the next several days.  Thanks to Mako and Mika for being great hosts.

The miracle of flight

Switching planes is overrated. This MD-88 is noisy, smelly, and shakey. I guess it's mostly because im sitting near the engines (and therefore the lavatories), but it seems like the plane itself just isnt as nice as the last one. For example, there's no entertainment, and there's a bit less legroom. Also, the windows have some condensation on them, which (for a nervous passenger like myself) doesn't inspire confidence. Finally, and perhaps most shockingly, the wings are being held on by scotch tape and a bit of wood glue. Instead of engines, there are a series of helium balloons tied to the fuselage. The craft is drifting aimlessly along the prevailing wind currents into the middle of the Atlantic ocean.

One thing I like about it though is that its not full-- I have two seats to myself.

circling.

For 20 minutes.  Why does jfk have to be so popular today???

uh

I'm flyiing over Helena Montana right now. how do I know this, you ask? Delta's new 757s have a very nice entertainment center in the back of every seat. For the curious, the flight indormation program displays stats (in Spanish, for some reason) including airspeed, altitude, outside air twperature, wind, and estimated arrival time. it switches between this and a gps map that updates every 16 seconds or so.

ok, back to watching espn. if the satelite works.

7:00

7:00 is too early to fly. there's no reason to be up right now.

Sea tac still does not have free wifi- they do however have a deal with tully's to secure their normally free network. How convenient!

flight leaves in 50 minutes. Maybe I'll rearrange my bag or something.

Rollin' Eurostyle with Alex "Money" Ose: A Guide for the Travling PUA

According to my latest degree audit, I've officially completed all my college courses-- Just three months late! That's something I feel I can be tremendously proud of. Oh, that magic feeling.

My next step is to backpack through Europe. Here is a rough outline for those of you who want to follow my progress over the coming weeks.

On September 25, I'll be taking off from Sea-Tac towards Boston. After a short layover in New York, I'll be arriving at Logan Airport around 6:00pm.

After about a week in Boston, I will be bussing to New York to catch a dubious dublin-bound value flight scheduled for October 2nd.

I'm spending at least one night in Dublin, then boarding a € 0.01 (!) flight to Heathrow. I hope to stay in London for about two weeks.

From London, I'll be flying to Stockholm, then travelling through Linkoping en route to Berlin, Hamburg, and (ultimately) Amsterdam.

From here, my plans are up in the air, but probably will include eastern Europe and Dubai.

During my travels I hope to write prodigiously. Expect frequent updates at this address and wikitravel.org. I'm also experiementing with ways for the public to track my location (probably via GPS). Overall, you're going to be so entertained that you'll almost forget that you're sitting unkemptly at your computer wearing a bathrobe, wolfing down all of the miniature packages of bugles you took from the office breakroom before you were laid off five months ago.

Photos

My daily photos can now be found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/91386309@N00/ . Thanks to Chris Lee's fabulous MobilePushr, I will be able to update my photos very frequently.