Pupcakes

Yep, pupcakes.

I headed into Harvard Square today to pick up some things from Staples and stopped at Sweet. And no, I didn't order a pupcake. They didn't have catcakes.

That and getting a business card for a free psychic reading was about it for the day.

Museum for lunch

So today was orientation -- which really isn't worth talking about unless you're planning on working at Harvard and need information on their benefits packages. Anyway, it was only a half day, which gave me a nice chance to actually get out for lunch.

So I went across the street to the Harvard Museum of Natural History, something I've been wanting to do since I interviewed.

I think I'm going to be spending a lot of time there, probably with a sketchbook. The place is packed end to end with stuffed specimens, including the most gigantic bull giraffe I've ever seen. There are bison, and elephants, and tasmanian tigers, and monkeys, and birds, and a big old moose (but no elk). There was a lion cub that reminded me a lot of Punkin. And if you're not paying attention and you suddenly look up, you're startled by full-sized whale skeletons.

Then there are fossils of prehistoric animals, including cynodonts, sloths, dinosaurs, fish, and several horse variants.

There's a whole hall full of minerals of every sort, including meteorites and a giant amethyst.

But the most famous display is the Glass Flowers. These were commissioned by the University between 1887 and 1936 and are about the weirdest things I've ever seen. You go into this room full of glass cases that appear to be full of impressively preserved flowers.

They're not.

They're glass.

There's nothing special about the technique or anything like that, they're made just like any other glass piece, but there's amazing artistry, the truly look real. Along with all the plant replicas, there are a number of magnified plant parts -- petals, fruit, and other structures. Some of the plants even show evidences of damage (meaning damage to the plants, not the glass, though there's some of that, too, there has been some damage over time and there was restoration work done. Only to be expected with glassworks that old). The one pictured above is the fig.

Anyway, they're pretty wild. If anyone comes out this way I'll take you to see them.

Next up, the Peabody Anthropological Museum.

License plate-ass

Something you notice as soon as you get out on the streets around here is that nobody bothers to pay any attention to those weird light thingies that they've got attached to the poles at all the intersections.

You know, the one with the red hand and the little sprinting guy.

Around here, all pedestrians go around like they've got a license plate pinned to their hind ends. I haven't seen anyone who actually does have one on their trousers, but I wouldn't rule it out. The little sprinting guy means cross -- this is true even if you last saw him while you were at the previous intersection. Flashing red hand means run so you can get one foot in the road before the cars start rolling forward. And a solid red hand... well, that means that you should maybe at least glance down the street before stepping into traffic.

And the people in cars, while they might be ready to cut each other off, all assume that you're going to cross in front of them. So if you don't, you feel a bit of a twit.

The scary thing is that it took all of about five minutes for me to start walking like this, too. For one thing, if you don't, don't expect to get anywhere -- you'll never get a walk signal long enough to cross a street, and if you do, it's because you waiting twenty minutes for it.

Just try not to get smushed. It's simple.

Creativity

This is why I need to go microwave-dish shopping.

I then removed the peas and heated a can of soup.

Hey, it worked.

But yeah, it's a good illustration of how I'm having to play some games to fill some gaps in housekeeping supplies. The kitchen seems to be seeing the worst of it.

Of course, the good news is that canning jars are incredibly versatile. So are paper towels. And the cats double as floor rags when necessary.

Pockets

Just have to say, the person who invented the toast-pocket-maker should be canonized. Really.

But I do need to come up with other types of pockets to make, because, frankly, mozzarella and pepperoni pockets will eventually get old.

First days

Well, there it is.

My door.

The first two days were like first days everywhere -- you meet a lot of people, go a lot of places, and immediately forget everything you did. And you don't do any real work.

I guess that's not totally true. I did write a press release and do some editing and image research. Not my usual stuff, but at least I could be helpful. That's one of the nice things about the having a position like I do, there are things that you can pick up that don't require a ton of access or specific training.

Tomorrow I get some training in Plone. Not sure when I'll actually get under the hood on that one. I'm also tracking down some info on a mobile dev product, so there may be an app in my future as well.

For the Wolf folks out there, I met up with AWolf2B (Or KitsuneWolf, elsewhere) briefly this evening. She's up here, too, and they're definitely keeping her busy.

So they have 500 sq feet to roam and this is what they do.

I guess now we're going to have an illustrated blog.

Mom and Dad had decided to stay two nights, to get a chance to see some things. Just as a heads up, one day isn't enough time to see anything up here, especially if you're already tired and not moving fast. We did walk down through Harvard Yard (where you cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, pahk your cah).

There was one place I absolutely had to take them: Cardullo's in Harvard square. It's hard to explain. It's like a deli or a market, but it's more than that. I'd scouted this place out before, and had suspected that they knew their cheeses. Boy did they. Mom and Dad ended up taking out a second mortgage to buy some Ramano, Brie, and a table cheese I'd never seen before, Piave.

Thursday evening we went out for Japanese in Porter Square. I guess no one was feeling adventurous (well, I was trying not to break the bank, or I might have ordered sushi) because we all ordered the tempura (good stuff though).

I think what I'm liking the most up here is the subways. They're kind of a $2 a pop amusement park ride to me. They certainly aren't a comfortable form of travel, and that turn coming into Harvard Square Station makes me sure we're going to start off-roading (off-railing, whatever) any time, but I thoroughly enjoy the trips anyway.

I took the train down to MIT today to go to a large mall. Nice place. It's near the Charles River, and I think the big fountain in front actually is in some sort of channel off the river -- the water certainly smelled like river water, anyway.

Well, I'm here

And here is Cambridge (no, not the one in Ohio). 

I don't know if I'll keep this up or not, but here's to trying.  The general idea here is to chronicle my time in the Boston area.  The name comes from the fact that I'm known by my Irish Setter logo/avatar around the internet and my natural habitat is the countryside... well, the setter's gone to the city.

I'm not going to be a tour guide, I'm too much a home body for that sort of thing, but I'm going to try and write something up when something interesting happens.

The trip out here from home was 13 hours, and we did it in two days.  I lucked into a hotel that took pets, or we'd have had to try it in one day, which, while possible if you're landing somewhere you can collapse at immediately, isn't exactly a good idea if you need to unload a uHaul when you get there.

The cats turned out to be excellent travelers --- though they did their best to try and convince me that the trip was going to be a disaster right off the bat.  It had been recommended that I haul them in the same box, for security.  Well, I tried that.  I can't be sure, but I think Honey sat on Punkin's head, whereupon Punkin tried to rip off Honey's rear end.  This happened in the driveway, before I even got the cage in the car.

Needless to say, they went into separate cages after that.

Two days and they didn't want food, water, or access to the facilities.  These are the same cats who just about knock me over when I go for the food bin.   Cats are weird.

The trip itself was uneventful (except for snow and rain in Cleveland) and me trying to direct Mom to the wrong exit on a traffic circle.

(Continued tomorrow.  I hope.)