Last week or so

So, the last week or so as promised:

Last weekend, had HAL from Indianer out here for a job interview at GJM’s (as of last week) ex-company, nothing definitive just yet, but everything sounds positive. We decided that when/if everything gets definitive, it would be cool to live together at the new place. We’re already talking about what kinds of servers to set up, and the joy that apparently is MythTV. Sunday we went out to grab a bite, and then on finishing realized, “hey, we’re pretty close to Davis”, so we got on the T, prowled through the Harvard science center (drat, the vintage scientific gear room was closed again), around the vicinity of MIT, then from there, along the Charles toward Boston proper. Then realized, “hey, we’re pretty close to JR’s place”, so I called up and see what they were up to there, and next thing you know, we’re all going out to the harbor islands. This was cool. Unfortunately I didn’t think to bring my camera (we were just going for a bite, remember :P) so phone-cam will have to do. We climbed around a fort for a bit, then walked all along the beach, played around in tide pools, and had a seal pup come right up to us on the beach and bask in the sun for a while. This was soo cute. Kind of unusual though, so I’m not sure if it was sick or just accustomed to humans. I ended up with one heck of a sunburn that soon turned into a good ol’ farmer’s tan.

Through the week, helping GJM move out and taking care of some housing stuff. Ok, so it’s officially happening. Thursday night I was idly poking around on Craigslist for powertools for my soon-to-be basement, and came across this strange, space-saving 3-in-1 rotating tool table for sale. It’s kind of like a vertically-oriented Lazy Susan for miter saws, drill presses, bench grinders, etc. Turn a handle and one tool pops to the top, with the other two are stowed beneath. This thing’s far too big to fit in my car, so I borrow my boss’s truck, grab some directions from Google Maps (tip: do not try this in New England) and proceed to get bass-ackwardly lost in the vicinity of Dorchester (Roslindale) at night. Finally get done with that stuff after 11 or so, leaving just enough time to pack, sleep a few hours and then bust ass for the airport.

The only direct flight out that morning left at 6:something AM (can’t get there by T, which starts running at 5:something) and its pricing had, shall we say, a high coefficient of ridiculosity, so I decided what the hell, I’ll take a chance on this one with a connection in Atlanta. Ah yeah, now I remember why I don’t do that. Every flight was 45 minutes or more late except the connecting flight, per Murphy’s Law 101. So this turned into six hours sitting around the Atlanta airport, thumb firmly up ass. It turns out the alternative may not have been much better; as we boarded (delayed), the 6am flight was still standing at the next gate, previously surrounded by not less than four fire trucks. Apparently there was a “strong smell of smoke” in the cabin before landing, so the fire crews went out to investigate, and apparently, after much dawdling around, couldn’t find anything wrong. It sounded like whoever was in change of getting them a new plane didn’t wanna, and was telling them to just keep using this one, smoke of unknown origin and all. The last thing I saw was the pilots had gotten out, walked the plank back to the terminal, and were personally laying down the law in front of a terminal full of passengers. “we’re going to be delayed a bit longer while we find a new aircraft, and talk to whoever we need to talk to to get it done… (explains smoke and everything) … we are NOT flying this plane!”

Actual 4th of July week stuff will be written up later, probably when I get back :P


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