Venturing further East....

Lured Eastward by a conference in Boston - a chance to see old friends from grad school. An amazing concentration of Seattle folks there. Incredibly good for my sanity to spend time with some of my closest friends from those days. Turns out none of us have changed much - just tack on a career or spouse and some kids. It was both inspiring and terrifying, science-wise. There are a whole pile of talented, productive, motivated folks out there looking for the same jobs...

I fled an impending ice storm and headed to the coast to see some friends currently living in Newport, RI. I won't start in on how much I miss the coast - a couple days scoping out boats, smelling salt, tracking sand everywhere and enjoying the wind instilled a little bit of landlocked panic at the thought of heading back to central PA, but was well worth it. Am also a fully converted fan of "stuffies" - quahog clam minced with chorizo and other goodness and smooshed back into the shell for a good bake...

Beth and I checking out old America's Cup boats and trying to avoid being blown into Narragansett Bay

Waiting for our stuffies and bisque...

Back with a few days before classes start - I'm pretty sure that Christmas break should be at least 2 months...