Labor Day Weekend, etc.
I had to finish up a report and do some things around the apartment that I hadn't had time for, with orientation going on and staying at work until all hours, so I decided to leave for Philadelphia on Saturday morning. I also figured that that way I would miss the vast majority of the Labor Day traffic. After extensive consultation with Karilyn, who knows every single highway in the Massachusetts-New Jersey corridor, I decided to actually follow the directions Yahoo gave me, because they were quite possibly the best directions I have ever gotten when using Yahoo. So I got up quite early on Saturday and headed out on the road, where there was zero traffic. Awesome! I went down Connecticut to New Haven and then took a rather bumpy ride on 95 into NYC - aww, NYC - and I, the person most afraid of driving through and in cities, actually made it successfully across the George Washington Bridge and into New Jersey. I didn't even get lost once the whole trip! It was somewhat of a miracle. Anyhow, I made it to Rella's in really good time, about 4 1/2 hours for almost 300 miles. It was so great to see where she lives and her neighborhood and everything, and of course to see her!
We hung out Saturday afternoon, then went to get her shiny, new car! and then had dinner at Friday's. mmm. Sunday we decided to do the Philadelphia sights, so we took the train into the city. It was a completely gorgeous day - none of the humidity, but plenty of sunshine. We went to the Constitution Center, walked by the US Mint, and saw what our tour guide liked to call "the most historic spot in the most historic building in the most historic block of the United States." This would be the room that the Second Continental Congress met in, where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were discussed and signed. It was an incredible feeling to stand right there in that place. I would have to say it is a moving experience, to think that that was where the founding of America happened, and all that has happened here since. We also saw the Liberty Bell (of course!), which was notable for being one of the few national symbols that is inherently flawed, in that it's rather a shoddy bell. But that's ok, because it works perfectly fine as an emblem! :) After we got back from the city, we did a bit of shopping at H&M - she got this really cute dress - great color and cut, but cheap as always at H&M. Then we went back to her place and had a really good dinner that her mom had made. When I got up Monday, it was really blah outside, so we just hung out and helped make lunch before it was time for me to head out, to theoretically miss whatever traffic there was. It was truly mind-baffling, but there was almost no traffic on my whole route! One must suppose that the Philadelphia-Boston corridor is not a heavily trafficked one for people going from one to the other. This time I tried out the other best route, which goes a bit further up Highway 1 to the Garden State Parkway and then across the Tappan Zee bridge to 684, etc. Both routes are actually almost exactly the same distance, and both have their rough patches and their construction zones, so it's difficult to say which is better. The second one might be a tad cheaper in terms of tolls - the Jersey Pike on the way down was $3.55 just on its own! But definitely it was a great time, and I hope I get to go down there again sometime. =)
Classes!!
So, I am now enrolled in two classes: Hydraulics and Human Health and Risk Assessment. Both of them look fairly non-labor intensive, or at least the expectations are not quite what I am used to from Dartmouth. Honestly, when one has no more than one assignment a week, and 10 days to complete lab reports, it doesn't appear to be much of a challenge. Obviously the thing of greatest importance is just to learn the material. I think they'll both be really interesting, at least, and that I'll be able to use a lot of the information at work as well. I'm just glad that I'm doing it and that so far it's working out really well with work and that it isn't another huge source of stress.
TGIF tomorrow! Maybe I can take my bike out for one last hurrah this weekend. Tomorrow I am going to watch the Red Sox-Yankees (always a tough one) on the big screen with my softball buds. I asked the aforementioned boy-I-sorta-like to come watch with us, but he's being incommunicado. durr. Oh yes, 5 whole days until John Mayer's new cd! much like his new love in "Love Song for No One," it better hurry up and get here!! =)
TGIF everyone! Even if it is a four day week...heh.
I had to finish up a report and do some things around the apartment that I hadn't had time for, with orientation going on and staying at work until all hours, so I decided to leave for Philadelphia on Saturday morning. I also figured that that way I would miss the vast majority of the Labor Day traffic. After extensive consultation with Karilyn, who knows every single highway in the Massachusetts-New Jersey corridor, I decided to actually follow the directions Yahoo gave me, because they were quite possibly the best directions I have ever gotten when using Yahoo. So I got up quite early on Saturday and headed out on the road, where there was zero traffic. Awesome! I went down Connecticut to New Haven and then took a rather bumpy ride on 95 into NYC - aww, NYC - and I, the person most afraid of driving through and in cities, actually made it successfully across the George Washington Bridge and into New Jersey. I didn't even get lost once the whole trip! It was somewhat of a miracle. Anyhow, I made it to Rella's in really good time, about 4 1/2 hours for almost 300 miles. It was so great to see where she lives and her neighborhood and everything, and of course to see her!
We hung out Saturday afternoon, then went to get her shiny, new car! and then had dinner at Friday's. mmm. Sunday we decided to do the Philadelphia sights, so we took the train into the city. It was a completely gorgeous day - none of the humidity, but plenty of sunshine. We went to the Constitution Center, walked by the US Mint, and saw what our tour guide liked to call "the most historic spot in the most historic building in the most historic block of the United States." This would be the room that the Second Continental Congress met in, where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were discussed and signed. It was an incredible feeling to stand right there in that place. I would have to say it is a moving experience, to think that that was where the founding of America happened, and all that has happened here since. We also saw the Liberty Bell (of course!), which was notable for being one of the few national symbols that is inherently flawed, in that it's rather a shoddy bell. But that's ok, because it works perfectly fine as an emblem! :) After we got back from the city, we did a bit of shopping at H&M - she got this really cute dress - great color and cut, but cheap as always at H&M. Then we went back to her place and had a really good dinner that her mom had made. When I got up Monday, it was really blah outside, so we just hung out and helped make lunch before it was time for me to head out, to theoretically miss whatever traffic there was. It was truly mind-baffling, but there was almost no traffic on my whole route! One must suppose that the Philadelphia-Boston corridor is not a heavily trafficked one for people going from one to the other. This time I tried out the other best route, which goes a bit further up Highway 1 to the Garden State Parkway and then across the Tappan Zee bridge to 684, etc. Both routes are actually almost exactly the same distance, and both have their rough patches and their construction zones, so it's difficult to say which is better. The second one might be a tad cheaper in terms of tolls - the Jersey Pike on the way down was $3.55 just on its own! But definitely it was a great time, and I hope I get to go down there again sometime. =)
Classes!!
So, I am now enrolled in two classes: Hydraulics and Human Health and Risk Assessment. Both of them look fairly non-labor intensive, or at least the expectations are not quite what I am used to from Dartmouth. Honestly, when one has no more than one assignment a week, and 10 days to complete lab reports, it doesn't appear to be much of a challenge. Obviously the thing of greatest importance is just to learn the material. I think they'll both be really interesting, at least, and that I'll be able to use a lot of the information at work as well. I'm just glad that I'm doing it and that so far it's working out really well with work and that it isn't another huge source of stress.
TGIF tomorrow! Maybe I can take my bike out for one last hurrah this weekend. Tomorrow I am going to watch the Red Sox-Yankees (always a tough one) on the big screen with my softball buds. I asked the aforementioned boy-I-sorta-like to come watch with us, but he's being incommunicado. durr. Oh yes, 5 whole days until John Mayer's new cd! much like his new love in "Love Song for No One," it better hurry up and get here!! =)
TGIF everyone! Even if it is a four day week...heh.
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