A Saturday trip to Boston

To get betimes in Boston town, I rose this morning early; (Walt Whitman, 1854)

I have just returned from Boston. It is the only thing to do if you find yourself up there. (Fred Allen) JUST KIDDING!

I DID get up early to got with the young women/men to the Temple in Boston. Which was really quite fun. And the ride was beautiful. I drove on RTE 2 which is in "northern Mass." I know, I know, with such a little state how can there be a NORTHERN? Well, the terrain in this little state is so variable, once again, not like CA or UT, but enough that I can see why people here refer to "Western Mass" and "Northern Mass." Even if it weren't prettier than I-90 (or the Mass pike), it is my route of choice to get to Boston....FREE!!! Another day, I will take more time for myself and go to Walden Pond, Lexington and Concorde, and a few other "sites" I saw signs for. This time I continued into Framington, nearer to Boston to visit a friend with whom I went SLOT CAR RACING. I had never heard of it, but it was pretty. The track is right by my friends house and he apparently used to go down there as a kid all the time. There were a few young boys there and they were into it just as much as the men were. It was really kinda fun, but I'm not sure how people could get so into it. There are magazines, championships, and more "upgrades" for the little vehicles than for third generation Jettas....crazy stuff, but a good time.

Speaking of signs, I saw this sign on my way. I tried to get a picture from the internet of one, but no one else must see this as interesting. There are signs on RTE 2 just before the crest of a few hills: Solar glare in AM. Ok I don't think the message is funny, I think it is intelligent and really helpful to help drivers prepare for what is over the hill, but "solar glare?" I think that is a funny way to say "Drivers, the sun will be in your eyes when you reach the top of the hill." Obviously, the sign is much more direct, so I can't really think of a simple way to put it, but it caught my funny bone as I was driving.

I've had a few incidences since I've been here that could fall under the category of "things that make you go, hmmmm?" The following is definitely one of them. As I found a parking spot at the temple I was pretty excited to park next to another Jeep. It was dark blue and a Cherokee, but there was a little part of me that was thinking "it is a Jeep thing, you just wouldn't understand!" Then as I got out of my car and walked around I noticed it had Idaho plates. I know, at the LDS temple...ooooo, like that is hard to understand. But a Utah and an Idaho plated jeep parking next to one another in BOSTON! The timing, the coincidence, the situation, all stars in the proper alignment....hmmmmm!

The most even day of the year!

Since the sun rose at 6:41am and set at 6:41pm I thought it would be cool if I could get that picture I was talking about yesterday, but nature decided to give me a different sunset with clouds in the way. I still vote, gorgeous. Today was the stickiest day yet, and I'm sure most of you have heard of the "hot" temperatures here in the East. Well, I don't think it is THAT "hot", I mean I've lived in Utah and California, but I guess for these guys it is. But it is sticky.

Class today was interesting. We didn't really have a lab as much as a calculus lesson. Imagine, there I was trying to explain derivatives and integrals to students who don't remember much. And to make things worse, it wasn't with numbers. Teaching these kids to do graphical derivatives and integrations is much harder than I thought. If you don't understand that mumbo jumbo, I understand...think about trying to draw a graph from another graph using either slopes or areas under the known curve to draw the unknown graph...I know I know, scary. You should have seen the looks on these kids faces...now that was scary. I'll probably have many of them coming into my office in the next week. FUN FUN stuff!

The sun and the moon faced off today.

I went for an evening bike ride today and I saw something I have never seen before. I probably haven't because I never looked for it, but today for some strange reason I did. I came around a corner and saw an Explorer stopped on the side of the road. As I passed I looked at the driver and noticed she was taking a picture. I had already noticed how beautiful and red the sunset was, a very autumn sunset. So I looked at it again while I was in a bit of a valley. I caught it between the trees and the sun was just over the mountains, a big, red fireball. For some reason, I got the idea to look 180 degrees away from the sun. Through the trees and just above the hills on that side I saw an almost full moon staring the sun down. I have never seen such timing with the moon directly across from the sun. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera, but if I get the chance to see the same thing tomorrow I'll make sure I can take a picture. Obviously, I won't be able to get the sun and the moon in the same frame but knowing that I took two pictures, one of the sun and one of the moon, by just turning 180 degrees is pretty cool. Definitely an evening ride to remember.

Fall is in the air!

Fiery colors begin their yearly conquest of the hills, propelled by the autumn winds. Fall is the artist. Anonymous

Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature. Cicero

Well, the leaves are starting to turn and the rides are getting very pretty. The maples are starting to turn first. So there are a few reds coming out in the mass of green that still is there reminding us that it IS still September. I'm sure the final result of the colder nights will peak in a few weeks, but if the beginning changes are any indication, I'm excited for nature's fireworks.

I thought I would share some pictures of the tobacco barns. There are so many around here but this is one that I pass on almost all of my rides because it is so near to my house. It is interesting to me that the leaves would sufficiently dry around here, but I guess they do. I'm waiting to see the signs for this stuff for sale. Not because I want to buy some, of course, but I'm interested to see how these people are going to market "homegrown smokes!" :) So many people smoke around here and I wonder if it is because they are surrounded by these reminders.


These pictures are from buildings in my neighborhood. I really don't know how to explain this place without showing you. So, I thought a few pictures might help my get my point across that some of this place looks as if it is from centuries ago. It got me thinking today on my walk that I'm not quite sure why people left long ago to try to make it to the west. The situation here must have been so much worse than what I see for people to leave based on hearsay of a better life and later for a few gold nuggets. I sat in a field looking west as the sun set today and I tried to think of what the situation must have been like for people to walk all that way. Even if we argue that some had horses, no one knew what was even on the other side of the Berkshires let alone the other side of the country. Life would have had to be really bad here to get me to move across the country, and that is coming from a California girl. Everywhere is only as good as you make it. SO far, this place is great!

I thought I would also introduce you all to one of my neighbors. This silly girl and I see each other every Sunday on my walk. She is very kind but she always talks with her mouth full. :) However she is better than some of my younger college neighbors in the house next door. They woke me up last night at 430 yelling about someone owing someone $5 because she wasn't going to eat "the pizza." Made me think of some of the silly arguments I have had with people...new rule, never argue when one is tired or when it is past ones bedtime! I mean really, to disturb the neighborhood over $5! I was debating getting up and just giving her $5 to be quiet and go to bed! I would have, but I didn't have a fiver last night! Make them buy the pizza or the food next time, seriously...be creative. Then she said at one point, "whenever I come over here I get into a fight and I never have a good time." Get a clue...find new friends, ones that don't eat PIZZA! Hope you all have cows for neighbors! They may not be good talkers and when they do they talk with their mouths full, but at least they'll never get angry about MOOney! HA HA HA!

Another heated journal club

The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them. Sir William Bragg (1862 - 1942)

There are so many opinions and not enough facts, I'm already concluding about "science." However, the whole process is teaching me to look at things differently. Not just at what is wrong with something, but what is right about it. There may be nuggets in everything we see even if it looks like dirt! But I think we all need to remember what we are really doing and ask ourselves, is the answer I get from the question I ask really what I wanted to know?

Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

The weekend started off wet and ended beautifully!

I woke up Saturday to a wet, dark, chilly morning. So, I decided to be smart in hopes that the storm would pass by the afternoon and I ran my errands in the morning. Then I watched the Minutemen win another game. As the game ended the sun came out. I had been working on a presentation (my first as a PhD student) so I decided I "earned" a bike ride. I went out on one of my favorites so far. It was the first time I actually followed the same path I had already. On quiet, curvy, "mountainous roads" I got a chance to disappear. The fall is coming here and the evenings are cool and wet, and this evening ride was no different. It was nice to get out in the evening and try to beat the sun home. A few trees are starting to turn, so soon I will have nice Eastern Color pictures to share. I'm excited to see if all those visitors to Sundance were right: they claim the colors are better back here, than in Utah. I'll be the judge of that! Sunday was another beautiful day and I went for a walk later in the afternoon. My neighborhood is quiet and very rural so walking around here is very calming. I found some cows and some horses to talk to (see picture for the horses.) The most interesting thing I have seen in this area which is replete with small farms with roadside veggie stands are barns with huge leaves hanging from the rafters. I thought I had recognized them from my visit to Virginia as a young child, then I looked it up, and I'm pretty sure some of these family farms are growing tobacco! Organic pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, and TOBACCO for all to enjoy!
As many of you know, I have an office like a big kid. There is another desk in my office, but no one else yet. I think that this year I won't have anyone else join me but it is a possibility that someday someone might join me. But I need to organize/decorate it sometime. Once I do that, I will send pictures. This is a picture of my building. It is kind of old and this is a state school, but it is a state school in a state that very concerned with education. All the faculty would love a new building, but for me, this is fantastic. The windows in the lower left had corner are the windows in my mentors office. One day, I too will have windows, but for now I will be happy to have an office and place to keep my bike, books, and computer safe!

The first day of being the big cheese has come and gone!

Today consisted of watching the previous TA teach one section of lab, then I taught the next three hours; that is the way every Wednesday is going to be. FUN FUN! It actually was fun, even though the lab was just me pushing a few buttons and showing what we would do if we actually did something, nothing more. It is a bit tough by the third hour of teaching the same thing; trying to not bore yourself is the greatest accomplishment! :)! Some kids were totally into it and some were so bored, but that is to be expected. Because the lab was so quick I actually spent a few minutes telling the students what they could do to succeed in the class. Some of them were really listening and even taking notes, but others I think thought that I was just wasting time. Well, it was probably a bit of both, but I hope that some of them take my suggestions to heart.

After teaching all day, I went for a ride with some people from a local bike shop (only one of whom I had met before, I know you are all proud of me for stepping out of my bubble!) However, I am not feeling it really, my legs feel so dead. So if anyone has any suggestions please send them my way. But I had a good time getting to know other riders and feeling really pushed by them. As I have said, these rides are really hilly and so one has to be really strong in climbing which with dead legs is not too fun.

The storm left last night that we had for four days, and today was gorgeous! Sorry no pictures. But I think fall has arrived; it got really cool tonight on the ride. So, soon I should have nice fall pictures with lots of colors to share with you all. SO, stay tuned for more pics!

What a european day!

So it was REALLY raining here...no more misty fog, no more thunder without water. When I got up this morning I decided to take the bus for the first time because of the weather. So, I packed my bag with all the stuff i needed for the day including my swim gear because I wasn't going to get a ride in in the rain. The bus comes about every 15 minutes practically right outside my house (see picture). I casually walked out to the stop and waited in the drizzle (fortunately it was only drizzling this morning, as soon as I got to school it rained/poured all day until I had to catch the bus back home, how fortunate was that!?!?!) About 8 others joined me before the bus came...then it came and it was full! But not full enough for all of us to NOT squeeze. We made room for the next stop too and about half the people at the third stop, but with about three stops to go to get to school we stopped picking people up. Boy was I grateful I lived far enough away to get a spot on the bus, but close enough to ride on clear days. OH and it was so sad, some guy ran to catch the bus at the fifth stop from my house and he couldn't even get on. I was also VERY grateful that we were not in Europe even though the whole experience reminded me of Europe because everyone was wearing deodorant! The day was gray and beautiful. Maybe I'll take the bus more often! It was kinda fun!

The time has come!

Yesterday was an incredibly long day. I finally got to go to class and be a source of information for some undergrads. Did I worry as much as they do? Do I still? Oh man. All we did was go over the syllabus! That is all we did in all of my classes, so nothing changes when you become a doctoral student. Wednesdays are going to be the day for labs...all day! and since they don't start until next week I kinda got today off. So what do you all think I did with today...give you one guess :)! Ok, today's ride was great, funny, odd, beautiful, probably the best one yet. So what was so great about it: (1) I was on really lonely roads first of all, so not too much traffic to deal with on these narrow roads (I was feeling a little more confident with this area when made my plans this morning, which is ironic when you read what happened, :)!), (2) after one of the many step climbs (almost 4500 ft of climbing in 40 miles) there was a great home-made sign that I thought was great for that moment in my day and for this period of my life that made me smile/laugh so I had to take a picture of it,
(3) did I mention the climbing was great? I think I'm feeling much better now, coming into shape I'll say, (4) the road I was on and loving TURNED ITSELF INTO A DIRT ROAD AND I RODE MY ROAD BIKE IN THE DIRT! No really. I was worried that I was lost, but it turns out I had read the map correctly, it just didn't say that the road becomes dirt. But silly thing, there was another cemetery on these dirt roads IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE! If I took a picture of each of the cemeteries I see I might not get any kind of riding in...no seriously, there are people buried on the side of roads, by themselves...Here lies so and so who was scalped by indians at some date...blah blah blah. Glad that doesn't freak me out.



AND (5) I found a great lake. Ok, for my Minnesota friends, it is just a little lake and it is one of a few hundred and not 14,000+ but it was nice to find this little lake with a little town on its shores, with a little beach with a BEACH VOLLEYBALL pit! It might become a place I go when I need to just get away and sit quietly. I just found out that the lake called Lake Wyola is Native American for "quiet waters" . I guess I'm not the only one who thought it would be a nice place to sit back and relax, but at least I have good judgment! :)Well, I found my way home just fine and got a great ride in, but now I wish I had a cyclocross bike...dirt on a road bike is kinda fun! Hopefully next week when school really gets going I'll have more school stories, but for now, RIDE RIDE RIDE! Which is really ok with me before we get a Northeastern Winter! Hope you are all doing well and enjoying the month of September!

My last day of freedom.

I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Mostly because I just want to get things started. I'm tired of being in limbo and ready to be too busy to know which way is up. I road my bike to the Mass/NH border today. NH looks the same, so does VT, as MA. Just north of me (25 miles) is where NH, VT and MA meet. But believe it or not it was my "flattest" ride yet. Only 2500 ft of climbing. It WAS windy though, but very nice. I can't explain this area to anyone and do it justice. I won't claim that EVERYONE would like it or could live here, but it is so interesting and amazing here I think everyone should see this place for him or herself to understand. Well, I'm off to get ready for my first week as a doctoral student...woah, scary!

Not sure what to expect around here!

So, I have to go to a laundromat to get clean clothes which really isn't that bad. It isn't that far away and it makes me feel like I'm really living like the locals. It only takes me an hour because there are MASSIVE, SUPER DUTY washers and dryers, so that isn't bad at all. BUT the purpose of this post was not to tell you all about my chores: on my way home, feeling quite adult and proud of myself really for no reason, an animal ran out of the dense woods right in front of me. I almost came to a complete stop because i couldn't believe my eyes...it was a canadian lynx! It was amazing! I'm sure one day I'll be accustomed to this place, but for now the super friendly people, the completely backwoods feel, and the crazy wild life will keep me intrigued and excited about this place. Oh, and speaking of crazy wildlife...classes start next week, so I'll soon have stories about little undergrads! Will they think of me as nutty or absentminded or Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde?

For my bike riding friends!

So, I really didn't know what to expect for my rides. I thought they would be pretty and probably rolly, but I was not ready for this! :) It is green and there are many trees, so even at the heart of the day it isn't too hot. But it is hillier than I expected. For example, a few days ago I rode just 33 miles but hit hills of 12-16% grades. Then today, I climbed almost 4500 ft in 50 miles with severe pitches like before, but this time a few miles long. Despite the serious workouts, the roads I have been on so far are amazing. I didn't have my camera the other day, but there was this downhill that I HAVE to get a picture of for you all, it is completely what one would expect in New England.

Today I tried to ride to the nearest ski resort. It is only 25 miles or so from me, so I thought, yeah, with all the climbing, it should take me a while, but it will be worth it. Well, in a typical lex move, I missed a turn, continued way past my distance goal and decided to turn around only a mile from a road that would have gotten me to my destination. Oh well. The ride was amazing though. I climbed to over 1400ft. I know, all you utahns, big deal, lex! But here that IS a big deal. The whole trip was on major roads, that really are rural, that connect these small towns that are some how still alive. I can't believe that people can live in these places. They aren't like suburbs where people live away from the city and commute to work. There are no cities really, what do these people do? Well, one thing they do is sell produce. There are many veggie stands that I pass every day. Today, in a town named Ashfield, they had a little fair and farmers market. I only had a banana with me, so I told myself when I went by on my way home I would stop and get something (I had a dollar). Well, I DID stop (three cheers for me) and I got two home made muffins. I felt like a real western mass-er stopping and getting food from the locals. Yeah, it wasn't smart to not have food, but it made for a much more fun ride to buy from the locals!

So, if any of my biking friends DO decide to come out to visit, bring your bike stuff. I'll find bikes...you can't miss this!

Boston, what a city.

Ok, so after some meetings on Tuesday and just trying to get started in MA, I went to Boston on Wednesday for some serious furniture shopping...of course, that means IKEA! I could have gone to CONN, but hey, I'm in Mass, GO TO BOSTON. Besides I thought I'd let my Harvard ski coach friend show me around Harvard. So, I drove to the Boston area, met my friend in his childhood neighborhood, and then after meeting his highly accented parents (trying not to smile or laugh the whole time) we set off for Harvard. School isn't in yet, but it was one of the craziest places I have ever been. It isn't a school it is a city. I really don't think I could study there. Ok, so I couldn't get in, but I couldn't study if I did: sensory OVERLOAD! But I'm glad I went, now I can say I've been.

After making our way through the city, which is really hard for a westerner because it looks as if someone just threw up the streets, there is no rhyme or reason and some just end randomly, and we made it to IKEA! I did have a budget, but I decided after my not so loving of my apartment feeling I had when I first saw it that I should just let myself get what I wanted to make it a nice cute little home. So, I spent a lot, but got a lot, because as many of you know, things are inexpensive. Now, my home is totally livable. In fact, I would say that it is cuter than my home in PG. But that might be because it isn't cookie cutter and has character.
This is the outside of my "house". It is a converted 19th century barn. That might sound weird but there really isn't much new around here. A few towns have sprawled into cities, but most towns are still small and very old fashioned looking; kind of what one would expect, but never believe. Even my town, Sunderland, is old and small, and I live outside of town. About 4 miles from me is the Connecticut River. It makes the western-most boarder of Sunderland. Many people canoe, kayak, waterski, swim, etc. on this water way. When summer comes around I'm sure I'll be out there too.

My drive across the country

Fortunately my drive was uneventful in a bad way. And until I got to NY, I didn't really stop (while driving) to see anything. Then in NY I decided to see Niagara Falls. WOW! That is something to be seen. There is just so much water and it is so high. I'll be honest: I can see why people wanted to ride over in a barrel. I could just imagine myself doing it. Don't worry, friends, it is too far away from UMass for me to think about doing it one weekend. The pictures don't really tell the whole story, I know, but I think the best view is from Canada, and I didn't take the time to go to another country. SORRY! You'll all have to do that yourselves! :)

Then I stopped at some church history sites. I needed gas about the time I saw the sign for Palmyra and I thought, oh yes, please. So, I spent a few precious moments at the Hill Cumorah and then a few at the Smith Home. It was just what I needed to clear my head and feel motivated to keep driving to my new home.

I then made it to Eastern NY. (NY is an incredibly long state, and that is saying something coming from someone who drove across NV too many times!) And I figured I could live in NY after driving across Eastern NY; it is wooded and green and almost mountainous. Then it just stayed that way when I drove across my final state boarder: MA! Western MA was gorgeous! And then I found out that I live at the base of these great "mountains". Ok, so it isn't Utah or the Sierra, but it is hillier than I thought it would be and more "primitive" than I thought too. There are little towns all over the place and not much modern life. Nice in theory, but harder for this western girl to get used to than she thought.