Somewhere over the Southwest

May 30, 2008

Near landing at LAX, from an American Airlines Boeing 757

Evening sun sets over the horizon as we near Los Angeles International Airport.

QIAGEN=Quality!!!!!

May 18, 2008

BIDMC Research East, Boston

(This is sort of an inside joke post among fellow biomedical researchers, but the affect of the photo is still kinda cool)...

"If it says QIAGEN on the box, it can wait 'til tomorrow." That was an old adage of a former graduate student in my lab. QIAGEN produces a lot of kits that make DNA and RNA purification for many different applications extremely easy and foolproof...a monkey could use these kits if they were trained to do so.

Forgive me of my geekiness.

Farewell to Becca

May 23, 2008

Becca's Farewell Party at the Squealing Pig, Mission Hill, Boston

Becca is a good friend of mine who has worked over the past few years in a lab that I rotated through about 4 years ago. She is about to move away to attend a graduate program in Environmental Science at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, my alma mater. While she's sad to be leaving all of her friends up here in Boston, I am sure she will have a great time in CVille.

Poppy

May 25, 2008

Poppy cat enjoying the weather, St. Botolph District, Boston

While Matt and Mel were hosting a cookout on their rear courtyard yesterday afternoon, I captured Poppy basking in the breeze on a beautiful Sunday afternoon behind her home.

Fenway Park

May 20, 2008

Pavilion Box at Fenway Park, Boston

I went to the Sox game against Kansas City tonight... a last minute decision. The game was great...we won 2-1. My $5 seat (employee discount thanks to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) was in the front row of a Pavilion Box just above third base, which afforded a really nice view of the game.

Mallard Ducklings

May 18, 2008

Mallard Ducklings along the Riverway, Boston

'Sorry for the poor quality of this picture. The focus lock on my camera decided to quit to the point that I stopped by Best Buy on the way home looking into a brand new Canon dSLR-like model. However, my camera (my companion) miraculously recovered last night, just in time for me to put the camera buying guides kindly provided by Best Buy (the only customer service you will expect to find at this store) away for the time being.

In keeping with the spirit of resurrecting this blog after a month-long hiatus, I decided to post the photo, anyway. So, here we see some mallard ducklings in the Muddy River along the Riverway, which serves as the border between the cities of Brookline and Boston at this location. Aren't they cute? These little birds can glide very quickly through the water...surprising since they can't be more than a week or two old.

Squirrel, Cat, and Fish

May 17, 2008

Lily the Siamese Cat

Here is Lily, Amanda's cat, in Matt and Mel's apartment in the St. Botolph District during Amanda's birthday celebration Saturday night. Lily seems quite at ease between a squirrel nutcracker and a fish...needless to say, had these things been moving, the story would have been different.

Massachusetts State Senate

May 15, 2008

Senate Chamber, Massachusetts State House, Beacon Hill, Boston

This was taken in the Senate Chamber of the State House. This is part of Charles Bulfinch's original building, completed around 1795. The Blue "stonework" is actually wood made to look like the masonry quoining pattern popular in Federal architecture during the years of our country's infancy. The State House's "golden dome" is directly above this room, although the current state house's magnificent interior dome space is in a different part of the building and is part of a later addition.

Boston Holocaust Memorial

May 14, 2008

New England Holocaust Memorial, Boston

This was taken within one of the 6 glass towers, each representing a different concentration camp, in the memorial. Each number represents a victim of the genocide that took place there. Steam with a pungent, musty odor rises through grates in the ground to add to the experience.

The memorial was dedicated in 1995 and is in the center of the historic district, near the Union Oyster House, Faneuil Hall, and Government Center.

Fort Point Channel

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Fort Point Channel, Boston.

I was taking a walk through South Boston ("Southie") this afternoon and captured this image of Fort Point Channel. Most prominent (besides the highrises) is the Northern Avenue Bridge, which has been closed to traffic for some time but is currently open to pedestrians as part of a historical rehabilitation project.

Fenway Studios

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Fenway Studios, Ipswich Street, Boston

This building was completed in 1904 following a disastrous fire of a similar art studio complex. Many of the artists at the former studio building relocated here, and, thankfully, the building still serves its primary purpose, to offer a northward-facing building with tall ceilings and large windows for the art community. The building itself is a rare example - in Boston - of the Arts and Crafts architectural movement (the sun was too blinding to take any good photos of the facade of the building, which is a work of art - particularly with regard to the brickwork - in itself).

The Savant Project

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Dinner and drinks at the Savant Project, Mission Hill area, Boston

Here we are at the Savant Project, a restaurant located near Brigham Circle that has been open for about a year or so. We've been enjoying Wednesday evenings on their back patio, after attending Harvard's weekly Immunology Seminar Series.

Geese and goslings...

Sunday, May 11, 2008

A pair of Canada Geese and their newborn goslings, Back Bay Fens, Boston

I was walking along Aggasiz Road this afternoon and found this family of geese. Ahh...it's that time of year...warm temps alternating with frigid coastal storms, flooding, the exodus of college students, and the concurrent influx of Canada Geese, across from my apartment building in the Fenway (I can hear them right now, outside of my window).