Queen Mary

June 2, 2008

Queen Mary, Long Beach, CA

I stayed on this ship overnight on my last leg of my trip to Southern California. The RMS Queen Mary, launched in 1936, served during WWII as a troop ship and afterward as a luxury liner for Cunard, transporting passengers between the UK and the United States. It ended its service in 1967 (when the Queen Elizabeth 2, also recently retired and to become a floating hotel, was launched to replace the Queen Mary's service), at which point it made its permanent home at Long Beach, California, as a museum and hotel. The ship, over 1000 feet long, still remains as one of the largest passenger ships in the world. It once held the Blue Riband for speed crossing the Atlantic (from 1938-1952, both eastbound and westbound, before being outrun by the SS United States).

I stayed in a first class cabin (turned into a hotel room) on portside, M deck (uppermost for cabins) facing the bay. It was quite an experience. Walking around the upper decks at night was a special treat.

Manhattan Beach

June 1, 2008

Manhattan Beach Pier, California

This was taken from the end of the pier at Manhattan Beach, just south of Los Angeles, CA. This is where the wealth of the LA area is concentrated. The Roundhouse Aquarium houses a decent menagerie of sea animals in small tanks, each sponsored by a company or group. It is run on donations and volunteer help...given their tight budget, it was impressive (especially since it was free to the public).

Santa Monica Beach

May 31, 2008

Santa Monica Beach, California

The evening sun sets over the Santa Monica Mountains as beachgoers take in the last few minutes of daylight on the Pacific Ocean.

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.