Day 278: Coney Island

We'd never been to Coney Island before so decided to take the hour-long trip out and see it. It was a bit unusual...kind of like a near-dead carnival...but interesting. We didn't ride on the rides or sit on the beach but spent most of our time at the Coney Island Museum which had a side show. I was chosen to pull a sword out of the sword swallower's mouth! It was kind of gross.

Day 277: Kayaking on the Hudson

Who says nothing's free in New York? I had read online that there was free kayaking at three boathouses on the Hudson, so we made our way out to Pier 96 (at 56th street) to check it out. We took out a double and paddled around the basin. I would definitely recommend others try this out.

Day 276: NYC trip begins

We left New Haven at 5:30 and reached my cousin's apartment a little before 8PM. We hung out with Manju and the kids for a bit before my cousin and his wife returned from shopping, and then we all had dinner (Manju is setting the table in the background). Parth and I raced to see who could take a photo quicker.

Day 275: Sweet

We had a dinner for work and afterwards my colleague gave me a ride home in his Porsche. Cool!

Day 274: Service announcement

Seen on the door of the Ecuadorian consulate: how to prevent the flu. In Spanish.

Day 273: Blooming!

Yay, the rhododendron in front of our place is finally blooming! The neighbors on either side both have them and we all have a slightly different shade of purple/pink.

Day 272: A last bit of magic

Entertaining six children under the age of 12 can be challenging at the best of times. But our six were pretty good all weekend long. Right as we were all about to go our separate ways, they decided to practice a few more magic tricks.

Day 271: Happy birthday Amar

My cousin's birthday was today so we ate out at a Chinese restaurant and had cake at his place afterwards to celebrate. With fifteen of us around and him having to take care of three little girls, I'm not sure how happy his birthday was, but I'm thinking it was a memorable one, anyway.

Day 270: Telephone call to my dad

My parents were meant to join in on this family reunion in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately my mom hurt her back and they had to stay home so that she could recover. We miss them very much! My uncle called my dad to let him know we were all thinking of them.

Day 269: The boys playing Wii

We arrived late after a long six hour drive from Connecticut to Bethlehem. My cousin and the kids played the Wii for hours.

Day 268: Showman

We went to see Penn and Teller at a casino about an hour and a half away. It was a trek but it was nice to see them again. Here is a terrible photo of Teller right before he left...they were very busy as they were driving out to Atlantic City for another show but as always, they stuck around and took photos and signed autographs for every last fan. We hardly had a chance to speak with Teller but at least he did say hello to both of us and we had a quick chat.

Day 267: Sunny days mean...

...ice cream! From my favorite shop in town, Ashley's. I am becoming very good at convincing S on our way home from work that we really need ice cream.

Day 266: High tech shopping

We went to the grocery store after my run (gasp) and S's tennis game and decided to try out the scanner. It went pretty well but we can't decide if it's quicker this way. You have to weigh all the produce and print the labels out, and we buy a lot of produce. Anyway, it was interesting.

Day 265: Sterling Hall of Medicine

Not to be confused with Sterling Memorial Library, this is the top of the med school's primary hall and was built in 1925. It's one of the main stops on my shuttle route.

Day 264: Trip completed

After a very long day and a red eye flight that was not at all comfortable, I finally made it back to the East Coast. I needed today to recover.

Day 263: The Getty Museum

After many discussions, a group of us decided to go out to the Getty Museum on our day off after the meeting. I had never been there before but it had been suggested to me by Vicki (thanks!) and I was glad others wanted to go as well. It was a gorgeous place and we saw a lot in a short period of time. I think I enjoyed the garden the most.

Day 262: Birthday drink

My friend Eric lives in LA and we went to dinner for his birthday. We also had one drink to celebrate.

Day 261: Santa Monica by night

After a long day of exhausting meetings, we had a nice dinner and then headed out for a walk. I finally had a chance to snap a photo.

Day 260: Hotel room

If you have to travel for work, it's a little less tiring if you're at least able to stay at a nice place. I walked into my hotel room and thanked my lucky stars that we'd been put in a gorgeous spot. The jacuzzi tub alone made it heaven for me.

Day 259: Creative sushi

Have you ever had artichoke hearts, okra, sweet potato, or burdock root in sushi? We decided to try a sushi restaurant we hadn't been to before I left for CA. It was packed but we waited nonetheless and eventually got a table. We got a number of different items including one roll covered with grape leaves and pieces made out of potatoes smothered in Havarti cheese. I'm still unsure as to whether it was great and innovative or just too strange for me to handle.

Day 258: Glasses

I went through my linen/bath closet to try and declutter and I found one of my spare pairs of glasses. I took them out and now I have been wearing both. It's a little confusing.

Day 257: Sleeping Giant State Park

This photo was supposed to be of Boston. We were supposed to be at a regatta at MIT today. Woke up at 6AM, got ready, and headed out to the meet up point only to find out the regatta was canceled due to high winds. So suddenly we had a free day. We did some chores and then took a hike up East Rock. From the summit we had a great view of Sleeping Giant, which is a series of mountain tops that resemble a sleeping man. We're planning to hike out there eventually.

Day 256: Sadness

Oh nooooooo. We saw an egg had fallen out of the nest and found out that SOMEONE (grrr) decided it would be a good idea to put it back. Stupid! I guess the robin then pecked open the bad egg. Needless to say, she hasn't been back since. We're so sad! :(

Edited to add: the SOMEONE was a friend of my landlord.

Day 255: Louis' Lunch

New Haven has many 'firsts': first matchstick, first electric railroad, first lollipop, and so on. Louis' Lunch is the place where it is claimed the first hamburger was created. Louis' serves hamburgers on white toast with no condiments and chips, no fries. Sadly they don't do veg burgers but my coworkers decided to have lunch here so I went along for the walk. As you can see, they do a brisk business, especially when the weather is nice like it's been lately.

Day 254: Best view of the shuttle

The best view of the shuttle...from the passenger seat of my car! I was lucky enough to get a ride to and from work today. Yes, I'm a bit spoiled sometimes.

Day 253: Oh no...but count = 3

Last night we had a very bad rain storm. I didn't even think about the little eggs until I walked out this morning and saw only two remaining. Yep...we lost one. Sadness. But! The robin laid another one today! So just imagine the photo from yesterday and that's what the nest looks like today.

Day 252: Helen was right

And then there were three!

Day 251: Bird watch 2009

Today when I got home from work, I checked the nest and look! Two eggs!

Day 250: Little egg

Yesterday S noticed we had a bird's nest in the rhododendron bush right next to our front porch. We looked at it and admired how well built it was. Today, when we walked up, a bird flew away and so I checked the nest. I was really excited to see a little blue egg inside! I hope it survives (there are a few neighborhood cats that come around) and we will have a baby bird soon!

Day 249: Saturday breakfast

After our late night on Friday, we had a lie-in and made pancakes and veg sausages for breakfast. I also broke out our new tablecloth!

Day 248: Tin Pan Blues Band

There were three competing social events tonight. First we went to the grad student first Friday event after work. Then we went home for a bit, and then we went to respective gatherings (S: post-doc social event, me: swing dance with live band). Here's a not-so-great photo of the Tin Pan Blues Band playing dance tunes for us.