September 1st, marking two years in Boston...

I just took a deep, deep sigh. I'm home sick and life on the east coast, well my work-life, is constantly beating me down. It's so hard to believe that mom, dad, and I drove across country to this city two years ago! I was so full of ambition. Can you believe that I carried my kefir culture on that road trip, just so that I could make home-made kefir as soon as I arrived? Well, one of my horrible roommates ate that culture and also my desire to live with roommates. But this is where the sour-ness must end (no pun intended). I have loved exploring this city and coast line and meeting the many, many diverse people that only such a metropolis can attract. So instead of whining about my intense, yearly review that I have next tuesday (I will of course be working on labor day), I will post about one very fun day that our whole lab took off this July to go sea kayaking:

We kayaked and played beach games at one of the most pristine beaches north of Boston, Crane Beach. After much debating the 50/50 chance of rain we decided to go for it. I'm not sure why, but I actually biked to the kayaking place with a lab mate, a young 22 year old college swimmer, who convinced me we should make the day a little more adventuresome (our one day off mind you). He and I rolled in only 5 minutes late, after our 15 mile ride along the rocky ocean coast near Salem and Gloucester, only to find out that the reservation for kayaking was made without a credit card and was thus invalid (grumble, grumble). The day proceeded with many twists and turns, somewhat indicative of our poor organization and large size (there were 24 of us). It did thunderstorm, but not until our rainbow array of boats had safely toured the shallow Caribbean-clear waters near Crane beach, and the deep reverse tide current on our way back towards land. We topped off the day with a huge plate of fresh seafood and wine, and I chose to load my bike on the commuter rail and relax on the ride home.

I'm pictured above with some of my favorite labmates: Keiko, Shang-yi, and Susanna. Also pictured together are the TWO students that I mentored this summer (one high schooler and one Masters student), both of whom had their last day yesterday. I really enjoyed teaching them and running my own little lab within a lab this summer, and I learned some valuable lessons about setting clear expectations and guidelines. For example, now I understand why my own boss is a pain in the @ss about setting deadlines weeks before the actual deadline...