#4 Boston - Main Thing It's Dry - June 30 2006

When our plane landed yesterday in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the pilot announced that it was 96 degrees out there, my first thought was "I don't care, main thing it is dry." Which it is, bone dry and what a welcome change that is after weeks and weeks of moisture-soaked days, thunderstorms, flooded basements, and sweaty jogs along the Charles River in Boston. I cannot leave the house without my hair turning into an afro and just like Medusa (who in Greek mythology was a character whose gaze could turn people to stone), I seem to start out in the morning as a decent looking female, but after a few minutes in this soggy excuse for a summer a do made of venomous snakes appears on my head and makes people stay flinch as they pass me on the sidewalk. A buzz cut comes to mind as a solution, or maybe I just have to figure out how to integrate baseball caps into my work wardrobe. To add a little statistic, the Boston Globe reported that as of 8 PM last Sunday, Boston had seen the most rain in a two-month period since 1872. And we are not done yet, I left Boston yesterday in drizzly weather, both dehumidifiers are humming and the electricity costs associated with it will drive me out of house and home, I am sure. This has to stop!!! I think only this coming Sunday the sun has promised to re-appear in New England.

As you might imagine in crappy weather like that planning a weekend is pretty much useless, and our canoeing expedition set for last weekend got canceled on account of the impending monsoon. Staying in bed seemed the better plan, but that did not happen either. Really, any plans I made got tossed around, but let's just say a little flexibility goes a long way when life just happens like that.

We started the weekend with a very lively and high spirited business dinner on Friday at the very swanky Beacon Hill Bistro (http://www.beaconhillhotel.com/bistro.html) - exquisite food and some nice wine to go with it. Life was good, and after a well-deserved, Malbec-induced rest I had plans for Saturday morning. Big plans - Home Depot was on the agenda, and as many of you know, I am not that fond of the place. As a matter of fact, I hyperventilate any time I am near it - I can approach a nervous breakdown so quickly in there, you have never seen anything like it. In general, have no idea what I am doing in there, and neither do the folks who work there (at least a majority of them - usually 16-year old college kids who know even less than I do about sump pumps or door handles or anything else I had asked for). So, here I was, Saturday 7:30 AM ready to buy a sump pump, and no one at Home Depot seemed to know anything about plumbing. After a somewhat frustrating conversation with one of the orange-clad clowns there I just picked a pump, a hose, a dehumidifier and headed home, my wallet $300 lighter. Well, wouldn't you know it, it was the wrong pump!! Jeez! Who would have expected that? What I needed was not a sump pump, but just a regular pump to get the water out of the basement. My little chalet is quite old you know, and does not have a sump pit, ergo no sump pump needed. Off I go for trip #2 to the Depot of Doom, and grabbed the store manager, who found a heavily bearded character who knew about pumps, and this time I ended up with the right stuff (which of course was more expensive) and a basement set-up that was ready for the next big drencher.

After having spent a nice little sum of money before most people got out of bed that day, I said, "what the heck" and decided to spend some more. With some experienced expert help, I picked out a sports watch at one of my favorite stores, REI (http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?storeId=8000&catalogId=40000008000&productId=48018786&parent_category_rn=10075660&vcat=REI_SSHP_TIMETOOLSOPTICS_TOC) and I am now totally obsessed with timing my runs, and looking at my time splits. It also has a glow in the dark button, which is probably the real reason I bought it. The watch got its first tryout Sunday morning, when I had to head out on yet another rain-soaked day to run 10 miles for my marathon training, and has now solidly established its rank as my no 1 accessory to wear.

Cultural enlightenment this weekend was provided by the Wakefield Repertory Theater and their production of the Thornton Wilder classic "Our Town" - http://www.wakefieldrep.org/default.asp?Con=2006_OurTown . The play depicts life in the small fictional town of Grovers Corners, New Hampshire - but is actually based on the town of Peterborough, NH, where Wilder resided at the MacDowell art colony. The play earned him the Pulitzer Price in 1938 - it is a quite unusual stage play with a narrator (aka the stage manager) taking the audience through the life stories of the main characters. As has been the tradition, the play was performed with a very sparse stage set, just a few chairs and tables, the townspeople sat in the audience and at times addressed us directly in their comments throughout the play. It was a most wonderful experience, and the narrator's warm and reflective descriptions and impressions brought the characters in Grovers Corners to life.

What else is there to tell about the rainy weekend - not much, after running ten miles I was sufficiently exhausted, and plopped myself on my friend Elaine's couch, and watched several episode of make-overs on some women's style channel. That was all I could muster up my energy for and who says that is a bad thing? Once I made it back to my place I continued on the path to do-nothingness by plunking myself on my couch, this time with my friend Peter O'Toole as "Lawrence of Arabia" (love that movie.... - favorite quote: "Thy mother mated with a scorpion...") - NICE!









I am now comfortably sitting here in Stillwater, Oklahoma for a little vacation over the 4th of July weekend - I will have to do some marathon training today (in the gym of course, I will NOT run in 96 degree weather) and tomorrow we are heading for Bartlesville to see the Price Tower, built by famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright and I think we are also visiting a buffalo ranch. Yiiiihaa!!

I am attaching a little morsel for you from the Boston Globe website today, an article titled "Are flip flops damaging your career?" (Have I not been saying that my friends?) http://bostonworks.boston.com/news/articles/2006/06/29/are_flip_flops_damaging_your_career/?p1=MEWell_Pos1

On that note, have a great 4th of July, wherever you are!

pet:)

#3 Boston - The Home Depot Owns Me - June 24 2006

Yep, that is where my money goes - plopped down $180 dollars there yesterday for a dehumidifier, plastic containers, light bulbs, dust pan (the old one gave up on me) and now the next trip is coming up to buy yet a second dehumidifier for the basement (this one bigger and more expensive), a pump and a hose. The next installment of a monsoon is arriving tomorrow, and all my weekend plans are being re-evaluated and shuffled around. Maybe I'll just lock myself in the house and watch the entire length of "Lawrence of Arabia", who knows!

We are actually coming off a very nice week with record temperatures in the mid-90s this past Sunday and Monday, and a solid 75-85 degrees the rest of the week. Everyone was glistening, the runners were sweating it out along the Charles River Esplanade, yours truly included, and the flip flops have come out. Now, I have to set the record straight - I do own flip flops, actually two pairs, and in general, I am very much in support of the concept. What I gripe about on a regular basis is the fact that they are worn as footwear with a business suit......

After hitting the wall last weekend, and fleeing the city as quickly as I could last Friday, the jolly group of Rick, Jay, Steph and Dan, accompanied by the ever loyal animal crew of Phoebe and Oscar ,arrived in Franconia, New Hampshire for a weekend of big plans. Jay topped the list by heading out early Saturday morning to run in the Mt Washington Road Race - for those of you who don't know, this is a major mountain (6288 ft) to even hike up - so running competetitively a distance of 7.9 miles with an elevation gain of 5000 ft is no small accomplishment. And to put it in perspective, the winning runner did this in 1 hour and 1 minute! Jay did fantastic, so congrats go out to him!!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we were no slackers either and headed for the big mountains - Little Haystack, Lincoln (http://www.hikethewhites.com/lincoln.html) and Lafayette (http://www.hikethewhites.com/lafayette.html) - which means two more 4000-footers of my list. Lincoln with 5089 ft is the second highest peak in New Hampshire outside of the Presidential Range - it is named after Abe Lincoln, though one source states that "the name was originally given to the small summit between Mount Lafayette and today's Mount Lincoln. (A few people refer to this small peak as Mount Truman, though this name is far from official.)" We hiked up a trail called Falling Waters which was absolutely spectacular, littered with waterfall after waterfall, and unfortunately also a most obnoxious bus load of French Canadians, who were screaming into their walkie talkies whenever possible, and had no sense of personal space. At some point Steph had to point out to a couple of particulary smelly and sweaty members of "la groupe" that it is not cool whatsoever to hike that close to her derriere - we're just not that kinda people.

From Little Haystack's beautiful open summit (4760 ft, but not ranked as a 4000-footer on the NH list because there is not enough elevation difference between it and Mt Lincoln) you can follow a spectacular trail along the ridge to Mt Lincoln, and only once you get there, you can see Mt Lafayette and the next leg of your journey. Mt Lafayette at 5260 has the honor of being the highest peak in the Franconia Range and was originally called "Great Haystack" but underwent a name change in honor of a foreign nobleman, the Marquis de Lafayette, who supported the colonists' cause in the American Revolution. Needless to say the view from all three summits is breathkaing in particular if you were able to tune out the Canadians and ignore the black flies (one of which almost made it onto my sandwich... don't ask!).

What always amazes me is the carelessness and unpreparedness unexperienced hikers display in their hikes up these mountains. There is plenty of information out there that tells you to not take hiking in the Whites litely. More than often you see folks heading up a 5200 ft mountain with one tiny bottle of spring water and sandals. Winner in this category this past weekend was a character from Italy with no water whatsoever heading up to Mt Lafayette in Kenneth Cole dress shoes. Good one!

Saturday night we were exhausted, and hungry and after replenishing our sorry selves with some decent grub in form of the traditional spaghetti and meatballs, it was time for Scattergories. The game definitely had an interesting spin to it, in particular since I kept questioning the liberties the other contestants took in interpreting the rules.... if you think "killer" is acceptable as an occupation starting with the letter K and "just a goat" counts as a farm animal starting with J, go right ahead, side with them....

Not having had enough exercise, Stephanie and I peeled our sorry selves out of bed on Sunday morning to run 9 Miles (marathon training) along the bike path that starts at the Flume Visitor Center in Franconia Notch. It is a wonderful bike path, every mile is marked, only problem was that we were sore as can be and that the first 4.5 miles were uphill. I was huffin' and puffin', but did make it back to the start, and was darn proud of it. Back at the visitor center we were surrounded by the less outdoorsy folks, who prefer to drive around and for whom even the guided nature walk around the center seemed too much - "Two miles???!! Is there a shuttle?".

Back at the house, after Dan and Steph decided that they had enough of this nonsense, I let myself be talked into yet another hike (Why oh Why?) - this one 4.6 miles, moderate to very steep. When I realized I ran completely out of gas , I turned into a bundle of joy, let me tell you - every steep section was greeted with "you must be f...ing kidding me!!!!" I think Rick was afraid at that point and kept pointing out that the flat part should be coming up shortly. Past Kedron Flume we reached our goal of Ripley Falls, the second largest waterfall in New Hampshire, and it was sooo worth it! Just fantastic!! (http://www.northeastwaterfalls.com/waterfall.php?num=336&p=0) The hike back along the bug-infested Saco River presented another highlight in the form of a couple of very cute looking skiiny-dipping girls and all was well again.

Our hike ended where it began at the Willey House in Crawford Notch - interesting story there - The Willeys were a family living there in 1826 and since this is the mountains they has built an avalanche shelter. Sad story: avalanche came, Willey family ran to shelter, avalanche shelter gets flatttened, kills everyone inside, family house still standing. (http://www.nhstateparks.org/ParksPages/CrawfordNotch/CrawfordNotchWlyHse.html).

That about covers it, of course not without listing yet another altitude-induced "Petraism". I was trying to expressing my displeasure over the mileage marker on a trail and announced loudly "That 0.4 miles is certainly longer than that 0.1 miles!" Sure Petra - and your point is?

With that note, addios for the weekend, I am calm as a brand-new pump is sitting in my basement waiting for the deluge to come.

pet:)

#2 Boston - Hitting the Wall - June 16, 2006

Well, it has happened - I have officially hit the wall, there was just too much happening this week, and I am now sitting up here in Franconia, NH in the world's most dangerous swivel chair trying to keep my eyes open. Phoebe is sprawled out on the living room floor, Oscar is dining on his favorite seeds; Steph, Jay and Dan are discussing trail running and Rick is getting out his library of books to make sure that all the details of tomorrow's planned hike up Mt Lafayette are taken care of. If I would even look at a bottle of beer right now, I would pass right out I'm afraid. On the way up here, the five of us stopped at "The Barley House" in Concord, NH (http://www.thebarleyhouse.com/google367c83abe3f54245.html), a lovely brew pub across the street from the State House on North Main Street, and engaged in some serious burger eating and, get this, none of us even ordered a beer. What the heck is going on??? We almost did not make it to the pub, since Rick was seriously considering attending the jewelry convention of the New Hampshire Bead Society down the street, but we managed to avert this disaster at the last minute.

It has been a whirlwind week, craziness at work coming at me from all directions, a myriad of social engagements, all very pleasurable I might add. On Monday my 2-year anniversary in Boston was celebrated with a lovely dinner at the Helmand Restaurant (http://www.helmandrestaurantcambridge.com/) - Afghani food par excellence, and the accompanying wine put me in a very nice state of mind. It was a great occasion to celebrate - I have been very happy here in Boston, the past two years were fun-packed and it feels like I have lived here most of my life. On to the next year - thank you New England friends, you have been wonderful, love ya tons! Thank you friends in other places for staying in touch.

Alrighty, last weekend - Saturday, the rains again pounded down on the poor little Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and after my marathon training run (in the rain, yes), I joined Rick, Barbara and a few other AMC friends in Acton, to go on a nature hike with our friend and plant guru Boot Boutwell in the Acton Arboretum. Alas, Boot could not make it and so we decided to trample through the woods ourselves: http://www.town.acton.ma.us/LSCOM/DescArboretum.htm. It was wet my friends, and the black flies were having a field day, at least with me. The bug bites on my legs (guess who was wearing shorts?) developed nicely and started expanding to small plate-size welts - it kinda looked as if I was planning to grow a second knee, a very attractive feature, in particular during summer season. Just beautiful! (http://res2.agr.gc.ca/ecorc/diptera/bf11-dp11_e.htm ). My human sacrifice was rewarded by some beautiful botanical discoveries, including the carnivorous pitcher plants
(http://www.mikebaker.com/plants/Sarracenia_purpurea.html) and one of my recent favorites, "Jack in the Pulpit" aka the Indian turnip ( http://2bnthewild.com/plants/H46.htm). Not to forget of course, the Bracken Fern, which when grown to a decent size makes a nice hat, but honestly I think I would have to smoke some wacky weed before you could get me to do that.
http://www.fcps.k12.va.us/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/bracken_fern.htm . What kind of emergency could arise in the woods that would make me grab a fern and don it on my noggin? (I will keep thinking about this one.... never say never!)

After 2 hours of rain we had enough, and our dampened trio headed to Rick's house in Windham, New Hampshire for a low-key evening with movies, Chinese food and about 50% or the ice cream section of the local Shaw's, which we had raided earlier. I also was able to use my VIP status and scan Rick's basement for furniture items in a special pre-yard sale session. My home has now some very beautiful carpets and is looking ready for attendance by friends and family.

Sunday, after breakfast in the sun(!!!!!) and an extended period of indecisiveness we headed for the Lakes Region of Southern New Hampshire (http://www.lakesregion.org/) in particular Lake Winnipesaukee. It extends over 72 square miles and has 274 habitable islands (http://www.winnipesaukee.com/ / http://www.lwhs.us/his-winnipesaukee.htm) The Mount Washington Cruise Ship delights visitors and shuttles them across the lake, and every year during the so-called "Ice-Out Contest" people try to guess the date that the ship can safely leave her port at Center Harbor and motor to four other ports. Apparently the earliest ice-out on record was March 29th and the latest has been May 12th. The lake's Native American name means ''beautiful water in a high place'' - so true. In order to see the lake in all its glory, we decided to hike one of the surrounding mountains, Mt Major. Not as major in height ( http://www.mit.edu/~einatlev/Mt_Major/index.html) - a mere 1786 feet - it provides a stunning view of Winnipesaukee at very little hiker's energy expense. I will send some pictures from our hike that day separately on Monday... This is a very big bang for your buck!

As mentioned, it has been crazy since, just to give you an idea - anniversary lunch with Stephanie (we met during orientation at MGH two years ago, yeah!); impromptu get-together on Tuesday night with Patrick, Ellen, Ulandt and Pauline at Casa Petra; Running Group, Marathon Training Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; team photographer duty at the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge Road Race in Boston last night (http://www.jpmorganchasecc.com/events.php?city_id=4); bird sitting with Marge (who seems to blame me for her parents absence); many trips across town for work; annual physical, and and and.......

I will now conk out and crash in my bed and get a few zzzs in before tomorrow's monster hike (two more 4000-footers), so good night my friends!

Enjoy the sun!

pet:)

#1 Boston - Umbrella Rage

It was a sight to behold and not one of my finest moments, I might add. The whole darn thing started after I returned from Atlanta Wednesday morning after having spent a week in hot and dry weather (85 degrees every day mind you) to bloody rainy Boston. Not just rain, torrential rain. Add some staunch winds to that and the whole darn mess (did I say darn again) kept hitting you sideways. As a result one of my bedroom windows started leaking, which after getting up at 5 AM in the morning and a bumpy flight, made me really happy. After getting a hold of myself and some control over the situation, I headed for work, on foot! "How bad can it be?" I thought. Riiiiiiiight. Bucket after bucket after bucket of rain - virulent winds, and at some point my umbrella, which had been flipped over several times, dropped out completely and refused to return to its normal umbrella-like shape. I was cold, I was drenched and now the piece of crap gave out on me. I just completely lost it, and started banging the darn thing against a playground fence right next to Storrow Drive. Anyone driving along there that morning really got a treat! I just hope nobody had a camera around and took a picture of a crazy German woman attacking a fence - you might want to check the "News of the Weird" section of the Boston Globe. My colleagues at work did not even dare to ask questions when I stomped in, looking like a wet rat with a completely mucked up umbrella in my hand.

I have calmed down, I am happy to report, and so has the weather, but still no sunshine. It is June for crying out loud!!! (In other news, about six hours after the umbrella incident, my basement flooded again, and so it was back to the "shovel-water-in-a-bucket" technique - the resulting soreness has seriously impacted my marathon training - not to worry though - I am on target, only slightly accompanied by aches and pains.)

Seriously in need of a basement-free evening, I distracted myself last night quite nicely by ushering through Boston Cares at the Huntington Theater to see a performance of "Love's Labour's Lost" by William Shakespeare, directed by Nicholas Martin (http://www.huntingtontheatre.org/season/production.aspx?id=1329&src=t). A pretty neat story, and once you can get over the Shakespearean speak (I do admit that there were periods during the performance where I completely tuned out and went to my happy place, since I had no idea what was going on anyway...) it was quite an enjoyable performance. Here's the story, quickly - Ferdinand, King of Navarre convinces three of his buddies to stay chaste for the next three years (no women, booze, no fun) and study come hell and high water. Of course, wouldn't you know it, the quite-cute princess of France shows up with her not-too-shabby looking entourage and all the good intentions go down the tubes.....

Last week - off I went to Atlanta, Georgia (http://www.atlanta.net/index.html) for the Annual Meeting of ASCO (American Society for Clinical Oncology) - myself and 34,999 real oncologists - sounds like fun, doesn't it? Actually some of it was, I got to throw in a little tourism, get to know Atlanta a bit, and meet up with many of my colleagues, past and present. This was my first ever visit to the capital of Georgia, according to Wikipedia, "a poster-child for cities worldwide experiencing rapid urban sprawl, population growth, and commercial development." Apparently it is one of the most prosperous cities of the South and referred to as its unofficial capital.

Originally this was all pastureland, and only in the 19th century, when the Western and Atlantic Railroad was working on a trade route to the Midwest, a little settlement designated as a terminal emerged and was named "The Terminus". The railroad town soon after expanded and after being Marthasville for while was renamed Atlanta in 1845. The city and its surroundings ooze with Civil War history and landmarks such as Kennesaw Mountain where on June 17, 1864 a fierce battle led to a confederate victory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennesaw_Mountain) and Stone Mountain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Mountain), an enormous granite monolith who features a bas-relief of three confederate leaders - Stonewall Jackson, Robert E Lee and Jefferson Davis. A blemish in its history is the fact that the mountain was the founding site of the second Ku Klux Kan in 1915 who (Wikipedia says) was involved in the design, financing, and early construction of the monument. I did not make it to either of those sites, due to an unfortunate encounter with a car rental company called EZ-Car, who should be stripped of the word EZ in its name. I was promised a car, but the shuttle never showed up and after a substantial amount of time hanging out with all the other sorry saps renting cars from this wretched outfit, I went back to the rental counter and told them to keep their damn car, hopped on MARTA (Atlanta's public transportation system) and had myself a very nice day in and around the city.

Atlanta does have some endearing qualities as a city - beautifully situated it rests on a ridge along the Chattahoochee River, its humid subtropical climate is appreciated by some (if you like the feel of a sauna 24/7, go right ahead!), lots of green and trees nearby, and fantastic food. Culinary highlights: First price goes to Nava, with its spectacular Southwestern Cuisine (http://www.buckheadrestaurants.com/nava.html), followed by award-winning Rathbun's, named after executive chef Kevin Rathbun it is quite the fancy spot (http://www.rathbunsrestaurant.com/design.htm) despite its location in a very questionable neighborhood (even the cabbie looked concerned.....) - if you like steak, this is the place to go to!! Honorable mention goes to La Grotta (http://www.lagrottaatlanta.com/buckhead.htm), which was located in the basement of an apartment building, and if not for its location in Buckhead (a very nice part of Atlanta) I would have not gone near the place. The outside had a bit of the 1970s apartment building feel to it, the inside more of a "Goodfellas/Sopranos" ambience (in a good way) and the food was very palatable. Excellent panna cotta (which happens to be my favorite Italian desert). Best restaurant design - Nan, a Thai place on 17th and Spring Street in Midtown (http://www.nanfinedining.com/).












Scary experiences: The ride up in a glass elevator at the Westin Peachtree Plaza, which is attached on the outside of the building, and heads up to the Sundial Restaurant, 72 floors up (glass elevator, glass!!!! - guess who was hyperventilating?) (http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1023) Once I had ascertained that there was an inside elevator (no glass) to go down, I was able to enjoy the most spectacular view from the restaurant. Scary Experience#2: Marathon Training in rural Georgia - Saturday 6:30 AM - all treadmills taken in the hotel gym - Petra decides to jog outside - hotel is near airport - scary area - in and around the city of Hapeville (http://www.hapeville.org/) - city website says "Hapeville is where it's happening" - let's just say I am glad it did not.....

The pace of life is more meditative than I care for in my urban East Coast restlessness, and on my first day I almost had a heart attack when I wanted to really get to downtown quickly to sign up for the last tour of the day at the CNN Center, and the cabbie moved with the speed of two valiums. After showing up 20 minutes late, he told me that now we have to get gas first, and run a couple of errands (just kidding on the last one, but we did get gas....) and we made it to CNN literally with 30 seconds to spare.

Very positive - people in Atlanta are super friendly - and it seemed as if they really mean it. Everywhere you went, people made it a point of saying hello and in a way that seemed very genuine. Liked that. Loved a sign in a cab that said "No food, no drink, no funny business!" Amen to that.

Other highlights - touristy (I know this is getting long and I swear, I did attend the conference)
- Tour of CNN Center - very cool - http://www.cnn.com/tour/ - kept asking for Anderson Cooper who was unfortunately out of town;
- Georgia Aquarium (http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/) - opened on November 23rd last year, largest aquarium in the world - Beluga Whales (I'm gonna get me one of those - Note to self - build huge tank in back yard - wait, I don't have a back yard....) and Whale Sharks (largest known fish -adults get up to 40 ft long); got to pet a sting ray - cool.
- the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library (http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/) - beautifully situated among ponds and lots of green, understated and informative, with its focus on how the presidency of the United States has evolved over time.
-Sundays you can't have alcohol until 12:30 PM - at that time it was announced loudly in the restaurant we were in, that the bar is now open, and I have never seen waitresses roll out the beers that fast, ever. It was as if they had waited behind a starting line.

Enough. I think I covered most of my adventures in Atlanta and in Boston. I am staying in town this weekend, with some local hikes being planned - we are expecting more rain, so who knows, I might be in the basement again on water removal duty. The fun never ends.

So long my friends.

pet:)