recent work necessities have meant that this blog is living up to its (damnit, it irks me that the iphone predictive text entry assumes I want to write “it’s” when, by golly, I want – and actually enter – “its”) name. southwest, northeast, near and far, I’m all over the place. although given the increasing trend airlines seem to have toward charging for checked luggage, I’m seeing less of the baggage carousel these days.

I’m done with Boston for the moment, which is so much more the pity because I do quite enjoy it – and because I just finished a lovely lunch with the lovelier Alejna (who the phone insists on capitalizing, and I’ll let it, because she deserves that much, at least) and mostly-unfussy Theo, who was quite well-behaved at lunch and smiled engagingly before audibly soiling his diapers. I always enjoy spending time with Alejna, in part because she tells me about her ongoing research in a field so different from mine, but mostly because she’s generally great company and a very cool person.

so, after lunch in Cambridge she directed me to the appropriate T station for Logan, which is why right now finds me thumb-blogging on a silver line bus to terminal C.

I’ll be home tonight, the travel gods willing, happy to sleep in my own bed, curled up with g and secure in the knowledge that I don’t have to leave town again until… oh, hell. friday.

so, i’m in boston.

“but laloca!” you say (you, my mythical readers) “weren’t you just in new mexico?”

yes, yes i was. and it was lovely – temperatures in the upper 40s, barely a cloud in the sky. even the ~4 hour drive from albuquerque to las cruces was nice, as it bathed my retinas (and thereby some winter-suffering brain chemicals) in sunlight. and i returned yesterday afternoon.

and now, not even 3pm, i’m in boston. and there’s sludge everywhere, leftover from the weekend’s snowfall. but that’s not the story.

the story is one of hotel nickle-and-diming, and how moderately-priced hotels (holiday inn, hampton inn) have free wifi internet access¹, while upscale hotels (embassy suites, omni) charge you for it. and that annoys me. not because i’m paying for it (or anything on these trips, for that matter – that’s what an expense account is for, yes?), but because they’re charging for it.

i’d write more, but i’m a presentation short of a meeting and must actually work. carry on.
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¹ the boston hotel i’m in at the moment doesn’t have wifi of any flavor. so i’m plugged into an ethernet port (one of at least three macs currently using the system). and paying for it.

day two of The Gentle Rain that Drove DC to Suicide. gray. dreary. chill. and not in that warm, fuzzy, go-for-a-walk-and-raise-your-face-to-the-sky kind of way. more like the hunch-your-shoulders-under-your-umbrella-while-puddles-seep-into-your-socks-and-passing-cars-soak-you-to-the-knees kind of way.

which is why i’m going to new mexico tomorrow.

well, not actually. i mean, i am going to NM tomorrow, but it has nothing to do with the weather here. it’s a *sigh* work thing.

but at the moment i’m on the bus, slogging my way downtown (or so i imagine – the windows are far too fogged up to see where we are, and we could be heading off 66 and into the river. i wouldn’t complain.) toward certain doom the office. and yes, my socks are damp.

the red solo cup by the knee of the female figure should give some idea as to scale, as should the truck bed behind the male figure. the female is made of chain; the male of cable.

Close two figures

Close male figure

okey doke. so i just sat through two days of nikon school. the first day was a bit too elementary, and my anxiety was acting up, so g & i bailed early. day 2 (today) was better – more interesting (and to me, relevant) subject matter, plus i brought knitting. got to finish those hats for xmas, you know.

one thing that impressed me was the image processing capability of capture nx2, so i picked up a demo copy and brought it home to play with. it’s quite powerful, and i know i’m not doing it justice, but here are two more photos from burning man: a fire-breathing dragon art car.

and some of this:

a whole lotta this:

seen at the denver international airport:

medicine bow park, WY.