Muli Ben-Yehuda's journal

We managed to pack everything on time. Thus far, we’re reasonably certain we didn’t forget anything. We did manage to get locked out of the house, with only once suitcase (possible to live with), and a trapped cat inside the house and no way for my parents to get inside to feed her (not possible to live with). A misanthropic lock breaker and 400 NIS fixed that fairly quickly.

The ride to the airport was uneventful, though we did see a car that flipped over on its side. At the airport, we ate cold, expensive pastries at a yucky fast food place, did the obligatory duty free tour (just some alcohol for various relatives), and then checked out the VIP lounge – where we discovered hot pastries, for free. D’oh.

Then we boarded the plane. The flight, which is now entering its eighth hour, is at the same time boring and annoying. I think I’m growing to really hate trans-atlantic flights, as opposed to just actively disliking them. We have fabulous seat, right next to the lavatorie (thanks a lot, AMEX!), and the window seat is taken by a nice old lady that is making good use of our proximity to the lavatories. Its been a while since I’ve slept in such short bouts. Thank god I’m tired enough to sleep at all.

Only three hours to go until we hit EWR (Ewacs? Emacs? A new kind of neuter ewe? no, it’s New Jersey’s own airport!), at 04:40 in the morning local time. Then we have to make it through security, customs, baggage claim, find our connecting flight, board it, and hopefully make it to Boston. We should arrive in Boston at 8 or 9 AM in the morning, local time.

Since we haven’t really made an itinerary for the Boston leg of our trip, and taking into account jet lag, etc, we will be taking the first day easy. We’ll visit the Museum of Natural History, and possibly also to the Computer Museum at MIT, and walk around Cambridge, taking in the sites. I hope the weather will cooperate.

I have started to read Steven Levy’s Hackers again, looking for the sites I want to visit in MIT. So far on the list are Bldg. 26 (does it still exist?) and the TMRC shack. There’s also the library, and that’s about it. Kinda silly to travel accross the ocean to visit a library, but I’m a silly person like that.

Our hotel at Boston, Hotel@MIT, is supposed to have a T-1 in every room. If you’re reading this, we made it there and got the T-1 to work
😉

So… I didn’t even get a change to write before embarking on the OLS 2004 world tour with the lovely ladypine and am making up for it now on the plane. Since my last post on Thursday last week, we’ve had a pretty stresful weekend (standard pre-travel anxiety), then a few busy pack-arrange-what-are-we-forgetting days, and then we were off.

On the PNS front, I’ve been remiss in the last two weeks. I’m holding steady at my current weight, give or take 0.5 kgs, but holding steady is not good enough. Must continue on the path of PNS! Vacations are bad time to be on a diet, but if I can just watch what I eat and exercise regularly (every hotel we’ll be in in the next three weeks has an indoor pool and gym, not to mention that ladypine‘s favorite tourist method is to endlessly walk the streets) should do the trick.

On the work front, I’m disengaging from my two projects. One I’m happy to leave behind for a few days. The other, I am sad to leave behind, and even feeling a little guilt. In the last weeks before leaving, we made progress in leaps and bounds, going from zero lines of useful code to around 7K, with all major functional areas covered!

On the school front, I have a nasty exam waiting for me when we’ll return. ‘Nuff said.

On the home front, we have various home improvements to make, including changing the lock, or at least the handle, on the door. Wait for the next entry to find out why….

And that’s it, I think. Let the OLS 2004 world tour commence!