A visit by Nate and Carrie

We arrived Friday, traveling via the Acela train, which could theoretically travel at 150mph, but only manages half of that at best, running on America's aging rails. Still, the train had fancy Star Trek-style doors, and a WiFi connection that let me instant-message with Orion as we chugged along.

When we reached Boston, the first thing I saw was a middle-aged man in a white shirt and tie standing outside the train station. He had a briefcase open in front of him, his sleeves rolled up, and an easel beside him that said

QA/IT
TECH SKILLS
SEEKING EMPLOYMENT

Yikes.

It was a beautiful spring afternoon, and we hiked from the station to Boston Common, where we met Steve, Orion, and Darcy. Darcy's hatred of other dogs means that she needs to be surrounded by 3-5 people at all times, blocking her vision like some strange squad of bodyguards.

At the apartment, Carrie and I played on the Wii with Sally, who worked doggedly to master the rhythm games in "Ravid Rabbids". Orion worked on a MATLAB-based particle simulation of the air around the doors of Massachusetts General Hospital, to determine definitively whether their revolving doors were more energy-efficient than their sliding doors. Steve made plans to photograph a dead rat he'd spotted.

It all feels pretty normal.