Boston Marathon

Not a real marathon, but a long day. I had promised myself that if I did have some free time I’d meet up with Keith Shaw, one of my oldest (as in long term) Taig lathe customers as well as my boss. In the middle of the last decade he innocently asked me if I was interested in doing some 3D modeling for a Braille Display project he was working on for Tactile Display Corporation. Many years of fun were had working on a variety of designs. So plans were made to meet up for a quick lunch.

I love this sign on the way to the trolley stop in Milton.

Here comes the trolley.

My sister considered the prospect amusing so she chaperoned me. We met Keith outside of Central station. Wandering around the high tech buildings, I was entranced by this display in the Broad Institute..

I decided my that my dislike of Gehry is probably unwarranted.

Worried for an instant that my sister was going to check me in.

This is where they make the Tootsie Rolls.

Not an inspiring place to work, we could make out employees in the break room.

After a bit of hunting we found a $7.95 all you can eat Indian buffet, Shalimar of India. It was head and shoulders above our local Indian restaurant’s buffet, which is pretty sad.

Keith enjoyed the meal.

After lunch Keith decided that it would be fun to trespass visit the Francis Bitter Magnet Lab, where he had worked for many years as a young PhD. He led us through the warrens of graduate students until he finally tracked down someone who both remembered him and would allow us entry to see the NMR Spectroscopes.  Impressively anonymous machinery.

One of the control cabinets was open and they were ventilating it with a large household box fan.

I started to walk towards the machine and was told to stop where the tile changes colour. At the border I was being exposed to 5 Gauss. It felt enervating, although likely that was a psychological effect as it isn’t that large of a force. There were pacemaker warnings all over the building though.

The red nozzle is where the Helium vents when something goes wrong.

Etched plates…

The original plan was to stop at that point but the day was warm and beautifully sunny, so we embarked on a long hike that my sister only ended when the International Red Cross got involved. Something about the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Brothers or somesuch nonsense.

Crossing the Charles.

That bridge is new to me.

Me & my baby sister. She’s smiling because of the pain she’s planning on meting out.

Keith and I. I guess the belly does say that I need to take a long walk.

The Hancock with moon above.

That’s some science fiction scenery.

Boston is charming.

Hey look, Betsy is on the phone…

A crane.

Park Street Church. For those following at home, we’ve already walked from Mass Ave. in Cambridge to Boylston St. and along it to the Boston Common.

The giant kettle.

The Holocaust memorial with the Oyster House in the background. I’m not sure about the symbolism.

Wrong. It’s Boston Garden. You can’t sell my childhood memories that easily.

Betsy in front of the Bobby Orr statue.

My Dad had to miss the game, even though he had tickets, as Betsy was born that day.

We saw Keith off at North Station and got on the T to visit Jackie and Mike again. My feet were tired even though the total distance of the walk was only about 4 miles. Possibly it had to do with the new pair of shoes I had purchased for the trip, the large Indian buffet or my general lack of fitness.
Next post will be the trip back West...