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hermionesviolinI neglected to mention that last night I took the escalator up from the Red Line to the commuter rail (I wasn't in a rush, but I also didn't feel like walking up all the stairs) and there were a lot of people on the escalator but the people on the left were actually walking so it was fine. The righthand side was mostly occupied by standing persons, and at one point the guy walking in front of me slipped over into an open standing slot and I realized that he had been walking only because there was no room to stand and I almost stopped and thanked him for having escalator etiquette (i.e., not stopping in the line of traffic).
According to weather.com, this morning it was 20F feels like 9F. The past couple days even I've noticed the cold -- primarily because after all the mild it's a shock to the nervous system, I imagine. So not complaining, though.
Amanda got breakfast at Finagle a Bagel and got me an everything bagel with veggie cream cheese as a thank you for holding down the fort in her absence. I really didn't do much, but I certainly wasn't gonna turn down a free bagel :)
The remote control tech guy liked the bear I have on my desktop :)
12:13 I called Eric about lunch. Usually he's all discombobulated and has lost track of time, but today he was prepared, all "Yes, it is in fact lunchtime" -- simultaneously doing "I'm treating you as if you are slow" and "I'm giving you answsers/responses that really don't give you any new information or any help" all in that exaggerated polite faux-innocent manner. I informed him I was going to hit him when I came back (I was going to buy lunch and he was having leftover pizza in the fridge) and he was fine with that. I had called him "terribly useful" and he was telling me it was an oxymoron (given him, I think it was an appropriate phrase). I wasn't sure quite what I wanted to eat, especially as I was still somewhat full from my bagel, so I was chatting with Amanda and she was telling stories of her father's adventures in cooking -- one time when her dad was in the army they had left bread out and it got ants so they put in the microwave and it caught fire but didn't kill the ants so they threw it out their fifth floor window and then her dad put a glass of water in the microwave and steam killed the ants. I thought it was a fabulous story, but Eric wasn't a fan. He had come down, hoping I was back from getting food, and was giving me grief for not having gone yet. So I went, got expensive fancy hot chocolate ($2.75/6oz, has almond and stuff in it), came back, got my yesterday's clementine from the fridge, and found that Eric had gone back to his desk. He doesn't enjoy Amanda's stories like I do. When I called I could tell he had me on speakerphone and when he came down he said Barbara had been laughing at it, so when I went down to get him I greeted both of them and she said he was "in rare form" today.
Amanda and I went to the conference room and Eric lagged behind, microwaving or whatever. Amanda and I were snarking about this since when he had come down he was all "Why haven't you gone already? Go now." Then we got to talking about how it would be so fabulous if the doors locked and we could lock him out and just ignore him. So he did show up and he asked us about our weekend plans and Amanda's going to an inn in Vermont with her husband (postponed from last weekend) and he was asking her why Vermont (was there anything special about the place they were going, etc.) and she kept giving -- with a sickeningly sweet polite face -- answers like "Because that's where the inn is" and when I realized what she was doing I was like, "I love you so much right now." I told some story about one of our cross-country trips and Eric was in disbelief that we didn't all kill each other and maintained that I was not a normal teenager (duh) and so we got into a discussion about being problem children and he had lots of examples. One he said he didn't remember and I asked how old he was ('cause it wasn't the sort of thing a toddler would do) and he said he was 7 or 8 and when I asked he said he doesn't remember anything (which okay, I so believe, having worked months with him and his "why did I come down here?") and then continued to say that he remembers stuff that didn't happen -- like growing up in feudal Japan or the Great Depression. So every new topic when I disagreed with him I was like, "You have no credibility." After a bit of this, Eric said something like "I just won't talk for the rest of the day," and I was like, "best lunch evar," and then I started talking about taking up an office pool for how long that would last, and Amanda and I were just going on and on and it was great 'cause he couldn't say anything back. After about twenty minutes maybe I made the mistake of commenting that this would make it difficult for him to do his job (since we answer phones and stuff) so he decided to just stop -- and proceded to talk like nonstop for like 45 minutes. He talked a lot about Bruce Campbell and I thought of Emma :) He raved about Bubba Ho-tep and as he described it Amanda and I were like, "You're kidding, right?" (The bizarre factor kind of reminded me of Time Bandits, though -- probably 'cause I was already in an Emma headspace.) He also praised Brisco County, Jr. and when he described I was like, "Firefly" ('cause I keep nagging him to watch Firefly) and he tried to elaborate with "cowboy hats and spurs and horses" and I said again, "Firefly," and he said "big black guy with curly hair who kicks ass" and I said "Gina Torres" and on it went.
I called him about something later in the afternoon and he answered the phone, "Yes, ma'am."
Prof.B. met with some kid this afternoon and after the meeting said kid was in front of my desk scheduling a follow-up meeting and then Prof.B. walked by and started talking to him again about his trust paper and about biases that can hinder, or help, a negotiation -- for example, self-confidence bias. "Elizabeth doesn't have any of these," he joked. "Yeah, but I keep your calendar, so I win," I shot back. With that he left, but when he walked back he said, "I like that line, 'Yeah, but I keep your calendar, so I win,' " and he started talking about as an interesting negotiation tactic, to say "It doesn't matter what other things you have, I keep your calendar so I win."
I was going to see a studio in Allston at 6, so I had no rush to leave the office at the end of the day. I chatted with Alyssa for a bit and then headed up N. Harvard St. (And I see a beautiful sunset as I'm leaving the school grounds.) A 66 bus passed me but they're supposed to come every 10 minutes or less, so no biggie. Two 86s come in the next 10 minutes or so and then nothing. Though I do see something like four 66s and two 86s going toward the Square. So I've been waiting for about about a half an hour and it's nearing on six o'clock. It should only take abut ten minutes to get where I'm going, but who knows when a bus is gonna come, and the sky is dark and it occurs to me that (esp. given my track record) it isn't the best idea to be attempting to find a place I've never been before. Plus my feet are getting cold (literally -- the pun actually hadn't occurred to me at the time). So I call to reschedule. Tomorrow will be better anyway 'cause I can take the Green Line out, find it in the daylight, and then ride the bus back to Harvard and see that in the daylight too.
In the ten minutes it takes me to walk back to the bridge two 66s going in the direction I wanted pass me. I see two more after the bridge. Oh well. I see Isabel in the T station, which is fun. I browsed some at South Station (I almost wanna read this book; mostly I wanna see someone write a story including how a vampire would react to someone of Christ's bloodline) and read my book and get on the 7:35. I'm tired, duh, and I fall asleep -- which I do a lot. I wake up to these girls being all "ohmigod, this our stop, hurry!" and startled I hurry to the door and get out (so many of the stations look almost the same). It's Endicott. And the train has begun to move. I probably could have gotten back on, but I don't. I really should have known better 'cause I always wake up around Islington. Sigh. So I call home and we discern that an attempt to walk home would be a bad idea. Thankfully the next train is only in about an hour and twenty. (My mom has the car in Bennington, so my dad can't come get me.) There's a convenience store (and another one attached to a gas station across the highway) and a Fisherman's Restaurant or something, so I go into the restaurant, order a hot chocolate ('cause I can't just loiter) and watch the Olympics coverage they have playing (the end of a Michelle Kwan interview, downhill skiiing, and Bode Miller).
The train track curves, so when I was waiting for the train I saw the white light before I saw the train (though I had been alerted by its sound). Beautiful beautiful sight.
According to weather.com, this morning it was 20F feels like 9F. The past couple days even I've noticed the cold -- primarily because after all the mild it's a shock to the nervous system, I imagine. So not complaining, though.
Amanda got breakfast at Finagle a Bagel and got me an everything bagel with veggie cream cheese as a thank you for holding down the fort in her absence. I really didn't do much, but I certainly wasn't gonna turn down a free bagel :)
The remote control tech guy liked the bear I have on my desktop :)
12:13 I called Eric about lunch. Usually he's all discombobulated and has lost track of time, but today he was prepared, all "Yes, it is in fact lunchtime" -- simultaneously doing "I'm treating you as if you are slow" and "I'm giving you answsers/responses that really don't give you any new information or any help" all in that exaggerated polite faux-innocent manner. I informed him I was going to hit him when I came back (I was going to buy lunch and he was having leftover pizza in the fridge) and he was fine with that. I had called him "terribly useful" and he was telling me it was an oxymoron (given him, I think it was an appropriate phrase). I wasn't sure quite what I wanted to eat, especially as I was still somewhat full from my bagel, so I was chatting with Amanda and she was telling stories of her father's adventures in cooking -- one time when her dad was in the army they had left bread out and it got ants so they put in the microwave and it caught fire but didn't kill the ants so they threw it out their fifth floor window and then her dad put a glass of water in the microwave and steam killed the ants. I thought it was a fabulous story, but Eric wasn't a fan. He had come down, hoping I was back from getting food, and was giving me grief for not having gone yet. So I went, got expensive fancy hot chocolate ($2.75/6oz, has almond and stuff in it), came back, got my yesterday's clementine from the fridge, and found that Eric had gone back to his desk. He doesn't enjoy Amanda's stories like I do. When I called I could tell he had me on speakerphone and when he came down he said Barbara had been laughing at it, so when I went down to get him I greeted both of them and she said he was "in rare form" today.
Amanda and I went to the conference room and Eric lagged behind, microwaving or whatever. Amanda and I were snarking about this since when he had come down he was all "Why haven't you gone already? Go now." Then we got to talking about how it would be so fabulous if the doors locked and we could lock him out and just ignore him. So he did show up and he asked us about our weekend plans and Amanda's going to an inn in Vermont with her husband (postponed from last weekend) and he was asking her why Vermont (was there anything special about the place they were going, etc.) and she kept giving -- with a sickeningly sweet polite face -- answers like "Because that's where the inn is" and when I realized what she was doing I was like, "I love you so much right now." I told some story about one of our cross-country trips and Eric was in disbelief that we didn't all kill each other and maintained that I was not a normal teenager (duh) and so we got into a discussion about being problem children and he had lots of examples. One he said he didn't remember and I asked how old he was ('cause it wasn't the sort of thing a toddler would do) and he said he was 7 or 8 and when I asked he said he doesn't remember anything (which okay, I so believe, having worked months with him and his "why did I come down here?") and then continued to say that he remembers stuff that didn't happen -- like growing up in feudal Japan or the Great Depression. So every new topic when I disagreed with him I was like, "You have no credibility." After a bit of this, Eric said something like "I just won't talk for the rest of the day," and I was like, "best lunch evar," and then I started talking about taking up an office pool for how long that would last, and Amanda and I were just going on and on and it was great 'cause he couldn't say anything back. After about twenty minutes maybe I made the mistake of commenting that this would make it difficult for him to do his job (since we answer phones and stuff) so he decided to just stop -- and proceded to talk like nonstop for like 45 minutes. He talked a lot about Bruce Campbell and I thought of Emma :) He raved about Bubba Ho-tep and as he described it Amanda and I were like, "You're kidding, right?" (The bizarre factor kind of reminded me of Time Bandits, though -- probably 'cause I was already in an Emma headspace.) He also praised Brisco County, Jr. and when he described I was like, "Firefly" ('cause I keep nagging him to watch Firefly) and he tried to elaborate with "cowboy hats and spurs and horses" and I said again, "Firefly," and he said "big black guy with curly hair who kicks ass" and I said "Gina Torres" and on it went.
I called him about something later in the afternoon and he answered the phone, "Yes, ma'am."
Prof.B. met with some kid this afternoon and after the meeting said kid was in front of my desk scheduling a follow-up meeting and then Prof.B. walked by and started talking to him again about his trust paper and about biases that can hinder, or help, a negotiation -- for example, self-confidence bias. "Elizabeth doesn't have any of these," he joked. "Yeah, but I keep your calendar, so I win," I shot back. With that he left, but when he walked back he said, "I like that line, 'Yeah, but I keep your calendar, so I win,' " and he started talking about as an interesting negotiation tactic, to say "It doesn't matter what other things you have, I keep your calendar so I win."
I was going to see a studio in Allston at 6, so I had no rush to leave the office at the end of the day. I chatted with Alyssa for a bit and then headed up N. Harvard St. (And I see a beautiful sunset as I'm leaving the school grounds.) A 66 bus passed me but they're supposed to come every 10 minutes or less, so no biggie. Two 86s come in the next 10 minutes or so and then nothing. Though I do see something like four 66s and two 86s going toward the Square. So I've been waiting for about about a half an hour and it's nearing on six o'clock. It should only take abut ten minutes to get where I'm going, but who knows when a bus is gonna come, and the sky is dark and it occurs to me that (esp. given my track record) it isn't the best idea to be attempting to find a place I've never been before. Plus my feet are getting cold (literally -- the pun actually hadn't occurred to me at the time). So I call to reschedule. Tomorrow will be better anyway 'cause I can take the Green Line out, find it in the daylight, and then ride the bus back to Harvard and see that in the daylight too.
In the ten minutes it takes me to walk back to the bridge two 66s going in the direction I wanted pass me. I see two more after the bridge. Oh well. I see Isabel in the T station, which is fun. I browsed some at South Station (I almost wanna read this book; mostly I wanna see someone write a story including how a vampire would react to someone of Christ's bloodline) and read my book and get on the 7:35. I'm tired, duh, and I fall asleep -- which I do a lot. I wake up to these girls being all "ohmigod, this our stop, hurry!" and startled I hurry to the door and get out (so many of the stations look almost the same). It's Endicott. And the train has begun to move. I probably could have gotten back on, but I don't. I really should have known better 'cause I always wake up around Islington. Sigh. So I call home and we discern that an attempt to walk home would be a bad idea. Thankfully the next train is only in about an hour and twenty. (My mom has the car in Bennington, so my dad can't come get me.) There's a convenience store (and another one attached to a gas station across the highway) and a Fisherman's Restaurant or something, so I go into the restaurant, order a hot chocolate ('cause I can't just loiter) and watch the Olympics coverage they have playing (the end of a Michelle Kwan interview, downhill skiiing, and Bode Miller).
The train track curves, so when I was waiting for the train I saw the white light before I saw the train (though I had been alerted by its sound). Beautiful beautiful sight.