Haven't given a Ted update in a week or so, so buckle your seat belts, we're off!

Last weekend Veronica's friend Gary dropped by from San Francisco. They got in three nights of clubs at Campus, The Pill, and Manray, but in keeping with my recent boredom with clubs in general and the cold/flu that was bothering me, i stayed home. I did accompany them on a Boston Duck Tour, quack quack, and an excursion down to Wrentham and the outlet stores. The Duck Tour is at this point a Boston fixture: a fleet of seventeen amphibious troop carriers from World War 2 that have been converted into tour buses offering 1.5 hour trips around Boston and on the Charles River. A lot of fun, even with Veronica and Gary being gloomy non-participating sticks in the mud. I became the butt of most of driver Penny Wise's jokes after she found out that after Veronica's almost five years with me, she still doesn't have a real ring (Penny has only been waiting for two ... whiner). The intention of our jaunt down to Wrentham was to procure me a new suit, but despite trying on plenty at the Hugo Boss outlet, we came away empty in that regard. Gary and i did get new trainers and warm up jackets at the Adidas store though, and Veronica got some new shoes at Kenneth Cole. Gary left very early on Monday morning, after not doing much of anything Sunday because Veronica was laid up in bed with the flu.

Our roommate Emilio moved out on Monday July 1, so for a few days now we've had a huge empty room next door. It'll come in handy when we begin organizing things for the packing and loading process of the move that will be going down a week from Friday.

With only two weeks left at the CMIR, i've got several loads of work to get done. On Tuesday Doreen (despite being under the weather as well) and i stayed at the lab until 9:30pm and acquired a total of 22 fluorescence tomography datasets comprising my last experiment. I processed the data on Wednesday, and Thursday was ecstatic to find that the hypotheses of the experiment were verified, paving the way for my last paper. That's about halfway written. I'm also in the process of making my image analysis software Mac and Unix compatible, which may or may not be a massive headache. And i'm training Vasilis's new postdoc. And helping Andreas get our long-suffering time-resolved spectroscopy system up and running. And resubmitting my fluorescence tomography optimization paper, accepted after minor revisions to the Journal of the Optical Society of America A. And ... oh, way too many other things.

I've had the worst T experiences of my time in Boston over the last two weeks. Is this the city's way of saying "Fine! If you don't want to live here, get the hell out!"? A lot of missed trains, 20-30 minute waits, and rude passengers.

The Onion hits another nail on the head: Bush Asks Congress For $30 Billion To Help Fight War On Criticism.

Last night V and i walked over to the Paradise Rock Club to see Placebo. I'd seen them once before, at a Live 105 Christmas show in San Francisco, and remember them being good. But i've never been so inclined as to listen to their albums. However, once again they impressed me live. Highlights of the set were "Slave to the Wage", "Taste in Men", "Pure Morning", and "Black Eyed". The crowd was almost as much of a story as the band. We were a few feet back from the right side of the stage, right in front of the ... umm ... well ... the guy who's not Brian Molko and not the drummer. (Really, he plays both bass and guitar, and at times didn't play anything and just danced around like Bez) Anyway, the people around us were nice enough, until two girls showed up on my left and kept trying to inch their way in front of people. Several times one of them brushed my elbow. A few minutes later, i see one of them tap the other on the shoulder and start saying something, all the while pointing and nodding in my direction. The most unsubtle gesture i've ever seen. The other strange thing about the audience was that while everyone was energetic, all the dancers were doing these weird club moves that were totally incongruent with the music. Stuff you'd see in a Coolio video. I was pleasantly surprised when the band did away with the usual "Thank you, good night!" bullshit that separates the main set from the encore, opting instead for a much more truthful "We'll see you in a few minutes". However, they then proceeded to pull the regular crap for their second encore. The show closed with a cover of the Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?" that was a rendition worthy of the band's hometown. A drunk girl from the front row got onstage briefly to showcase her freaky dancing, but was, thank god, quickly shuffled offstage by a roadie.

No big plans for the long weekend, except for getting our apartment ready to move. Veronica's mom Arlene, stepdad Alan, and baby sister Ana arrive in Rhode Island for vacation with Alan's family on Saturday, so we'll probably head down on Sunday to say hello. Happy 4th!