Signs of Spring in the chilly Northeast

From our weekend perambulations. . .

Tulips courtesy of Alex!

Easter Sunday arrived and for the first time ever, the Easter bunny did not visit. It was very sad. I consoled myself with making devilled eggs (with little capers on top, be still my heart - but not TOO still), and then, the Easter Bonnie visited! (It should be noted that Bonnie was not especially happy about this!)

Back to School

This past week I took a few hours off to take a class ("Cooking with Friends") through Jaime's organization, Elderhostel. The class was held in Boston's South End at Sage Restaurant, not too far from where Cici spent her first months of life.

Although I would have been happy to see the scheduled presenter Dante, I was more than delighted with the substitute, the chef at Olives! It seems that Boston's culinary scene is a little incestuous, with chefs moving to and from various restaurants, going off on their own, etc. So, the substitute had actually cooked in the same restaurant with the chef of Sage.

The cooking demonstration was both instructive and delicious, and it was very interesting hearing from Alison Arnett, a long-time restaurant critic in the Boston area. I've already made the soup, and have plans to try making gnocchi, those delicious little potato pillows, and the dessert.

Walking to go to work, I discovered evidence (although it was chilly and damp) that spring has indeed arrived.

The next day I heard that Jaime got into her graduate school program at Columbia! Yeah, Jaime!

I love olives!

I never noticed this before, but i love and olive are anagrams! My love affair with olives is legendary among Haddens. Alex, in fact, was able to entice me to visit France, despite my fear of flying, with just this picture of olives at the market! Drool.

After returning from points south, Jaime and I took advantage of Restaurant Week(s) to go to Olives, Todd English's famous restaurant in Charlestown. I'd always wanted to go, simply because of the name! The prix fixe menu was a tempation I could no longer pass up, and I gladly offered myself an olive branch.

The restaurant is set in City Square, with a wonderful view of the Zakim bridge. The food was excellent and well-presented.

I am pretty sure we'll be returning!

The Other Alexandria

While the Alexandria in Egypt remains on my fantasy Great Civilizations tour, Alexandria, Virginia is also pretty neat. Interestingly, both Alexandrias are named for Alexanders - but ancient Alexandria (named for Alexander the Great) was actually built upon a MORE ancient Ptolemic city, while more modern Alexandria (once named Belle Haven) was based on the estate of Philip Alexander II who was contemporary to the founding of modern Alexandria in the 1600's. [For some excellent reading on Alexander the Great, see Mary Renault's The Persian Boy.]

But I digress. While I was in National Harbor, a waypoint was Alexandria. The train station and the water taxi were 2 or 3 miles apart, eminently walkable. The path between the two was King Street, which passes through and largely comprises "Old Town" (lovely cobbled side streets proved an attractive diversion though!) The waterfront is attractive and well-used by tourists and city dwellers alike - but what really attracted me were the many lamp posts and fabulous door knockers!

The most beautiful scene came, though, as I departed Alexandria at dawn (via the retro train station.)

National Harbor 2009

The conference began early Sunday morning with an excellent class on PROC REPORT. It's funny, after so many years away from higher education, to find how shorter my attention span seems to be these days. How did I ever manage through 6 to 8 hours of classes a day? Nonetheless, I was able to manage for the 4 hours and got a lot from the class. After that, I put up my two poster presentations and headed off to the water taxi to enjoy the (briefly) spring-like weather.

On the water taxi

View from Hampton Inn in National Harbor

Guarding the conference center

One of the more interesting features of the harbor was the bridge between National Harbor (Oxon Hill, MD) and Alexandria, VA. The water taxi passes right underneath the bridge. The approach is pretty spectacular.

Sunday night was the Opening Session of the conference, which seemed extremely schizophrenic to me, more like a three ring circus than a coordinated presentation. But, it's not really intended for the geeks among us, so there it is. I keep hoping for a reprise of the wonderful Cirque du Soleil event at SUGI 29, but no luck! Monday, the conference began in earnest with the Technology Session with a keynote by Dave Barry. He really is amazingly funny. I laughed so hard I cried.

Then it was on to being a session coordinator, then presenting my two posters. Tuesday, I presented on ODS TAGSETS.RTF and attended some really great talks - then found out that one of my posters won First Prize and Best Contributed Paper! Brain full, I packed my stuff in preparation for an early morning departure.

Catching Up

Two weeks ago I left on the Amtrak Regional to travel down to Oxon Hill, MD (via Alexandria, VA) for a conference (SAS Global Forum.) It's hard to describe what SAS is. It used to be a statistical analysis system, but has grown into almost a way of being over the years. That said, I'm pretty much "old school" - SAS is the tool I use to do my job, which is statistical analysis and reporting, and it's pretty cool. The conference is a four day event, at which I was presenting two posters and one half-hour talk (three papers in all.) I was also taking a Sunday class and acting as a session coordinator for one of the sections in the conference.

Spring had clearly arrived in Alexandria before I did!

Having researched my trip carefully, I had reserved a seat on the water taxi from Alexandria to National Harbor. Once I arrived in the very cool "retro" train station in Alexandria, I took my printed sheet of walking directions (thank you Google!!!) and set off down King Street, luggage and poster tube in tow and trusty Canon in hand. While there were no cobblestones on King Street, it is very beautiful and evokes a sense of history. A few miles later, I arrived at the banks of the Potomac and set off on the next chapter of my adventure.

National Harbor is kind of a "manufactured" community, not unlike Orlando. (Perhaps not coincidentally, Gaylord also has a convention center in Orlando.) It is still a work in progress - but shows promise of being a fun destination for both convention-goers and locals looking for an outing for the price of a bus ride or water taxi. The view of the convention center from the water is stunning.

Once I'd arrived and deposited my stuff (with a huge sigh of relief!) I met my roommate, and then some new friends in the All-American Sports bar (when you are in the mid-Atlantic, March Madness is a BIG deal!)

Pawprints on our hearts

It's amazing how attached you can become.