Hummerlunch

Så var besöken från Sverige över för den här gången. Mamma och pappa åkte igår kväll. Det känns vemodigt att inte veta exakt när vi får träffa dem nästa gång. Darrin började tillbaka-till-vardagen-livet dramatiskt med magsjuka, innan mammas och pappas plan ens var i luften...

Vi fick i alla fall en mysig avslutning medan de fortfarande var kvar. De bjöd på lunch på Legal Sea Foods vid Kendall Square. Mamma, pappa och jag satt bredvid varandra och högg in på varsin helt nykokt hummer, komplett med haklapp och smör att doppa i. Helt klart min lyxigaste jobbdagslunch hittills i mitt liv - kanske till och med den lyxigaste lunchen alla kategorier! Mamma och pappa har hunnit med ett antal humrar sammanlagt under Cape Cod-vistelsen och framförallt under sin roadtrip till Maine. (Jag längtar tills vi också får möjlighet att äta lobster dinner och besöka Acadia nationalpark däruppe.)

Efter lunch gjorde vi snabb "walking tour" över MITs campus. Darrin och jag pekade ut den underliga Gaudí-lika byggnaden Stata Center och huvudbyggnaden MacLaurinhuset med Killian Court som öppnar sig ner mot Charlesfloden nedanför den berömda MIT-kupolen - men sedan tog min MIT-kunskap slut och jag kunde inte svara på några av deras frågor. Det skulle vara kul att gå en guidad vandring på campus själv någon gång.

Som avslutning fick de följa med upp på mitt kontor, i vad mina jobbarkompisar klassificerar som den fulaste byggnaden på USAs fulaste campus. Jag kände mig som vanligt i den situationen lite obekväm. Gränsen mellan privatliv och jobbliv är nästan överstigligt skarp just nu, och att ta med sig mamma, pappa, Darrin, Nova och Zoey in på kontoret mitt på blanka onsdagseftermiddagen kändes verkligen som ett stort kliv över den gränsen. Men, det blev bra. Vi råkade stöta på PSFC-chefen Miklos i korridoren och han hälsade glatt. Jag hade gärna velat ta med mamma och pappa och visa dem labbet också, men det får bli en annan gång - säkerhetsföreskrifterna säger att man inte får ta med barn in dit, och det var för svårt att tvinga Nova och Zoey att vänta medan vi gick iväg. Plus att de började få bråttom till flygplatsen.

Summer Party

M had her summer party at work a couple of days ago and the girls and I were allowed to come (a big improvement from the work parties in Sweden). In spite of the weather (pouring down rain and very cold), we had a lot of fun. They take a lot of consideration on how to make it fun for families.

We were one of the first people there (punctuality is important!), so we got to do the balloon guy first. This was a learning experience that we will have to remember for next year. He asked Z if she liked princesses and she said "NO! I like Pirates!" So he made her a pirate hate and a parrot for her shoulder. Both M and I commented on how good we thought it was. Then he made M an Ariel (from the little mermaid). Which was also very impressive. Had we known that this guy was a true artist I think that we would have been requesting more advance stuff. The dragon mask and wings were the best, but Darth Vader. Next year will be a Yoda mask for me.


They also had a bouncy castle there that was good for the first little part, but then got too wet to actually play on. One of the other things for people to do was a caricature artist. I have though on a couple of different occasions that it would be fun to do one for the girls, but we just never have. N went first. The artist asked what she liked and she said swimming and dolphins. She had to pick one, so she picked dolphins (I actually thought to myself, "why does she need to pick just one, they kind of go together"). When the artist handed it over to us, N was golfing not dolphin. Oh well.

Z has a little better. She said that she liked pirates, so she was made into a pirate. They do not really look like the girls, but I want to keep them
anyway. I have a theory that when the girls turn 25, it will look more like them then, then they do now. Maybe I should just scan them.

They also had a face painter...the WORSE face painter in the world. She was bad and I mean really bad.

Kung Carl Gustaf på MIT?

Jag har varit på ett par lunchseminarier/diskussioner de senaste veckorna i Pappalardorummet på fysikinstitutionen på MIT. Första gången jag var där såg jag ett foto på väggen och tänkte "det var väldigt vad den där gamla professorn var lik svenske kungen". Idag, när jag var tillbaka på samma plats, såg jag att det fanns minst fem kort på samma mycket Carl Gustaf-like professor i olika positioner, alltid med handen i lämplig annan äldre professors hand. Det tog en stund, men till slut slog det mig. Det VAR faktiskt kung Carl Gustaf. Bilderna är helt enkelt från Nobelprisceremonier med MIT-fysiker genom åren!

MIT's Festival for Art, Science and Technology

Here are some pictures from the MIT's Festival for Art, Science and Technology. It is the grand finally of the 150th birthday of MIT. I wish I still had the map with all the names of the pieces and the artists, but I don't. So just enjoy the pictures.

A normal weekend

Some would say that we plan too many things for the weekend. I am not so sure about that. In fact, I would say that we plan just the right amount of things for the weekend. Just enough to keep us busy, but leaving enough time just to enjoy the time. take this Saturday for example.

- Girls sleep in
- breakfast in bed for the girls
- I go to the store to get some stuff
- We go to the Fresh Pond Day with activities and crafts before lunch
- Come home for lunch
- Go to the Science Fair at Cambridge Library (in the pouring rain, I might add)
- Home for a nice dinner
- Back out to MIT for a special light program
- Walk home along the Charles, get home about 10.30

See, a nice relaxed day. The amazing thing though is that the kids did not kill other or we did not want to kill the kids.

MIT Open House

One of the things that I love about Boston/Cambridge is that their is always something going on. I am sure that all big cities have this going for it, but Boston is excellent for that. Much more then other big cities I have been in.

Case in point, this weekend was crammed pack with things to do. Saturday was the start of Cambridge Science Week and it was also an open house at MIT to celebrate their 150 anniversary, Native American Pow Wow at Harvard, Art Day at Harvard and I am sure a whole lot more.


We decided to go to the open house at MIT (shocking, I know). It was a bit overwhelming the number of activities that they had planned. We tried to investigate before hand, but honestly, the website was crap in trying to figure out what was going on. So we just went there and found a couple of things. We all had our different favorite ones. I liked the blimp races, though I was the only one. M liked Mr. Magnet (an older guy who did magnet experiments for the younger kids. Both girls got to help out, which they were excited about). Z's was the bouncy castle and slide and N's was using the pedometer to see if she could win an ipad (we didn't, or I should say she didn't).


It was a lot of fun and it was the first time they have had an open house like this at MIT for 40 years or something, so that is cool. I would of liked to take the girls to the Pow Wow though. It took me back to my OA days and it is a very cool part of our history/culture. In fairness though, we did not know it was happening until I happen to be walking by and heard the drums. Oh yell, next time.